CHAPTER III

[Contents]CHAPTER IIISTRUGGLES FOR THE THRONE OF KIEFThe death of Andrei, son of Monomach, brought many changes. Vsevolod induced Vyacheslav, Yuri’s brother, to take Pereyaslavl, that city which led to the Kief succession, and leave Turoff, where he put Sviatoslav, his own son. “He has a principality for his son, but for us he has nothing,” cried Vsevolod’s brothers. “It was heavy at their hearts,” adds the chronicler.Hereupon Vsevolod summoned his cousins and brothers to a council, saying he wished to make peace with them if possible. Having no confidence in Vsevolod, they would not enter the city, so the two parties encamped on the Dnieper, near Kief, and held communication from side to side of the river. Since the terms proposed by the Grand Prince, one town to each of his relatives, were acceptable to none of them, his brothers kissed the cross to each other and to their cousins, then joined in a pact to resist the injustice of Vsevolod. Still he did not increase his first offer. Thereupon they marched against Vyacheslav, thinking to have as easy a victory over him as had Vsevolod, when he took Kief from this simple-minded and interesting old prince. But Pereyaslavl met them firmly, and, failing to take the city by assault, they laid siege to it.Vsevolod reënforced the place promptly, and Izyaslav of Volynia hurried men to his uncle. The besiegers were defeated and driven off by Vyacheslav.Rostislav of Smolensk moved now from the west against Chernigoff territory. Izyaslav attacked it on the east, and seizing many places returned home with great honor. A new attack was made upon Vyacheslav soon after by the malcontents, who fought a three days’ battle, in which they were sorely defeated.Vsevolod now summoned Sviatosha, his cousin, a monk renowned[59]widely for sanctity, to aid him in reasoning with his relatives, and he himself sent them this message: “Dear brethren, take what I offer with good feeling; fight with me no longer.” Discouraged by defeat and influenced by the monk they accepted, and settled in Kief.Vsevolod, who owed what he had to his own subtle cunning and to the dissension among princes, was dissatisfied with the league between his brothers and their cousins. So, to detach the sons of David from the league, he said to them: “Leave my brothers; I will give you all splendid places.” Tempted by this promise, they deserted their allies, and received good places.Vsevolod’s brothers were incensed at this open treachery, but were silent for the time. They clamored later on, however, and very loudly, when Vyacheslav, advised by Vsevolod, exchanged principalities with Izyaslav, his nephew of Volynia, and then gave Volynia for Turoff, from which Vsevolod recalled his own son, whom he sent to Volynia straightway.Pereyaslavl, as the stepping-stone to Kief, was acceptable to Izyaslav, who wanted the succession most solemnly promised him. But Vsevolod’s brothers and his cousins were greatly angered by this change, which they understood not, and which they looked on as an act of monstrous treason. “Our brother keeps at his side the worst foes of our family,” complained they. “He leaves us without a chief, and without places,” and they urged Vsevolod to act against Monomach’s descendants, and demand the places which he had pledged to them earlier, but had not given.It would have been difficult, nay, quite impossible for Vsevolod to keep those promises, and he made no real effort to do so. Izyaslav was disquieted, however. He saw clearly what Vsevolod was doing. He knew him to be an inveterate trickster, who would deceive all men, who ever they might be, whenever the chance came and his interest required it, so he resolved to change the position if possible, and try to win Yuri, his uncle. He journeyed to Suzdal to see him, but he could make no impression on Yuri. Next he went to Rostislav, his brother, in Smolensk, and, last of all, to his brother in Novgorod, where he passed the winter. Thus did the descendants of Monomach and Oleg stand toward one another. How stood the other princes?First among these were the descendants of Rostislav, whose[60]sons, Volodar and Vassilko, are well-known to us. Both died in 1124, the first leaving two sons, Vladimirko and Rostislav; the second left two also, Grigori and Ivan.Of these four men, Vladimirko alone was remarkable. This prince not only kept his own among others, but was able to leave a strong principality to his son, whose friendship or enmity became highly important. Being weaker at first than most of his neighbors Vladimirko worked for success without reference to truthfulness or methods. In 1127 he called in the Hungarians and rose against Rostislav, his elder brother. His cousins came to the aid of Rostislav, as did also Mystislav, the Kief prince, and saved him. Rostislav died some years later; his two cousins died also. Thereupon Vladimirko took all Galitch, disregarding his nephew, Ivan, then ruling in Zvenigorod. The wars which followed the death of Mystislav the Great left a free hand to Vladimirko.In Vsevolod’s struggle with Monomach’s descendants, Vladimirko helped him, but matters changed altogether when the son of the Kief prince was transferred to Volynia. Vsevolod might permit Vladimirko to snatch land from a descendant of Monomach, but not from Sviatoslav, his son. Both men were perfectly selfish, neither had scruples of any kind, and in 1144 Vsevolod quarreled with Vladimirko because of Volynia, and marched against Galitch with a large army. Nine Russian princes went with him, and the Polish prince Vladislav. Vladimirko had called in his friends, the Hungarians, but his troops, outnumbered and cut off, would have been forced to surrender had he not saved himself cunningly through Igor, the Kief prince’s brother, to whom he sent this wily message: “Reconcile me with thy brother, and I will make thee prince in Kief, after Vsevolod.” Igor, influenced by this promise, set about making peace, and succeeded.Vladimirko went from his camp and bowed down before Vsevolod. He, “the cunning-minded and word-rich,” as people called him, brought Vsevolod to think it far better for him not to weaken Galitch too greatly, so Vsevolod, after taking an oath from Vladimirko, and a large ransom, restored all the towns which he had captured, and returned to his capital.Vladimirko’s enemies now grew more defiant, and the citizens of Galitch installed in that city his nephew, Ivan, surnamed later Berladnik. Vladimirko hastened with forces to Galitch, and besieged[61]it for three weeks unsuccessfully, till Ivan made a night attack, went too far out, and was cut off from his capital. Unable to return, he broke through the investing lines, made his way to the Danube, and through steppe regions to Kief, where Vsevolod received him with kindness. Vladimirko entered Galitch, and there met his opponents without mercy.Vsevolod’s reception of Ivan was, beyond doubt, the cause of a second war with Vladimirko. In 1146 Vsevolod led to Galitch large forces, among which were Poles, men of Novgorod, and Polovtsi. Siege was laid to Zvenigorod. When some of the citizens wished to surrender Vladimirko’s commander slew three of their leaders, cut each of the bodies in two, and hurled the six halves from the walls of the city. After that, those inside fought with valor. Vsevolod, who tried to storm the place, fought from daylight till evening. He fired the town in three places, but the people extinguished the fires, and resisted with desperation. The Kief prince at last raised the siege and returned home, forced mainly by an illness of which he died somewhat later.The position of Novgorod in Vsevolod’s day was most difficult; when this prince drove Vyacheslav from Kief, Yuri Dolgoruki asked aid of Novgorod against the usurper, but the city refused to help him. He immediately recalled his son, who was then prince in Novgorod, and, seizing Torjok, stopped Novgorod’s provisions. The city sent then to Vsevolod for a prince, and was forced to accept from him Sviatoslav, his brother, a second time. A riot was kindled by Monomach’s partisans, and it was raging fiercely when the new prince arrived. Sviatoslav, deposed recently for his failure at Pskoff, remembered his enemies and punished them. They resented this, and soon the position presented a deadlock. “It is grievous for me to be here with these people,” wrote the prince to his brother. “I cannot endure them.”To weaken the Monomach party, and smooth Sviatoslav’s way for him, Vsevolod induced the city to send him seven of its best men. Upon their arrival he threw them all into prison. This measure roused Novgorod greatly. Sviatoslav’s partisans were beaten at assemblies, and he himself, learning that he might be seized, fled in the night out of Novgorod, the posadnik, Yakun, going with him. Yakun was captured on the road and brought back to the city, with Prokop, his brother. Beaten by the people[62]till almost insensible, these two men were stripped of their clothing, and hurled from the bridge into the Volkov. Wading out, they were seized again, but not beaten. Yakun was fined one thousand silver grievens, and Prokop one hundred. Then the hands of both men were tied to their necks and they were cast into prison. After a time, however, they escaped to Yuri of Suzdal, who treated them kindly.Meanwhile the Bishop of Novgorod went to Kief with a number of notables, and said to Vsevolod: “Give us thy son; we want not thy brother.” Vsevolod consented, and sent his son, Sviatoslav. While the young prince was traveling toward Novgorod, people sent secondly to Vsevolod: “We want neither thy son, nor any man of thy family. Give us a son of Mystislav.” Hereupon Vsevolod detained the bishop and notables, and, not wishing to see a man of Monomach’s line prince in Novgorod, summoned his wife’s brothers, Sviatopolk and Vladimir, and gave them the Brest principality. “Think not of Novgorod,” said he, “let it have whatever prince pleases it.” After that, Novgorod was nine months without a prince, which for that proud city was unendurable. Grain was stopped by Yuri of Suzdal, and the price of food was enormous. The party hostile to Kief, which found favor with Yuri, rose in strength and increased greatly. They invited Yuri to Novgorod. He was not willing to go himself, but he sent his son, Rotislav.Vsevolod saw now that he had erred in not sending a brother-in-law, hence he vented his rage against Yuri. He took possession of Gorodok, Yuri’s capital, and seized his herds in southern regions. That did not settle the Novgorod question, however. Izyaslav, brother of Vsevolod’s wife, and prince now in Pereyaslavl, sent to his sister a message, which contained these words: “Get Novgorod for Sviatopolk, thy brother.” She set to work, and finally Vsevolod consented. He saw, of course, without any advice, that for him his wife’s brother in Novgorod was better than a son of Prince Yuri. Besides, the expulsion of Yuri’s son in favor of one of his nephews would widen the breach between Yuri and all his near relatives, a thing most desirable for Vsevolod.When men heard in Novgorod that Sviatopolk was coming, and with him the bishop and notables, the opponents of Yuri rose in power again, for the city must choose to retain Yuri’s son,[63]and be hostile to Vsevolod and all his adherents, or receive Sviatopolk and have Yuri alone as an enemy. Sviatopolk was installed, and Rostislav sent away to his father. Thus was the question decided.Vsevolod, double-dealing and shifty at all times, had promised the succession of Kief both to Igor, his own brother, and also to his wife’s brother, Izyaslav, who, as if selected for the place, had Pereyaslavl for his portion. Igor had the promise renewed in Galitch, when he made peace between the Kief prince and Vladimirko, the latter guaranteeing his aid to obtain the position.In 1145 Vsevolod, in presence of his cousins and brothers—Izyaslav also was in the assembly—declared Igor to be his successor. “Vladimir Monomach,” said the prince, “placed Mystislav, his son, on the Kief throne. Mystislav gave Kief to Yaropolk, his brother. Whenever God calls for me, Kief will go to Igor.”Oleg’s descendants knew well that these two Monomach successions broke the old rule by which Kief should belong to the senior among Yaroslav the Lawgiver’s descendants. The descendants of Monomach had violated this rule in their own line, by rejecting it. As they had led the way in destroying precedents, Vsevolod could now declare himself justified in following their example. Izyaslav opposed this decision, but with no avail. He was forced to kiss the cross in favor of Igor.In 1146, when returning in illness from the second campaign against Galitch, Vsevolod halted at Vyshgorod, and summoned the principal Kief men. “I am ill; take my brother as Grand Prince,” said he. “We do so with gladness,” responded the Kief men. Igor went with these men to the capital, where he assembled the citizens, and they kissed the cross to him. “Thou art our prince,” declared they, but “they deceived,” says the chronicler. Next day the Vyshgorod citizens also kissed the cross to Igor.Just before dying, Vsevolod sent to Izyaslav and to his brothers to learn if they adhered to their oaths taken solemnly. “We adhere,” replied all. After Vsevolod’s death, Igor made the Kief men take oath a second time, and the affair seemed concluded. But later, the Kief men assembled again, and sent to Izyaslav the words: “Come hither, O Prince!”Igor sent Sviatoslav, his brother, to Kief, and remained himself[64]with the warriors. The Kief men complained of Ratsha and Tudor, two tiuns (high officials). “Ratsha plundered Kief, and Tudor stripped Vyshgorod,” said they to Sviatoslav. “Now kiss the cross for thy brother, to give us fair justice.” “I kiss the cross for my brother, that ye will suffer no violence, and that ye will have tiuns to suit you.” When he had said this, he dismounted and kissed the cross. Chosen men went with Sviatoslav to Igor, who kissed the cross to do what his brother had promised. But, since the old tiuns were left in their places, men rushed to Ratsha’s house and attacked it. Igor sent troops and his brother to defend the tiuns, which they did with difficulty. Meanwhile he sent a message to Izyaslav, asking if he held to the oath which he had taken. Izyaslav gave no answer; he even detained the envoy.Since Igor retained the old tiuns, the Kief men decided quickly, and sent to Izyaslav, saying: “Come to us, Prince, we desire thee!” Izyaslav marched now against Kief. On the way, all towns declared for him. “Thou art ours, we will have no son of Oleg. March on!” shouted they. “We are with thee!” On he went, and soon he was met by Kief envoys. “Thou art our prince,” declared they. “We will not be the inheritance of Oleg’s son.”Meanwhile Igor sent for support to his cousins, the sons of David. They wished to sell that support at the highest price. Igor gave what they demanded and promised to give all that he could give when he reached power, if they would take the field for him. Still more important for Igor were his late brother’s warriors. He also strove to secure the chief boyars by promising to those men their old places, but he was late with the promise for the boyars, observing that the people had cast him aside, had deserted already in secret. Quick to abandon a lost cause, they sent this message to Izyaslav: “Hasten, Prince. The sons of David are coming to aid thy opponent.” Sviatoslav’s men were no more faithful than were those of his brother Igor. They, too, were prepared to desert at the critical moment.When Izyaslav appeared before Kief with his forces, the people were gathered at one side in a large body. Some distance away was the army of Igor. Izyaslav sent at once a chief and a banner to the people. A detachment fell upon Igor’s camp, and then came a fierce battle. The boyars, devoted to Izyaslav, went over immediately,[65]and Igor’s cause was lost very quickly. His whole army fled.While fleeing, Igor’s horse stuck fast in a swampy place, and the prince, unable to move, had to stay there alone with the animal. Sviatoslav, Igor’s brother, fled to Chernigoff; Sviatoslav, his nephew, took refuge in Kief, where he was captured.Izyaslav entered the capital with honor, and sat on the throne of his father and grandfather. All boyars faithful to Igor were captured and held until ransomed. The Kief people plundered the houses of Igor’s adherents and those of the late Vsevolod’s officials, taking much property of all kinds. Igor himself was found in the swamp four days later, and brought to Izyaslav, who put him first in a monastery, and then in prison, whence he was freed some time later.Thus power returned to Monomach’s descendants. Passing two uncles, Vyacheslav and Yuri, it came to a nephew, because Izyaslav, through his personal qualities, satisfied the people, while the uncles did not please them. When Izyaslav first rose against Igor, he stated that it was to restore the Kief throne to his uncle, but when he was marching, the people declared: “Thou art our prince.” Hence when he took Kief, he kept it because the people wished him to keep it. Of course, he himself was quite willing. The people did not want Vyacheslav, though his right was undoubted, but the boyars, knowing they could rule through him, wanted the old man. Acting on their advice, he seized principalities, among others Volynia, but Izyaslav soon forced him to restore them, for the new prince held firm possession.Meanwhile Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, fled with small forces to Chernigoff, and inquired of the sons of David if they intended to keep their oath to his brother. “We do,” replied they. Leaving with them his boyar, Kosnyatka, Sviatoslav set out for his own lands to take an oath from the people there. Once he had gone, the sons of David made their plans apart from Kosnyatka, who, learning by chance that they were plotting to seize Sviatoslav, sent at once to warn him. The sons of David, since their cousins could now obtain nothing west of the Dnieper, feared that they would take land from them in Chernigoff, hence they decided to join the Grand Prince against their cousin, and sent to Izyaslav, saying:“Igor is as hostile to us as to thee; hold him firmly.” To[66]Sviatoslav they sent this message: “Take Putival and abandon thy brother Igor.” “I am seeking my brother, not land,” replied Sviatoslav. “Take land and kiss the cross,” said the sons of David. Sviatoslav wept and sent to Yuri of Suzdal, saying: “God took Vsevolod, and now Izyaslav has taken Igor. Be gracious; march against Kief; free my brother, while I, with God’s aid, will bring forces hither to help thee.”Then he asked for men from the Polovtsi Khans, his wife’s uncles. They sent a detachment of warriors with promptness. From Murom came Vladimir, a grandson of that Yaroslav whom Vsevolod had driven from Chernigoff in order to take Kief later on, which he did successfully.This Yaroslav, who founded the Ryazan line of princes, had two sons: Sviatoslav and Rostislav. When the former died in Murom, Rostislav took his land and sent Glaib his own son to rule in Ryazan, giving nothing to Vladimir, his nephew, who came now to join Sviatoslav. After him came the nephew of Vladimirko of Galitch—Ivan, surnamed Berladnik, from Berlad, a town in Moldavia, which was filled with adventurers of all kinds. Ivan had found there a refuge, and next a small party of daredevils to join him. The sons of David wished now to crush Sviatoslav at all cost. “We have begun a hard task,” said they to one another; “let us end it. Let us kill Sviatoslav and take his possessions.” They saw that while alive he would fight to free Igor; in that his success lay. Triumph and love for his brother had for him become one thing. They remembered that in the late reign Igor and his brother had continually insisted upon having land in Chernigoff, and had been restrained only by promises of Kief and of places about it. What now could restrain those men? Of course only lands in Chernigoff. They could not get lands in another place.David’s sons begged aid of the Kief prince, who sent his son, Mystislav, with warriors to help them. The allies attacked Novgorod Seversk and fought three days there. They plundered the region about, and seized all the horses belonging to Igor and Sviatoslav. News came at this juncture that Yuri of Suzdal was Sviatoslav’s ally, and was marching to aid him.Izyaslav, the Grand Prince, now asked Rostislav of Murom to attack Yuri’s country. The Murom prince moved at once. We have seen that Rostislav’s nephew and enemy, Vladimir, was in[67]Sviatoslav’s camp, being thus an ally of Yuri, hence Rostislav was ready to fight against Yuri. Besides, Rostislav could not have been friendly to the sons of Oleg, one of whom had driven his father from his throne in Chernigoff.Yuri had reached Kozelsk, when he heard that Rostislav of Murom was attacking his country. This forced him back, but he sent his son, Ivan, who received Kursk and lands on the Seim as reward from Sviatoslav. It was clear that the latter would give what he had to preserve the alliance, and, with Yuri’s aid, redeem Igor. After he had given half his land for this ally, he tried, at the advice of his boyars, to win the sons of David to his cause, and sent to them his priest with this message: “Ye have ravaged my lands, seized my herds and the herds of my brother. Ye have burned my provisions and destroyed all my property; nothing remains for you now, but to kill me.” “Abandon thy brother,” answered the sons of David. “I would rather die,” replied Sviatoslav, “than abandon my brother. I will strive for him while life is in me.”The sons of David now plundered on every side. They took Igor’s town, where he had a residence. In his cellars were mead and wines, in his storehouses goods of much value. All that men could remove they took with them, then they fired the place, burning nine hundred stacks of grain.While Izyaslav was hastening from Kief with his warriors, David’s sons moved on Putivl, but the town was held firmly by the people till the Kief prince appeared before it. They yielded to him, when he kissed the cross to respect them, and merely installed his own posadnik, instead of the old one. He and his allies, however, seized all of Sviatoslav’s wealth in Putivl,—wine, mead, provisions and seven hundred slaves. Sviatoslav himself, advised by his allies, had fled northward, to be close to provisions and near Yuri of Suzdal, taking with him his wife and children, and also the wife of Igor. Some of his warriors had deserted, but the best remained faithful. The sons of David were infuriated by this flight of their cousin, and at once resolved to capture the man or kill him. Izyaslav said, “Let us follow Sviatoslav. If by any chance he escapes us, we will at least seize his wife and children, and take all of his property.” And with three thousand horsemen he set out to hunt down his cousin. When this force was[68]gaining on him, Sviatoslav pondered whether it were better to save his own person by flight and let his warriors and family be captured, or remain with them and lay down his life fighting. His men were not many, but they were of excellent quality,—Ivan, a son of Yuri of Suzdal, Ivan Berladnik, Vladimir of Murom, the Polovtsi party, and some others. He had to meet thousands with hundreds, but he chose to remain, and, turning on the son of David in a forest, he routed him thoroughly; then he fled farther as swiftly as possible.The Grand Prince and Vladimir, the other son of David, following on at some distance behind, had stopped to take food, when news came that Sviatoslav had defeated his pursuers. The Kief prince was enraged at this failure, and set out himself in immediate pursuit of the fugitive. On the way he was joined by stragglers from the scattered force, and at last came the son of David.Sviatoslav hastened forward to Koracheff, and as Izyaslav was again hunting him sharply, he fled to great forests in Vyatichi regions, where pursuit was impossible.“I hold the places which ye desired,” said the Kief prince to the sons of David. “Take ye the lands of Sviatoslav; I yield them all to you. Igor’s slaves and his goods in those lands will be mine. Sviatoslav’s goods we will divide between us.” After making this distribution, he returned to his capital.Meanwhile Igor, who lay ill in prison, wished to assume a monk’s habit, and requested permission. “Thou mayst do that,” replied Izyaslav. “I intended to free thee in every case.” Taken from prison to a cell in a monastery, Igor lay eight days and nights without food or drink. At last he revived and took the monk’s habit.The conflict still raged between Sviatoslav and his cousins. Izyaslav had left in Chernigoff his sister’s son, Sviatoslav, the son of Vsevolod, the late Grand Prince. The interests of this Sviatoslav were closely connected with the house of Oleg. A decisive defeat of his uncle would destroy this “sister’s son’s” chance of being prince in Chernigoff, to which he aspired, as the first son of Vsevolod. Hence, in secret, he favored his uncle, and informed him of all that his enemies were doing.Yuri of Suzdal now sent fresh warriors to Sviatoslav, who with[69]them was ready to rend his pursuers, when Yuri’s son, Ivan, who led them, died suddenly. The sons of David feared to attack Yuri’s warriors, but they urged leading men of the Vyatichi, in whose towns their posadniks were stationed, to kill Sviatoslav and scatter his forces. At this point two of Yuri’s sons, one of whom was Andrei, later on very famous, forced Rostislav, the Murom prince, who was attacking their father, to flee to the Polovtsi.That same year, 1146, Yuri invited Sviatoslav, his ally, to meet him in Moscow (Moskva). This name appears now for the first time in the chronicles of Russia. Originally a farm on the river Moskva, and owned by one Stephen Kuchka, it was called Kuchkova. When the land came into the possession of Yuri Dolgoruki, he built a village on an elevation and called it Moskva. There was feasting and gift-giving now in Moscow, but also much serious work. Yuri furnished warriors, led by his son, and fresh troops of Polovtsi came to Sviatoslav; thus he had power to take the offensive. This he did with effect, and when a third force of Polovtsi came, the effect was decisive. All the posadniks installed in Vyatichi towns by the sons of David fled quickly, and Sviatoslav sent in new men to replace them. Both sons of David withdrew from the north to Chernigoff, and sent peace proposals to Sviatoslav. Those same sons of David now turned traitorously on the Kief prince, to whom they sent this faithless message: “Sviatoslav has taken Vyatichi lands. Come with us to attack him. When we have driven him away we will march with thee against Yuri, and make peace or war with him.”Izyaslav agreed, but Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, to make sure of carrying out his own plans and escaping beyond reach of the Kief prince in season, came to Izyaslav, and said to him, “Let me go to Chernigoff, my father. I wish to get lands from my cousins.” “Thou hast thought this out well,” replied Izyaslav. “Go straightway.” He went, and the whole affair was fixed surely, as they thought. He and the sons of David were to seize the Kief prince the moment he set foot in Chernigoff. As he delayed, they sent envoys to hurry him. “Our land is perishing,” said they, “and thou wilt not come to assist us.”Izyaslav summoned his boyars and warriors and the people, and said to them: “I am going with the sons of David to war against Sviatoslav, and Yuri my uncle. I must go, for Yuri is[70]helping my enemy, Sviatoslav.” “Go not against Yuri,” said the people. “Make peace with thy uncle. Lend no ear to the sons of David, take not the same road with them.” “I must go,” replied Izyaslav; “they are my allies.” “Take it not ill of us,” continued the people, “we cannot raise hands against a son of Monomach. But if thou wilt march against the house of Oleg, we will not only go with thee, but take our sons also.”The prince, however, asked for volunteers to attack Yuri, and a large number went with him. On passing the Dnieper, he sent Ulaiba, his boyar, to learn what was happening in Chernigoff. The boyar hurried back, bringing news that the allies of the Kief prince were acting with Sviatoslav. Chernigoff friends also sent to Izyaslav, saying that his allies were deceiving him foully. “They wish to slay or to seize thee, and liberate Igor. They have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav, and also to Yuri.”The Kief prince now sent envoys to confer in his name with the sons of David: “We agreed on a great work, and kissed the cross to each other,” said the envoys. “Let us kiss it again, so that there be no disagreement hereafter.” “Why kiss again? We have kissed already,” replied the sons of David. “What harm in kissing the cross?” said the envoys. “The cross is salvation.” But they refused to kiss it a second time. The envoys repeated now these words from Izyaslav to the sons of David: “I have heard that ye are deceiving me, that ye have sworn to Sviatoslav to seize me or to kill me because of Igor. Is this true, brothers, or is it not true?” They would not answer. At last one of them said to the envoys: “Withdraw, we will summon thee later.” They consulted long, and then called the envoys.“We have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav,” declared they frankly. “We grieve over Igor, our cousin. He is a monk now; set him free, and we will ride at thy stirrup. Would it please thee if we held thy brother?” The treaty papers were cast at their feet, and these words were added in answer: “Ye took oath to be with me till death, and I gave you the lands of both sons of Oleg. I expelled Sviatoslav; I won his lands and gave you Putivl with other places. We divided Sviatoslav’s property between us. I took Igor’s. And now, brothers, ye have broken your oath. Ye invited me hither intending to kill me. Let God be on my side and[71]the power of the life-giving cross. I will manage as the Lord may assist me.”The prince asked Rostislav, his brother, to bring Smolensk forces from all sides. He sent to Kief also, explaining the conduct of the sons of David, and reminded the people of what they had promised. The Kief men decided immediately to go forward in boats and on horseback to help him. “We rejoice,” declared they in a message, “that God has preserved thee. We come and bring our sons with us, according to promise!” When thus excited, some man in the throng called out loudly: “We will fight for our prince, but think first of one important thing. Here in this city is the enemy of our prince. Let us slay him to finish that family in Chernigoff, and then go!” The people rushed to the monastery, and before Prince Vladimir, the metropolitan, or the commander in the city, could stop them they had seized Igor, and slain him.Izyaslav was at the edge of Chernigoff when news of Igor’s death came to him: “If I had thought of this, I should have guarded him more carefully,” said he to his warriors. “Men will say now that I wished to kill Igor, but God knows that I did not.” “Be not concerned,” answered his warriors. “God knows, and people know, also, that not thou, but his own cousins killed him; they who took an oath to thee, and then conspired traitorously to kill thee.”Izyaslav seized Kursk, where he placed his son, Mystislav, and thus barred out the Polovtsi. But Glaib, son of Yuri, came later with Sviatoslav to take the place. The people would not raise a hand against Glaib, since he was a grandson of Monomach. They would have fought against Sviatoslav had he come unassisted, as they informed Mystislav, who returned to his father.Glaib, after installing posadniks, left that region, and the Polovtsi were free to appear again. Rostislav of Smolensk led in large forces to help his brother, the Grand Prince, and after an involved and tedious war, ending rather against Izyaslav than for him, the Chernigoff princes were unable to continue the struggle; their territory was stripped of provisions, and ruined in great part; they had no food for their warriors, and could not pay Polovtsi allies. Yuri had sent a son with forces, but he would not go with his main strength in person, and without Yuri the Chernigoff princes were unable to stand against Izyaslav and his brothers.[72]In such straits, they sent these words to Yuri: “Thou didst kiss the cross to go with us against Izyaslav; thou hast not done so. Izyaslav came, burned our towns, took our country. He came a second time; he burned and seized what he spared at the first attack, but thou hast neither come to us nor fought against Izyaslav. If thy wish is to march now against the Kief prince, we will go with thee; if not, we are freed from our oath; we have no wish to perish in war unassisted.”From Yuri came no answer of value, hence they turned with proposals to the Kief prince. He replied that he would consult with Rostislav and then answer finally. He consulted with his brother for form’s sake, and then made peace with the princes of Chernigoff, who took oath to forget Igor’s death, and be in friendship for the future. Kursk remained in their possession.At this time Rostislav, Yuri’s eldest son, once prince in Novgorod, came to Kief, declaring that he had quarreled with his father, who refused him land in Suzdal; hence he had come to Izyaslav with homage. The Kief prince gave him those five towns held formerly by Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, and also Gorodok, where Izyaslav did not wish to see Yuri’s son Glaib, to whom he sent this command: “Find lands with the sons of Oleg.”In autumn, the Grand Prince went to Gorodok, taking Rostislav with him. The sons of David were there, but no son of Oleg. When Izyaslav mentioned this, the princes replied: “We are here. It is indifferent whether they come or not; they and we took the oath to make common cause with thee, and to go with thee against Yuri, starting when the rivers should be frozen.” They who had been Yuri’s allies a short time before had now become his enemies, and allies of Izyaslav. When the time came, Izyaslav left Vladimir, his brother, in Kief, and visited Smolensk, to confer with Rostislav.Novgorod had assembled large forces to march against Yuri, and now sent many warriors, as did Smolensk. They moved down the Volga, and, finding no trace of Yuri, ravaged both sides of the river as far as Uglitch. Here news came that the sons of David, with Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, had marched to assist them, but had halted in the Vyatichi country to see who would be victor, the Kief prince, or Yuri.“Let them come or stay,” replied Izyaslav, and he sent Novgorod men and others to take Yaroslavl on the Volga. This they[73]did after much effort, and returned with great booty. A week before Easter the weather became so warm that the army could not remain in the country. Horses walked to their bellies in water. Rostislav went back to Smolensk, and Izyaslav to Novgorod and thence to his capital.This campaign cost Yuri’s country seven thousand men led away captives, besides all the property burned and ruined. Upon Izyaslav’s return to Kief, he learned from his boyars that Yuri’s son, Rostislav, had worked against him in his absence, and had said to the people: “If God helps my father, he will visit Kief and take Izyaslav’s house from him, and also his family.” “Send this traitor back to his father; thou art keeping him here to thy ruin,” said the boyars. The prince summoned Rostislav, and, without receiving him, gave this message: “Thou didst come to me and say that thy father was unjust and would give thee no land. I took thee in as a brother, I gave thee lands, and now thou wouldst seize Kief from me.” Yuri’s son sent back this answer: “Neither in my heart nor my mind was the thought which thou hast mentioned. If he who has lied is a prince I am ready to meet him, if of lower degree, either Christian or pagan, judge thou between us.” “Ask no judgment of me,” replied Izyaslav. “I know what thou wishest. Go back to thy father.”The boyars put Rostislav in a boat with three men and sent him up the river. His warriors were retained, and his property taken.Rostislav bowed down to his father in Suzdal, and said: “The whole Russian land desires thee. Men say in Kief that their prince has dishonored them. March thou against Izyaslav.” These words imply clearly that Yuri’s son had worked with zeal against Izyaslav, and that the complaint of the boyars was well founded.Such an “insult” to Rostislav greatly offended Yuri, who demanded angrily, “Is there then no place for me or my sons in Russia?” He assembled his forces quickly, hired Polovtsi, and was soon ready for action.It was not anger alone which roused Yuri; he believed that his day had come, the long deferred day of triumph. His son’s report that he would find in the south serious allies, decided his movements, and he marched forward with all speed. He had reached the land of the Vyatichi, when Vladimir, son of David, warned Izyaslav, saying: “Be ready for action; thy uncle is marching.”[74]Izyaslav prepared, and with the sons of David sent envoys to Sviatoslav, brother of the late Igor, reminding him of their treaties.Sviatoslav gave no answer at first, but guarded the envoys to keep men away from them. Meanwhile he consulted with Yuri. “Art thou going against Izyaslav? Tell me truly lest I ruin my lands without reason.” “I go, of course,” replied Yuri. “My nephew made war in my lands and set fire to them. He drove out my son, and insulted me. I will avenge the wrong done, or I will lay down my life.”On receiving this answer, Sviatoslav, unwilling to break his oath, without reasons which men might hold sufficient, commanded his envoys to speak thus to Izyaslav: “Return Igor’s property, and I will be with thee.” “Thou hast kissed the cross to put aside enmity because of Igor and his property,” replied Izyaslav, “but now thou dost mention them when my uncle is marching against me. Keep thy oath, or else break it.”Sviatoslav joined forces with Yuri. Yuri and Sviatoslav then sent the sons of David a message, but they sent the answer only to Yuri: “In the last war thou didst swear to be with us. But when Izyaslav took all our lands and burned the towns in them, thou wouldst not come to us. Because of this we kissed the cross to Izyaslav, and we cannot jest with salvation.”Yuri marched southward, expecting the Polovtsi and awaiting submission from Izyaslav, his nephew. Rostislav of Smolensk, with large forces, hastened to strengthen his brother. Yuri advanced to Pereyaslavl, thinking that Izyaslav might yield; but Izyaslav did not yield. “If my uncle had come with his sons only,” said he, “he might have had the best province in my possession, but as he leads in the hated Polovtsi, and with them my enemy, I am forced to the field by his action.”Izyaslav talked thus to persuade Kief men to march against Yuri. They had insisted on peace, and declared that they could not raise hands against a son of Monomach. But, influenced by Izyaslav’s words, they at last consented to go, though unwillingly. Crossing the Dnieper, the Grand Prince met Yuri’s army, the advance troops being Polovtsi, and repulsed it. Then the two armies stood all day and night facing each other. In the night Yuri sent to his nephew this message: “Thou hast ravaged my country, thou hast taken seniority from me, but spare Christian[75]blood now. Let me seat a son in this city of Pereyaslavl, and rule thou in Kief. If not, let God judge between us.”Izyaslav detained the envoy, and led out all his men to meet Yuri. Next morning the bishop, with tears in his eyes, begged thus of Izyaslav: “Make peace with thy uncle. If thou do so, thou wilt save the land from sore misery, and have great reward from God.” But the prince would not listen. The armies were face to face that day till evening, the river Trubej between them. At a council called by Izyaslav, some favored crossing the river: “God gives thee the enemy; seize him,” said these men. “Remain where thou art,” said others. “Thy uncle is wavering, he will vanish in the night. Let him go, do not touch him.” The first advice pleased the prince, and he crossed the river. Next day at noon the armies came very near fighting, but Yuri halted, and in the evening withdrew. Again there were two minds in Izyaslav’s council: “Thy uncle is fleeing,” urged one mind; “attack him before he escapes thee.” “Follow not,” urged the other; “there will be no battle; thou wilt have victory for nothing.” This time too Izyaslav took the first advice.At daybreak next morning the battle began. It was resolute at the opening and venomous on both sides, but soon all of Izyaslav’s contingents from the Ros River fled. Seeing this, the sons of David and the Kief men fled also. Pereyaslavl, persuaded already by Yuri’s son, Rostislav, opened its gates without fighting, and thus the battle was ended.Izyaslav had pierced an opposing regiment, but when in the rear of it he saw that all had deserted him, and knew that nothing save flight remained. He reached Kief with only two attendants, and went immediately to Volynia; but he withdrew to reopen the struggle.On reaching Volynia Izyaslav sent to Poland, Bohemia and Hungary for aid. Aid was promised, but he wished aid itself, and not promises, hence he sent envoys a second time bearing rich presents, with the injunction to get what he asked for. Knowing now what it was to fight against his uncle when the people were indifferent or opposed to him, he sent these words to Yuri’s elder brother, Vyatcheslav: “Be my father and take the throne of Kief; if not I will ruin thy country.”Vyatcheslav, alarmed by the threat, sent this message to Yuri:[76]“Make peace, defend my country, come hither thyself; we shall then see what to do. If thou come not, I must act as seems best to me.” Yuri set out at once with his troops, taking Polovtsi also. Izyaslav marched from Volynia against him. To Vyatcheslav came Rostislav and Andrei, sons of Yuri, and soon Yuri himself came. Vladimirko of Galitch moved to the boundary and thus checked Poles and Hungarians.The Poles, greatly alarmed by news from their own land that Prussian tribes were attacking them, went home. Hence the allies sent these words to Yuri and Vyatcheslav: “Though ye are as fathers to Izyaslav, ye are now warring against him. As Christians and brethren we should all be united. Can you not arrange peace with your son and your brother? Ye might remain in Kief. Ye yourselves know who should be there. Let Volynia and whatever else is his go to Izyaslav. Let Yuri give back the Novgorod tribute.”“God reward you,” replied Yuri and his brother. “Since ye ask for peace and wish well to us, let Izyaslav return to Volynia, and go ye to your own lands; we will discuss then with Izyaslav.” The allies withdrew, and the uncles proposed terms to their nephew. But the affair halted because Yuri’s eldest son and a nephew advised with great earnestness not to make peace with Izyaslav. Yuri took this advice all the more readily, since Izyaslav’s allies had gone to their own lands, and he thought it easy to force down his nephew. “I will expel Izyaslav and take his lands,” said Yuri, and he moved with his brother to do this.Yuri and his forces invested Lutsk, and for many weeks fought around the city. The besieged lacked water greatly. Izyaslav strove to aid them, but Vladimirko of Galitch barred the way; he desired victory for neither side. Volynia, independent of Kief, was what he wished. Izyaslav sent to him, saying: “Reconcile me with my uncle Yuri.” Vladimirko was willing, in fact he was very glad to attempt this.Andrei, Yuri’s second son, was for peace and counseled his father. “Give no ear to my brother or cousin,” said he. “Make peace, O my father, do not ruin thy possessions.” Vyatcheslav favored peace also. He had his own reasons for doing so. “Make peace,” said he to Yuri. “If not, and thou go, Izyaslav will destroy my country.”[77]Yuri finally agreed to peace. His nephew yielded Kief, and Yuri gave back the Novgorod tribute. Izyaslav visited his uncles, and all sides promised to return booty taken since the action near Pereyaslavl. After that Yuri went back to Kief, and wished to give it to Vyatcheslav, to whom it belonged by seniority, but the boyars dissuaded him. “Thy brother could not hold Kief,” said they. “It will be neither his nor thine, if thou yield it.” Yuri took his son from Vyshgorod, and gave the place to Vyatcheslav.Meanwhile, 1150, Izyaslav sent to find herds and property seized before peace was concluded, but when his men had found what they were seeking, and asked for it, Yuri refused it, and they went back empty-handed. Thereupon Izyaslav sent a complaint and threat to his uncle: “Keep thy oath, for I cannot remain thus offended.” Yuri made no answer, and Izyaslav took arms again, urged, as was said, by Kief people.At this time Yuri’s son Glaib was encamped not far from Izyaslav, who suddenly attacked him in the night. Glaib escaped with much difficulty, having lost everything he had. Next day he sent to his cousin this message: “Yuri is my father, so art thou, and I render thee homage. Thou and Yuri will settle all questions. But give thy oath that thou wilt permit me to visit my father. If thou do, I will come and bow down to thee.” Izyaslav gave the oath. Glaib went to Yuri, and Izyaslav hastened to the steppe to get aid from the Black Caps, who rejoiced with unbounded delight when they saw him.Yuri, on hearing that his nephew had gone to the Black Caps, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper and hastened to Gorodok. As soon as Yuri withdrew from Kief, Vyatcheslav entered. The Kief people went out in great crowds to meet Izyaslav, who was not slow in coming. “Yuri has left us,” said they. “Vyatcheslav is in the palace, but we do not want him. Go to Holy Sophia, and then take the throne of thy fathers.” “I gave thee Kief,” said Izyaslav, in a message to his uncle, “but thou wouldst not take it. Now when thy brother has fled, thou art willing. Go to thy Vyshgorod.” “Even shouldst thou kill me for staying, I would not go,” answered Vyatcheslav.Taking a few attendants, Izyaslav went to his uncle and bowed down before him. Vyatcheslav rose, kissed him and they sat down together. “Father,” said Izyaslav, “I give thee homage,[78]I cannot do what thou wishest, such is the power of the people. They are opposed to thee. Go to Vyshgorod; from there we two will manage.” “When thou didst invite me to Kief,” answered Vyatcheslav, “I had kissed the cross to Yuri. If Kief is thine now, I will go to Vyshgorod.” And he went.Meanwhile Yuri called on the sons of David and Oleg for assistance, and Vladimirko was marching from the west. Izyaslav, greatly alarmed, prepared for defense very promptly and went with boyars to Vyatcheslav in Vyshgorod. “Take Kief,” said he to his uncle, “and with it what lands thou desirest; the rest leave to me.” Vyatcheslav was offended at first. “Why didst thou not give me Kief when thou wert forcing me out of it shamefully?” asked he. “Now when one army is moving against thee from Galitch and another from Chernigoff, thou givest me my inheritance.” “I offered thee Kief, declaring that I could live with thee, but not with Yuri,” said Izyaslav. “Thee I love as my father. And I say now again: Thou art my father, and Kief belongs to thee.” These words softened Vyatcheslav and he kissed the cross to consider Izyaslav as his son, and Izyaslav swore to regard him as a father. “I am going to Zvenigorod against Vladimirko,” said Izyaslav. “Be pleased thou to enter Kief and let me have thy warriors.” “I will send all of my warriors with thee,” replied Vyatcheslav.Vladimirko was now in the field to help Yuri, and Izyaslav marched westward at once to hasten the struggle, but when he came near the enemy his men forsook him. “Vladimirko has a countless host,” cried they. “Do not destroy us and forfeit thy own life. Wait till another time.” “Better die here than suffer disgrace such as that!” exclaimed Izyaslav. Nevertheless all fled the field, and the Kief prince was left with only his personal following. He fell back on the capital safely, though he might have been captured. Vladimirko thought the whole movement a strategy, hence he followed on cautiously, looking for ambushes everywhere. Izyaslav found his uncle in Kief, waiting anxiously. They counseled awhile and then sat down to dinner. During dinner news came that Yuri was crossing the Dnieper, and with him the men of Chernigoff. “This is not our day!” exclaimed the two princes, and they fled from Kief, Vyatcheslav going to Vyshgorod, and Izyaslav back to Volynia.[79]Next day Vladimirko and Yuri met outside Kief and greeted each other on horseback. The Galitch prince visited all the holy places in the city, and then bade farewell to his father-in-law in friendship. He took with him Yuri’s son, Mystislav, and installed that prince on the boundary of Volynia. Later on Yuri gave this whole region to his best son, Andrei.Andrei fixed his camp in Peresopnitsa, and during the winter Izyaslav sent an envoy to him. “Reconcile me with thy father,” said he. “My inheritance is not in Hungary or Poland. Ask from thy father the return of my land on the Goryn.” He sent this request, but bade his envoy look sharply at all things. He was planning to fall on Andrei, as he had fallen on Glaib, Yuri’s other son, some time earlier.The envoy found everything in excellent order, and a strong force of warriors in readiness. Andrei, unsuspicious, or feigning to be so, turned to Yuri in favor of Izyaslav, but Yuri would not yield a whit to his nephew. “My uncle,” declared Izyaslav, “would drive me to exile. Vladimirko of Galitch has taken my land at command of Yuri, and is now making ready to march on Vladimir, my capital.” So he sent Vladimir, his brother, to Hungary to ask aid of the king, who marched straightway with an army on Galitch. “I, thy brother, have started,” wrote the king. “Join me at once with thy forces. Vladimirko will see the men whom he has offended.”Vladimirko had friends in Hungary, who sent him information, hence he left Bailz, where his camp was, and hastened forward to meet the Hungarian forces at Peremysl. There he discovered that he was no match for the king in the field, so he begged the archbishop and two bishops from Hungary with certain influential boyars to help him. He lavished gold without stint on these prelates and boyars, and they in return urged the king to go home and make war at another time. He yielded, and sent this explanation to Izyaslav: “The Greek Emperor is moving against me; I must return to my own country to meet him, but next summer I can send ten thousand men, or even more if thou need them.”The Hungarian force vanished, and was as if it had never seen Galitch. Izyaslav, foiled for the moment by his enemy, sent Vladimir a second time to Hungary with this message: “Vyatcheslav’s boyars, the people and the steppe tribes have sent for me.[80]If thou must stay at home to prepare for the Greek Emperor, send me the aid which thou hast promised, and I will be with thee hereafter at all times.” The king sent him now ten thousand men, and with these warriors he set out against Kief.On the way news was brought to him that Vladimirko was following. A council was summoned, and the boyars spoke thus: “Thou art marching on Yuri, and Vladimirko is pursuing; our position is perilous.” “Ye have come out of Kief,” replied Izyaslav; “ye have lost land and property, ye have lost all. I have lost my inheritance. I must get back my own and win yours in the same effort. If Vladimirko comes, God will decide between us. If Yuri should meet me, the Lord will judge also in his case.” And leaving Sviatopolk, one of his brothers, behind in Vladimir, his capital, to guard the place, he moved forward with the Hungarians and his own men.On the way Vladimirko was joined by Andrei, and both forces followed together. Though sometimes at skirmishing distance, Izyaslav wisely abstained from action, and sent on Vladimir to Bailgorod, where Boris, son of Yuri, was feasting. If a collector of taxes had not raised the bridge, Boris would have been seized at table. Unable to get possession of the place without a battle, Vladimir rejoined Izyaslav, and they hastened on toward Kief. When Vladimirko’s men came up, they approached and sounded a trumpet. People ran out and lowered the bridge willingly. This advance force entered Bailgorod, and Boris hurried away to his father. Yuri, greatly alarmed by the strength of the enemy marching against him, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper, fled on, and took refuge in Gorodok.All Kief went out to meet Izyaslav. The delight of the people this time seemed real. Yuri, whom the city never really liked, had become most unpopular, and they now rejoiced to be rid of him.On the west, beyond Bailgorod, Vladimirko and Andrei were manœuvering for battle with Izyaslav, when suddenly news reached them that their enemy was in Kief with his forces, and Yuri powerless in Gorodok. Vladimirko’s rage was unbounded. “I cannot see how my father-in-law manages,” said he to Andrei. “I cannot understand how ye, his sons, help him. Thou, Andrei, hadst thy camp on the Goryn; Boris was in Bailgorod. We might have[81]forced Izyaslav to action and lamed, or defeated him, but Boris left us and gave the road to our enemy. Thy father then abandoned Kief, and Izyaslav is now Grand Prince. To-day the whole Russian land is on his side. I leave you, and go now to Galitch.”Yuri had no friends in the south, where all had hoped for his downfall. The campaign seemed indeed like some folk-tale. A battle might have ruined Izyaslav; a quick march secured him dominion.Vladimirko turned home, but to each town he said as he came to it: “Give me the silver and gold that I ask of you. If ye refuse I will take what I find at the sword’s point.” No town or city had the silver or gold, or the coin or utensils to meet this demand of Yuri’s ally, hence people were forced to take every ornament from the necks and the arms of their women, and give them to the master of Galitch. Vladimirko took from all in this way till he reached his own boundary.At last the hour of triumph had sounded for Yuri’s simple-minded brother. On the day after his entrance to Kief, Izyaslav sent this message to his uncle: “I salute thee, my father. I have sinned before thee, but I repent. I have sinned a first, and a second, and a third time. I repent now of all these transgressions, and, if thou forgive, God will pardon me. I give thee Kief; come thou and sit on the throne of thy fathers.” Thus Izyaslav acknowledged completely the right of uncles as opposed to the sons of their elder brothers, a right against which even personal qualities, or the respect of people availed not.“God give thee strength, my son,” replied Vyatcheslav, “because thou hast given me due honor. It was thy duty thus to act long ago. Thou hast given honor to God by the honor given me. Thou sayest that I am thy father; I say that thou art my son. I have no son, and thou hast no father; thou art my son, thou art also my brother.”Uncle and nephew now kissed the cross to each other not to part in defeat or in triumph. The Hungarians were feasted, received rich presents, and went home. The two princes sent Izyaslav’s son on a mission to Hungary, to assure the Hungarian king of the Kief princes’ gratitude, and to make offer of service, asking, too, that if the need came the king would send troops, as he had sent them recently. Rostislav of Smolensk was invited to aid in liberating[82]Kief, for they thought, and thought rightly, that Yuri would not yield without a struggle.Yuri now summoned all his allies. Sviatoslav moved promptly and met Vladimir, son of David, in Chernigoff; then their forces sailed down in boats to Gorodok, where they joined Yuri. Izyaslav, the other son of David, joined the Kief princes. Rostislav of Smolensk came to Kief early with his forces. Yuri moved with his allies from Gorodok to the Dnieper and strove hard to cross, but was foiled in each effort by his nephew. Strengthened now by large forces of the Polovtsi, he marched toward the south and crossed at the second ford, below Kief, then turning back, he advanced on the capital. Izyaslav and his uncle, disposing their men in the city and around it, waited for the coming conflict.“We are now ready for battle,” said Vyatcheslav to his nephews. “Yuri is my brother, though younger, and I wish to bring my seniority before him. God in his judgment considers the right side.” So he summoned an envoy and gave these instructions: “Go thou to Yuri, my brother: bow down to him in my name and say these words from me: ‘I have said often to thee, Yuri, and to Izyaslav, shed not Christian blood, ruin not the Russian land. I have tried to restrain thee from war. I have regiments and power of my own which God gave me. Still I have not fought for myself, though thou, Yuri, and also Izyaslav have deeply offended me, not one time, but many. Izyaslav, when going to fight against Igor, said that he was not seeking Kief for himself, but for me, his father. Then, when God gave him victory, he kept Kief for himself, and took also Turoff and Pinsk from me. That is how Izyaslav offended, but I, keeping Christians in mind and the Russian land, did not remember it against him. Thou, brother Yuri, when going to Pereyaslavl to fight against Izyaslav, didst say: “I seek not Kief for myself. I have an older brother who is to me as a father; I am seeking Kief for that brother.” But, when God aided thee to take Kief, thou didst keep it. Thou didst seize from me, besides, Dorogobuj and Peresopnitsa, and gavest me only Vyshgorod. Thus did ye wrong me. All this time I sought no redress out of love for the Russian land and for Christians. Ye would take no decision of mine; ye sought war. I strove to dissuade thee from war, but ye would not listen. Thy answer was that thou couldst not give homage to a junior. But Izyaslav, though he has failed[83]twice before in his word to me, has given now what is mine; he has yielded up Kief, and calls me father. Thou hast said: “I cannot bow down to a junior.” I am older than thou not a little; I was bearded before thou wert born. If it is thy wish to defy my seniority, God will render judgment.’ ”To this Yuri answered: “I bow down to thee, brother; thy words are true, and well spoken. Thou art to me in the place of a father, and if it is thy desire to arrange matters clearly, let Izyaslav go to Volynia and Rostislav return to Smolensk. I will settle all questions then with thee.” “Brother Yuri, this is what I will say in answer,” retorted Vyacheslav. “Thou hast seven sons, and I do not hunt them away from thee. I have two adopted sons, Izyaslav and Rostislav, with some others still younger. I will add this: Do thou for the good of the Russian land and of Christians go to Pereyaslavl, thence to Kursk with thy sons, and beyond is Rostoff, thy great inheritance. Send home the sons of Oleg. After that we will settle, and shed no Christian blood. But if thou must have thy own way, the Purest Lady and her Son will judge between us.”Yuri gave no answer to these words, but next morning he appeared before Kief with his forces. There was nothing but skirmishing till toward evening, when a part of each army engaged. The Kief troops drove back their opponents, and fought with such vigor that Yuri withdrew his whole force and marched westward to meet Vladimirko, his ally from Galitch, who, as he heard, was now hastening to join him. He appeared before Bailgorod, from which his son Boris had fled some time previously, and summoning the citizens, said: “Ye are my people, open the gates to me.” “Has Kief opened its gates?” was the answer. The gates remained closed, and Yuri marched farther. The Kief princes set out in pursuit and overtook him near Rut River, beyond Bailgorod. There they strove again to make peace, but failed, since the sons of Oleg and the Polovtsi opposed it.As they could not come to terms, the Kief princes were anxious to force a battle before Vladimirko could strengthen their enemy. Yuri wished to defer the engagement till Vladimirko could join him. His first intention was to pass Rut River, prevent the Kief troops from crossing, and wait for his ally in a favorable position. But all his movements to gain time were useless, and he was compelled[84]to turn promptly to battle. Andrei, now Yuri’s eldest son, for Rostislav had died recently, ranged his father’s warriors in order of battle. “Thou hast striven much for the good,” said Izyaslav and his brother to Vyatcheslav, “but thy brother opposes at all times. We are willing, if need be, to lay down our lives to save thy rights for thee.” “My sons,” replied the old man, “I have been opposed all my life to bloodshed. We are on this field to-day because of Yuri. God will judge between him and me.”Andrei advanced in the front rank, led the battle, and made the first lance cast. His lance broke, his shield was torn from him, his helmet was shivered, and he fell from the horse, which was wounded under him. Izyaslav also engaged in the front rank; thrown from his horse, he fell and was lost among the slain and wounded.The battle was brief, but decisive. Izyaslav’s men fought willingly this time, while Yuri’s showed no heart in the struggle. His Polovtsi fled without using an arrow. After them fled the sons of Oleg, and next Yuri himself and his sons. Many prisoners were taken, many men slain. Among the slain was Vladimir, son of David, Prince of Chernigoff.When the victors, returning, passed over the field after hunting their fugitive opponents, they saw a man trying to rise from a great pile of dead and wounded. Some foot warriors ran up and struck him. “I am a prince!” he was able to say. “Thou art the man we are seeking,” cried they, and slashed at his helmet, thinking him a son of Oleg, or David. “I am Izyaslav. I am your prince,” called he to them. They raised him then with gladness, and praised the Lord, who had saved him.The Kief princes urged Izyaslav, son of David, to take his brother’s corpse, hasten with all the strength in him to Chernigoff, and sit on the throne before Sviatoslav could forestall him. (This was a real case of running for office.)From the battlefield Yuri fled to the Dnieper, which he crossed, and then sped forward to Pereyaslavl for refuge. Sviatoslav fled to Gorodok, but as the son of Oleg was enormous in person, and mortally weary from fighting and fleeing, he could not move farther, though eager to do so. If he had had wings and could have used them, he would have flown through the air to Chernigoff; as it was, he sent forward his nephew, son of Vsevolod, who learned[85]at the Desna that Izyaslav, son of David, was already on the throne. Vladimirko of Galitch, on hearing of his father-in-law’s defeat, hastened homeward.At last Vyatcheslav and his nephew were in safety on all sides. They returned to Kief, which they entered in triumph, and held the place with pleasure, at least for the moment.Vladimirko of Galitch now dealt a sore blow at his enemies. Having heard that Mystislav, son of Izyaslav the Kief prince, was bringing in Hungarians, he lay in wait to destroy them. He found means to place a great quantity of wine within reach of the foreigners and they seized it and had a rich feast that evening. Just before daybreak Vladimirko attacked and slew nearly all of them, reserving but few for captivity. Mystislav escaped with his personal attendants. “If God give health to the king, and to me,” said Izyaslav, when he heard of the slaughter, “Vladimirko will pay for this dearly.”Yuri, still in Pereyaslavl, was inciting Vladimirko, and collecting fresh Polovtsi, so the Kief princes marched to expel him. After fighting two days before the town, on the third they burned its outskirts and sent these words to Yuri: “We salute thee. Go thou to Suzdal. Leave a son in Pereyaslavl. We may not leave thee there; thou wouldst bring in Polovtsi.” Yuri could get no aid from Vladimirko or the Polovtsi. His own forces were greatly decreased, and he would not weaken Suzdal, hence he returned this answer: “I will march to Gorodok, remain there a time, and go afterward to Suzdal.” To this the reply was that he might remain one month in Gorodok, and then he must go to Suzdal. If he would not agree to this, they would attack Gorodok, as they had attacked Pereyaslavl. There was no escape now, so, though unwilling, Yuri and his son kissed the cross to go in one month to Suzdal. He promised also to make no attack on Kief while it was held by Izyaslav and his uncle, and his uncle made no treaty with Sviatoslav, son of Oleg.Leaving his son Glaib in Pereyaslavl, Yuri went to Gorodok. Andrei, his eldest son, begged to go in advance to Suzdal. “We have naught now in this place,” said he to his father. Sviatoslav, hearing that Yuri had agreed with Vyatcheslav and his nephew, sent to Izyaslav, son of David, in his own name and in that of Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, asking for what had belonged to their[86]fathers. Izyaslav gave those lands to them, but on condition of their leaving Yuri, and acting with the sons of Mystislav.Yuri had not the heart to go home with defeat, and when the month had passed, and the time came to go to Suzdal he broke his oath and remained in Gorodok. Izyaslav with his warriors, the Prince of Chernigoff with his men, also the son of Vsevolod promptly moved against him. The son of Oleg sent his forces, but would not appear himself against his old ally. Yuri shut himself up in the place and fought, but at last he grew weary; he could not win victory alone, and no help was visible on any side. He was forced finally to swear again that he would go back to Suzdal. He went this time, and left his son Glaib in Gorodok. Because of the Gorodok oath breaking, Pereyaslavl had been taken from Glaib, and given to Mystislav, son of the Grand Prince.On the way home, Yuri stopped to see his friend Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, who received him with honor and gave him things needed for his journey. This friendly visit caused, very likely, the meeting between the princes of Kief and Chernigoff in 1152 (Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, was present at this meeting), at which they decided to deprive Yuri of his foothold between the South and Chernigoff. Then they razed Gorodok, fired the ruins and consumed the place utterly. They left not one thing on the site of it.“Yuri sighed from his heart,” as the chronicler states, when he heard of this destruction, and began at once to rally his forces. Rostislav of Ryazan came with his brother; Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, broke his treaty with the Kief prince and came to aid Yuri. A great host of Polovtsi appeared from all hordes between the Don and the Volga. An immense army assembled. “They burned my Gorodok,” said Yuri, “and also the church in it. I will burn their cities in return.” And he marched on Chernigoff.The Kief prince sent this message at once to his brother in Smolensk: “If Yuri moves against thy land, I will hasten to aid thee. If he passes thee, do thou hurry hither with warriors.” Rostislav saw that Yuri, when passing Smolensk lands, would strike at Chernigoff, so marching with speed he reached Chernigoff before his uncle, and shut himself in there with Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod. Polovtsi legions appeared that same day, and fell straightway to burning the suburbs.Yuri himself with his allies came in sight the next morning.[87]Twelve days and nights did the Suzdal prince struggle with the city but the defense was so stubborn that he seized nothing, mastered no part of Chernigoff. On the thirteenth morning came news that Vyatcheslav and Izyaslav were hurriedly approaching with all the Kief forces. The Polovtsi, active at looting and burning, fled when they saw that real fighting and danger were near them, and Yuri was forced to withdraw. He went first to Novgorod, then to Rylsk, and was about to start for Suzdal when the son of Oleg reproached him as follows: “Thou art leaving me when thou hast ruined my property. All the grain in this land has been trampled by Polovtsi. Thy Polovtsi have fled, and thou thyself art deserting. After thee will come Izyaslav, and he will destroy what remains here because I broke faith with him, and gave thee assistance.” Yuri engaged to leave troops, but his words were merely vain promises. He left only fifty men of his guard, and Vassilko, his son, to protect all that country.At Novgorod appeared Izyaslav, with his allies. In three days he was master of all save the innermost fortress. Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, asked then for peace, which the Kief prince wished at first to refuse, but he granted it finally and returned to Chernigoff. There he received news from his son, Mystislav, that he had overtaken and crushed Yuri’s Polovtsi, freed a great number of captives and recovered much booty. Yuri made still another effort, but a weaker one and his defeat was decisive.Thus ended Izyaslav’s struggle with his uncle. Yuri’s main ally, Sviatoslav, was reduced to take gladly the place that was given him. There remained still another of Yuri’s assistants, the last one, his son-in-law, Vladimirko of Galitch, and to him Izyaslav now turned his attention.[88]

[Contents]CHAPTER IIISTRUGGLES FOR THE THRONE OF KIEFThe death of Andrei, son of Monomach, brought many changes. Vsevolod induced Vyacheslav, Yuri’s brother, to take Pereyaslavl, that city which led to the Kief succession, and leave Turoff, where he put Sviatoslav, his own son. “He has a principality for his son, but for us he has nothing,” cried Vsevolod’s brothers. “It was heavy at their hearts,” adds the chronicler.Hereupon Vsevolod summoned his cousins and brothers to a council, saying he wished to make peace with them if possible. Having no confidence in Vsevolod, they would not enter the city, so the two parties encamped on the Dnieper, near Kief, and held communication from side to side of the river. Since the terms proposed by the Grand Prince, one town to each of his relatives, were acceptable to none of them, his brothers kissed the cross to each other and to their cousins, then joined in a pact to resist the injustice of Vsevolod. Still he did not increase his first offer. Thereupon they marched against Vyacheslav, thinking to have as easy a victory over him as had Vsevolod, when he took Kief from this simple-minded and interesting old prince. But Pereyaslavl met them firmly, and, failing to take the city by assault, they laid siege to it.Vsevolod reënforced the place promptly, and Izyaslav of Volynia hurried men to his uncle. The besiegers were defeated and driven off by Vyacheslav.Rostislav of Smolensk moved now from the west against Chernigoff territory. Izyaslav attacked it on the east, and seizing many places returned home with great honor. A new attack was made upon Vyacheslav soon after by the malcontents, who fought a three days’ battle, in which they were sorely defeated.Vsevolod now summoned Sviatosha, his cousin, a monk renowned[59]widely for sanctity, to aid him in reasoning with his relatives, and he himself sent them this message: “Dear brethren, take what I offer with good feeling; fight with me no longer.” Discouraged by defeat and influenced by the monk they accepted, and settled in Kief.Vsevolod, who owed what he had to his own subtle cunning and to the dissension among princes, was dissatisfied with the league between his brothers and their cousins. So, to detach the sons of David from the league, he said to them: “Leave my brothers; I will give you all splendid places.” Tempted by this promise, they deserted their allies, and received good places.Vsevolod’s brothers were incensed at this open treachery, but were silent for the time. They clamored later on, however, and very loudly, when Vyacheslav, advised by Vsevolod, exchanged principalities with Izyaslav, his nephew of Volynia, and then gave Volynia for Turoff, from which Vsevolod recalled his own son, whom he sent to Volynia straightway.Pereyaslavl, as the stepping-stone to Kief, was acceptable to Izyaslav, who wanted the succession most solemnly promised him. But Vsevolod’s brothers and his cousins were greatly angered by this change, which they understood not, and which they looked on as an act of monstrous treason. “Our brother keeps at his side the worst foes of our family,” complained they. “He leaves us without a chief, and without places,” and they urged Vsevolod to act against Monomach’s descendants, and demand the places which he had pledged to them earlier, but had not given.It would have been difficult, nay, quite impossible for Vsevolod to keep those promises, and he made no real effort to do so. Izyaslav was disquieted, however. He saw clearly what Vsevolod was doing. He knew him to be an inveterate trickster, who would deceive all men, who ever they might be, whenever the chance came and his interest required it, so he resolved to change the position if possible, and try to win Yuri, his uncle. He journeyed to Suzdal to see him, but he could make no impression on Yuri. Next he went to Rostislav, his brother, in Smolensk, and, last of all, to his brother in Novgorod, where he passed the winter. Thus did the descendants of Monomach and Oleg stand toward one another. How stood the other princes?First among these were the descendants of Rostislav, whose[60]sons, Volodar and Vassilko, are well-known to us. Both died in 1124, the first leaving two sons, Vladimirko and Rostislav; the second left two also, Grigori and Ivan.Of these four men, Vladimirko alone was remarkable. This prince not only kept his own among others, but was able to leave a strong principality to his son, whose friendship or enmity became highly important. Being weaker at first than most of his neighbors Vladimirko worked for success without reference to truthfulness or methods. In 1127 he called in the Hungarians and rose against Rostislav, his elder brother. His cousins came to the aid of Rostislav, as did also Mystislav, the Kief prince, and saved him. Rostislav died some years later; his two cousins died also. Thereupon Vladimirko took all Galitch, disregarding his nephew, Ivan, then ruling in Zvenigorod. The wars which followed the death of Mystislav the Great left a free hand to Vladimirko.In Vsevolod’s struggle with Monomach’s descendants, Vladimirko helped him, but matters changed altogether when the son of the Kief prince was transferred to Volynia. Vsevolod might permit Vladimirko to snatch land from a descendant of Monomach, but not from Sviatoslav, his son. Both men were perfectly selfish, neither had scruples of any kind, and in 1144 Vsevolod quarreled with Vladimirko because of Volynia, and marched against Galitch with a large army. Nine Russian princes went with him, and the Polish prince Vladislav. Vladimirko had called in his friends, the Hungarians, but his troops, outnumbered and cut off, would have been forced to surrender had he not saved himself cunningly through Igor, the Kief prince’s brother, to whom he sent this wily message: “Reconcile me with thy brother, and I will make thee prince in Kief, after Vsevolod.” Igor, influenced by this promise, set about making peace, and succeeded.Vladimirko went from his camp and bowed down before Vsevolod. He, “the cunning-minded and word-rich,” as people called him, brought Vsevolod to think it far better for him not to weaken Galitch too greatly, so Vsevolod, after taking an oath from Vladimirko, and a large ransom, restored all the towns which he had captured, and returned to his capital.Vladimirko’s enemies now grew more defiant, and the citizens of Galitch installed in that city his nephew, Ivan, surnamed later Berladnik. Vladimirko hastened with forces to Galitch, and besieged[61]it for three weeks unsuccessfully, till Ivan made a night attack, went too far out, and was cut off from his capital. Unable to return, he broke through the investing lines, made his way to the Danube, and through steppe regions to Kief, where Vsevolod received him with kindness. Vladimirko entered Galitch, and there met his opponents without mercy.Vsevolod’s reception of Ivan was, beyond doubt, the cause of a second war with Vladimirko. In 1146 Vsevolod led to Galitch large forces, among which were Poles, men of Novgorod, and Polovtsi. Siege was laid to Zvenigorod. When some of the citizens wished to surrender Vladimirko’s commander slew three of their leaders, cut each of the bodies in two, and hurled the six halves from the walls of the city. After that, those inside fought with valor. Vsevolod, who tried to storm the place, fought from daylight till evening. He fired the town in three places, but the people extinguished the fires, and resisted with desperation. The Kief prince at last raised the siege and returned home, forced mainly by an illness of which he died somewhat later.The position of Novgorod in Vsevolod’s day was most difficult; when this prince drove Vyacheslav from Kief, Yuri Dolgoruki asked aid of Novgorod against the usurper, but the city refused to help him. He immediately recalled his son, who was then prince in Novgorod, and, seizing Torjok, stopped Novgorod’s provisions. The city sent then to Vsevolod for a prince, and was forced to accept from him Sviatoslav, his brother, a second time. A riot was kindled by Monomach’s partisans, and it was raging fiercely when the new prince arrived. Sviatoslav, deposed recently for his failure at Pskoff, remembered his enemies and punished them. They resented this, and soon the position presented a deadlock. “It is grievous for me to be here with these people,” wrote the prince to his brother. “I cannot endure them.”To weaken the Monomach party, and smooth Sviatoslav’s way for him, Vsevolod induced the city to send him seven of its best men. Upon their arrival he threw them all into prison. This measure roused Novgorod greatly. Sviatoslav’s partisans were beaten at assemblies, and he himself, learning that he might be seized, fled in the night out of Novgorod, the posadnik, Yakun, going with him. Yakun was captured on the road and brought back to the city, with Prokop, his brother. Beaten by the people[62]till almost insensible, these two men were stripped of their clothing, and hurled from the bridge into the Volkov. Wading out, they were seized again, but not beaten. Yakun was fined one thousand silver grievens, and Prokop one hundred. Then the hands of both men were tied to their necks and they were cast into prison. After a time, however, they escaped to Yuri of Suzdal, who treated them kindly.Meanwhile the Bishop of Novgorod went to Kief with a number of notables, and said to Vsevolod: “Give us thy son; we want not thy brother.” Vsevolod consented, and sent his son, Sviatoslav. While the young prince was traveling toward Novgorod, people sent secondly to Vsevolod: “We want neither thy son, nor any man of thy family. Give us a son of Mystislav.” Hereupon Vsevolod detained the bishop and notables, and, not wishing to see a man of Monomach’s line prince in Novgorod, summoned his wife’s brothers, Sviatopolk and Vladimir, and gave them the Brest principality. “Think not of Novgorod,” said he, “let it have whatever prince pleases it.” After that, Novgorod was nine months without a prince, which for that proud city was unendurable. Grain was stopped by Yuri of Suzdal, and the price of food was enormous. The party hostile to Kief, which found favor with Yuri, rose in strength and increased greatly. They invited Yuri to Novgorod. He was not willing to go himself, but he sent his son, Rotislav.Vsevolod saw now that he had erred in not sending a brother-in-law, hence he vented his rage against Yuri. He took possession of Gorodok, Yuri’s capital, and seized his herds in southern regions. That did not settle the Novgorod question, however. Izyaslav, brother of Vsevolod’s wife, and prince now in Pereyaslavl, sent to his sister a message, which contained these words: “Get Novgorod for Sviatopolk, thy brother.” She set to work, and finally Vsevolod consented. He saw, of course, without any advice, that for him his wife’s brother in Novgorod was better than a son of Prince Yuri. Besides, the expulsion of Yuri’s son in favor of one of his nephews would widen the breach between Yuri and all his near relatives, a thing most desirable for Vsevolod.When men heard in Novgorod that Sviatopolk was coming, and with him the bishop and notables, the opponents of Yuri rose in power again, for the city must choose to retain Yuri’s son,[63]and be hostile to Vsevolod and all his adherents, or receive Sviatopolk and have Yuri alone as an enemy. Sviatopolk was installed, and Rostislav sent away to his father. Thus was the question decided.Vsevolod, double-dealing and shifty at all times, had promised the succession of Kief both to Igor, his own brother, and also to his wife’s brother, Izyaslav, who, as if selected for the place, had Pereyaslavl for his portion. Igor had the promise renewed in Galitch, when he made peace between the Kief prince and Vladimirko, the latter guaranteeing his aid to obtain the position.In 1145 Vsevolod, in presence of his cousins and brothers—Izyaslav also was in the assembly—declared Igor to be his successor. “Vladimir Monomach,” said the prince, “placed Mystislav, his son, on the Kief throne. Mystislav gave Kief to Yaropolk, his brother. Whenever God calls for me, Kief will go to Igor.”Oleg’s descendants knew well that these two Monomach successions broke the old rule by which Kief should belong to the senior among Yaroslav the Lawgiver’s descendants. The descendants of Monomach had violated this rule in their own line, by rejecting it. As they had led the way in destroying precedents, Vsevolod could now declare himself justified in following their example. Izyaslav opposed this decision, but with no avail. He was forced to kiss the cross in favor of Igor.In 1146, when returning in illness from the second campaign against Galitch, Vsevolod halted at Vyshgorod, and summoned the principal Kief men. “I am ill; take my brother as Grand Prince,” said he. “We do so with gladness,” responded the Kief men. Igor went with these men to the capital, where he assembled the citizens, and they kissed the cross to him. “Thou art our prince,” declared they, but “they deceived,” says the chronicler. Next day the Vyshgorod citizens also kissed the cross to Igor.Just before dying, Vsevolod sent to Izyaslav and to his brothers to learn if they adhered to their oaths taken solemnly. “We adhere,” replied all. After Vsevolod’s death, Igor made the Kief men take oath a second time, and the affair seemed concluded. But later, the Kief men assembled again, and sent to Izyaslav the words: “Come hither, O Prince!”Igor sent Sviatoslav, his brother, to Kief, and remained himself[64]with the warriors. The Kief men complained of Ratsha and Tudor, two tiuns (high officials). “Ratsha plundered Kief, and Tudor stripped Vyshgorod,” said they to Sviatoslav. “Now kiss the cross for thy brother, to give us fair justice.” “I kiss the cross for my brother, that ye will suffer no violence, and that ye will have tiuns to suit you.” When he had said this, he dismounted and kissed the cross. Chosen men went with Sviatoslav to Igor, who kissed the cross to do what his brother had promised. But, since the old tiuns were left in their places, men rushed to Ratsha’s house and attacked it. Igor sent troops and his brother to defend the tiuns, which they did with difficulty. Meanwhile he sent a message to Izyaslav, asking if he held to the oath which he had taken. Izyaslav gave no answer; he even detained the envoy.Since Igor retained the old tiuns, the Kief men decided quickly, and sent to Izyaslav, saying: “Come to us, Prince, we desire thee!” Izyaslav marched now against Kief. On the way, all towns declared for him. “Thou art ours, we will have no son of Oleg. March on!” shouted they. “We are with thee!” On he went, and soon he was met by Kief envoys. “Thou art our prince,” declared they. “We will not be the inheritance of Oleg’s son.”Meanwhile Igor sent for support to his cousins, the sons of David. They wished to sell that support at the highest price. Igor gave what they demanded and promised to give all that he could give when he reached power, if they would take the field for him. Still more important for Igor were his late brother’s warriors. He also strove to secure the chief boyars by promising to those men their old places, but he was late with the promise for the boyars, observing that the people had cast him aside, had deserted already in secret. Quick to abandon a lost cause, they sent this message to Izyaslav: “Hasten, Prince. The sons of David are coming to aid thy opponent.” Sviatoslav’s men were no more faithful than were those of his brother Igor. They, too, were prepared to desert at the critical moment.When Izyaslav appeared before Kief with his forces, the people were gathered at one side in a large body. Some distance away was the army of Igor. Izyaslav sent at once a chief and a banner to the people. A detachment fell upon Igor’s camp, and then came a fierce battle. The boyars, devoted to Izyaslav, went over immediately,[65]and Igor’s cause was lost very quickly. His whole army fled.While fleeing, Igor’s horse stuck fast in a swampy place, and the prince, unable to move, had to stay there alone with the animal. Sviatoslav, Igor’s brother, fled to Chernigoff; Sviatoslav, his nephew, took refuge in Kief, where he was captured.Izyaslav entered the capital with honor, and sat on the throne of his father and grandfather. All boyars faithful to Igor were captured and held until ransomed. The Kief people plundered the houses of Igor’s adherents and those of the late Vsevolod’s officials, taking much property of all kinds. Igor himself was found in the swamp four days later, and brought to Izyaslav, who put him first in a monastery, and then in prison, whence he was freed some time later.Thus power returned to Monomach’s descendants. Passing two uncles, Vyacheslav and Yuri, it came to a nephew, because Izyaslav, through his personal qualities, satisfied the people, while the uncles did not please them. When Izyaslav first rose against Igor, he stated that it was to restore the Kief throne to his uncle, but when he was marching, the people declared: “Thou art our prince.” Hence when he took Kief, he kept it because the people wished him to keep it. Of course, he himself was quite willing. The people did not want Vyacheslav, though his right was undoubted, but the boyars, knowing they could rule through him, wanted the old man. Acting on their advice, he seized principalities, among others Volynia, but Izyaslav soon forced him to restore them, for the new prince held firm possession.Meanwhile Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, fled with small forces to Chernigoff, and inquired of the sons of David if they intended to keep their oath to his brother. “We do,” replied they. Leaving with them his boyar, Kosnyatka, Sviatoslav set out for his own lands to take an oath from the people there. Once he had gone, the sons of David made their plans apart from Kosnyatka, who, learning by chance that they were plotting to seize Sviatoslav, sent at once to warn him. The sons of David, since their cousins could now obtain nothing west of the Dnieper, feared that they would take land from them in Chernigoff, hence they decided to join the Grand Prince against their cousin, and sent to Izyaslav, saying:“Igor is as hostile to us as to thee; hold him firmly.” To[66]Sviatoslav they sent this message: “Take Putival and abandon thy brother Igor.” “I am seeking my brother, not land,” replied Sviatoslav. “Take land and kiss the cross,” said the sons of David. Sviatoslav wept and sent to Yuri of Suzdal, saying: “God took Vsevolod, and now Izyaslav has taken Igor. Be gracious; march against Kief; free my brother, while I, with God’s aid, will bring forces hither to help thee.”Then he asked for men from the Polovtsi Khans, his wife’s uncles. They sent a detachment of warriors with promptness. From Murom came Vladimir, a grandson of that Yaroslav whom Vsevolod had driven from Chernigoff in order to take Kief later on, which he did successfully.This Yaroslav, who founded the Ryazan line of princes, had two sons: Sviatoslav and Rostislav. When the former died in Murom, Rostislav took his land and sent Glaib his own son to rule in Ryazan, giving nothing to Vladimir, his nephew, who came now to join Sviatoslav. After him came the nephew of Vladimirko of Galitch—Ivan, surnamed Berladnik, from Berlad, a town in Moldavia, which was filled with adventurers of all kinds. Ivan had found there a refuge, and next a small party of daredevils to join him. The sons of David wished now to crush Sviatoslav at all cost. “We have begun a hard task,” said they to one another; “let us end it. Let us kill Sviatoslav and take his possessions.” They saw that while alive he would fight to free Igor; in that his success lay. Triumph and love for his brother had for him become one thing. They remembered that in the late reign Igor and his brother had continually insisted upon having land in Chernigoff, and had been restrained only by promises of Kief and of places about it. What now could restrain those men? Of course only lands in Chernigoff. They could not get lands in another place.David’s sons begged aid of the Kief prince, who sent his son, Mystislav, with warriors to help them. The allies attacked Novgorod Seversk and fought three days there. They plundered the region about, and seized all the horses belonging to Igor and Sviatoslav. News came at this juncture that Yuri of Suzdal was Sviatoslav’s ally, and was marching to aid him.Izyaslav, the Grand Prince, now asked Rostislav of Murom to attack Yuri’s country. The Murom prince moved at once. We have seen that Rostislav’s nephew and enemy, Vladimir, was in[67]Sviatoslav’s camp, being thus an ally of Yuri, hence Rostislav was ready to fight against Yuri. Besides, Rostislav could not have been friendly to the sons of Oleg, one of whom had driven his father from his throne in Chernigoff.Yuri had reached Kozelsk, when he heard that Rostislav of Murom was attacking his country. This forced him back, but he sent his son, Ivan, who received Kursk and lands on the Seim as reward from Sviatoslav. It was clear that the latter would give what he had to preserve the alliance, and, with Yuri’s aid, redeem Igor. After he had given half his land for this ally, he tried, at the advice of his boyars, to win the sons of David to his cause, and sent to them his priest with this message: “Ye have ravaged my lands, seized my herds and the herds of my brother. Ye have burned my provisions and destroyed all my property; nothing remains for you now, but to kill me.” “Abandon thy brother,” answered the sons of David. “I would rather die,” replied Sviatoslav, “than abandon my brother. I will strive for him while life is in me.”The sons of David now plundered on every side. They took Igor’s town, where he had a residence. In his cellars were mead and wines, in his storehouses goods of much value. All that men could remove they took with them, then they fired the place, burning nine hundred stacks of grain.While Izyaslav was hastening from Kief with his warriors, David’s sons moved on Putivl, but the town was held firmly by the people till the Kief prince appeared before it. They yielded to him, when he kissed the cross to respect them, and merely installed his own posadnik, instead of the old one. He and his allies, however, seized all of Sviatoslav’s wealth in Putivl,—wine, mead, provisions and seven hundred slaves. Sviatoslav himself, advised by his allies, had fled northward, to be close to provisions and near Yuri of Suzdal, taking with him his wife and children, and also the wife of Igor. Some of his warriors had deserted, but the best remained faithful. The sons of David were infuriated by this flight of their cousin, and at once resolved to capture the man or kill him. Izyaslav said, “Let us follow Sviatoslav. If by any chance he escapes us, we will at least seize his wife and children, and take all of his property.” And with three thousand horsemen he set out to hunt down his cousin. When this force was[68]gaining on him, Sviatoslav pondered whether it were better to save his own person by flight and let his warriors and family be captured, or remain with them and lay down his life fighting. His men were not many, but they were of excellent quality,—Ivan, a son of Yuri of Suzdal, Ivan Berladnik, Vladimir of Murom, the Polovtsi party, and some others. He had to meet thousands with hundreds, but he chose to remain, and, turning on the son of David in a forest, he routed him thoroughly; then he fled farther as swiftly as possible.The Grand Prince and Vladimir, the other son of David, following on at some distance behind, had stopped to take food, when news came that Sviatoslav had defeated his pursuers. The Kief prince was enraged at this failure, and set out himself in immediate pursuit of the fugitive. On the way he was joined by stragglers from the scattered force, and at last came the son of David.Sviatoslav hastened forward to Koracheff, and as Izyaslav was again hunting him sharply, he fled to great forests in Vyatichi regions, where pursuit was impossible.“I hold the places which ye desired,” said the Kief prince to the sons of David. “Take ye the lands of Sviatoslav; I yield them all to you. Igor’s slaves and his goods in those lands will be mine. Sviatoslav’s goods we will divide between us.” After making this distribution, he returned to his capital.Meanwhile Igor, who lay ill in prison, wished to assume a monk’s habit, and requested permission. “Thou mayst do that,” replied Izyaslav. “I intended to free thee in every case.” Taken from prison to a cell in a monastery, Igor lay eight days and nights without food or drink. At last he revived and took the monk’s habit.The conflict still raged between Sviatoslav and his cousins. Izyaslav had left in Chernigoff his sister’s son, Sviatoslav, the son of Vsevolod, the late Grand Prince. The interests of this Sviatoslav were closely connected with the house of Oleg. A decisive defeat of his uncle would destroy this “sister’s son’s” chance of being prince in Chernigoff, to which he aspired, as the first son of Vsevolod. Hence, in secret, he favored his uncle, and informed him of all that his enemies were doing.Yuri of Suzdal now sent fresh warriors to Sviatoslav, who with[69]them was ready to rend his pursuers, when Yuri’s son, Ivan, who led them, died suddenly. The sons of David feared to attack Yuri’s warriors, but they urged leading men of the Vyatichi, in whose towns their posadniks were stationed, to kill Sviatoslav and scatter his forces. At this point two of Yuri’s sons, one of whom was Andrei, later on very famous, forced Rostislav, the Murom prince, who was attacking their father, to flee to the Polovtsi.That same year, 1146, Yuri invited Sviatoslav, his ally, to meet him in Moscow (Moskva). This name appears now for the first time in the chronicles of Russia. Originally a farm on the river Moskva, and owned by one Stephen Kuchka, it was called Kuchkova. When the land came into the possession of Yuri Dolgoruki, he built a village on an elevation and called it Moskva. There was feasting and gift-giving now in Moscow, but also much serious work. Yuri furnished warriors, led by his son, and fresh troops of Polovtsi came to Sviatoslav; thus he had power to take the offensive. This he did with effect, and when a third force of Polovtsi came, the effect was decisive. All the posadniks installed in Vyatichi towns by the sons of David fled quickly, and Sviatoslav sent in new men to replace them. Both sons of David withdrew from the north to Chernigoff, and sent peace proposals to Sviatoslav. Those same sons of David now turned traitorously on the Kief prince, to whom they sent this faithless message: “Sviatoslav has taken Vyatichi lands. Come with us to attack him. When we have driven him away we will march with thee against Yuri, and make peace or war with him.”Izyaslav agreed, but Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, to make sure of carrying out his own plans and escaping beyond reach of the Kief prince in season, came to Izyaslav, and said to him, “Let me go to Chernigoff, my father. I wish to get lands from my cousins.” “Thou hast thought this out well,” replied Izyaslav. “Go straightway.” He went, and the whole affair was fixed surely, as they thought. He and the sons of David were to seize the Kief prince the moment he set foot in Chernigoff. As he delayed, they sent envoys to hurry him. “Our land is perishing,” said they, “and thou wilt not come to assist us.”Izyaslav summoned his boyars and warriors and the people, and said to them: “I am going with the sons of David to war against Sviatoslav, and Yuri my uncle. I must go, for Yuri is[70]helping my enemy, Sviatoslav.” “Go not against Yuri,” said the people. “Make peace with thy uncle. Lend no ear to the sons of David, take not the same road with them.” “I must go,” replied Izyaslav; “they are my allies.” “Take it not ill of us,” continued the people, “we cannot raise hands against a son of Monomach. But if thou wilt march against the house of Oleg, we will not only go with thee, but take our sons also.”The prince, however, asked for volunteers to attack Yuri, and a large number went with him. On passing the Dnieper, he sent Ulaiba, his boyar, to learn what was happening in Chernigoff. The boyar hurried back, bringing news that the allies of the Kief prince were acting with Sviatoslav. Chernigoff friends also sent to Izyaslav, saying that his allies were deceiving him foully. “They wish to slay or to seize thee, and liberate Igor. They have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav, and also to Yuri.”The Kief prince now sent envoys to confer in his name with the sons of David: “We agreed on a great work, and kissed the cross to each other,” said the envoys. “Let us kiss it again, so that there be no disagreement hereafter.” “Why kiss again? We have kissed already,” replied the sons of David. “What harm in kissing the cross?” said the envoys. “The cross is salvation.” But they refused to kiss it a second time. The envoys repeated now these words from Izyaslav to the sons of David: “I have heard that ye are deceiving me, that ye have sworn to Sviatoslav to seize me or to kill me because of Igor. Is this true, brothers, or is it not true?” They would not answer. At last one of them said to the envoys: “Withdraw, we will summon thee later.” They consulted long, and then called the envoys.“We have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav,” declared they frankly. “We grieve over Igor, our cousin. He is a monk now; set him free, and we will ride at thy stirrup. Would it please thee if we held thy brother?” The treaty papers were cast at their feet, and these words were added in answer: “Ye took oath to be with me till death, and I gave you the lands of both sons of Oleg. I expelled Sviatoslav; I won his lands and gave you Putivl with other places. We divided Sviatoslav’s property between us. I took Igor’s. And now, brothers, ye have broken your oath. Ye invited me hither intending to kill me. Let God be on my side and[71]the power of the life-giving cross. I will manage as the Lord may assist me.”The prince asked Rostislav, his brother, to bring Smolensk forces from all sides. He sent to Kief also, explaining the conduct of the sons of David, and reminded the people of what they had promised. The Kief men decided immediately to go forward in boats and on horseback to help him. “We rejoice,” declared they in a message, “that God has preserved thee. We come and bring our sons with us, according to promise!” When thus excited, some man in the throng called out loudly: “We will fight for our prince, but think first of one important thing. Here in this city is the enemy of our prince. Let us slay him to finish that family in Chernigoff, and then go!” The people rushed to the monastery, and before Prince Vladimir, the metropolitan, or the commander in the city, could stop them they had seized Igor, and slain him.Izyaslav was at the edge of Chernigoff when news of Igor’s death came to him: “If I had thought of this, I should have guarded him more carefully,” said he to his warriors. “Men will say now that I wished to kill Igor, but God knows that I did not.” “Be not concerned,” answered his warriors. “God knows, and people know, also, that not thou, but his own cousins killed him; they who took an oath to thee, and then conspired traitorously to kill thee.”Izyaslav seized Kursk, where he placed his son, Mystislav, and thus barred out the Polovtsi. But Glaib, son of Yuri, came later with Sviatoslav to take the place. The people would not raise a hand against Glaib, since he was a grandson of Monomach. They would have fought against Sviatoslav had he come unassisted, as they informed Mystislav, who returned to his father.Glaib, after installing posadniks, left that region, and the Polovtsi were free to appear again. Rostislav of Smolensk led in large forces to help his brother, the Grand Prince, and after an involved and tedious war, ending rather against Izyaslav than for him, the Chernigoff princes were unable to continue the struggle; their territory was stripped of provisions, and ruined in great part; they had no food for their warriors, and could not pay Polovtsi allies. Yuri had sent a son with forces, but he would not go with his main strength in person, and without Yuri the Chernigoff princes were unable to stand against Izyaslav and his brothers.[72]In such straits, they sent these words to Yuri: “Thou didst kiss the cross to go with us against Izyaslav; thou hast not done so. Izyaslav came, burned our towns, took our country. He came a second time; he burned and seized what he spared at the first attack, but thou hast neither come to us nor fought against Izyaslav. If thy wish is to march now against the Kief prince, we will go with thee; if not, we are freed from our oath; we have no wish to perish in war unassisted.”From Yuri came no answer of value, hence they turned with proposals to the Kief prince. He replied that he would consult with Rostislav and then answer finally. He consulted with his brother for form’s sake, and then made peace with the princes of Chernigoff, who took oath to forget Igor’s death, and be in friendship for the future. Kursk remained in their possession.At this time Rostislav, Yuri’s eldest son, once prince in Novgorod, came to Kief, declaring that he had quarreled with his father, who refused him land in Suzdal; hence he had come to Izyaslav with homage. The Kief prince gave him those five towns held formerly by Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, and also Gorodok, where Izyaslav did not wish to see Yuri’s son Glaib, to whom he sent this command: “Find lands with the sons of Oleg.”In autumn, the Grand Prince went to Gorodok, taking Rostislav with him. The sons of David were there, but no son of Oleg. When Izyaslav mentioned this, the princes replied: “We are here. It is indifferent whether they come or not; they and we took the oath to make common cause with thee, and to go with thee against Yuri, starting when the rivers should be frozen.” They who had been Yuri’s allies a short time before had now become his enemies, and allies of Izyaslav. When the time came, Izyaslav left Vladimir, his brother, in Kief, and visited Smolensk, to confer with Rostislav.Novgorod had assembled large forces to march against Yuri, and now sent many warriors, as did Smolensk. They moved down the Volga, and, finding no trace of Yuri, ravaged both sides of the river as far as Uglitch. Here news came that the sons of David, with Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, had marched to assist them, but had halted in the Vyatichi country to see who would be victor, the Kief prince, or Yuri.“Let them come or stay,” replied Izyaslav, and he sent Novgorod men and others to take Yaroslavl on the Volga. This they[73]did after much effort, and returned with great booty. A week before Easter the weather became so warm that the army could not remain in the country. Horses walked to their bellies in water. Rostislav went back to Smolensk, and Izyaslav to Novgorod and thence to his capital.This campaign cost Yuri’s country seven thousand men led away captives, besides all the property burned and ruined. Upon Izyaslav’s return to Kief, he learned from his boyars that Yuri’s son, Rostislav, had worked against him in his absence, and had said to the people: “If God helps my father, he will visit Kief and take Izyaslav’s house from him, and also his family.” “Send this traitor back to his father; thou art keeping him here to thy ruin,” said the boyars. The prince summoned Rostislav, and, without receiving him, gave this message: “Thou didst come to me and say that thy father was unjust and would give thee no land. I took thee in as a brother, I gave thee lands, and now thou wouldst seize Kief from me.” Yuri’s son sent back this answer: “Neither in my heart nor my mind was the thought which thou hast mentioned. If he who has lied is a prince I am ready to meet him, if of lower degree, either Christian or pagan, judge thou between us.” “Ask no judgment of me,” replied Izyaslav. “I know what thou wishest. Go back to thy father.”The boyars put Rostislav in a boat with three men and sent him up the river. His warriors were retained, and his property taken.Rostislav bowed down to his father in Suzdal, and said: “The whole Russian land desires thee. Men say in Kief that their prince has dishonored them. March thou against Izyaslav.” These words imply clearly that Yuri’s son had worked with zeal against Izyaslav, and that the complaint of the boyars was well founded.Such an “insult” to Rostislav greatly offended Yuri, who demanded angrily, “Is there then no place for me or my sons in Russia?” He assembled his forces quickly, hired Polovtsi, and was soon ready for action.It was not anger alone which roused Yuri; he believed that his day had come, the long deferred day of triumph. His son’s report that he would find in the south serious allies, decided his movements, and he marched forward with all speed. He had reached the land of the Vyatichi, when Vladimir, son of David, warned Izyaslav, saying: “Be ready for action; thy uncle is marching.”[74]Izyaslav prepared, and with the sons of David sent envoys to Sviatoslav, brother of the late Igor, reminding him of their treaties.Sviatoslav gave no answer at first, but guarded the envoys to keep men away from them. Meanwhile he consulted with Yuri. “Art thou going against Izyaslav? Tell me truly lest I ruin my lands without reason.” “I go, of course,” replied Yuri. “My nephew made war in my lands and set fire to them. He drove out my son, and insulted me. I will avenge the wrong done, or I will lay down my life.”On receiving this answer, Sviatoslav, unwilling to break his oath, without reasons which men might hold sufficient, commanded his envoys to speak thus to Izyaslav: “Return Igor’s property, and I will be with thee.” “Thou hast kissed the cross to put aside enmity because of Igor and his property,” replied Izyaslav, “but now thou dost mention them when my uncle is marching against me. Keep thy oath, or else break it.”Sviatoslav joined forces with Yuri. Yuri and Sviatoslav then sent the sons of David a message, but they sent the answer only to Yuri: “In the last war thou didst swear to be with us. But when Izyaslav took all our lands and burned the towns in them, thou wouldst not come to us. Because of this we kissed the cross to Izyaslav, and we cannot jest with salvation.”Yuri marched southward, expecting the Polovtsi and awaiting submission from Izyaslav, his nephew. Rostislav of Smolensk, with large forces, hastened to strengthen his brother. Yuri advanced to Pereyaslavl, thinking that Izyaslav might yield; but Izyaslav did not yield. “If my uncle had come with his sons only,” said he, “he might have had the best province in my possession, but as he leads in the hated Polovtsi, and with them my enemy, I am forced to the field by his action.”Izyaslav talked thus to persuade Kief men to march against Yuri. They had insisted on peace, and declared that they could not raise hands against a son of Monomach. But, influenced by Izyaslav’s words, they at last consented to go, though unwillingly. Crossing the Dnieper, the Grand Prince met Yuri’s army, the advance troops being Polovtsi, and repulsed it. Then the two armies stood all day and night facing each other. In the night Yuri sent to his nephew this message: “Thou hast ravaged my country, thou hast taken seniority from me, but spare Christian[75]blood now. Let me seat a son in this city of Pereyaslavl, and rule thou in Kief. If not, let God judge between us.”Izyaslav detained the envoy, and led out all his men to meet Yuri. Next morning the bishop, with tears in his eyes, begged thus of Izyaslav: “Make peace with thy uncle. If thou do so, thou wilt save the land from sore misery, and have great reward from God.” But the prince would not listen. The armies were face to face that day till evening, the river Trubej between them. At a council called by Izyaslav, some favored crossing the river: “God gives thee the enemy; seize him,” said these men. “Remain where thou art,” said others. “Thy uncle is wavering, he will vanish in the night. Let him go, do not touch him.” The first advice pleased the prince, and he crossed the river. Next day at noon the armies came very near fighting, but Yuri halted, and in the evening withdrew. Again there were two minds in Izyaslav’s council: “Thy uncle is fleeing,” urged one mind; “attack him before he escapes thee.” “Follow not,” urged the other; “there will be no battle; thou wilt have victory for nothing.” This time too Izyaslav took the first advice.At daybreak next morning the battle began. It was resolute at the opening and venomous on both sides, but soon all of Izyaslav’s contingents from the Ros River fled. Seeing this, the sons of David and the Kief men fled also. Pereyaslavl, persuaded already by Yuri’s son, Rostislav, opened its gates without fighting, and thus the battle was ended.Izyaslav had pierced an opposing regiment, but when in the rear of it he saw that all had deserted him, and knew that nothing save flight remained. He reached Kief with only two attendants, and went immediately to Volynia; but he withdrew to reopen the struggle.On reaching Volynia Izyaslav sent to Poland, Bohemia and Hungary for aid. Aid was promised, but he wished aid itself, and not promises, hence he sent envoys a second time bearing rich presents, with the injunction to get what he asked for. Knowing now what it was to fight against his uncle when the people were indifferent or opposed to him, he sent these words to Yuri’s elder brother, Vyatcheslav: “Be my father and take the throne of Kief; if not I will ruin thy country.”Vyatcheslav, alarmed by the threat, sent this message to Yuri:[76]“Make peace, defend my country, come hither thyself; we shall then see what to do. If thou come not, I must act as seems best to me.” Yuri set out at once with his troops, taking Polovtsi also. Izyaslav marched from Volynia against him. To Vyatcheslav came Rostislav and Andrei, sons of Yuri, and soon Yuri himself came. Vladimirko of Galitch moved to the boundary and thus checked Poles and Hungarians.The Poles, greatly alarmed by news from their own land that Prussian tribes were attacking them, went home. Hence the allies sent these words to Yuri and Vyatcheslav: “Though ye are as fathers to Izyaslav, ye are now warring against him. As Christians and brethren we should all be united. Can you not arrange peace with your son and your brother? Ye might remain in Kief. Ye yourselves know who should be there. Let Volynia and whatever else is his go to Izyaslav. Let Yuri give back the Novgorod tribute.”“God reward you,” replied Yuri and his brother. “Since ye ask for peace and wish well to us, let Izyaslav return to Volynia, and go ye to your own lands; we will discuss then with Izyaslav.” The allies withdrew, and the uncles proposed terms to their nephew. But the affair halted because Yuri’s eldest son and a nephew advised with great earnestness not to make peace with Izyaslav. Yuri took this advice all the more readily, since Izyaslav’s allies had gone to their own lands, and he thought it easy to force down his nephew. “I will expel Izyaslav and take his lands,” said Yuri, and he moved with his brother to do this.Yuri and his forces invested Lutsk, and for many weeks fought around the city. The besieged lacked water greatly. Izyaslav strove to aid them, but Vladimirko of Galitch barred the way; he desired victory for neither side. Volynia, independent of Kief, was what he wished. Izyaslav sent to him, saying: “Reconcile me with my uncle Yuri.” Vladimirko was willing, in fact he was very glad to attempt this.Andrei, Yuri’s second son, was for peace and counseled his father. “Give no ear to my brother or cousin,” said he. “Make peace, O my father, do not ruin thy possessions.” Vyatcheslav favored peace also. He had his own reasons for doing so. “Make peace,” said he to Yuri. “If not, and thou go, Izyaslav will destroy my country.”[77]Yuri finally agreed to peace. His nephew yielded Kief, and Yuri gave back the Novgorod tribute. Izyaslav visited his uncles, and all sides promised to return booty taken since the action near Pereyaslavl. After that Yuri went back to Kief, and wished to give it to Vyatcheslav, to whom it belonged by seniority, but the boyars dissuaded him. “Thy brother could not hold Kief,” said they. “It will be neither his nor thine, if thou yield it.” Yuri took his son from Vyshgorod, and gave the place to Vyatcheslav.Meanwhile, 1150, Izyaslav sent to find herds and property seized before peace was concluded, but when his men had found what they were seeking, and asked for it, Yuri refused it, and they went back empty-handed. Thereupon Izyaslav sent a complaint and threat to his uncle: “Keep thy oath, for I cannot remain thus offended.” Yuri made no answer, and Izyaslav took arms again, urged, as was said, by Kief people.At this time Yuri’s son Glaib was encamped not far from Izyaslav, who suddenly attacked him in the night. Glaib escaped with much difficulty, having lost everything he had. Next day he sent to his cousin this message: “Yuri is my father, so art thou, and I render thee homage. Thou and Yuri will settle all questions. But give thy oath that thou wilt permit me to visit my father. If thou do, I will come and bow down to thee.” Izyaslav gave the oath. Glaib went to Yuri, and Izyaslav hastened to the steppe to get aid from the Black Caps, who rejoiced with unbounded delight when they saw him.Yuri, on hearing that his nephew had gone to the Black Caps, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper and hastened to Gorodok. As soon as Yuri withdrew from Kief, Vyatcheslav entered. The Kief people went out in great crowds to meet Izyaslav, who was not slow in coming. “Yuri has left us,” said they. “Vyatcheslav is in the palace, but we do not want him. Go to Holy Sophia, and then take the throne of thy fathers.” “I gave thee Kief,” said Izyaslav, in a message to his uncle, “but thou wouldst not take it. Now when thy brother has fled, thou art willing. Go to thy Vyshgorod.” “Even shouldst thou kill me for staying, I would not go,” answered Vyatcheslav.Taking a few attendants, Izyaslav went to his uncle and bowed down before him. Vyatcheslav rose, kissed him and they sat down together. “Father,” said Izyaslav, “I give thee homage,[78]I cannot do what thou wishest, such is the power of the people. They are opposed to thee. Go to Vyshgorod; from there we two will manage.” “When thou didst invite me to Kief,” answered Vyatcheslav, “I had kissed the cross to Yuri. If Kief is thine now, I will go to Vyshgorod.” And he went.Meanwhile Yuri called on the sons of David and Oleg for assistance, and Vladimirko was marching from the west. Izyaslav, greatly alarmed, prepared for defense very promptly and went with boyars to Vyatcheslav in Vyshgorod. “Take Kief,” said he to his uncle, “and with it what lands thou desirest; the rest leave to me.” Vyatcheslav was offended at first. “Why didst thou not give me Kief when thou wert forcing me out of it shamefully?” asked he. “Now when one army is moving against thee from Galitch and another from Chernigoff, thou givest me my inheritance.” “I offered thee Kief, declaring that I could live with thee, but not with Yuri,” said Izyaslav. “Thee I love as my father. And I say now again: Thou art my father, and Kief belongs to thee.” These words softened Vyatcheslav and he kissed the cross to consider Izyaslav as his son, and Izyaslav swore to regard him as a father. “I am going to Zvenigorod against Vladimirko,” said Izyaslav. “Be pleased thou to enter Kief and let me have thy warriors.” “I will send all of my warriors with thee,” replied Vyatcheslav.Vladimirko was now in the field to help Yuri, and Izyaslav marched westward at once to hasten the struggle, but when he came near the enemy his men forsook him. “Vladimirko has a countless host,” cried they. “Do not destroy us and forfeit thy own life. Wait till another time.” “Better die here than suffer disgrace such as that!” exclaimed Izyaslav. Nevertheless all fled the field, and the Kief prince was left with only his personal following. He fell back on the capital safely, though he might have been captured. Vladimirko thought the whole movement a strategy, hence he followed on cautiously, looking for ambushes everywhere. Izyaslav found his uncle in Kief, waiting anxiously. They counseled awhile and then sat down to dinner. During dinner news came that Yuri was crossing the Dnieper, and with him the men of Chernigoff. “This is not our day!” exclaimed the two princes, and they fled from Kief, Vyatcheslav going to Vyshgorod, and Izyaslav back to Volynia.[79]Next day Vladimirko and Yuri met outside Kief and greeted each other on horseback. The Galitch prince visited all the holy places in the city, and then bade farewell to his father-in-law in friendship. He took with him Yuri’s son, Mystislav, and installed that prince on the boundary of Volynia. Later on Yuri gave this whole region to his best son, Andrei.Andrei fixed his camp in Peresopnitsa, and during the winter Izyaslav sent an envoy to him. “Reconcile me with thy father,” said he. “My inheritance is not in Hungary or Poland. Ask from thy father the return of my land on the Goryn.” He sent this request, but bade his envoy look sharply at all things. He was planning to fall on Andrei, as he had fallen on Glaib, Yuri’s other son, some time earlier.The envoy found everything in excellent order, and a strong force of warriors in readiness. Andrei, unsuspicious, or feigning to be so, turned to Yuri in favor of Izyaslav, but Yuri would not yield a whit to his nephew. “My uncle,” declared Izyaslav, “would drive me to exile. Vladimirko of Galitch has taken my land at command of Yuri, and is now making ready to march on Vladimir, my capital.” So he sent Vladimir, his brother, to Hungary to ask aid of the king, who marched straightway with an army on Galitch. “I, thy brother, have started,” wrote the king. “Join me at once with thy forces. Vladimirko will see the men whom he has offended.”Vladimirko had friends in Hungary, who sent him information, hence he left Bailz, where his camp was, and hastened forward to meet the Hungarian forces at Peremysl. There he discovered that he was no match for the king in the field, so he begged the archbishop and two bishops from Hungary with certain influential boyars to help him. He lavished gold without stint on these prelates and boyars, and they in return urged the king to go home and make war at another time. He yielded, and sent this explanation to Izyaslav: “The Greek Emperor is moving against me; I must return to my own country to meet him, but next summer I can send ten thousand men, or even more if thou need them.”The Hungarian force vanished, and was as if it had never seen Galitch. Izyaslav, foiled for the moment by his enemy, sent Vladimir a second time to Hungary with this message: “Vyatcheslav’s boyars, the people and the steppe tribes have sent for me.[80]If thou must stay at home to prepare for the Greek Emperor, send me the aid which thou hast promised, and I will be with thee hereafter at all times.” The king sent him now ten thousand men, and with these warriors he set out against Kief.On the way news was brought to him that Vladimirko was following. A council was summoned, and the boyars spoke thus: “Thou art marching on Yuri, and Vladimirko is pursuing; our position is perilous.” “Ye have come out of Kief,” replied Izyaslav; “ye have lost land and property, ye have lost all. I have lost my inheritance. I must get back my own and win yours in the same effort. If Vladimirko comes, God will decide between us. If Yuri should meet me, the Lord will judge also in his case.” And leaving Sviatopolk, one of his brothers, behind in Vladimir, his capital, to guard the place, he moved forward with the Hungarians and his own men.On the way Vladimirko was joined by Andrei, and both forces followed together. Though sometimes at skirmishing distance, Izyaslav wisely abstained from action, and sent on Vladimir to Bailgorod, where Boris, son of Yuri, was feasting. If a collector of taxes had not raised the bridge, Boris would have been seized at table. Unable to get possession of the place without a battle, Vladimir rejoined Izyaslav, and they hastened on toward Kief. When Vladimirko’s men came up, they approached and sounded a trumpet. People ran out and lowered the bridge willingly. This advance force entered Bailgorod, and Boris hurried away to his father. Yuri, greatly alarmed by the strength of the enemy marching against him, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper, fled on, and took refuge in Gorodok.All Kief went out to meet Izyaslav. The delight of the people this time seemed real. Yuri, whom the city never really liked, had become most unpopular, and they now rejoiced to be rid of him.On the west, beyond Bailgorod, Vladimirko and Andrei were manœuvering for battle with Izyaslav, when suddenly news reached them that their enemy was in Kief with his forces, and Yuri powerless in Gorodok. Vladimirko’s rage was unbounded. “I cannot see how my father-in-law manages,” said he to Andrei. “I cannot understand how ye, his sons, help him. Thou, Andrei, hadst thy camp on the Goryn; Boris was in Bailgorod. We might have[81]forced Izyaslav to action and lamed, or defeated him, but Boris left us and gave the road to our enemy. Thy father then abandoned Kief, and Izyaslav is now Grand Prince. To-day the whole Russian land is on his side. I leave you, and go now to Galitch.”Yuri had no friends in the south, where all had hoped for his downfall. The campaign seemed indeed like some folk-tale. A battle might have ruined Izyaslav; a quick march secured him dominion.Vladimirko turned home, but to each town he said as he came to it: “Give me the silver and gold that I ask of you. If ye refuse I will take what I find at the sword’s point.” No town or city had the silver or gold, or the coin or utensils to meet this demand of Yuri’s ally, hence people were forced to take every ornament from the necks and the arms of their women, and give them to the master of Galitch. Vladimirko took from all in this way till he reached his own boundary.At last the hour of triumph had sounded for Yuri’s simple-minded brother. On the day after his entrance to Kief, Izyaslav sent this message to his uncle: “I salute thee, my father. I have sinned before thee, but I repent. I have sinned a first, and a second, and a third time. I repent now of all these transgressions, and, if thou forgive, God will pardon me. I give thee Kief; come thou and sit on the throne of thy fathers.” Thus Izyaslav acknowledged completely the right of uncles as opposed to the sons of their elder brothers, a right against which even personal qualities, or the respect of people availed not.“God give thee strength, my son,” replied Vyatcheslav, “because thou hast given me due honor. It was thy duty thus to act long ago. Thou hast given honor to God by the honor given me. Thou sayest that I am thy father; I say that thou art my son. I have no son, and thou hast no father; thou art my son, thou art also my brother.”Uncle and nephew now kissed the cross to each other not to part in defeat or in triumph. The Hungarians were feasted, received rich presents, and went home. The two princes sent Izyaslav’s son on a mission to Hungary, to assure the Hungarian king of the Kief princes’ gratitude, and to make offer of service, asking, too, that if the need came the king would send troops, as he had sent them recently. Rostislav of Smolensk was invited to aid in liberating[82]Kief, for they thought, and thought rightly, that Yuri would not yield without a struggle.Yuri now summoned all his allies. Sviatoslav moved promptly and met Vladimir, son of David, in Chernigoff; then their forces sailed down in boats to Gorodok, where they joined Yuri. Izyaslav, the other son of David, joined the Kief princes. Rostislav of Smolensk came to Kief early with his forces. Yuri moved with his allies from Gorodok to the Dnieper and strove hard to cross, but was foiled in each effort by his nephew. Strengthened now by large forces of the Polovtsi, he marched toward the south and crossed at the second ford, below Kief, then turning back, he advanced on the capital. Izyaslav and his uncle, disposing their men in the city and around it, waited for the coming conflict.“We are now ready for battle,” said Vyatcheslav to his nephews. “Yuri is my brother, though younger, and I wish to bring my seniority before him. God in his judgment considers the right side.” So he summoned an envoy and gave these instructions: “Go thou to Yuri, my brother: bow down to him in my name and say these words from me: ‘I have said often to thee, Yuri, and to Izyaslav, shed not Christian blood, ruin not the Russian land. I have tried to restrain thee from war. I have regiments and power of my own which God gave me. Still I have not fought for myself, though thou, Yuri, and also Izyaslav have deeply offended me, not one time, but many. Izyaslav, when going to fight against Igor, said that he was not seeking Kief for himself, but for me, his father. Then, when God gave him victory, he kept Kief for himself, and took also Turoff and Pinsk from me. That is how Izyaslav offended, but I, keeping Christians in mind and the Russian land, did not remember it against him. Thou, brother Yuri, when going to Pereyaslavl to fight against Izyaslav, didst say: “I seek not Kief for myself. I have an older brother who is to me as a father; I am seeking Kief for that brother.” But, when God aided thee to take Kief, thou didst keep it. Thou didst seize from me, besides, Dorogobuj and Peresopnitsa, and gavest me only Vyshgorod. Thus did ye wrong me. All this time I sought no redress out of love for the Russian land and for Christians. Ye would take no decision of mine; ye sought war. I strove to dissuade thee from war, but ye would not listen. Thy answer was that thou couldst not give homage to a junior. But Izyaslav, though he has failed[83]twice before in his word to me, has given now what is mine; he has yielded up Kief, and calls me father. Thou hast said: “I cannot bow down to a junior.” I am older than thou not a little; I was bearded before thou wert born. If it is thy wish to defy my seniority, God will render judgment.’ ”To this Yuri answered: “I bow down to thee, brother; thy words are true, and well spoken. Thou art to me in the place of a father, and if it is thy desire to arrange matters clearly, let Izyaslav go to Volynia and Rostislav return to Smolensk. I will settle all questions then with thee.” “Brother Yuri, this is what I will say in answer,” retorted Vyacheslav. “Thou hast seven sons, and I do not hunt them away from thee. I have two adopted sons, Izyaslav and Rostislav, with some others still younger. I will add this: Do thou for the good of the Russian land and of Christians go to Pereyaslavl, thence to Kursk with thy sons, and beyond is Rostoff, thy great inheritance. Send home the sons of Oleg. After that we will settle, and shed no Christian blood. But if thou must have thy own way, the Purest Lady and her Son will judge between us.”Yuri gave no answer to these words, but next morning he appeared before Kief with his forces. There was nothing but skirmishing till toward evening, when a part of each army engaged. The Kief troops drove back their opponents, and fought with such vigor that Yuri withdrew his whole force and marched westward to meet Vladimirko, his ally from Galitch, who, as he heard, was now hastening to join him. He appeared before Bailgorod, from which his son Boris had fled some time previously, and summoning the citizens, said: “Ye are my people, open the gates to me.” “Has Kief opened its gates?” was the answer. The gates remained closed, and Yuri marched farther. The Kief princes set out in pursuit and overtook him near Rut River, beyond Bailgorod. There they strove again to make peace, but failed, since the sons of Oleg and the Polovtsi opposed it.As they could not come to terms, the Kief princes were anxious to force a battle before Vladimirko could strengthen their enemy. Yuri wished to defer the engagement till Vladimirko could join him. His first intention was to pass Rut River, prevent the Kief troops from crossing, and wait for his ally in a favorable position. But all his movements to gain time were useless, and he was compelled[84]to turn promptly to battle. Andrei, now Yuri’s eldest son, for Rostislav had died recently, ranged his father’s warriors in order of battle. “Thou hast striven much for the good,” said Izyaslav and his brother to Vyatcheslav, “but thy brother opposes at all times. We are willing, if need be, to lay down our lives to save thy rights for thee.” “My sons,” replied the old man, “I have been opposed all my life to bloodshed. We are on this field to-day because of Yuri. God will judge between him and me.”Andrei advanced in the front rank, led the battle, and made the first lance cast. His lance broke, his shield was torn from him, his helmet was shivered, and he fell from the horse, which was wounded under him. Izyaslav also engaged in the front rank; thrown from his horse, he fell and was lost among the slain and wounded.The battle was brief, but decisive. Izyaslav’s men fought willingly this time, while Yuri’s showed no heart in the struggle. His Polovtsi fled without using an arrow. After them fled the sons of Oleg, and next Yuri himself and his sons. Many prisoners were taken, many men slain. Among the slain was Vladimir, son of David, Prince of Chernigoff.When the victors, returning, passed over the field after hunting their fugitive opponents, they saw a man trying to rise from a great pile of dead and wounded. Some foot warriors ran up and struck him. “I am a prince!” he was able to say. “Thou art the man we are seeking,” cried they, and slashed at his helmet, thinking him a son of Oleg, or David. “I am Izyaslav. I am your prince,” called he to them. They raised him then with gladness, and praised the Lord, who had saved him.The Kief princes urged Izyaslav, son of David, to take his brother’s corpse, hasten with all the strength in him to Chernigoff, and sit on the throne before Sviatoslav could forestall him. (This was a real case of running for office.)From the battlefield Yuri fled to the Dnieper, which he crossed, and then sped forward to Pereyaslavl for refuge. Sviatoslav fled to Gorodok, but as the son of Oleg was enormous in person, and mortally weary from fighting and fleeing, he could not move farther, though eager to do so. If he had had wings and could have used them, he would have flown through the air to Chernigoff; as it was, he sent forward his nephew, son of Vsevolod, who learned[85]at the Desna that Izyaslav, son of David, was already on the throne. Vladimirko of Galitch, on hearing of his father-in-law’s defeat, hastened homeward.At last Vyatcheslav and his nephew were in safety on all sides. They returned to Kief, which they entered in triumph, and held the place with pleasure, at least for the moment.Vladimirko of Galitch now dealt a sore blow at his enemies. Having heard that Mystislav, son of Izyaslav the Kief prince, was bringing in Hungarians, he lay in wait to destroy them. He found means to place a great quantity of wine within reach of the foreigners and they seized it and had a rich feast that evening. Just before daybreak Vladimirko attacked and slew nearly all of them, reserving but few for captivity. Mystislav escaped with his personal attendants. “If God give health to the king, and to me,” said Izyaslav, when he heard of the slaughter, “Vladimirko will pay for this dearly.”Yuri, still in Pereyaslavl, was inciting Vladimirko, and collecting fresh Polovtsi, so the Kief princes marched to expel him. After fighting two days before the town, on the third they burned its outskirts and sent these words to Yuri: “We salute thee. Go thou to Suzdal. Leave a son in Pereyaslavl. We may not leave thee there; thou wouldst bring in Polovtsi.” Yuri could get no aid from Vladimirko or the Polovtsi. His own forces were greatly decreased, and he would not weaken Suzdal, hence he returned this answer: “I will march to Gorodok, remain there a time, and go afterward to Suzdal.” To this the reply was that he might remain one month in Gorodok, and then he must go to Suzdal. If he would not agree to this, they would attack Gorodok, as they had attacked Pereyaslavl. There was no escape now, so, though unwilling, Yuri and his son kissed the cross to go in one month to Suzdal. He promised also to make no attack on Kief while it was held by Izyaslav and his uncle, and his uncle made no treaty with Sviatoslav, son of Oleg.Leaving his son Glaib in Pereyaslavl, Yuri went to Gorodok. Andrei, his eldest son, begged to go in advance to Suzdal. “We have naught now in this place,” said he to his father. Sviatoslav, hearing that Yuri had agreed with Vyatcheslav and his nephew, sent to Izyaslav, son of David, in his own name and in that of Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, asking for what had belonged to their[86]fathers. Izyaslav gave those lands to them, but on condition of their leaving Yuri, and acting with the sons of Mystislav.Yuri had not the heart to go home with defeat, and when the month had passed, and the time came to go to Suzdal he broke his oath and remained in Gorodok. Izyaslav with his warriors, the Prince of Chernigoff with his men, also the son of Vsevolod promptly moved against him. The son of Oleg sent his forces, but would not appear himself against his old ally. Yuri shut himself up in the place and fought, but at last he grew weary; he could not win victory alone, and no help was visible on any side. He was forced finally to swear again that he would go back to Suzdal. He went this time, and left his son Glaib in Gorodok. Because of the Gorodok oath breaking, Pereyaslavl had been taken from Glaib, and given to Mystislav, son of the Grand Prince.On the way home, Yuri stopped to see his friend Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, who received him with honor and gave him things needed for his journey. This friendly visit caused, very likely, the meeting between the princes of Kief and Chernigoff in 1152 (Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, was present at this meeting), at which they decided to deprive Yuri of his foothold between the South and Chernigoff. Then they razed Gorodok, fired the ruins and consumed the place utterly. They left not one thing on the site of it.“Yuri sighed from his heart,” as the chronicler states, when he heard of this destruction, and began at once to rally his forces. Rostislav of Ryazan came with his brother; Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, broke his treaty with the Kief prince and came to aid Yuri. A great host of Polovtsi appeared from all hordes between the Don and the Volga. An immense army assembled. “They burned my Gorodok,” said Yuri, “and also the church in it. I will burn their cities in return.” And he marched on Chernigoff.The Kief prince sent this message at once to his brother in Smolensk: “If Yuri moves against thy land, I will hasten to aid thee. If he passes thee, do thou hurry hither with warriors.” Rostislav saw that Yuri, when passing Smolensk lands, would strike at Chernigoff, so marching with speed he reached Chernigoff before his uncle, and shut himself in there with Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod. Polovtsi legions appeared that same day, and fell straightway to burning the suburbs.Yuri himself with his allies came in sight the next morning.[87]Twelve days and nights did the Suzdal prince struggle with the city but the defense was so stubborn that he seized nothing, mastered no part of Chernigoff. On the thirteenth morning came news that Vyatcheslav and Izyaslav were hurriedly approaching with all the Kief forces. The Polovtsi, active at looting and burning, fled when they saw that real fighting and danger were near them, and Yuri was forced to withdraw. He went first to Novgorod, then to Rylsk, and was about to start for Suzdal when the son of Oleg reproached him as follows: “Thou art leaving me when thou hast ruined my property. All the grain in this land has been trampled by Polovtsi. Thy Polovtsi have fled, and thou thyself art deserting. After thee will come Izyaslav, and he will destroy what remains here because I broke faith with him, and gave thee assistance.” Yuri engaged to leave troops, but his words were merely vain promises. He left only fifty men of his guard, and Vassilko, his son, to protect all that country.At Novgorod appeared Izyaslav, with his allies. In three days he was master of all save the innermost fortress. Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, asked then for peace, which the Kief prince wished at first to refuse, but he granted it finally and returned to Chernigoff. There he received news from his son, Mystislav, that he had overtaken and crushed Yuri’s Polovtsi, freed a great number of captives and recovered much booty. Yuri made still another effort, but a weaker one and his defeat was decisive.Thus ended Izyaslav’s struggle with his uncle. Yuri’s main ally, Sviatoslav, was reduced to take gladly the place that was given him. There remained still another of Yuri’s assistants, the last one, his son-in-law, Vladimirko of Galitch, and to him Izyaslav now turned his attention.[88]

CHAPTER IIISTRUGGLES FOR THE THRONE OF KIEF

The death of Andrei, son of Monomach, brought many changes. Vsevolod induced Vyacheslav, Yuri’s brother, to take Pereyaslavl, that city which led to the Kief succession, and leave Turoff, where he put Sviatoslav, his own son. “He has a principality for his son, but for us he has nothing,” cried Vsevolod’s brothers. “It was heavy at their hearts,” adds the chronicler.Hereupon Vsevolod summoned his cousins and brothers to a council, saying he wished to make peace with them if possible. Having no confidence in Vsevolod, they would not enter the city, so the two parties encamped on the Dnieper, near Kief, and held communication from side to side of the river. Since the terms proposed by the Grand Prince, one town to each of his relatives, were acceptable to none of them, his brothers kissed the cross to each other and to their cousins, then joined in a pact to resist the injustice of Vsevolod. Still he did not increase his first offer. Thereupon they marched against Vyacheslav, thinking to have as easy a victory over him as had Vsevolod, when he took Kief from this simple-minded and interesting old prince. But Pereyaslavl met them firmly, and, failing to take the city by assault, they laid siege to it.Vsevolod reënforced the place promptly, and Izyaslav of Volynia hurried men to his uncle. The besiegers were defeated and driven off by Vyacheslav.Rostislav of Smolensk moved now from the west against Chernigoff territory. Izyaslav attacked it on the east, and seizing many places returned home with great honor. A new attack was made upon Vyacheslav soon after by the malcontents, who fought a three days’ battle, in which they were sorely defeated.Vsevolod now summoned Sviatosha, his cousin, a monk renowned[59]widely for sanctity, to aid him in reasoning with his relatives, and he himself sent them this message: “Dear brethren, take what I offer with good feeling; fight with me no longer.” Discouraged by defeat and influenced by the monk they accepted, and settled in Kief.Vsevolod, who owed what he had to his own subtle cunning and to the dissension among princes, was dissatisfied with the league between his brothers and their cousins. So, to detach the sons of David from the league, he said to them: “Leave my brothers; I will give you all splendid places.” Tempted by this promise, they deserted their allies, and received good places.Vsevolod’s brothers were incensed at this open treachery, but were silent for the time. They clamored later on, however, and very loudly, when Vyacheslav, advised by Vsevolod, exchanged principalities with Izyaslav, his nephew of Volynia, and then gave Volynia for Turoff, from which Vsevolod recalled his own son, whom he sent to Volynia straightway.Pereyaslavl, as the stepping-stone to Kief, was acceptable to Izyaslav, who wanted the succession most solemnly promised him. But Vsevolod’s brothers and his cousins were greatly angered by this change, which they understood not, and which they looked on as an act of monstrous treason. “Our brother keeps at his side the worst foes of our family,” complained they. “He leaves us without a chief, and without places,” and they urged Vsevolod to act against Monomach’s descendants, and demand the places which he had pledged to them earlier, but had not given.It would have been difficult, nay, quite impossible for Vsevolod to keep those promises, and he made no real effort to do so. Izyaslav was disquieted, however. He saw clearly what Vsevolod was doing. He knew him to be an inveterate trickster, who would deceive all men, who ever they might be, whenever the chance came and his interest required it, so he resolved to change the position if possible, and try to win Yuri, his uncle. He journeyed to Suzdal to see him, but he could make no impression on Yuri. Next he went to Rostislav, his brother, in Smolensk, and, last of all, to his brother in Novgorod, where he passed the winter. Thus did the descendants of Monomach and Oleg stand toward one another. How stood the other princes?First among these were the descendants of Rostislav, whose[60]sons, Volodar and Vassilko, are well-known to us. Both died in 1124, the first leaving two sons, Vladimirko and Rostislav; the second left two also, Grigori and Ivan.Of these four men, Vladimirko alone was remarkable. This prince not only kept his own among others, but was able to leave a strong principality to his son, whose friendship or enmity became highly important. Being weaker at first than most of his neighbors Vladimirko worked for success without reference to truthfulness or methods. In 1127 he called in the Hungarians and rose against Rostislav, his elder brother. His cousins came to the aid of Rostislav, as did also Mystislav, the Kief prince, and saved him. Rostislav died some years later; his two cousins died also. Thereupon Vladimirko took all Galitch, disregarding his nephew, Ivan, then ruling in Zvenigorod. The wars which followed the death of Mystislav the Great left a free hand to Vladimirko.In Vsevolod’s struggle with Monomach’s descendants, Vladimirko helped him, but matters changed altogether when the son of the Kief prince was transferred to Volynia. Vsevolod might permit Vladimirko to snatch land from a descendant of Monomach, but not from Sviatoslav, his son. Both men were perfectly selfish, neither had scruples of any kind, and in 1144 Vsevolod quarreled with Vladimirko because of Volynia, and marched against Galitch with a large army. Nine Russian princes went with him, and the Polish prince Vladislav. Vladimirko had called in his friends, the Hungarians, but his troops, outnumbered and cut off, would have been forced to surrender had he not saved himself cunningly through Igor, the Kief prince’s brother, to whom he sent this wily message: “Reconcile me with thy brother, and I will make thee prince in Kief, after Vsevolod.” Igor, influenced by this promise, set about making peace, and succeeded.Vladimirko went from his camp and bowed down before Vsevolod. He, “the cunning-minded and word-rich,” as people called him, brought Vsevolod to think it far better for him not to weaken Galitch too greatly, so Vsevolod, after taking an oath from Vladimirko, and a large ransom, restored all the towns which he had captured, and returned to his capital.Vladimirko’s enemies now grew more defiant, and the citizens of Galitch installed in that city his nephew, Ivan, surnamed later Berladnik. Vladimirko hastened with forces to Galitch, and besieged[61]it for three weeks unsuccessfully, till Ivan made a night attack, went too far out, and was cut off from his capital. Unable to return, he broke through the investing lines, made his way to the Danube, and through steppe regions to Kief, where Vsevolod received him with kindness. Vladimirko entered Galitch, and there met his opponents without mercy.Vsevolod’s reception of Ivan was, beyond doubt, the cause of a second war with Vladimirko. In 1146 Vsevolod led to Galitch large forces, among which were Poles, men of Novgorod, and Polovtsi. Siege was laid to Zvenigorod. When some of the citizens wished to surrender Vladimirko’s commander slew three of their leaders, cut each of the bodies in two, and hurled the six halves from the walls of the city. After that, those inside fought with valor. Vsevolod, who tried to storm the place, fought from daylight till evening. He fired the town in three places, but the people extinguished the fires, and resisted with desperation. The Kief prince at last raised the siege and returned home, forced mainly by an illness of which he died somewhat later.The position of Novgorod in Vsevolod’s day was most difficult; when this prince drove Vyacheslav from Kief, Yuri Dolgoruki asked aid of Novgorod against the usurper, but the city refused to help him. He immediately recalled his son, who was then prince in Novgorod, and, seizing Torjok, stopped Novgorod’s provisions. The city sent then to Vsevolod for a prince, and was forced to accept from him Sviatoslav, his brother, a second time. A riot was kindled by Monomach’s partisans, and it was raging fiercely when the new prince arrived. Sviatoslav, deposed recently for his failure at Pskoff, remembered his enemies and punished them. They resented this, and soon the position presented a deadlock. “It is grievous for me to be here with these people,” wrote the prince to his brother. “I cannot endure them.”To weaken the Monomach party, and smooth Sviatoslav’s way for him, Vsevolod induced the city to send him seven of its best men. Upon their arrival he threw them all into prison. This measure roused Novgorod greatly. Sviatoslav’s partisans were beaten at assemblies, and he himself, learning that he might be seized, fled in the night out of Novgorod, the posadnik, Yakun, going with him. Yakun was captured on the road and brought back to the city, with Prokop, his brother. Beaten by the people[62]till almost insensible, these two men were stripped of their clothing, and hurled from the bridge into the Volkov. Wading out, they were seized again, but not beaten. Yakun was fined one thousand silver grievens, and Prokop one hundred. Then the hands of both men were tied to their necks and they were cast into prison. After a time, however, they escaped to Yuri of Suzdal, who treated them kindly.Meanwhile the Bishop of Novgorod went to Kief with a number of notables, and said to Vsevolod: “Give us thy son; we want not thy brother.” Vsevolod consented, and sent his son, Sviatoslav. While the young prince was traveling toward Novgorod, people sent secondly to Vsevolod: “We want neither thy son, nor any man of thy family. Give us a son of Mystislav.” Hereupon Vsevolod detained the bishop and notables, and, not wishing to see a man of Monomach’s line prince in Novgorod, summoned his wife’s brothers, Sviatopolk and Vladimir, and gave them the Brest principality. “Think not of Novgorod,” said he, “let it have whatever prince pleases it.” After that, Novgorod was nine months without a prince, which for that proud city was unendurable. Grain was stopped by Yuri of Suzdal, and the price of food was enormous. The party hostile to Kief, which found favor with Yuri, rose in strength and increased greatly. They invited Yuri to Novgorod. He was not willing to go himself, but he sent his son, Rotislav.Vsevolod saw now that he had erred in not sending a brother-in-law, hence he vented his rage against Yuri. He took possession of Gorodok, Yuri’s capital, and seized his herds in southern regions. That did not settle the Novgorod question, however. Izyaslav, brother of Vsevolod’s wife, and prince now in Pereyaslavl, sent to his sister a message, which contained these words: “Get Novgorod for Sviatopolk, thy brother.” She set to work, and finally Vsevolod consented. He saw, of course, without any advice, that for him his wife’s brother in Novgorod was better than a son of Prince Yuri. Besides, the expulsion of Yuri’s son in favor of one of his nephews would widen the breach between Yuri and all his near relatives, a thing most desirable for Vsevolod.When men heard in Novgorod that Sviatopolk was coming, and with him the bishop and notables, the opponents of Yuri rose in power again, for the city must choose to retain Yuri’s son,[63]and be hostile to Vsevolod and all his adherents, or receive Sviatopolk and have Yuri alone as an enemy. Sviatopolk was installed, and Rostislav sent away to his father. Thus was the question decided.Vsevolod, double-dealing and shifty at all times, had promised the succession of Kief both to Igor, his own brother, and also to his wife’s brother, Izyaslav, who, as if selected for the place, had Pereyaslavl for his portion. Igor had the promise renewed in Galitch, when he made peace between the Kief prince and Vladimirko, the latter guaranteeing his aid to obtain the position.In 1145 Vsevolod, in presence of his cousins and brothers—Izyaslav also was in the assembly—declared Igor to be his successor. “Vladimir Monomach,” said the prince, “placed Mystislav, his son, on the Kief throne. Mystislav gave Kief to Yaropolk, his brother. Whenever God calls for me, Kief will go to Igor.”Oleg’s descendants knew well that these two Monomach successions broke the old rule by which Kief should belong to the senior among Yaroslav the Lawgiver’s descendants. The descendants of Monomach had violated this rule in their own line, by rejecting it. As they had led the way in destroying precedents, Vsevolod could now declare himself justified in following their example. Izyaslav opposed this decision, but with no avail. He was forced to kiss the cross in favor of Igor.In 1146, when returning in illness from the second campaign against Galitch, Vsevolod halted at Vyshgorod, and summoned the principal Kief men. “I am ill; take my brother as Grand Prince,” said he. “We do so with gladness,” responded the Kief men. Igor went with these men to the capital, where he assembled the citizens, and they kissed the cross to him. “Thou art our prince,” declared they, but “they deceived,” says the chronicler. Next day the Vyshgorod citizens also kissed the cross to Igor.Just before dying, Vsevolod sent to Izyaslav and to his brothers to learn if they adhered to their oaths taken solemnly. “We adhere,” replied all. After Vsevolod’s death, Igor made the Kief men take oath a second time, and the affair seemed concluded. But later, the Kief men assembled again, and sent to Izyaslav the words: “Come hither, O Prince!”Igor sent Sviatoslav, his brother, to Kief, and remained himself[64]with the warriors. The Kief men complained of Ratsha and Tudor, two tiuns (high officials). “Ratsha plundered Kief, and Tudor stripped Vyshgorod,” said they to Sviatoslav. “Now kiss the cross for thy brother, to give us fair justice.” “I kiss the cross for my brother, that ye will suffer no violence, and that ye will have tiuns to suit you.” When he had said this, he dismounted and kissed the cross. Chosen men went with Sviatoslav to Igor, who kissed the cross to do what his brother had promised. But, since the old tiuns were left in their places, men rushed to Ratsha’s house and attacked it. Igor sent troops and his brother to defend the tiuns, which they did with difficulty. Meanwhile he sent a message to Izyaslav, asking if he held to the oath which he had taken. Izyaslav gave no answer; he even detained the envoy.Since Igor retained the old tiuns, the Kief men decided quickly, and sent to Izyaslav, saying: “Come to us, Prince, we desire thee!” Izyaslav marched now against Kief. On the way, all towns declared for him. “Thou art ours, we will have no son of Oleg. March on!” shouted they. “We are with thee!” On he went, and soon he was met by Kief envoys. “Thou art our prince,” declared they. “We will not be the inheritance of Oleg’s son.”Meanwhile Igor sent for support to his cousins, the sons of David. They wished to sell that support at the highest price. Igor gave what they demanded and promised to give all that he could give when he reached power, if they would take the field for him. Still more important for Igor were his late brother’s warriors. He also strove to secure the chief boyars by promising to those men their old places, but he was late with the promise for the boyars, observing that the people had cast him aside, had deserted already in secret. Quick to abandon a lost cause, they sent this message to Izyaslav: “Hasten, Prince. The sons of David are coming to aid thy opponent.” Sviatoslav’s men were no more faithful than were those of his brother Igor. They, too, were prepared to desert at the critical moment.When Izyaslav appeared before Kief with his forces, the people were gathered at one side in a large body. Some distance away was the army of Igor. Izyaslav sent at once a chief and a banner to the people. A detachment fell upon Igor’s camp, and then came a fierce battle. The boyars, devoted to Izyaslav, went over immediately,[65]and Igor’s cause was lost very quickly. His whole army fled.While fleeing, Igor’s horse stuck fast in a swampy place, and the prince, unable to move, had to stay there alone with the animal. Sviatoslav, Igor’s brother, fled to Chernigoff; Sviatoslav, his nephew, took refuge in Kief, where he was captured.Izyaslav entered the capital with honor, and sat on the throne of his father and grandfather. All boyars faithful to Igor were captured and held until ransomed. The Kief people plundered the houses of Igor’s adherents and those of the late Vsevolod’s officials, taking much property of all kinds. Igor himself was found in the swamp four days later, and brought to Izyaslav, who put him first in a monastery, and then in prison, whence he was freed some time later.Thus power returned to Monomach’s descendants. Passing two uncles, Vyacheslav and Yuri, it came to a nephew, because Izyaslav, through his personal qualities, satisfied the people, while the uncles did not please them. When Izyaslav first rose against Igor, he stated that it was to restore the Kief throne to his uncle, but when he was marching, the people declared: “Thou art our prince.” Hence when he took Kief, he kept it because the people wished him to keep it. Of course, he himself was quite willing. The people did not want Vyacheslav, though his right was undoubted, but the boyars, knowing they could rule through him, wanted the old man. Acting on their advice, he seized principalities, among others Volynia, but Izyaslav soon forced him to restore them, for the new prince held firm possession.Meanwhile Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, fled with small forces to Chernigoff, and inquired of the sons of David if they intended to keep their oath to his brother. “We do,” replied they. Leaving with them his boyar, Kosnyatka, Sviatoslav set out for his own lands to take an oath from the people there. Once he had gone, the sons of David made their plans apart from Kosnyatka, who, learning by chance that they were plotting to seize Sviatoslav, sent at once to warn him. The sons of David, since their cousins could now obtain nothing west of the Dnieper, feared that they would take land from them in Chernigoff, hence they decided to join the Grand Prince against their cousin, and sent to Izyaslav, saying:“Igor is as hostile to us as to thee; hold him firmly.” To[66]Sviatoslav they sent this message: “Take Putival and abandon thy brother Igor.” “I am seeking my brother, not land,” replied Sviatoslav. “Take land and kiss the cross,” said the sons of David. Sviatoslav wept and sent to Yuri of Suzdal, saying: “God took Vsevolod, and now Izyaslav has taken Igor. Be gracious; march against Kief; free my brother, while I, with God’s aid, will bring forces hither to help thee.”Then he asked for men from the Polovtsi Khans, his wife’s uncles. They sent a detachment of warriors with promptness. From Murom came Vladimir, a grandson of that Yaroslav whom Vsevolod had driven from Chernigoff in order to take Kief later on, which he did successfully.This Yaroslav, who founded the Ryazan line of princes, had two sons: Sviatoslav and Rostislav. When the former died in Murom, Rostislav took his land and sent Glaib his own son to rule in Ryazan, giving nothing to Vladimir, his nephew, who came now to join Sviatoslav. After him came the nephew of Vladimirko of Galitch—Ivan, surnamed Berladnik, from Berlad, a town in Moldavia, which was filled with adventurers of all kinds. Ivan had found there a refuge, and next a small party of daredevils to join him. The sons of David wished now to crush Sviatoslav at all cost. “We have begun a hard task,” said they to one another; “let us end it. Let us kill Sviatoslav and take his possessions.” They saw that while alive he would fight to free Igor; in that his success lay. Triumph and love for his brother had for him become one thing. They remembered that in the late reign Igor and his brother had continually insisted upon having land in Chernigoff, and had been restrained only by promises of Kief and of places about it. What now could restrain those men? Of course only lands in Chernigoff. They could not get lands in another place.David’s sons begged aid of the Kief prince, who sent his son, Mystislav, with warriors to help them. The allies attacked Novgorod Seversk and fought three days there. They plundered the region about, and seized all the horses belonging to Igor and Sviatoslav. News came at this juncture that Yuri of Suzdal was Sviatoslav’s ally, and was marching to aid him.Izyaslav, the Grand Prince, now asked Rostislav of Murom to attack Yuri’s country. The Murom prince moved at once. We have seen that Rostislav’s nephew and enemy, Vladimir, was in[67]Sviatoslav’s camp, being thus an ally of Yuri, hence Rostislav was ready to fight against Yuri. Besides, Rostislav could not have been friendly to the sons of Oleg, one of whom had driven his father from his throne in Chernigoff.Yuri had reached Kozelsk, when he heard that Rostislav of Murom was attacking his country. This forced him back, but he sent his son, Ivan, who received Kursk and lands on the Seim as reward from Sviatoslav. It was clear that the latter would give what he had to preserve the alliance, and, with Yuri’s aid, redeem Igor. After he had given half his land for this ally, he tried, at the advice of his boyars, to win the sons of David to his cause, and sent to them his priest with this message: “Ye have ravaged my lands, seized my herds and the herds of my brother. Ye have burned my provisions and destroyed all my property; nothing remains for you now, but to kill me.” “Abandon thy brother,” answered the sons of David. “I would rather die,” replied Sviatoslav, “than abandon my brother. I will strive for him while life is in me.”The sons of David now plundered on every side. They took Igor’s town, where he had a residence. In his cellars were mead and wines, in his storehouses goods of much value. All that men could remove they took with them, then they fired the place, burning nine hundred stacks of grain.While Izyaslav was hastening from Kief with his warriors, David’s sons moved on Putivl, but the town was held firmly by the people till the Kief prince appeared before it. They yielded to him, when he kissed the cross to respect them, and merely installed his own posadnik, instead of the old one. He and his allies, however, seized all of Sviatoslav’s wealth in Putivl,—wine, mead, provisions and seven hundred slaves. Sviatoslav himself, advised by his allies, had fled northward, to be close to provisions and near Yuri of Suzdal, taking with him his wife and children, and also the wife of Igor. Some of his warriors had deserted, but the best remained faithful. The sons of David were infuriated by this flight of their cousin, and at once resolved to capture the man or kill him. Izyaslav said, “Let us follow Sviatoslav. If by any chance he escapes us, we will at least seize his wife and children, and take all of his property.” And with three thousand horsemen he set out to hunt down his cousin. When this force was[68]gaining on him, Sviatoslav pondered whether it were better to save his own person by flight and let his warriors and family be captured, or remain with them and lay down his life fighting. His men were not many, but they were of excellent quality,—Ivan, a son of Yuri of Suzdal, Ivan Berladnik, Vladimir of Murom, the Polovtsi party, and some others. He had to meet thousands with hundreds, but he chose to remain, and, turning on the son of David in a forest, he routed him thoroughly; then he fled farther as swiftly as possible.The Grand Prince and Vladimir, the other son of David, following on at some distance behind, had stopped to take food, when news came that Sviatoslav had defeated his pursuers. The Kief prince was enraged at this failure, and set out himself in immediate pursuit of the fugitive. On the way he was joined by stragglers from the scattered force, and at last came the son of David.Sviatoslav hastened forward to Koracheff, and as Izyaslav was again hunting him sharply, he fled to great forests in Vyatichi regions, where pursuit was impossible.“I hold the places which ye desired,” said the Kief prince to the sons of David. “Take ye the lands of Sviatoslav; I yield them all to you. Igor’s slaves and his goods in those lands will be mine. Sviatoslav’s goods we will divide between us.” After making this distribution, he returned to his capital.Meanwhile Igor, who lay ill in prison, wished to assume a monk’s habit, and requested permission. “Thou mayst do that,” replied Izyaslav. “I intended to free thee in every case.” Taken from prison to a cell in a monastery, Igor lay eight days and nights without food or drink. At last he revived and took the monk’s habit.The conflict still raged between Sviatoslav and his cousins. Izyaslav had left in Chernigoff his sister’s son, Sviatoslav, the son of Vsevolod, the late Grand Prince. The interests of this Sviatoslav were closely connected with the house of Oleg. A decisive defeat of his uncle would destroy this “sister’s son’s” chance of being prince in Chernigoff, to which he aspired, as the first son of Vsevolod. Hence, in secret, he favored his uncle, and informed him of all that his enemies were doing.Yuri of Suzdal now sent fresh warriors to Sviatoslav, who with[69]them was ready to rend his pursuers, when Yuri’s son, Ivan, who led them, died suddenly. The sons of David feared to attack Yuri’s warriors, but they urged leading men of the Vyatichi, in whose towns their posadniks were stationed, to kill Sviatoslav and scatter his forces. At this point two of Yuri’s sons, one of whom was Andrei, later on very famous, forced Rostislav, the Murom prince, who was attacking their father, to flee to the Polovtsi.That same year, 1146, Yuri invited Sviatoslav, his ally, to meet him in Moscow (Moskva). This name appears now for the first time in the chronicles of Russia. Originally a farm on the river Moskva, and owned by one Stephen Kuchka, it was called Kuchkova. When the land came into the possession of Yuri Dolgoruki, he built a village on an elevation and called it Moskva. There was feasting and gift-giving now in Moscow, but also much serious work. Yuri furnished warriors, led by his son, and fresh troops of Polovtsi came to Sviatoslav; thus he had power to take the offensive. This he did with effect, and when a third force of Polovtsi came, the effect was decisive. All the posadniks installed in Vyatichi towns by the sons of David fled quickly, and Sviatoslav sent in new men to replace them. Both sons of David withdrew from the north to Chernigoff, and sent peace proposals to Sviatoslav. Those same sons of David now turned traitorously on the Kief prince, to whom they sent this faithless message: “Sviatoslav has taken Vyatichi lands. Come with us to attack him. When we have driven him away we will march with thee against Yuri, and make peace or war with him.”Izyaslav agreed, but Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, to make sure of carrying out his own plans and escaping beyond reach of the Kief prince in season, came to Izyaslav, and said to him, “Let me go to Chernigoff, my father. I wish to get lands from my cousins.” “Thou hast thought this out well,” replied Izyaslav. “Go straightway.” He went, and the whole affair was fixed surely, as they thought. He and the sons of David were to seize the Kief prince the moment he set foot in Chernigoff. As he delayed, they sent envoys to hurry him. “Our land is perishing,” said they, “and thou wilt not come to assist us.”Izyaslav summoned his boyars and warriors and the people, and said to them: “I am going with the sons of David to war against Sviatoslav, and Yuri my uncle. I must go, for Yuri is[70]helping my enemy, Sviatoslav.” “Go not against Yuri,” said the people. “Make peace with thy uncle. Lend no ear to the sons of David, take not the same road with them.” “I must go,” replied Izyaslav; “they are my allies.” “Take it not ill of us,” continued the people, “we cannot raise hands against a son of Monomach. But if thou wilt march against the house of Oleg, we will not only go with thee, but take our sons also.”The prince, however, asked for volunteers to attack Yuri, and a large number went with him. On passing the Dnieper, he sent Ulaiba, his boyar, to learn what was happening in Chernigoff. The boyar hurried back, bringing news that the allies of the Kief prince were acting with Sviatoslav. Chernigoff friends also sent to Izyaslav, saying that his allies were deceiving him foully. “They wish to slay or to seize thee, and liberate Igor. They have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav, and also to Yuri.”The Kief prince now sent envoys to confer in his name with the sons of David: “We agreed on a great work, and kissed the cross to each other,” said the envoys. “Let us kiss it again, so that there be no disagreement hereafter.” “Why kiss again? We have kissed already,” replied the sons of David. “What harm in kissing the cross?” said the envoys. “The cross is salvation.” But they refused to kiss it a second time. The envoys repeated now these words from Izyaslav to the sons of David: “I have heard that ye are deceiving me, that ye have sworn to Sviatoslav to seize me or to kill me because of Igor. Is this true, brothers, or is it not true?” They would not answer. At last one of them said to the envoys: “Withdraw, we will summon thee later.” They consulted long, and then called the envoys.“We have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav,” declared they frankly. “We grieve over Igor, our cousin. He is a monk now; set him free, and we will ride at thy stirrup. Would it please thee if we held thy brother?” The treaty papers were cast at their feet, and these words were added in answer: “Ye took oath to be with me till death, and I gave you the lands of both sons of Oleg. I expelled Sviatoslav; I won his lands and gave you Putivl with other places. We divided Sviatoslav’s property between us. I took Igor’s. And now, brothers, ye have broken your oath. Ye invited me hither intending to kill me. Let God be on my side and[71]the power of the life-giving cross. I will manage as the Lord may assist me.”The prince asked Rostislav, his brother, to bring Smolensk forces from all sides. He sent to Kief also, explaining the conduct of the sons of David, and reminded the people of what they had promised. The Kief men decided immediately to go forward in boats and on horseback to help him. “We rejoice,” declared they in a message, “that God has preserved thee. We come and bring our sons with us, according to promise!” When thus excited, some man in the throng called out loudly: “We will fight for our prince, but think first of one important thing. Here in this city is the enemy of our prince. Let us slay him to finish that family in Chernigoff, and then go!” The people rushed to the monastery, and before Prince Vladimir, the metropolitan, or the commander in the city, could stop them they had seized Igor, and slain him.Izyaslav was at the edge of Chernigoff when news of Igor’s death came to him: “If I had thought of this, I should have guarded him more carefully,” said he to his warriors. “Men will say now that I wished to kill Igor, but God knows that I did not.” “Be not concerned,” answered his warriors. “God knows, and people know, also, that not thou, but his own cousins killed him; they who took an oath to thee, and then conspired traitorously to kill thee.”Izyaslav seized Kursk, where he placed his son, Mystislav, and thus barred out the Polovtsi. But Glaib, son of Yuri, came later with Sviatoslav to take the place. The people would not raise a hand against Glaib, since he was a grandson of Monomach. They would have fought against Sviatoslav had he come unassisted, as they informed Mystislav, who returned to his father.Glaib, after installing posadniks, left that region, and the Polovtsi were free to appear again. Rostislav of Smolensk led in large forces to help his brother, the Grand Prince, and after an involved and tedious war, ending rather against Izyaslav than for him, the Chernigoff princes were unable to continue the struggle; their territory was stripped of provisions, and ruined in great part; they had no food for their warriors, and could not pay Polovtsi allies. Yuri had sent a son with forces, but he would not go with his main strength in person, and without Yuri the Chernigoff princes were unable to stand against Izyaslav and his brothers.[72]In such straits, they sent these words to Yuri: “Thou didst kiss the cross to go with us against Izyaslav; thou hast not done so. Izyaslav came, burned our towns, took our country. He came a second time; he burned and seized what he spared at the first attack, but thou hast neither come to us nor fought against Izyaslav. If thy wish is to march now against the Kief prince, we will go with thee; if not, we are freed from our oath; we have no wish to perish in war unassisted.”From Yuri came no answer of value, hence they turned with proposals to the Kief prince. He replied that he would consult with Rostislav and then answer finally. He consulted with his brother for form’s sake, and then made peace with the princes of Chernigoff, who took oath to forget Igor’s death, and be in friendship for the future. Kursk remained in their possession.At this time Rostislav, Yuri’s eldest son, once prince in Novgorod, came to Kief, declaring that he had quarreled with his father, who refused him land in Suzdal; hence he had come to Izyaslav with homage. The Kief prince gave him those five towns held formerly by Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, and also Gorodok, where Izyaslav did not wish to see Yuri’s son Glaib, to whom he sent this command: “Find lands with the sons of Oleg.”In autumn, the Grand Prince went to Gorodok, taking Rostislav with him. The sons of David were there, but no son of Oleg. When Izyaslav mentioned this, the princes replied: “We are here. It is indifferent whether they come or not; they and we took the oath to make common cause with thee, and to go with thee against Yuri, starting when the rivers should be frozen.” They who had been Yuri’s allies a short time before had now become his enemies, and allies of Izyaslav. When the time came, Izyaslav left Vladimir, his brother, in Kief, and visited Smolensk, to confer with Rostislav.Novgorod had assembled large forces to march against Yuri, and now sent many warriors, as did Smolensk. They moved down the Volga, and, finding no trace of Yuri, ravaged both sides of the river as far as Uglitch. Here news came that the sons of David, with Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, had marched to assist them, but had halted in the Vyatichi country to see who would be victor, the Kief prince, or Yuri.“Let them come or stay,” replied Izyaslav, and he sent Novgorod men and others to take Yaroslavl on the Volga. This they[73]did after much effort, and returned with great booty. A week before Easter the weather became so warm that the army could not remain in the country. Horses walked to their bellies in water. Rostislav went back to Smolensk, and Izyaslav to Novgorod and thence to his capital.This campaign cost Yuri’s country seven thousand men led away captives, besides all the property burned and ruined. Upon Izyaslav’s return to Kief, he learned from his boyars that Yuri’s son, Rostislav, had worked against him in his absence, and had said to the people: “If God helps my father, he will visit Kief and take Izyaslav’s house from him, and also his family.” “Send this traitor back to his father; thou art keeping him here to thy ruin,” said the boyars. The prince summoned Rostislav, and, without receiving him, gave this message: “Thou didst come to me and say that thy father was unjust and would give thee no land. I took thee in as a brother, I gave thee lands, and now thou wouldst seize Kief from me.” Yuri’s son sent back this answer: “Neither in my heart nor my mind was the thought which thou hast mentioned. If he who has lied is a prince I am ready to meet him, if of lower degree, either Christian or pagan, judge thou between us.” “Ask no judgment of me,” replied Izyaslav. “I know what thou wishest. Go back to thy father.”The boyars put Rostislav in a boat with three men and sent him up the river. His warriors were retained, and his property taken.Rostislav bowed down to his father in Suzdal, and said: “The whole Russian land desires thee. Men say in Kief that their prince has dishonored them. March thou against Izyaslav.” These words imply clearly that Yuri’s son had worked with zeal against Izyaslav, and that the complaint of the boyars was well founded.Such an “insult” to Rostislav greatly offended Yuri, who demanded angrily, “Is there then no place for me or my sons in Russia?” He assembled his forces quickly, hired Polovtsi, and was soon ready for action.It was not anger alone which roused Yuri; he believed that his day had come, the long deferred day of triumph. His son’s report that he would find in the south serious allies, decided his movements, and he marched forward with all speed. He had reached the land of the Vyatichi, when Vladimir, son of David, warned Izyaslav, saying: “Be ready for action; thy uncle is marching.”[74]Izyaslav prepared, and with the sons of David sent envoys to Sviatoslav, brother of the late Igor, reminding him of their treaties.Sviatoslav gave no answer at first, but guarded the envoys to keep men away from them. Meanwhile he consulted with Yuri. “Art thou going against Izyaslav? Tell me truly lest I ruin my lands without reason.” “I go, of course,” replied Yuri. “My nephew made war in my lands and set fire to them. He drove out my son, and insulted me. I will avenge the wrong done, or I will lay down my life.”On receiving this answer, Sviatoslav, unwilling to break his oath, without reasons which men might hold sufficient, commanded his envoys to speak thus to Izyaslav: “Return Igor’s property, and I will be with thee.” “Thou hast kissed the cross to put aside enmity because of Igor and his property,” replied Izyaslav, “but now thou dost mention them when my uncle is marching against me. Keep thy oath, or else break it.”Sviatoslav joined forces with Yuri. Yuri and Sviatoslav then sent the sons of David a message, but they sent the answer only to Yuri: “In the last war thou didst swear to be with us. But when Izyaslav took all our lands and burned the towns in them, thou wouldst not come to us. Because of this we kissed the cross to Izyaslav, and we cannot jest with salvation.”Yuri marched southward, expecting the Polovtsi and awaiting submission from Izyaslav, his nephew. Rostislav of Smolensk, with large forces, hastened to strengthen his brother. Yuri advanced to Pereyaslavl, thinking that Izyaslav might yield; but Izyaslav did not yield. “If my uncle had come with his sons only,” said he, “he might have had the best province in my possession, but as he leads in the hated Polovtsi, and with them my enemy, I am forced to the field by his action.”Izyaslav talked thus to persuade Kief men to march against Yuri. They had insisted on peace, and declared that they could not raise hands against a son of Monomach. But, influenced by Izyaslav’s words, they at last consented to go, though unwillingly. Crossing the Dnieper, the Grand Prince met Yuri’s army, the advance troops being Polovtsi, and repulsed it. Then the two armies stood all day and night facing each other. In the night Yuri sent to his nephew this message: “Thou hast ravaged my country, thou hast taken seniority from me, but spare Christian[75]blood now. Let me seat a son in this city of Pereyaslavl, and rule thou in Kief. If not, let God judge between us.”Izyaslav detained the envoy, and led out all his men to meet Yuri. Next morning the bishop, with tears in his eyes, begged thus of Izyaslav: “Make peace with thy uncle. If thou do so, thou wilt save the land from sore misery, and have great reward from God.” But the prince would not listen. The armies were face to face that day till evening, the river Trubej between them. At a council called by Izyaslav, some favored crossing the river: “God gives thee the enemy; seize him,” said these men. “Remain where thou art,” said others. “Thy uncle is wavering, he will vanish in the night. Let him go, do not touch him.” The first advice pleased the prince, and he crossed the river. Next day at noon the armies came very near fighting, but Yuri halted, and in the evening withdrew. Again there were two minds in Izyaslav’s council: “Thy uncle is fleeing,” urged one mind; “attack him before he escapes thee.” “Follow not,” urged the other; “there will be no battle; thou wilt have victory for nothing.” This time too Izyaslav took the first advice.At daybreak next morning the battle began. It was resolute at the opening and venomous on both sides, but soon all of Izyaslav’s contingents from the Ros River fled. Seeing this, the sons of David and the Kief men fled also. Pereyaslavl, persuaded already by Yuri’s son, Rostislav, opened its gates without fighting, and thus the battle was ended.Izyaslav had pierced an opposing regiment, but when in the rear of it he saw that all had deserted him, and knew that nothing save flight remained. He reached Kief with only two attendants, and went immediately to Volynia; but he withdrew to reopen the struggle.On reaching Volynia Izyaslav sent to Poland, Bohemia and Hungary for aid. Aid was promised, but he wished aid itself, and not promises, hence he sent envoys a second time bearing rich presents, with the injunction to get what he asked for. Knowing now what it was to fight against his uncle when the people were indifferent or opposed to him, he sent these words to Yuri’s elder brother, Vyatcheslav: “Be my father and take the throne of Kief; if not I will ruin thy country.”Vyatcheslav, alarmed by the threat, sent this message to Yuri:[76]“Make peace, defend my country, come hither thyself; we shall then see what to do. If thou come not, I must act as seems best to me.” Yuri set out at once with his troops, taking Polovtsi also. Izyaslav marched from Volynia against him. To Vyatcheslav came Rostislav and Andrei, sons of Yuri, and soon Yuri himself came. Vladimirko of Galitch moved to the boundary and thus checked Poles and Hungarians.The Poles, greatly alarmed by news from their own land that Prussian tribes were attacking them, went home. Hence the allies sent these words to Yuri and Vyatcheslav: “Though ye are as fathers to Izyaslav, ye are now warring against him. As Christians and brethren we should all be united. Can you not arrange peace with your son and your brother? Ye might remain in Kief. Ye yourselves know who should be there. Let Volynia and whatever else is his go to Izyaslav. Let Yuri give back the Novgorod tribute.”“God reward you,” replied Yuri and his brother. “Since ye ask for peace and wish well to us, let Izyaslav return to Volynia, and go ye to your own lands; we will discuss then with Izyaslav.” The allies withdrew, and the uncles proposed terms to their nephew. But the affair halted because Yuri’s eldest son and a nephew advised with great earnestness not to make peace with Izyaslav. Yuri took this advice all the more readily, since Izyaslav’s allies had gone to their own lands, and he thought it easy to force down his nephew. “I will expel Izyaslav and take his lands,” said Yuri, and he moved with his brother to do this.Yuri and his forces invested Lutsk, and for many weeks fought around the city. The besieged lacked water greatly. Izyaslav strove to aid them, but Vladimirko of Galitch barred the way; he desired victory for neither side. Volynia, independent of Kief, was what he wished. Izyaslav sent to him, saying: “Reconcile me with my uncle Yuri.” Vladimirko was willing, in fact he was very glad to attempt this.Andrei, Yuri’s second son, was for peace and counseled his father. “Give no ear to my brother or cousin,” said he. “Make peace, O my father, do not ruin thy possessions.” Vyatcheslav favored peace also. He had his own reasons for doing so. “Make peace,” said he to Yuri. “If not, and thou go, Izyaslav will destroy my country.”[77]Yuri finally agreed to peace. His nephew yielded Kief, and Yuri gave back the Novgorod tribute. Izyaslav visited his uncles, and all sides promised to return booty taken since the action near Pereyaslavl. After that Yuri went back to Kief, and wished to give it to Vyatcheslav, to whom it belonged by seniority, but the boyars dissuaded him. “Thy brother could not hold Kief,” said they. “It will be neither his nor thine, if thou yield it.” Yuri took his son from Vyshgorod, and gave the place to Vyatcheslav.Meanwhile, 1150, Izyaslav sent to find herds and property seized before peace was concluded, but when his men had found what they were seeking, and asked for it, Yuri refused it, and they went back empty-handed. Thereupon Izyaslav sent a complaint and threat to his uncle: “Keep thy oath, for I cannot remain thus offended.” Yuri made no answer, and Izyaslav took arms again, urged, as was said, by Kief people.At this time Yuri’s son Glaib was encamped not far from Izyaslav, who suddenly attacked him in the night. Glaib escaped with much difficulty, having lost everything he had. Next day he sent to his cousin this message: “Yuri is my father, so art thou, and I render thee homage. Thou and Yuri will settle all questions. But give thy oath that thou wilt permit me to visit my father. If thou do, I will come and bow down to thee.” Izyaslav gave the oath. Glaib went to Yuri, and Izyaslav hastened to the steppe to get aid from the Black Caps, who rejoiced with unbounded delight when they saw him.Yuri, on hearing that his nephew had gone to the Black Caps, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper and hastened to Gorodok. As soon as Yuri withdrew from Kief, Vyatcheslav entered. The Kief people went out in great crowds to meet Izyaslav, who was not slow in coming. “Yuri has left us,” said they. “Vyatcheslav is in the palace, but we do not want him. Go to Holy Sophia, and then take the throne of thy fathers.” “I gave thee Kief,” said Izyaslav, in a message to his uncle, “but thou wouldst not take it. Now when thy brother has fled, thou art willing. Go to thy Vyshgorod.” “Even shouldst thou kill me for staying, I would not go,” answered Vyatcheslav.Taking a few attendants, Izyaslav went to his uncle and bowed down before him. Vyatcheslav rose, kissed him and they sat down together. “Father,” said Izyaslav, “I give thee homage,[78]I cannot do what thou wishest, such is the power of the people. They are opposed to thee. Go to Vyshgorod; from there we two will manage.” “When thou didst invite me to Kief,” answered Vyatcheslav, “I had kissed the cross to Yuri. If Kief is thine now, I will go to Vyshgorod.” And he went.Meanwhile Yuri called on the sons of David and Oleg for assistance, and Vladimirko was marching from the west. Izyaslav, greatly alarmed, prepared for defense very promptly and went with boyars to Vyatcheslav in Vyshgorod. “Take Kief,” said he to his uncle, “and with it what lands thou desirest; the rest leave to me.” Vyatcheslav was offended at first. “Why didst thou not give me Kief when thou wert forcing me out of it shamefully?” asked he. “Now when one army is moving against thee from Galitch and another from Chernigoff, thou givest me my inheritance.” “I offered thee Kief, declaring that I could live with thee, but not with Yuri,” said Izyaslav. “Thee I love as my father. And I say now again: Thou art my father, and Kief belongs to thee.” These words softened Vyatcheslav and he kissed the cross to consider Izyaslav as his son, and Izyaslav swore to regard him as a father. “I am going to Zvenigorod against Vladimirko,” said Izyaslav. “Be pleased thou to enter Kief and let me have thy warriors.” “I will send all of my warriors with thee,” replied Vyatcheslav.Vladimirko was now in the field to help Yuri, and Izyaslav marched westward at once to hasten the struggle, but when he came near the enemy his men forsook him. “Vladimirko has a countless host,” cried they. “Do not destroy us and forfeit thy own life. Wait till another time.” “Better die here than suffer disgrace such as that!” exclaimed Izyaslav. Nevertheless all fled the field, and the Kief prince was left with only his personal following. He fell back on the capital safely, though he might have been captured. Vladimirko thought the whole movement a strategy, hence he followed on cautiously, looking for ambushes everywhere. Izyaslav found his uncle in Kief, waiting anxiously. They counseled awhile and then sat down to dinner. During dinner news came that Yuri was crossing the Dnieper, and with him the men of Chernigoff. “This is not our day!” exclaimed the two princes, and they fled from Kief, Vyatcheslav going to Vyshgorod, and Izyaslav back to Volynia.[79]Next day Vladimirko and Yuri met outside Kief and greeted each other on horseback. The Galitch prince visited all the holy places in the city, and then bade farewell to his father-in-law in friendship. He took with him Yuri’s son, Mystislav, and installed that prince on the boundary of Volynia. Later on Yuri gave this whole region to his best son, Andrei.Andrei fixed his camp in Peresopnitsa, and during the winter Izyaslav sent an envoy to him. “Reconcile me with thy father,” said he. “My inheritance is not in Hungary or Poland. Ask from thy father the return of my land on the Goryn.” He sent this request, but bade his envoy look sharply at all things. He was planning to fall on Andrei, as he had fallen on Glaib, Yuri’s other son, some time earlier.The envoy found everything in excellent order, and a strong force of warriors in readiness. Andrei, unsuspicious, or feigning to be so, turned to Yuri in favor of Izyaslav, but Yuri would not yield a whit to his nephew. “My uncle,” declared Izyaslav, “would drive me to exile. Vladimirko of Galitch has taken my land at command of Yuri, and is now making ready to march on Vladimir, my capital.” So he sent Vladimir, his brother, to Hungary to ask aid of the king, who marched straightway with an army on Galitch. “I, thy brother, have started,” wrote the king. “Join me at once with thy forces. Vladimirko will see the men whom he has offended.”Vladimirko had friends in Hungary, who sent him information, hence he left Bailz, where his camp was, and hastened forward to meet the Hungarian forces at Peremysl. There he discovered that he was no match for the king in the field, so he begged the archbishop and two bishops from Hungary with certain influential boyars to help him. He lavished gold without stint on these prelates and boyars, and they in return urged the king to go home and make war at another time. He yielded, and sent this explanation to Izyaslav: “The Greek Emperor is moving against me; I must return to my own country to meet him, but next summer I can send ten thousand men, or even more if thou need them.”The Hungarian force vanished, and was as if it had never seen Galitch. Izyaslav, foiled for the moment by his enemy, sent Vladimir a second time to Hungary with this message: “Vyatcheslav’s boyars, the people and the steppe tribes have sent for me.[80]If thou must stay at home to prepare for the Greek Emperor, send me the aid which thou hast promised, and I will be with thee hereafter at all times.” The king sent him now ten thousand men, and with these warriors he set out against Kief.On the way news was brought to him that Vladimirko was following. A council was summoned, and the boyars spoke thus: “Thou art marching on Yuri, and Vladimirko is pursuing; our position is perilous.” “Ye have come out of Kief,” replied Izyaslav; “ye have lost land and property, ye have lost all. I have lost my inheritance. I must get back my own and win yours in the same effort. If Vladimirko comes, God will decide between us. If Yuri should meet me, the Lord will judge also in his case.” And leaving Sviatopolk, one of his brothers, behind in Vladimir, his capital, to guard the place, he moved forward with the Hungarians and his own men.On the way Vladimirko was joined by Andrei, and both forces followed together. Though sometimes at skirmishing distance, Izyaslav wisely abstained from action, and sent on Vladimir to Bailgorod, where Boris, son of Yuri, was feasting. If a collector of taxes had not raised the bridge, Boris would have been seized at table. Unable to get possession of the place without a battle, Vladimir rejoined Izyaslav, and they hastened on toward Kief. When Vladimirko’s men came up, they approached and sounded a trumpet. People ran out and lowered the bridge willingly. This advance force entered Bailgorod, and Boris hurried away to his father. Yuri, greatly alarmed by the strength of the enemy marching against him, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper, fled on, and took refuge in Gorodok.All Kief went out to meet Izyaslav. The delight of the people this time seemed real. Yuri, whom the city never really liked, had become most unpopular, and they now rejoiced to be rid of him.On the west, beyond Bailgorod, Vladimirko and Andrei were manœuvering for battle with Izyaslav, when suddenly news reached them that their enemy was in Kief with his forces, and Yuri powerless in Gorodok. Vladimirko’s rage was unbounded. “I cannot see how my father-in-law manages,” said he to Andrei. “I cannot understand how ye, his sons, help him. Thou, Andrei, hadst thy camp on the Goryn; Boris was in Bailgorod. We might have[81]forced Izyaslav to action and lamed, or defeated him, but Boris left us and gave the road to our enemy. Thy father then abandoned Kief, and Izyaslav is now Grand Prince. To-day the whole Russian land is on his side. I leave you, and go now to Galitch.”Yuri had no friends in the south, where all had hoped for his downfall. The campaign seemed indeed like some folk-tale. A battle might have ruined Izyaslav; a quick march secured him dominion.Vladimirko turned home, but to each town he said as he came to it: “Give me the silver and gold that I ask of you. If ye refuse I will take what I find at the sword’s point.” No town or city had the silver or gold, or the coin or utensils to meet this demand of Yuri’s ally, hence people were forced to take every ornament from the necks and the arms of their women, and give them to the master of Galitch. Vladimirko took from all in this way till he reached his own boundary.At last the hour of triumph had sounded for Yuri’s simple-minded brother. On the day after his entrance to Kief, Izyaslav sent this message to his uncle: “I salute thee, my father. I have sinned before thee, but I repent. I have sinned a first, and a second, and a third time. I repent now of all these transgressions, and, if thou forgive, God will pardon me. I give thee Kief; come thou and sit on the throne of thy fathers.” Thus Izyaslav acknowledged completely the right of uncles as opposed to the sons of their elder brothers, a right against which even personal qualities, or the respect of people availed not.“God give thee strength, my son,” replied Vyatcheslav, “because thou hast given me due honor. It was thy duty thus to act long ago. Thou hast given honor to God by the honor given me. Thou sayest that I am thy father; I say that thou art my son. I have no son, and thou hast no father; thou art my son, thou art also my brother.”Uncle and nephew now kissed the cross to each other not to part in defeat or in triumph. The Hungarians were feasted, received rich presents, and went home. The two princes sent Izyaslav’s son on a mission to Hungary, to assure the Hungarian king of the Kief princes’ gratitude, and to make offer of service, asking, too, that if the need came the king would send troops, as he had sent them recently. Rostislav of Smolensk was invited to aid in liberating[82]Kief, for they thought, and thought rightly, that Yuri would not yield without a struggle.Yuri now summoned all his allies. Sviatoslav moved promptly and met Vladimir, son of David, in Chernigoff; then their forces sailed down in boats to Gorodok, where they joined Yuri. Izyaslav, the other son of David, joined the Kief princes. Rostislav of Smolensk came to Kief early with his forces. Yuri moved with his allies from Gorodok to the Dnieper and strove hard to cross, but was foiled in each effort by his nephew. Strengthened now by large forces of the Polovtsi, he marched toward the south and crossed at the second ford, below Kief, then turning back, he advanced on the capital. Izyaslav and his uncle, disposing their men in the city and around it, waited for the coming conflict.“We are now ready for battle,” said Vyatcheslav to his nephews. “Yuri is my brother, though younger, and I wish to bring my seniority before him. God in his judgment considers the right side.” So he summoned an envoy and gave these instructions: “Go thou to Yuri, my brother: bow down to him in my name and say these words from me: ‘I have said often to thee, Yuri, and to Izyaslav, shed not Christian blood, ruin not the Russian land. I have tried to restrain thee from war. I have regiments and power of my own which God gave me. Still I have not fought for myself, though thou, Yuri, and also Izyaslav have deeply offended me, not one time, but many. Izyaslav, when going to fight against Igor, said that he was not seeking Kief for himself, but for me, his father. Then, when God gave him victory, he kept Kief for himself, and took also Turoff and Pinsk from me. That is how Izyaslav offended, but I, keeping Christians in mind and the Russian land, did not remember it against him. Thou, brother Yuri, when going to Pereyaslavl to fight against Izyaslav, didst say: “I seek not Kief for myself. I have an older brother who is to me as a father; I am seeking Kief for that brother.” But, when God aided thee to take Kief, thou didst keep it. Thou didst seize from me, besides, Dorogobuj and Peresopnitsa, and gavest me only Vyshgorod. Thus did ye wrong me. All this time I sought no redress out of love for the Russian land and for Christians. Ye would take no decision of mine; ye sought war. I strove to dissuade thee from war, but ye would not listen. Thy answer was that thou couldst not give homage to a junior. But Izyaslav, though he has failed[83]twice before in his word to me, has given now what is mine; he has yielded up Kief, and calls me father. Thou hast said: “I cannot bow down to a junior.” I am older than thou not a little; I was bearded before thou wert born. If it is thy wish to defy my seniority, God will render judgment.’ ”To this Yuri answered: “I bow down to thee, brother; thy words are true, and well spoken. Thou art to me in the place of a father, and if it is thy desire to arrange matters clearly, let Izyaslav go to Volynia and Rostislav return to Smolensk. I will settle all questions then with thee.” “Brother Yuri, this is what I will say in answer,” retorted Vyacheslav. “Thou hast seven sons, and I do not hunt them away from thee. I have two adopted sons, Izyaslav and Rostislav, with some others still younger. I will add this: Do thou for the good of the Russian land and of Christians go to Pereyaslavl, thence to Kursk with thy sons, and beyond is Rostoff, thy great inheritance. Send home the sons of Oleg. After that we will settle, and shed no Christian blood. But if thou must have thy own way, the Purest Lady and her Son will judge between us.”Yuri gave no answer to these words, but next morning he appeared before Kief with his forces. There was nothing but skirmishing till toward evening, when a part of each army engaged. The Kief troops drove back their opponents, and fought with such vigor that Yuri withdrew his whole force and marched westward to meet Vladimirko, his ally from Galitch, who, as he heard, was now hastening to join him. He appeared before Bailgorod, from which his son Boris had fled some time previously, and summoning the citizens, said: “Ye are my people, open the gates to me.” “Has Kief opened its gates?” was the answer. The gates remained closed, and Yuri marched farther. The Kief princes set out in pursuit and overtook him near Rut River, beyond Bailgorod. There they strove again to make peace, but failed, since the sons of Oleg and the Polovtsi opposed it.As they could not come to terms, the Kief princes were anxious to force a battle before Vladimirko could strengthen their enemy. Yuri wished to defer the engagement till Vladimirko could join him. His first intention was to pass Rut River, prevent the Kief troops from crossing, and wait for his ally in a favorable position. But all his movements to gain time were useless, and he was compelled[84]to turn promptly to battle. Andrei, now Yuri’s eldest son, for Rostislav had died recently, ranged his father’s warriors in order of battle. “Thou hast striven much for the good,” said Izyaslav and his brother to Vyatcheslav, “but thy brother opposes at all times. We are willing, if need be, to lay down our lives to save thy rights for thee.” “My sons,” replied the old man, “I have been opposed all my life to bloodshed. We are on this field to-day because of Yuri. God will judge between him and me.”Andrei advanced in the front rank, led the battle, and made the first lance cast. His lance broke, his shield was torn from him, his helmet was shivered, and he fell from the horse, which was wounded under him. Izyaslav also engaged in the front rank; thrown from his horse, he fell and was lost among the slain and wounded.The battle was brief, but decisive. Izyaslav’s men fought willingly this time, while Yuri’s showed no heart in the struggle. His Polovtsi fled without using an arrow. After them fled the sons of Oleg, and next Yuri himself and his sons. Many prisoners were taken, many men slain. Among the slain was Vladimir, son of David, Prince of Chernigoff.When the victors, returning, passed over the field after hunting their fugitive opponents, they saw a man trying to rise from a great pile of dead and wounded. Some foot warriors ran up and struck him. “I am a prince!” he was able to say. “Thou art the man we are seeking,” cried they, and slashed at his helmet, thinking him a son of Oleg, or David. “I am Izyaslav. I am your prince,” called he to them. They raised him then with gladness, and praised the Lord, who had saved him.The Kief princes urged Izyaslav, son of David, to take his brother’s corpse, hasten with all the strength in him to Chernigoff, and sit on the throne before Sviatoslav could forestall him. (This was a real case of running for office.)From the battlefield Yuri fled to the Dnieper, which he crossed, and then sped forward to Pereyaslavl for refuge. Sviatoslav fled to Gorodok, but as the son of Oleg was enormous in person, and mortally weary from fighting and fleeing, he could not move farther, though eager to do so. If he had had wings and could have used them, he would have flown through the air to Chernigoff; as it was, he sent forward his nephew, son of Vsevolod, who learned[85]at the Desna that Izyaslav, son of David, was already on the throne. Vladimirko of Galitch, on hearing of his father-in-law’s defeat, hastened homeward.At last Vyatcheslav and his nephew were in safety on all sides. They returned to Kief, which they entered in triumph, and held the place with pleasure, at least for the moment.Vladimirko of Galitch now dealt a sore blow at his enemies. Having heard that Mystislav, son of Izyaslav the Kief prince, was bringing in Hungarians, he lay in wait to destroy them. He found means to place a great quantity of wine within reach of the foreigners and they seized it and had a rich feast that evening. Just before daybreak Vladimirko attacked and slew nearly all of them, reserving but few for captivity. Mystislav escaped with his personal attendants. “If God give health to the king, and to me,” said Izyaslav, when he heard of the slaughter, “Vladimirko will pay for this dearly.”Yuri, still in Pereyaslavl, was inciting Vladimirko, and collecting fresh Polovtsi, so the Kief princes marched to expel him. After fighting two days before the town, on the third they burned its outskirts and sent these words to Yuri: “We salute thee. Go thou to Suzdal. Leave a son in Pereyaslavl. We may not leave thee there; thou wouldst bring in Polovtsi.” Yuri could get no aid from Vladimirko or the Polovtsi. His own forces were greatly decreased, and he would not weaken Suzdal, hence he returned this answer: “I will march to Gorodok, remain there a time, and go afterward to Suzdal.” To this the reply was that he might remain one month in Gorodok, and then he must go to Suzdal. If he would not agree to this, they would attack Gorodok, as they had attacked Pereyaslavl. There was no escape now, so, though unwilling, Yuri and his son kissed the cross to go in one month to Suzdal. He promised also to make no attack on Kief while it was held by Izyaslav and his uncle, and his uncle made no treaty with Sviatoslav, son of Oleg.Leaving his son Glaib in Pereyaslavl, Yuri went to Gorodok. Andrei, his eldest son, begged to go in advance to Suzdal. “We have naught now in this place,” said he to his father. Sviatoslav, hearing that Yuri had agreed with Vyatcheslav and his nephew, sent to Izyaslav, son of David, in his own name and in that of Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, asking for what had belonged to their[86]fathers. Izyaslav gave those lands to them, but on condition of their leaving Yuri, and acting with the sons of Mystislav.Yuri had not the heart to go home with defeat, and when the month had passed, and the time came to go to Suzdal he broke his oath and remained in Gorodok. Izyaslav with his warriors, the Prince of Chernigoff with his men, also the son of Vsevolod promptly moved against him. The son of Oleg sent his forces, but would not appear himself against his old ally. Yuri shut himself up in the place and fought, but at last he grew weary; he could not win victory alone, and no help was visible on any side. He was forced finally to swear again that he would go back to Suzdal. He went this time, and left his son Glaib in Gorodok. Because of the Gorodok oath breaking, Pereyaslavl had been taken from Glaib, and given to Mystislav, son of the Grand Prince.On the way home, Yuri stopped to see his friend Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, who received him with honor and gave him things needed for his journey. This friendly visit caused, very likely, the meeting between the princes of Kief and Chernigoff in 1152 (Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, was present at this meeting), at which they decided to deprive Yuri of his foothold between the South and Chernigoff. Then they razed Gorodok, fired the ruins and consumed the place utterly. They left not one thing on the site of it.“Yuri sighed from his heart,” as the chronicler states, when he heard of this destruction, and began at once to rally his forces. Rostislav of Ryazan came with his brother; Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, broke his treaty with the Kief prince and came to aid Yuri. A great host of Polovtsi appeared from all hordes between the Don and the Volga. An immense army assembled. “They burned my Gorodok,” said Yuri, “and also the church in it. I will burn their cities in return.” And he marched on Chernigoff.The Kief prince sent this message at once to his brother in Smolensk: “If Yuri moves against thy land, I will hasten to aid thee. If he passes thee, do thou hurry hither with warriors.” Rostislav saw that Yuri, when passing Smolensk lands, would strike at Chernigoff, so marching with speed he reached Chernigoff before his uncle, and shut himself in there with Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod. Polovtsi legions appeared that same day, and fell straightway to burning the suburbs.Yuri himself with his allies came in sight the next morning.[87]Twelve days and nights did the Suzdal prince struggle with the city but the defense was so stubborn that he seized nothing, mastered no part of Chernigoff. On the thirteenth morning came news that Vyatcheslav and Izyaslav were hurriedly approaching with all the Kief forces. The Polovtsi, active at looting and burning, fled when they saw that real fighting and danger were near them, and Yuri was forced to withdraw. He went first to Novgorod, then to Rylsk, and was about to start for Suzdal when the son of Oleg reproached him as follows: “Thou art leaving me when thou hast ruined my property. All the grain in this land has been trampled by Polovtsi. Thy Polovtsi have fled, and thou thyself art deserting. After thee will come Izyaslav, and he will destroy what remains here because I broke faith with him, and gave thee assistance.” Yuri engaged to leave troops, but his words were merely vain promises. He left only fifty men of his guard, and Vassilko, his son, to protect all that country.At Novgorod appeared Izyaslav, with his allies. In three days he was master of all save the innermost fortress. Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, asked then for peace, which the Kief prince wished at first to refuse, but he granted it finally and returned to Chernigoff. There he received news from his son, Mystislav, that he had overtaken and crushed Yuri’s Polovtsi, freed a great number of captives and recovered much booty. Yuri made still another effort, but a weaker one and his defeat was decisive.Thus ended Izyaslav’s struggle with his uncle. Yuri’s main ally, Sviatoslav, was reduced to take gladly the place that was given him. There remained still another of Yuri’s assistants, the last one, his son-in-law, Vladimirko of Galitch, and to him Izyaslav now turned his attention.[88]

The death of Andrei, son of Monomach, brought many changes. Vsevolod induced Vyacheslav, Yuri’s brother, to take Pereyaslavl, that city which led to the Kief succession, and leave Turoff, where he put Sviatoslav, his own son. “He has a principality for his son, but for us he has nothing,” cried Vsevolod’s brothers. “It was heavy at their hearts,” adds the chronicler.

Hereupon Vsevolod summoned his cousins and brothers to a council, saying he wished to make peace with them if possible. Having no confidence in Vsevolod, they would not enter the city, so the two parties encamped on the Dnieper, near Kief, and held communication from side to side of the river. Since the terms proposed by the Grand Prince, one town to each of his relatives, were acceptable to none of them, his brothers kissed the cross to each other and to their cousins, then joined in a pact to resist the injustice of Vsevolod. Still he did not increase his first offer. Thereupon they marched against Vyacheslav, thinking to have as easy a victory over him as had Vsevolod, when he took Kief from this simple-minded and interesting old prince. But Pereyaslavl met them firmly, and, failing to take the city by assault, they laid siege to it.

Vsevolod reënforced the place promptly, and Izyaslav of Volynia hurried men to his uncle. The besiegers were defeated and driven off by Vyacheslav.

Rostislav of Smolensk moved now from the west against Chernigoff territory. Izyaslav attacked it on the east, and seizing many places returned home with great honor. A new attack was made upon Vyacheslav soon after by the malcontents, who fought a three days’ battle, in which they were sorely defeated.

Vsevolod now summoned Sviatosha, his cousin, a monk renowned[59]widely for sanctity, to aid him in reasoning with his relatives, and he himself sent them this message: “Dear brethren, take what I offer with good feeling; fight with me no longer.” Discouraged by defeat and influenced by the monk they accepted, and settled in Kief.

Vsevolod, who owed what he had to his own subtle cunning and to the dissension among princes, was dissatisfied with the league between his brothers and their cousins. So, to detach the sons of David from the league, he said to them: “Leave my brothers; I will give you all splendid places.” Tempted by this promise, they deserted their allies, and received good places.

Vsevolod’s brothers were incensed at this open treachery, but were silent for the time. They clamored later on, however, and very loudly, when Vyacheslav, advised by Vsevolod, exchanged principalities with Izyaslav, his nephew of Volynia, and then gave Volynia for Turoff, from which Vsevolod recalled his own son, whom he sent to Volynia straightway.

Pereyaslavl, as the stepping-stone to Kief, was acceptable to Izyaslav, who wanted the succession most solemnly promised him. But Vsevolod’s brothers and his cousins were greatly angered by this change, which they understood not, and which they looked on as an act of monstrous treason. “Our brother keeps at his side the worst foes of our family,” complained they. “He leaves us without a chief, and without places,” and they urged Vsevolod to act against Monomach’s descendants, and demand the places which he had pledged to them earlier, but had not given.

It would have been difficult, nay, quite impossible for Vsevolod to keep those promises, and he made no real effort to do so. Izyaslav was disquieted, however. He saw clearly what Vsevolod was doing. He knew him to be an inveterate trickster, who would deceive all men, who ever they might be, whenever the chance came and his interest required it, so he resolved to change the position if possible, and try to win Yuri, his uncle. He journeyed to Suzdal to see him, but he could make no impression on Yuri. Next he went to Rostislav, his brother, in Smolensk, and, last of all, to his brother in Novgorod, where he passed the winter. Thus did the descendants of Monomach and Oleg stand toward one another. How stood the other princes?

First among these were the descendants of Rostislav, whose[60]sons, Volodar and Vassilko, are well-known to us. Both died in 1124, the first leaving two sons, Vladimirko and Rostislav; the second left two also, Grigori and Ivan.

Of these four men, Vladimirko alone was remarkable. This prince not only kept his own among others, but was able to leave a strong principality to his son, whose friendship or enmity became highly important. Being weaker at first than most of his neighbors Vladimirko worked for success without reference to truthfulness or methods. In 1127 he called in the Hungarians and rose against Rostislav, his elder brother. His cousins came to the aid of Rostislav, as did also Mystislav, the Kief prince, and saved him. Rostislav died some years later; his two cousins died also. Thereupon Vladimirko took all Galitch, disregarding his nephew, Ivan, then ruling in Zvenigorod. The wars which followed the death of Mystislav the Great left a free hand to Vladimirko.

In Vsevolod’s struggle with Monomach’s descendants, Vladimirko helped him, but matters changed altogether when the son of the Kief prince was transferred to Volynia. Vsevolod might permit Vladimirko to snatch land from a descendant of Monomach, but not from Sviatoslav, his son. Both men were perfectly selfish, neither had scruples of any kind, and in 1144 Vsevolod quarreled with Vladimirko because of Volynia, and marched against Galitch with a large army. Nine Russian princes went with him, and the Polish prince Vladislav. Vladimirko had called in his friends, the Hungarians, but his troops, outnumbered and cut off, would have been forced to surrender had he not saved himself cunningly through Igor, the Kief prince’s brother, to whom he sent this wily message: “Reconcile me with thy brother, and I will make thee prince in Kief, after Vsevolod.” Igor, influenced by this promise, set about making peace, and succeeded.

Vladimirko went from his camp and bowed down before Vsevolod. He, “the cunning-minded and word-rich,” as people called him, brought Vsevolod to think it far better for him not to weaken Galitch too greatly, so Vsevolod, after taking an oath from Vladimirko, and a large ransom, restored all the towns which he had captured, and returned to his capital.

Vladimirko’s enemies now grew more defiant, and the citizens of Galitch installed in that city his nephew, Ivan, surnamed later Berladnik. Vladimirko hastened with forces to Galitch, and besieged[61]it for three weeks unsuccessfully, till Ivan made a night attack, went too far out, and was cut off from his capital. Unable to return, he broke through the investing lines, made his way to the Danube, and through steppe regions to Kief, where Vsevolod received him with kindness. Vladimirko entered Galitch, and there met his opponents without mercy.

Vsevolod’s reception of Ivan was, beyond doubt, the cause of a second war with Vladimirko. In 1146 Vsevolod led to Galitch large forces, among which were Poles, men of Novgorod, and Polovtsi. Siege was laid to Zvenigorod. When some of the citizens wished to surrender Vladimirko’s commander slew three of their leaders, cut each of the bodies in two, and hurled the six halves from the walls of the city. After that, those inside fought with valor. Vsevolod, who tried to storm the place, fought from daylight till evening. He fired the town in three places, but the people extinguished the fires, and resisted with desperation. The Kief prince at last raised the siege and returned home, forced mainly by an illness of which he died somewhat later.

The position of Novgorod in Vsevolod’s day was most difficult; when this prince drove Vyacheslav from Kief, Yuri Dolgoruki asked aid of Novgorod against the usurper, but the city refused to help him. He immediately recalled his son, who was then prince in Novgorod, and, seizing Torjok, stopped Novgorod’s provisions. The city sent then to Vsevolod for a prince, and was forced to accept from him Sviatoslav, his brother, a second time. A riot was kindled by Monomach’s partisans, and it was raging fiercely when the new prince arrived. Sviatoslav, deposed recently for his failure at Pskoff, remembered his enemies and punished them. They resented this, and soon the position presented a deadlock. “It is grievous for me to be here with these people,” wrote the prince to his brother. “I cannot endure them.”

To weaken the Monomach party, and smooth Sviatoslav’s way for him, Vsevolod induced the city to send him seven of its best men. Upon their arrival he threw them all into prison. This measure roused Novgorod greatly. Sviatoslav’s partisans were beaten at assemblies, and he himself, learning that he might be seized, fled in the night out of Novgorod, the posadnik, Yakun, going with him. Yakun was captured on the road and brought back to the city, with Prokop, his brother. Beaten by the people[62]till almost insensible, these two men were stripped of their clothing, and hurled from the bridge into the Volkov. Wading out, they were seized again, but not beaten. Yakun was fined one thousand silver grievens, and Prokop one hundred. Then the hands of both men were tied to their necks and they were cast into prison. After a time, however, they escaped to Yuri of Suzdal, who treated them kindly.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Novgorod went to Kief with a number of notables, and said to Vsevolod: “Give us thy son; we want not thy brother.” Vsevolod consented, and sent his son, Sviatoslav. While the young prince was traveling toward Novgorod, people sent secondly to Vsevolod: “We want neither thy son, nor any man of thy family. Give us a son of Mystislav.” Hereupon Vsevolod detained the bishop and notables, and, not wishing to see a man of Monomach’s line prince in Novgorod, summoned his wife’s brothers, Sviatopolk and Vladimir, and gave them the Brest principality. “Think not of Novgorod,” said he, “let it have whatever prince pleases it.” After that, Novgorod was nine months without a prince, which for that proud city was unendurable. Grain was stopped by Yuri of Suzdal, and the price of food was enormous. The party hostile to Kief, which found favor with Yuri, rose in strength and increased greatly. They invited Yuri to Novgorod. He was not willing to go himself, but he sent his son, Rotislav.

Vsevolod saw now that he had erred in not sending a brother-in-law, hence he vented his rage against Yuri. He took possession of Gorodok, Yuri’s capital, and seized his herds in southern regions. That did not settle the Novgorod question, however. Izyaslav, brother of Vsevolod’s wife, and prince now in Pereyaslavl, sent to his sister a message, which contained these words: “Get Novgorod for Sviatopolk, thy brother.” She set to work, and finally Vsevolod consented. He saw, of course, without any advice, that for him his wife’s brother in Novgorod was better than a son of Prince Yuri. Besides, the expulsion of Yuri’s son in favor of one of his nephews would widen the breach between Yuri and all his near relatives, a thing most desirable for Vsevolod.

When men heard in Novgorod that Sviatopolk was coming, and with him the bishop and notables, the opponents of Yuri rose in power again, for the city must choose to retain Yuri’s son,[63]and be hostile to Vsevolod and all his adherents, or receive Sviatopolk and have Yuri alone as an enemy. Sviatopolk was installed, and Rostislav sent away to his father. Thus was the question decided.

Vsevolod, double-dealing and shifty at all times, had promised the succession of Kief both to Igor, his own brother, and also to his wife’s brother, Izyaslav, who, as if selected for the place, had Pereyaslavl for his portion. Igor had the promise renewed in Galitch, when he made peace between the Kief prince and Vladimirko, the latter guaranteeing his aid to obtain the position.

In 1145 Vsevolod, in presence of his cousins and brothers—Izyaslav also was in the assembly—declared Igor to be his successor. “Vladimir Monomach,” said the prince, “placed Mystislav, his son, on the Kief throne. Mystislav gave Kief to Yaropolk, his brother. Whenever God calls for me, Kief will go to Igor.”

Oleg’s descendants knew well that these two Monomach successions broke the old rule by which Kief should belong to the senior among Yaroslav the Lawgiver’s descendants. The descendants of Monomach had violated this rule in their own line, by rejecting it. As they had led the way in destroying precedents, Vsevolod could now declare himself justified in following their example. Izyaslav opposed this decision, but with no avail. He was forced to kiss the cross in favor of Igor.

In 1146, when returning in illness from the second campaign against Galitch, Vsevolod halted at Vyshgorod, and summoned the principal Kief men. “I am ill; take my brother as Grand Prince,” said he. “We do so with gladness,” responded the Kief men. Igor went with these men to the capital, where he assembled the citizens, and they kissed the cross to him. “Thou art our prince,” declared they, but “they deceived,” says the chronicler. Next day the Vyshgorod citizens also kissed the cross to Igor.

Just before dying, Vsevolod sent to Izyaslav and to his brothers to learn if they adhered to their oaths taken solemnly. “We adhere,” replied all. After Vsevolod’s death, Igor made the Kief men take oath a second time, and the affair seemed concluded. But later, the Kief men assembled again, and sent to Izyaslav the words: “Come hither, O Prince!”

Igor sent Sviatoslav, his brother, to Kief, and remained himself[64]with the warriors. The Kief men complained of Ratsha and Tudor, two tiuns (high officials). “Ratsha plundered Kief, and Tudor stripped Vyshgorod,” said they to Sviatoslav. “Now kiss the cross for thy brother, to give us fair justice.” “I kiss the cross for my brother, that ye will suffer no violence, and that ye will have tiuns to suit you.” When he had said this, he dismounted and kissed the cross. Chosen men went with Sviatoslav to Igor, who kissed the cross to do what his brother had promised. But, since the old tiuns were left in their places, men rushed to Ratsha’s house and attacked it. Igor sent troops and his brother to defend the tiuns, which they did with difficulty. Meanwhile he sent a message to Izyaslav, asking if he held to the oath which he had taken. Izyaslav gave no answer; he even detained the envoy.

Since Igor retained the old tiuns, the Kief men decided quickly, and sent to Izyaslav, saying: “Come to us, Prince, we desire thee!” Izyaslav marched now against Kief. On the way, all towns declared for him. “Thou art ours, we will have no son of Oleg. March on!” shouted they. “We are with thee!” On he went, and soon he was met by Kief envoys. “Thou art our prince,” declared they. “We will not be the inheritance of Oleg’s son.”

Meanwhile Igor sent for support to his cousins, the sons of David. They wished to sell that support at the highest price. Igor gave what they demanded and promised to give all that he could give when he reached power, if they would take the field for him. Still more important for Igor were his late brother’s warriors. He also strove to secure the chief boyars by promising to those men their old places, but he was late with the promise for the boyars, observing that the people had cast him aside, had deserted already in secret. Quick to abandon a lost cause, they sent this message to Izyaslav: “Hasten, Prince. The sons of David are coming to aid thy opponent.” Sviatoslav’s men were no more faithful than were those of his brother Igor. They, too, were prepared to desert at the critical moment.

When Izyaslav appeared before Kief with his forces, the people were gathered at one side in a large body. Some distance away was the army of Igor. Izyaslav sent at once a chief and a banner to the people. A detachment fell upon Igor’s camp, and then came a fierce battle. The boyars, devoted to Izyaslav, went over immediately,[65]and Igor’s cause was lost very quickly. His whole army fled.

While fleeing, Igor’s horse stuck fast in a swampy place, and the prince, unable to move, had to stay there alone with the animal. Sviatoslav, Igor’s brother, fled to Chernigoff; Sviatoslav, his nephew, took refuge in Kief, where he was captured.

Izyaslav entered the capital with honor, and sat on the throne of his father and grandfather. All boyars faithful to Igor were captured and held until ransomed. The Kief people plundered the houses of Igor’s adherents and those of the late Vsevolod’s officials, taking much property of all kinds. Igor himself was found in the swamp four days later, and brought to Izyaslav, who put him first in a monastery, and then in prison, whence he was freed some time later.

Thus power returned to Monomach’s descendants. Passing two uncles, Vyacheslav and Yuri, it came to a nephew, because Izyaslav, through his personal qualities, satisfied the people, while the uncles did not please them. When Izyaslav first rose against Igor, he stated that it was to restore the Kief throne to his uncle, but when he was marching, the people declared: “Thou art our prince.” Hence when he took Kief, he kept it because the people wished him to keep it. Of course, he himself was quite willing. The people did not want Vyacheslav, though his right was undoubted, but the boyars, knowing they could rule through him, wanted the old man. Acting on their advice, he seized principalities, among others Volynia, but Izyaslav soon forced him to restore them, for the new prince held firm possession.

Meanwhile Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, fled with small forces to Chernigoff, and inquired of the sons of David if they intended to keep their oath to his brother. “We do,” replied they. Leaving with them his boyar, Kosnyatka, Sviatoslav set out for his own lands to take an oath from the people there. Once he had gone, the sons of David made their plans apart from Kosnyatka, who, learning by chance that they were plotting to seize Sviatoslav, sent at once to warn him. The sons of David, since their cousins could now obtain nothing west of the Dnieper, feared that they would take land from them in Chernigoff, hence they decided to join the Grand Prince against their cousin, and sent to Izyaslav, saying:

“Igor is as hostile to us as to thee; hold him firmly.” To[66]Sviatoslav they sent this message: “Take Putival and abandon thy brother Igor.” “I am seeking my brother, not land,” replied Sviatoslav. “Take land and kiss the cross,” said the sons of David. Sviatoslav wept and sent to Yuri of Suzdal, saying: “God took Vsevolod, and now Izyaslav has taken Igor. Be gracious; march against Kief; free my brother, while I, with God’s aid, will bring forces hither to help thee.”

Then he asked for men from the Polovtsi Khans, his wife’s uncles. They sent a detachment of warriors with promptness. From Murom came Vladimir, a grandson of that Yaroslav whom Vsevolod had driven from Chernigoff in order to take Kief later on, which he did successfully.

This Yaroslav, who founded the Ryazan line of princes, had two sons: Sviatoslav and Rostislav. When the former died in Murom, Rostislav took his land and sent Glaib his own son to rule in Ryazan, giving nothing to Vladimir, his nephew, who came now to join Sviatoslav. After him came the nephew of Vladimirko of Galitch—Ivan, surnamed Berladnik, from Berlad, a town in Moldavia, which was filled with adventurers of all kinds. Ivan had found there a refuge, and next a small party of daredevils to join him. The sons of David wished now to crush Sviatoslav at all cost. “We have begun a hard task,” said they to one another; “let us end it. Let us kill Sviatoslav and take his possessions.” They saw that while alive he would fight to free Igor; in that his success lay. Triumph and love for his brother had for him become one thing. They remembered that in the late reign Igor and his brother had continually insisted upon having land in Chernigoff, and had been restrained only by promises of Kief and of places about it. What now could restrain those men? Of course only lands in Chernigoff. They could not get lands in another place.

David’s sons begged aid of the Kief prince, who sent his son, Mystislav, with warriors to help them. The allies attacked Novgorod Seversk and fought three days there. They plundered the region about, and seized all the horses belonging to Igor and Sviatoslav. News came at this juncture that Yuri of Suzdal was Sviatoslav’s ally, and was marching to aid him.

Izyaslav, the Grand Prince, now asked Rostislav of Murom to attack Yuri’s country. The Murom prince moved at once. We have seen that Rostislav’s nephew and enemy, Vladimir, was in[67]Sviatoslav’s camp, being thus an ally of Yuri, hence Rostislav was ready to fight against Yuri. Besides, Rostislav could not have been friendly to the sons of Oleg, one of whom had driven his father from his throne in Chernigoff.

Yuri had reached Kozelsk, when he heard that Rostislav of Murom was attacking his country. This forced him back, but he sent his son, Ivan, who received Kursk and lands on the Seim as reward from Sviatoslav. It was clear that the latter would give what he had to preserve the alliance, and, with Yuri’s aid, redeem Igor. After he had given half his land for this ally, he tried, at the advice of his boyars, to win the sons of David to his cause, and sent to them his priest with this message: “Ye have ravaged my lands, seized my herds and the herds of my brother. Ye have burned my provisions and destroyed all my property; nothing remains for you now, but to kill me.” “Abandon thy brother,” answered the sons of David. “I would rather die,” replied Sviatoslav, “than abandon my brother. I will strive for him while life is in me.”

The sons of David now plundered on every side. They took Igor’s town, where he had a residence. In his cellars were mead and wines, in his storehouses goods of much value. All that men could remove they took with them, then they fired the place, burning nine hundred stacks of grain.

While Izyaslav was hastening from Kief with his warriors, David’s sons moved on Putivl, but the town was held firmly by the people till the Kief prince appeared before it. They yielded to him, when he kissed the cross to respect them, and merely installed his own posadnik, instead of the old one. He and his allies, however, seized all of Sviatoslav’s wealth in Putivl,—wine, mead, provisions and seven hundred slaves. Sviatoslav himself, advised by his allies, had fled northward, to be close to provisions and near Yuri of Suzdal, taking with him his wife and children, and also the wife of Igor. Some of his warriors had deserted, but the best remained faithful. The sons of David were infuriated by this flight of their cousin, and at once resolved to capture the man or kill him. Izyaslav said, “Let us follow Sviatoslav. If by any chance he escapes us, we will at least seize his wife and children, and take all of his property.” And with three thousand horsemen he set out to hunt down his cousin. When this force was[68]gaining on him, Sviatoslav pondered whether it were better to save his own person by flight and let his warriors and family be captured, or remain with them and lay down his life fighting. His men were not many, but they were of excellent quality,—Ivan, a son of Yuri of Suzdal, Ivan Berladnik, Vladimir of Murom, the Polovtsi party, and some others. He had to meet thousands with hundreds, but he chose to remain, and, turning on the son of David in a forest, he routed him thoroughly; then he fled farther as swiftly as possible.

The Grand Prince and Vladimir, the other son of David, following on at some distance behind, had stopped to take food, when news came that Sviatoslav had defeated his pursuers. The Kief prince was enraged at this failure, and set out himself in immediate pursuit of the fugitive. On the way he was joined by stragglers from the scattered force, and at last came the son of David.

Sviatoslav hastened forward to Koracheff, and as Izyaslav was again hunting him sharply, he fled to great forests in Vyatichi regions, where pursuit was impossible.

“I hold the places which ye desired,” said the Kief prince to the sons of David. “Take ye the lands of Sviatoslav; I yield them all to you. Igor’s slaves and his goods in those lands will be mine. Sviatoslav’s goods we will divide between us.” After making this distribution, he returned to his capital.

Meanwhile Igor, who lay ill in prison, wished to assume a monk’s habit, and requested permission. “Thou mayst do that,” replied Izyaslav. “I intended to free thee in every case.” Taken from prison to a cell in a monastery, Igor lay eight days and nights without food or drink. At last he revived and took the monk’s habit.

The conflict still raged between Sviatoslav and his cousins. Izyaslav had left in Chernigoff his sister’s son, Sviatoslav, the son of Vsevolod, the late Grand Prince. The interests of this Sviatoslav were closely connected with the house of Oleg. A decisive defeat of his uncle would destroy this “sister’s son’s” chance of being prince in Chernigoff, to which he aspired, as the first son of Vsevolod. Hence, in secret, he favored his uncle, and informed him of all that his enemies were doing.

Yuri of Suzdal now sent fresh warriors to Sviatoslav, who with[69]them was ready to rend his pursuers, when Yuri’s son, Ivan, who led them, died suddenly. The sons of David feared to attack Yuri’s warriors, but they urged leading men of the Vyatichi, in whose towns their posadniks were stationed, to kill Sviatoslav and scatter his forces. At this point two of Yuri’s sons, one of whom was Andrei, later on very famous, forced Rostislav, the Murom prince, who was attacking their father, to flee to the Polovtsi.

That same year, 1146, Yuri invited Sviatoslav, his ally, to meet him in Moscow (Moskva). This name appears now for the first time in the chronicles of Russia. Originally a farm on the river Moskva, and owned by one Stephen Kuchka, it was called Kuchkova. When the land came into the possession of Yuri Dolgoruki, he built a village on an elevation and called it Moskva. There was feasting and gift-giving now in Moscow, but also much serious work. Yuri furnished warriors, led by his son, and fresh troops of Polovtsi came to Sviatoslav; thus he had power to take the offensive. This he did with effect, and when a third force of Polovtsi came, the effect was decisive. All the posadniks installed in Vyatichi towns by the sons of David fled quickly, and Sviatoslav sent in new men to replace them. Both sons of David withdrew from the north to Chernigoff, and sent peace proposals to Sviatoslav. Those same sons of David now turned traitorously on the Kief prince, to whom they sent this faithless message: “Sviatoslav has taken Vyatichi lands. Come with us to attack him. When we have driven him away we will march with thee against Yuri, and make peace or war with him.”

Izyaslav agreed, but Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, to make sure of carrying out his own plans and escaping beyond reach of the Kief prince in season, came to Izyaslav, and said to him, “Let me go to Chernigoff, my father. I wish to get lands from my cousins.” “Thou hast thought this out well,” replied Izyaslav. “Go straightway.” He went, and the whole affair was fixed surely, as they thought. He and the sons of David were to seize the Kief prince the moment he set foot in Chernigoff. As he delayed, they sent envoys to hurry him. “Our land is perishing,” said they, “and thou wilt not come to assist us.”

Izyaslav summoned his boyars and warriors and the people, and said to them: “I am going with the sons of David to war against Sviatoslav, and Yuri my uncle. I must go, for Yuri is[70]helping my enemy, Sviatoslav.” “Go not against Yuri,” said the people. “Make peace with thy uncle. Lend no ear to the sons of David, take not the same road with them.” “I must go,” replied Izyaslav; “they are my allies.” “Take it not ill of us,” continued the people, “we cannot raise hands against a son of Monomach. But if thou wilt march against the house of Oleg, we will not only go with thee, but take our sons also.”

The prince, however, asked for volunteers to attack Yuri, and a large number went with him. On passing the Dnieper, he sent Ulaiba, his boyar, to learn what was happening in Chernigoff. The boyar hurried back, bringing news that the allies of the Kief prince were acting with Sviatoslav. Chernigoff friends also sent to Izyaslav, saying that his allies were deceiving him foully. “They wish to slay or to seize thee, and liberate Igor. They have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav, and also to Yuri.”

The Kief prince now sent envoys to confer in his name with the sons of David: “We agreed on a great work, and kissed the cross to each other,” said the envoys. “Let us kiss it again, so that there be no disagreement hereafter.” “Why kiss again? We have kissed already,” replied the sons of David. “What harm in kissing the cross?” said the envoys. “The cross is salvation.” But they refused to kiss it a second time. The envoys repeated now these words from Izyaslav to the sons of David: “I have heard that ye are deceiving me, that ye have sworn to Sviatoslav to seize me or to kill me because of Igor. Is this true, brothers, or is it not true?” They would not answer. At last one of them said to the envoys: “Withdraw, we will summon thee later.” They consulted long, and then called the envoys.

“We have kissed the cross to Sviatoslav,” declared they frankly. “We grieve over Igor, our cousin. He is a monk now; set him free, and we will ride at thy stirrup. Would it please thee if we held thy brother?” The treaty papers were cast at their feet, and these words were added in answer: “Ye took oath to be with me till death, and I gave you the lands of both sons of Oleg. I expelled Sviatoslav; I won his lands and gave you Putivl with other places. We divided Sviatoslav’s property between us. I took Igor’s. And now, brothers, ye have broken your oath. Ye invited me hither intending to kill me. Let God be on my side and[71]the power of the life-giving cross. I will manage as the Lord may assist me.”

The prince asked Rostislav, his brother, to bring Smolensk forces from all sides. He sent to Kief also, explaining the conduct of the sons of David, and reminded the people of what they had promised. The Kief men decided immediately to go forward in boats and on horseback to help him. “We rejoice,” declared they in a message, “that God has preserved thee. We come and bring our sons with us, according to promise!” When thus excited, some man in the throng called out loudly: “We will fight for our prince, but think first of one important thing. Here in this city is the enemy of our prince. Let us slay him to finish that family in Chernigoff, and then go!” The people rushed to the monastery, and before Prince Vladimir, the metropolitan, or the commander in the city, could stop them they had seized Igor, and slain him.

Izyaslav was at the edge of Chernigoff when news of Igor’s death came to him: “If I had thought of this, I should have guarded him more carefully,” said he to his warriors. “Men will say now that I wished to kill Igor, but God knows that I did not.” “Be not concerned,” answered his warriors. “God knows, and people know, also, that not thou, but his own cousins killed him; they who took an oath to thee, and then conspired traitorously to kill thee.”

Izyaslav seized Kursk, where he placed his son, Mystislav, and thus barred out the Polovtsi. But Glaib, son of Yuri, came later with Sviatoslav to take the place. The people would not raise a hand against Glaib, since he was a grandson of Monomach. They would have fought against Sviatoslav had he come unassisted, as they informed Mystislav, who returned to his father.

Glaib, after installing posadniks, left that region, and the Polovtsi were free to appear again. Rostislav of Smolensk led in large forces to help his brother, the Grand Prince, and after an involved and tedious war, ending rather against Izyaslav than for him, the Chernigoff princes were unable to continue the struggle; their territory was stripped of provisions, and ruined in great part; they had no food for their warriors, and could not pay Polovtsi allies. Yuri had sent a son with forces, but he would not go with his main strength in person, and without Yuri the Chernigoff princes were unable to stand against Izyaslav and his brothers.[72]

In such straits, they sent these words to Yuri: “Thou didst kiss the cross to go with us against Izyaslav; thou hast not done so. Izyaslav came, burned our towns, took our country. He came a second time; he burned and seized what he spared at the first attack, but thou hast neither come to us nor fought against Izyaslav. If thy wish is to march now against the Kief prince, we will go with thee; if not, we are freed from our oath; we have no wish to perish in war unassisted.”

From Yuri came no answer of value, hence they turned with proposals to the Kief prince. He replied that he would consult with Rostislav and then answer finally. He consulted with his brother for form’s sake, and then made peace with the princes of Chernigoff, who took oath to forget Igor’s death, and be in friendship for the future. Kursk remained in their possession.

At this time Rostislav, Yuri’s eldest son, once prince in Novgorod, came to Kief, declaring that he had quarreled with his father, who refused him land in Suzdal; hence he had come to Izyaslav with homage. The Kief prince gave him those five towns held formerly by Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, and also Gorodok, where Izyaslav did not wish to see Yuri’s son Glaib, to whom he sent this command: “Find lands with the sons of Oleg.”

In autumn, the Grand Prince went to Gorodok, taking Rostislav with him. The sons of David were there, but no son of Oleg. When Izyaslav mentioned this, the princes replied: “We are here. It is indifferent whether they come or not; they and we took the oath to make common cause with thee, and to go with thee against Yuri, starting when the rivers should be frozen.” They who had been Yuri’s allies a short time before had now become his enemies, and allies of Izyaslav. When the time came, Izyaslav left Vladimir, his brother, in Kief, and visited Smolensk, to confer with Rostislav.

Novgorod had assembled large forces to march against Yuri, and now sent many warriors, as did Smolensk. They moved down the Volga, and, finding no trace of Yuri, ravaged both sides of the river as far as Uglitch. Here news came that the sons of David, with Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, had marched to assist them, but had halted in the Vyatichi country to see who would be victor, the Kief prince, or Yuri.

“Let them come or stay,” replied Izyaslav, and he sent Novgorod men and others to take Yaroslavl on the Volga. This they[73]did after much effort, and returned with great booty. A week before Easter the weather became so warm that the army could not remain in the country. Horses walked to their bellies in water. Rostislav went back to Smolensk, and Izyaslav to Novgorod and thence to his capital.

This campaign cost Yuri’s country seven thousand men led away captives, besides all the property burned and ruined. Upon Izyaslav’s return to Kief, he learned from his boyars that Yuri’s son, Rostislav, had worked against him in his absence, and had said to the people: “If God helps my father, he will visit Kief and take Izyaslav’s house from him, and also his family.” “Send this traitor back to his father; thou art keeping him here to thy ruin,” said the boyars. The prince summoned Rostislav, and, without receiving him, gave this message: “Thou didst come to me and say that thy father was unjust and would give thee no land. I took thee in as a brother, I gave thee lands, and now thou wouldst seize Kief from me.” Yuri’s son sent back this answer: “Neither in my heart nor my mind was the thought which thou hast mentioned. If he who has lied is a prince I am ready to meet him, if of lower degree, either Christian or pagan, judge thou between us.” “Ask no judgment of me,” replied Izyaslav. “I know what thou wishest. Go back to thy father.”

The boyars put Rostislav in a boat with three men and sent him up the river. His warriors were retained, and his property taken.

Rostislav bowed down to his father in Suzdal, and said: “The whole Russian land desires thee. Men say in Kief that their prince has dishonored them. March thou against Izyaslav.” These words imply clearly that Yuri’s son had worked with zeal against Izyaslav, and that the complaint of the boyars was well founded.

Such an “insult” to Rostislav greatly offended Yuri, who demanded angrily, “Is there then no place for me or my sons in Russia?” He assembled his forces quickly, hired Polovtsi, and was soon ready for action.

It was not anger alone which roused Yuri; he believed that his day had come, the long deferred day of triumph. His son’s report that he would find in the south serious allies, decided his movements, and he marched forward with all speed. He had reached the land of the Vyatichi, when Vladimir, son of David, warned Izyaslav, saying: “Be ready for action; thy uncle is marching.”[74]Izyaslav prepared, and with the sons of David sent envoys to Sviatoslav, brother of the late Igor, reminding him of their treaties.

Sviatoslav gave no answer at first, but guarded the envoys to keep men away from them. Meanwhile he consulted with Yuri. “Art thou going against Izyaslav? Tell me truly lest I ruin my lands without reason.” “I go, of course,” replied Yuri. “My nephew made war in my lands and set fire to them. He drove out my son, and insulted me. I will avenge the wrong done, or I will lay down my life.”

On receiving this answer, Sviatoslav, unwilling to break his oath, without reasons which men might hold sufficient, commanded his envoys to speak thus to Izyaslav: “Return Igor’s property, and I will be with thee.” “Thou hast kissed the cross to put aside enmity because of Igor and his property,” replied Izyaslav, “but now thou dost mention them when my uncle is marching against me. Keep thy oath, or else break it.”

Sviatoslav joined forces with Yuri. Yuri and Sviatoslav then sent the sons of David a message, but they sent the answer only to Yuri: “In the last war thou didst swear to be with us. But when Izyaslav took all our lands and burned the towns in them, thou wouldst not come to us. Because of this we kissed the cross to Izyaslav, and we cannot jest with salvation.”

Yuri marched southward, expecting the Polovtsi and awaiting submission from Izyaslav, his nephew. Rostislav of Smolensk, with large forces, hastened to strengthen his brother. Yuri advanced to Pereyaslavl, thinking that Izyaslav might yield; but Izyaslav did not yield. “If my uncle had come with his sons only,” said he, “he might have had the best province in my possession, but as he leads in the hated Polovtsi, and with them my enemy, I am forced to the field by his action.”

Izyaslav talked thus to persuade Kief men to march against Yuri. They had insisted on peace, and declared that they could not raise hands against a son of Monomach. But, influenced by Izyaslav’s words, they at last consented to go, though unwillingly. Crossing the Dnieper, the Grand Prince met Yuri’s army, the advance troops being Polovtsi, and repulsed it. Then the two armies stood all day and night facing each other. In the night Yuri sent to his nephew this message: “Thou hast ravaged my country, thou hast taken seniority from me, but spare Christian[75]blood now. Let me seat a son in this city of Pereyaslavl, and rule thou in Kief. If not, let God judge between us.”

Izyaslav detained the envoy, and led out all his men to meet Yuri. Next morning the bishop, with tears in his eyes, begged thus of Izyaslav: “Make peace with thy uncle. If thou do so, thou wilt save the land from sore misery, and have great reward from God.” But the prince would not listen. The armies were face to face that day till evening, the river Trubej between them. At a council called by Izyaslav, some favored crossing the river: “God gives thee the enemy; seize him,” said these men. “Remain where thou art,” said others. “Thy uncle is wavering, he will vanish in the night. Let him go, do not touch him.” The first advice pleased the prince, and he crossed the river. Next day at noon the armies came very near fighting, but Yuri halted, and in the evening withdrew. Again there were two minds in Izyaslav’s council: “Thy uncle is fleeing,” urged one mind; “attack him before he escapes thee.” “Follow not,” urged the other; “there will be no battle; thou wilt have victory for nothing.” This time too Izyaslav took the first advice.

At daybreak next morning the battle began. It was resolute at the opening and venomous on both sides, but soon all of Izyaslav’s contingents from the Ros River fled. Seeing this, the sons of David and the Kief men fled also. Pereyaslavl, persuaded already by Yuri’s son, Rostislav, opened its gates without fighting, and thus the battle was ended.

Izyaslav had pierced an opposing regiment, but when in the rear of it he saw that all had deserted him, and knew that nothing save flight remained. He reached Kief with only two attendants, and went immediately to Volynia; but he withdrew to reopen the struggle.

On reaching Volynia Izyaslav sent to Poland, Bohemia and Hungary for aid. Aid was promised, but he wished aid itself, and not promises, hence he sent envoys a second time bearing rich presents, with the injunction to get what he asked for. Knowing now what it was to fight against his uncle when the people were indifferent or opposed to him, he sent these words to Yuri’s elder brother, Vyatcheslav: “Be my father and take the throne of Kief; if not I will ruin thy country.”

Vyatcheslav, alarmed by the threat, sent this message to Yuri:[76]“Make peace, defend my country, come hither thyself; we shall then see what to do. If thou come not, I must act as seems best to me.” Yuri set out at once with his troops, taking Polovtsi also. Izyaslav marched from Volynia against him. To Vyatcheslav came Rostislav and Andrei, sons of Yuri, and soon Yuri himself came. Vladimirko of Galitch moved to the boundary and thus checked Poles and Hungarians.

The Poles, greatly alarmed by news from their own land that Prussian tribes were attacking them, went home. Hence the allies sent these words to Yuri and Vyatcheslav: “Though ye are as fathers to Izyaslav, ye are now warring against him. As Christians and brethren we should all be united. Can you not arrange peace with your son and your brother? Ye might remain in Kief. Ye yourselves know who should be there. Let Volynia and whatever else is his go to Izyaslav. Let Yuri give back the Novgorod tribute.”

“God reward you,” replied Yuri and his brother. “Since ye ask for peace and wish well to us, let Izyaslav return to Volynia, and go ye to your own lands; we will discuss then with Izyaslav.” The allies withdrew, and the uncles proposed terms to their nephew. But the affair halted because Yuri’s eldest son and a nephew advised with great earnestness not to make peace with Izyaslav. Yuri took this advice all the more readily, since Izyaslav’s allies had gone to their own lands, and he thought it easy to force down his nephew. “I will expel Izyaslav and take his lands,” said Yuri, and he moved with his brother to do this.

Yuri and his forces invested Lutsk, and for many weeks fought around the city. The besieged lacked water greatly. Izyaslav strove to aid them, but Vladimirko of Galitch barred the way; he desired victory for neither side. Volynia, independent of Kief, was what he wished. Izyaslav sent to him, saying: “Reconcile me with my uncle Yuri.” Vladimirko was willing, in fact he was very glad to attempt this.

Andrei, Yuri’s second son, was for peace and counseled his father. “Give no ear to my brother or cousin,” said he. “Make peace, O my father, do not ruin thy possessions.” Vyatcheslav favored peace also. He had his own reasons for doing so. “Make peace,” said he to Yuri. “If not, and thou go, Izyaslav will destroy my country.”[77]

Yuri finally agreed to peace. His nephew yielded Kief, and Yuri gave back the Novgorod tribute. Izyaslav visited his uncles, and all sides promised to return booty taken since the action near Pereyaslavl. After that Yuri went back to Kief, and wished to give it to Vyatcheslav, to whom it belonged by seniority, but the boyars dissuaded him. “Thy brother could not hold Kief,” said they. “It will be neither his nor thine, if thou yield it.” Yuri took his son from Vyshgorod, and gave the place to Vyatcheslav.

Meanwhile, 1150, Izyaslav sent to find herds and property seized before peace was concluded, but when his men had found what they were seeking, and asked for it, Yuri refused it, and they went back empty-handed. Thereupon Izyaslav sent a complaint and threat to his uncle: “Keep thy oath, for I cannot remain thus offended.” Yuri made no answer, and Izyaslav took arms again, urged, as was said, by Kief people.

At this time Yuri’s son Glaib was encamped not far from Izyaslav, who suddenly attacked him in the night. Glaib escaped with much difficulty, having lost everything he had. Next day he sent to his cousin this message: “Yuri is my father, so art thou, and I render thee homage. Thou and Yuri will settle all questions. But give thy oath that thou wilt permit me to visit my father. If thou do, I will come and bow down to thee.” Izyaslav gave the oath. Glaib went to Yuri, and Izyaslav hastened to the steppe to get aid from the Black Caps, who rejoiced with unbounded delight when they saw him.

Yuri, on hearing that his nephew had gone to the Black Caps, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper and hastened to Gorodok. As soon as Yuri withdrew from Kief, Vyatcheslav entered. The Kief people went out in great crowds to meet Izyaslav, who was not slow in coming. “Yuri has left us,” said they. “Vyatcheslav is in the palace, but we do not want him. Go to Holy Sophia, and then take the throne of thy fathers.” “I gave thee Kief,” said Izyaslav, in a message to his uncle, “but thou wouldst not take it. Now when thy brother has fled, thou art willing. Go to thy Vyshgorod.” “Even shouldst thou kill me for staying, I would not go,” answered Vyatcheslav.

Taking a few attendants, Izyaslav went to his uncle and bowed down before him. Vyatcheslav rose, kissed him and they sat down together. “Father,” said Izyaslav, “I give thee homage,[78]I cannot do what thou wishest, such is the power of the people. They are opposed to thee. Go to Vyshgorod; from there we two will manage.” “When thou didst invite me to Kief,” answered Vyatcheslav, “I had kissed the cross to Yuri. If Kief is thine now, I will go to Vyshgorod.” And he went.

Meanwhile Yuri called on the sons of David and Oleg for assistance, and Vladimirko was marching from the west. Izyaslav, greatly alarmed, prepared for defense very promptly and went with boyars to Vyatcheslav in Vyshgorod. “Take Kief,” said he to his uncle, “and with it what lands thou desirest; the rest leave to me.” Vyatcheslav was offended at first. “Why didst thou not give me Kief when thou wert forcing me out of it shamefully?” asked he. “Now when one army is moving against thee from Galitch and another from Chernigoff, thou givest me my inheritance.” “I offered thee Kief, declaring that I could live with thee, but not with Yuri,” said Izyaslav. “Thee I love as my father. And I say now again: Thou art my father, and Kief belongs to thee.” These words softened Vyatcheslav and he kissed the cross to consider Izyaslav as his son, and Izyaslav swore to regard him as a father. “I am going to Zvenigorod against Vladimirko,” said Izyaslav. “Be pleased thou to enter Kief and let me have thy warriors.” “I will send all of my warriors with thee,” replied Vyatcheslav.

Vladimirko was now in the field to help Yuri, and Izyaslav marched westward at once to hasten the struggle, but when he came near the enemy his men forsook him. “Vladimirko has a countless host,” cried they. “Do not destroy us and forfeit thy own life. Wait till another time.” “Better die here than suffer disgrace such as that!” exclaimed Izyaslav. Nevertheless all fled the field, and the Kief prince was left with only his personal following. He fell back on the capital safely, though he might have been captured. Vladimirko thought the whole movement a strategy, hence he followed on cautiously, looking for ambushes everywhere. Izyaslav found his uncle in Kief, waiting anxiously. They counseled awhile and then sat down to dinner. During dinner news came that Yuri was crossing the Dnieper, and with him the men of Chernigoff. “This is not our day!” exclaimed the two princes, and they fled from Kief, Vyatcheslav going to Vyshgorod, and Izyaslav back to Volynia.[79]

Next day Vladimirko and Yuri met outside Kief and greeted each other on horseback. The Galitch prince visited all the holy places in the city, and then bade farewell to his father-in-law in friendship. He took with him Yuri’s son, Mystislav, and installed that prince on the boundary of Volynia. Later on Yuri gave this whole region to his best son, Andrei.

Andrei fixed his camp in Peresopnitsa, and during the winter Izyaslav sent an envoy to him. “Reconcile me with thy father,” said he. “My inheritance is not in Hungary or Poland. Ask from thy father the return of my land on the Goryn.” He sent this request, but bade his envoy look sharply at all things. He was planning to fall on Andrei, as he had fallen on Glaib, Yuri’s other son, some time earlier.

The envoy found everything in excellent order, and a strong force of warriors in readiness. Andrei, unsuspicious, or feigning to be so, turned to Yuri in favor of Izyaslav, but Yuri would not yield a whit to his nephew. “My uncle,” declared Izyaslav, “would drive me to exile. Vladimirko of Galitch has taken my land at command of Yuri, and is now making ready to march on Vladimir, my capital.” So he sent Vladimir, his brother, to Hungary to ask aid of the king, who marched straightway with an army on Galitch. “I, thy brother, have started,” wrote the king. “Join me at once with thy forces. Vladimirko will see the men whom he has offended.”

Vladimirko had friends in Hungary, who sent him information, hence he left Bailz, where his camp was, and hastened forward to meet the Hungarian forces at Peremysl. There he discovered that he was no match for the king in the field, so he begged the archbishop and two bishops from Hungary with certain influential boyars to help him. He lavished gold without stint on these prelates and boyars, and they in return urged the king to go home and make war at another time. He yielded, and sent this explanation to Izyaslav: “The Greek Emperor is moving against me; I must return to my own country to meet him, but next summer I can send ten thousand men, or even more if thou need them.”

The Hungarian force vanished, and was as if it had never seen Galitch. Izyaslav, foiled for the moment by his enemy, sent Vladimir a second time to Hungary with this message: “Vyatcheslav’s boyars, the people and the steppe tribes have sent for me.[80]If thou must stay at home to prepare for the Greek Emperor, send me the aid which thou hast promised, and I will be with thee hereafter at all times.” The king sent him now ten thousand men, and with these warriors he set out against Kief.

On the way news was brought to him that Vladimirko was following. A council was summoned, and the boyars spoke thus: “Thou art marching on Yuri, and Vladimirko is pursuing; our position is perilous.” “Ye have come out of Kief,” replied Izyaslav; “ye have lost land and property, ye have lost all. I have lost my inheritance. I must get back my own and win yours in the same effort. If Vladimirko comes, God will decide between us. If Yuri should meet me, the Lord will judge also in his case.” And leaving Sviatopolk, one of his brothers, behind in Vladimir, his capital, to guard the place, he moved forward with the Hungarians and his own men.

On the way Vladimirko was joined by Andrei, and both forces followed together. Though sometimes at skirmishing distance, Izyaslav wisely abstained from action, and sent on Vladimir to Bailgorod, where Boris, son of Yuri, was feasting. If a collector of taxes had not raised the bridge, Boris would have been seized at table. Unable to get possession of the place without a battle, Vladimir rejoined Izyaslav, and they hastened on toward Kief. When Vladimirko’s men came up, they approached and sounded a trumpet. People ran out and lowered the bridge willingly. This advance force entered Bailgorod, and Boris hurried away to his father. Yuri, greatly alarmed by the strength of the enemy marching against him, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper, fled on, and took refuge in Gorodok.

All Kief went out to meet Izyaslav. The delight of the people this time seemed real. Yuri, whom the city never really liked, had become most unpopular, and they now rejoiced to be rid of him.

On the west, beyond Bailgorod, Vladimirko and Andrei were manœuvering for battle with Izyaslav, when suddenly news reached them that their enemy was in Kief with his forces, and Yuri powerless in Gorodok. Vladimirko’s rage was unbounded. “I cannot see how my father-in-law manages,” said he to Andrei. “I cannot understand how ye, his sons, help him. Thou, Andrei, hadst thy camp on the Goryn; Boris was in Bailgorod. We might have[81]forced Izyaslav to action and lamed, or defeated him, but Boris left us and gave the road to our enemy. Thy father then abandoned Kief, and Izyaslav is now Grand Prince. To-day the whole Russian land is on his side. I leave you, and go now to Galitch.”

Yuri had no friends in the south, where all had hoped for his downfall. The campaign seemed indeed like some folk-tale. A battle might have ruined Izyaslav; a quick march secured him dominion.

Vladimirko turned home, but to each town he said as he came to it: “Give me the silver and gold that I ask of you. If ye refuse I will take what I find at the sword’s point.” No town or city had the silver or gold, or the coin or utensils to meet this demand of Yuri’s ally, hence people were forced to take every ornament from the necks and the arms of their women, and give them to the master of Galitch. Vladimirko took from all in this way till he reached his own boundary.

At last the hour of triumph had sounded for Yuri’s simple-minded brother. On the day after his entrance to Kief, Izyaslav sent this message to his uncle: “I salute thee, my father. I have sinned before thee, but I repent. I have sinned a first, and a second, and a third time. I repent now of all these transgressions, and, if thou forgive, God will pardon me. I give thee Kief; come thou and sit on the throne of thy fathers.” Thus Izyaslav acknowledged completely the right of uncles as opposed to the sons of their elder brothers, a right against which even personal qualities, or the respect of people availed not.

“God give thee strength, my son,” replied Vyatcheslav, “because thou hast given me due honor. It was thy duty thus to act long ago. Thou hast given honor to God by the honor given me. Thou sayest that I am thy father; I say that thou art my son. I have no son, and thou hast no father; thou art my son, thou art also my brother.”

Uncle and nephew now kissed the cross to each other not to part in defeat or in triumph. The Hungarians were feasted, received rich presents, and went home. The two princes sent Izyaslav’s son on a mission to Hungary, to assure the Hungarian king of the Kief princes’ gratitude, and to make offer of service, asking, too, that if the need came the king would send troops, as he had sent them recently. Rostislav of Smolensk was invited to aid in liberating[82]Kief, for they thought, and thought rightly, that Yuri would not yield without a struggle.

Yuri now summoned all his allies. Sviatoslav moved promptly and met Vladimir, son of David, in Chernigoff; then their forces sailed down in boats to Gorodok, where they joined Yuri. Izyaslav, the other son of David, joined the Kief princes. Rostislav of Smolensk came to Kief early with his forces. Yuri moved with his allies from Gorodok to the Dnieper and strove hard to cross, but was foiled in each effort by his nephew. Strengthened now by large forces of the Polovtsi, he marched toward the south and crossed at the second ford, below Kief, then turning back, he advanced on the capital. Izyaslav and his uncle, disposing their men in the city and around it, waited for the coming conflict.

“We are now ready for battle,” said Vyatcheslav to his nephews. “Yuri is my brother, though younger, and I wish to bring my seniority before him. God in his judgment considers the right side.” So he summoned an envoy and gave these instructions: “Go thou to Yuri, my brother: bow down to him in my name and say these words from me: ‘I have said often to thee, Yuri, and to Izyaslav, shed not Christian blood, ruin not the Russian land. I have tried to restrain thee from war. I have regiments and power of my own which God gave me. Still I have not fought for myself, though thou, Yuri, and also Izyaslav have deeply offended me, not one time, but many. Izyaslav, when going to fight against Igor, said that he was not seeking Kief for himself, but for me, his father. Then, when God gave him victory, he kept Kief for himself, and took also Turoff and Pinsk from me. That is how Izyaslav offended, but I, keeping Christians in mind and the Russian land, did not remember it against him. Thou, brother Yuri, when going to Pereyaslavl to fight against Izyaslav, didst say: “I seek not Kief for myself. I have an older brother who is to me as a father; I am seeking Kief for that brother.” But, when God aided thee to take Kief, thou didst keep it. Thou didst seize from me, besides, Dorogobuj and Peresopnitsa, and gavest me only Vyshgorod. Thus did ye wrong me. All this time I sought no redress out of love for the Russian land and for Christians. Ye would take no decision of mine; ye sought war. I strove to dissuade thee from war, but ye would not listen. Thy answer was that thou couldst not give homage to a junior. But Izyaslav, though he has failed[83]twice before in his word to me, has given now what is mine; he has yielded up Kief, and calls me father. Thou hast said: “I cannot bow down to a junior.” I am older than thou not a little; I was bearded before thou wert born. If it is thy wish to defy my seniority, God will render judgment.’ ”

To this Yuri answered: “I bow down to thee, brother; thy words are true, and well spoken. Thou art to me in the place of a father, and if it is thy desire to arrange matters clearly, let Izyaslav go to Volynia and Rostislav return to Smolensk. I will settle all questions then with thee.” “Brother Yuri, this is what I will say in answer,” retorted Vyacheslav. “Thou hast seven sons, and I do not hunt them away from thee. I have two adopted sons, Izyaslav and Rostislav, with some others still younger. I will add this: Do thou for the good of the Russian land and of Christians go to Pereyaslavl, thence to Kursk with thy sons, and beyond is Rostoff, thy great inheritance. Send home the sons of Oleg. After that we will settle, and shed no Christian blood. But if thou must have thy own way, the Purest Lady and her Son will judge between us.”

Yuri gave no answer to these words, but next morning he appeared before Kief with his forces. There was nothing but skirmishing till toward evening, when a part of each army engaged. The Kief troops drove back their opponents, and fought with such vigor that Yuri withdrew his whole force and marched westward to meet Vladimirko, his ally from Galitch, who, as he heard, was now hastening to join him. He appeared before Bailgorod, from which his son Boris had fled some time previously, and summoning the citizens, said: “Ye are my people, open the gates to me.” “Has Kief opened its gates?” was the answer. The gates remained closed, and Yuri marched farther. The Kief princes set out in pursuit and overtook him near Rut River, beyond Bailgorod. There they strove again to make peace, but failed, since the sons of Oleg and the Polovtsi opposed it.

As they could not come to terms, the Kief princes were anxious to force a battle before Vladimirko could strengthen their enemy. Yuri wished to defer the engagement till Vladimirko could join him. His first intention was to pass Rut River, prevent the Kief troops from crossing, and wait for his ally in a favorable position. But all his movements to gain time were useless, and he was compelled[84]to turn promptly to battle. Andrei, now Yuri’s eldest son, for Rostislav had died recently, ranged his father’s warriors in order of battle. “Thou hast striven much for the good,” said Izyaslav and his brother to Vyatcheslav, “but thy brother opposes at all times. We are willing, if need be, to lay down our lives to save thy rights for thee.” “My sons,” replied the old man, “I have been opposed all my life to bloodshed. We are on this field to-day because of Yuri. God will judge between him and me.”

Andrei advanced in the front rank, led the battle, and made the first lance cast. His lance broke, his shield was torn from him, his helmet was shivered, and he fell from the horse, which was wounded under him. Izyaslav also engaged in the front rank; thrown from his horse, he fell and was lost among the slain and wounded.

The battle was brief, but decisive. Izyaslav’s men fought willingly this time, while Yuri’s showed no heart in the struggle. His Polovtsi fled without using an arrow. After them fled the sons of Oleg, and next Yuri himself and his sons. Many prisoners were taken, many men slain. Among the slain was Vladimir, son of David, Prince of Chernigoff.

When the victors, returning, passed over the field after hunting their fugitive opponents, they saw a man trying to rise from a great pile of dead and wounded. Some foot warriors ran up and struck him. “I am a prince!” he was able to say. “Thou art the man we are seeking,” cried they, and slashed at his helmet, thinking him a son of Oleg, or David. “I am Izyaslav. I am your prince,” called he to them. They raised him then with gladness, and praised the Lord, who had saved him.

The Kief princes urged Izyaslav, son of David, to take his brother’s corpse, hasten with all the strength in him to Chernigoff, and sit on the throne before Sviatoslav could forestall him. (This was a real case of running for office.)

From the battlefield Yuri fled to the Dnieper, which he crossed, and then sped forward to Pereyaslavl for refuge. Sviatoslav fled to Gorodok, but as the son of Oleg was enormous in person, and mortally weary from fighting and fleeing, he could not move farther, though eager to do so. If he had had wings and could have used them, he would have flown through the air to Chernigoff; as it was, he sent forward his nephew, son of Vsevolod, who learned[85]at the Desna that Izyaslav, son of David, was already on the throne. Vladimirko of Galitch, on hearing of his father-in-law’s defeat, hastened homeward.

At last Vyatcheslav and his nephew were in safety on all sides. They returned to Kief, which they entered in triumph, and held the place with pleasure, at least for the moment.

Vladimirko of Galitch now dealt a sore blow at his enemies. Having heard that Mystislav, son of Izyaslav the Kief prince, was bringing in Hungarians, he lay in wait to destroy them. He found means to place a great quantity of wine within reach of the foreigners and they seized it and had a rich feast that evening. Just before daybreak Vladimirko attacked and slew nearly all of them, reserving but few for captivity. Mystislav escaped with his personal attendants. “If God give health to the king, and to me,” said Izyaslav, when he heard of the slaughter, “Vladimirko will pay for this dearly.”

Yuri, still in Pereyaslavl, was inciting Vladimirko, and collecting fresh Polovtsi, so the Kief princes marched to expel him. After fighting two days before the town, on the third they burned its outskirts and sent these words to Yuri: “We salute thee. Go thou to Suzdal. Leave a son in Pereyaslavl. We may not leave thee there; thou wouldst bring in Polovtsi.” Yuri could get no aid from Vladimirko or the Polovtsi. His own forces were greatly decreased, and he would not weaken Suzdal, hence he returned this answer: “I will march to Gorodok, remain there a time, and go afterward to Suzdal.” To this the reply was that he might remain one month in Gorodok, and then he must go to Suzdal. If he would not agree to this, they would attack Gorodok, as they had attacked Pereyaslavl. There was no escape now, so, though unwilling, Yuri and his son kissed the cross to go in one month to Suzdal. He promised also to make no attack on Kief while it was held by Izyaslav and his uncle, and his uncle made no treaty with Sviatoslav, son of Oleg.

Leaving his son Glaib in Pereyaslavl, Yuri went to Gorodok. Andrei, his eldest son, begged to go in advance to Suzdal. “We have naught now in this place,” said he to his father. Sviatoslav, hearing that Yuri had agreed with Vyatcheslav and his nephew, sent to Izyaslav, son of David, in his own name and in that of Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, asking for what had belonged to their[86]fathers. Izyaslav gave those lands to them, but on condition of their leaving Yuri, and acting with the sons of Mystislav.

Yuri had not the heart to go home with defeat, and when the month had passed, and the time came to go to Suzdal he broke his oath and remained in Gorodok. Izyaslav with his warriors, the Prince of Chernigoff with his men, also the son of Vsevolod promptly moved against him. The son of Oleg sent his forces, but would not appear himself against his old ally. Yuri shut himself up in the place and fought, but at last he grew weary; he could not win victory alone, and no help was visible on any side. He was forced finally to swear again that he would go back to Suzdal. He went this time, and left his son Glaib in Gorodok. Because of the Gorodok oath breaking, Pereyaslavl had been taken from Glaib, and given to Mystislav, son of the Grand Prince.

On the way home, Yuri stopped to see his friend Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, who received him with honor and gave him things needed for his journey. This friendly visit caused, very likely, the meeting between the princes of Kief and Chernigoff in 1152 (Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod, was present at this meeting), at which they decided to deprive Yuri of his foothold between the South and Chernigoff. Then they razed Gorodok, fired the ruins and consumed the place utterly. They left not one thing on the site of it.

“Yuri sighed from his heart,” as the chronicler states, when he heard of this destruction, and began at once to rally his forces. Rostislav of Ryazan came with his brother; Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, broke his treaty with the Kief prince and came to aid Yuri. A great host of Polovtsi appeared from all hordes between the Don and the Volga. An immense army assembled. “They burned my Gorodok,” said Yuri, “and also the church in it. I will burn their cities in return.” And he marched on Chernigoff.

The Kief prince sent this message at once to his brother in Smolensk: “If Yuri moves against thy land, I will hasten to aid thee. If he passes thee, do thou hurry hither with warriors.” Rostislav saw that Yuri, when passing Smolensk lands, would strike at Chernigoff, so marching with speed he reached Chernigoff before his uncle, and shut himself in there with Sviatoslav, son of Vsevolod. Polovtsi legions appeared that same day, and fell straightway to burning the suburbs.

Yuri himself with his allies came in sight the next morning.[87]Twelve days and nights did the Suzdal prince struggle with the city but the defense was so stubborn that he seized nothing, mastered no part of Chernigoff. On the thirteenth morning came news that Vyatcheslav and Izyaslav were hurriedly approaching with all the Kief forces. The Polovtsi, active at looting and burning, fled when they saw that real fighting and danger were near them, and Yuri was forced to withdraw. He went first to Novgorod, then to Rylsk, and was about to start for Suzdal when the son of Oleg reproached him as follows: “Thou art leaving me when thou hast ruined my property. All the grain in this land has been trampled by Polovtsi. Thy Polovtsi have fled, and thou thyself art deserting. After thee will come Izyaslav, and he will destroy what remains here because I broke faith with him, and gave thee assistance.” Yuri engaged to leave troops, but his words were merely vain promises. He left only fifty men of his guard, and Vassilko, his son, to protect all that country.

At Novgorod appeared Izyaslav, with his allies. In three days he was master of all save the innermost fortress. Sviatoslav, son of Oleg, asked then for peace, which the Kief prince wished at first to refuse, but he granted it finally and returned to Chernigoff. There he received news from his son, Mystislav, that he had overtaken and crushed Yuri’s Polovtsi, freed a great number of captives and recovered much booty. Yuri made still another effort, but a weaker one and his defeat was decisive.

Thus ended Izyaslav’s struggle with his uncle. Yuri’s main ally, Sviatoslav, was reduced to take gladly the place that was given him. There remained still another of Yuri’s assistants, the last one, his son-in-law, Vladimirko of Galitch, and to him Izyaslav now turned his attention.[88]

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