CHAPTER V

[Contents]CHAPTER VVLADIMIR BECOMES THE CAPITAL OF RUSSIAPeace in Vladimir was short-lived, however. Mihalko died that year, 1176. The men of Vladimir acknowledged Vsevolod and kissed the cross to him, as did all the Suzdal men then in Vladimir. The popular voice was in favor of Vsevolod, but the boyars of Rostoff insisted that in the oath given to the late prince no mention had been made of his brother, hence no man was bound to consider him as heir of Mihalko, and this occupation of the throne was illegal. “Come to us quickly!” said the boyars, in a message to Mystislav. “We will have none but thee to rule over us.”Vsevolod marched now with his forces toward Suzdal, but the people were not altogether satisfied with him; they complained of his kindness, and his self-effacing politeness to rebels. He had sent to Mystislav, his nephew, saying: “Vladimir and Pereyaslavl have kissed the cross to me; they are mine. Rostoff has sent for thee. Let it be so; stay thou in Rostoff. Let Suzdal wait; whomever Suzdal chooses will be prince there.” Mystislav was not opposed to this offer, but the boyars who had sent for him would not consider it and said: “If thou think to be reconciled with thy uncle, we will not permit thee.”Mystislav now invaded Vladimir, and from Yurieff sent his uncle a message, which was something between a demand and a request to visit him for a personal conference. Vsevolod seemed ready to go, but when his partisans heard of the matter their anger was very great. “Think not,” cried they, “to visit the camp of the enemy. Those people are seeking thy life; they are oath-breakers, all of them. Are we to perish because thou art soft-hearted?”So Vsevolod refused the request and a fierce battled ensued with Mystislav, his nephew, near Yurieff. The boyars of Rostoff and[112]their followers fought with great valor. The men of Vladimir, “the masons and carpenters,” needed no urging to pay back the insults which they had received, and strike down the men who had tried to enslave them. The battle hung long in even balance, till the Pereyaslavl men “tore forward with all their strength,” and pushed back the right wing of Mystislav’s forces; at this juncture the Vladimir men, aided by a regiment from Suzdal, swept everything before them. Mystislav fled from the field with few followers; not many of his adherents could save themselves. His two main advisers, Dobrynya Dalgi and Ivanko Stefanovitch, fell in the battle. The surviving boyars were seized and bound with ropes. Mystislav made his way to Novgorod, but Novgorod men conducted him out of the city with these words: “God has given judgment against thee, in the dispute between thee and thy uncle.”He went then to Glaib of Ryazan for assistance. Glaib gave fresh aid to his brother-in-law, and they raided Vladimir territory at once, plundering and burning all before them. At last they burned Moscow. This action forced Vsevolod to leave Rostoff regions, and make ready to attack Glaib’s inheritance. But Glaib marched home quickly from Moscow, and Vsevolod deferred the attack till his forces were properly assembled. Novgorod of its own will had offered volunteers. From Chernigoff were coming Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, with good warriors. From southern Pereyaslavl on the Alta were coming men under Vladimir, Vsevolod’s nephew. Vsevolod set out for Ryazan toward the beginning of winter, but on the way halted at Kolomna, where he received most astonishing intelligence,—intelligence which turned his campaign in another direction.Glaib with his two sons, and with Mystislav, who led a large force of Polovtsi, had gone by other roads to Vladimir, the capital. The Polovtsi were plundering, burning, and taking captives; Glaib had given them a free hand on every side. He himself had seized Bogolyuboff, had torn down the chief doors of its church and stripped the place of everything.Vsevolod, moving with swift marches toward his capital, found the invaders in a strong camp near the Koloksha, a river flowing into the Klyasma, some miles from Vladimir. The Polovtsi had their thousands of prisoners in stockaded pens, while Glaib’s booty-laden[113]wagons were arranged in a place at that time inaccessible. Both he and the Polovtsi were beyond the river. Winter was beginning, but the season was capricious beyond parallel. Frosts, thaws, rains, followed one another unexpectedly, and made the passage of the river dangerous and exceedingly difficult, hence the two armies stood a whole month there facing each other. Glaib wished for peace, but Vsevolod would not grant it. Glaib had not been offended by Vsevolod. He had listened to evil tales from Rostoff men and from Mystislav; he had brought in the Polovtsi; he had plundered the churches and pillaged Vladimir; his punishment must meet him.Vladimir of Pereyaslavl on the Alta at last led troops across the river, and took a flank position against Mystislav, Glaib’s ally. After this, reinforcements crossed over in numbers to strengthen him, Vsevolod remaining meanwhile on the other bank of the river: Glaib, thinking to cut Vsevolod off and capture him, pushed across the river. While he was making this movement, Vladimir struck with great impetus on Mystislav, put his warriors to flight and pursued them. Glaib’s men crossed the river, but seeing their comrades in flight on the other side, fell into disorder. Vsevolod charged now quickly, and a general rout was the end of the battle. Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, rushed forward to hunt down the Polovtsi. Their warriors were trained well in sword-play, and they spared no man. Of the Polovtsi only those who were swiftest and strongest could save themselves. Joyous shouts were raised in the pens which the pagans had built around their captives, freed now by that fortunate battle. Mystislav was made prisoner. Nearly all his advisers were slain; those who survived were bound with hemp ropes and taken to Vladimir.The return of the victors to the capital was a triumph such as no man there had ever seen or imagined. In front of all rode the princes, Oleg and Vladimir, who had hewn down the Polovtsi; next came the bound prisoners, the boyars, then Vsevolod the conqueror, and last of all came the captives saved from the Polovtsi by the battle. Delight was unbounded in Vladimir, where there were mothers who had been weeping for sons, and wives for husbands whom they had looked on as lost to this world. To crown the whole victory were the treasures and booty seized from the Polovtsi.[114]After the triumph came questions of policy, and here the prince and the people differed greatly. “He is too kind,” said the people. “He does not understand those traitors, their plans and their wickedness. He is too innocent, too good-hearted.” Still Vsevolod’s celebrated “good-heartedness” was what bound the people to him. They believed him to be honest and kind. But they saw in the captured boyars vile enemies with whom there could be no compromise. They were traitors who had burned, robbed and slain, and were not to be forgiven. They accused the Ryazan princes and boyars openly of framing the plot to kill Andrei. They accused Glaib’s brother-in-law and his adherents of being connected with the murder, because they exhibited no enmity toward the assassins.All the inhabitants met and took counsel. Then, going to Vsevolod, they addressed him thus: “We are willing to lay down our lives for thee, and will spare nothing. But those Ryazan prisoners are treated as if they were guests in our city. In secret they are preparing to attack us, and will do so if freed from prison. We ask thee to punish these enemies with death, or if not with death to put their eyes out. If thou wilt do neither, deliver them to us. We will care for them.”It was difficult for Vsevolod to restrain the people who stood there before him. He promised to keep the prisoners, not as guests, but in strictness, and to treat future captives more sternly. He declared also that he had sent a demand to deliver other enemies to Vladimir; if not, he would march to Ryazan with his warriors. But prayers for the captives came now from many sides. Mystislav the Brave, who had married Glaib’s daughter, begged Sviatoslav of Chernigoff to free the prisoners if possible. A whole embassy came from Chernigoff with the bishop at the head of it. In Vladimir the report spread that Vsevolod was weakening. There was anger a second time, and more danger than ever. The people threatened to break open the prisons and slay the captives, or at least blind them. The crowd gathered in greater numbers than before. Vsevolod went out to them, accompanied by the bishop, and declared that the Ryazan princes would not be freed until all the conditions were complied with. The bishop spoke to the people, who answered: “We wish not to break faith, we ask only that God’s justice be dealt out to traitors. The Lord himself,[115]seeing their wickedness, has delivered them to us. Are we free to liberate such criminals?”Seeing this intense feeling, Vsevolod gave his final decision: “Yaropolk and Mystislav will be freed only when blinded. If Glaib yields not the cities which we demand of him, he will stay in prison till he dies there.” On hearing this the people went to their homes somewhat pacified. Toward evening of that day the sons of Rostislav suffered that operation which gave them the name of Bezoki, or The Eyeless ever after. The “Good-hearted,” however, had given command not to injure their eyes, but to simply perform an operation which would deceive the people. The executioner made deep cuts above their eyes, which he seemed then to dig out. In the night both princes were borne away to Smolensk very speedily, lest the people should kill them even though they had been blinded, as was supposed. Years after, the story was current that they had been blinded through too great anger of the people, and that the Lord had given back to them their eyesight. Still, though they had their eyes, they retained the surname—Bezoki.Freedom was offered Glaib if he would yield up Kolomna. He did not accept the proposal. To the offer made through the Prince of Chernigoff that he should go to the south and surrender the Ryazan principality, he gave the stern answer: “Rather than do that, I will die here in prison.” Some time later, while still a prisoner, he was found dead. After Glaib’s death his son, Roman, having promised perfect submission, was set free with permission to go to Ryazan.Thus ended the war and the disturbance which broke out after the murder of Andrei, and lasted from 1174 till 1177. It ended to the profit of the work begun by Yuri Dolgoruki, enlarged by Andrei, and strengthened by Vsevolod.The work of Yuri, his father, and Andrei, his elder brother, was completed finally by Vsevolod. During his life Rostoff and Suzdal, and now we must call it the Vladimir country, contained a well-ordered society, in which the prince’s authority was great, because the people approved and accepted it. The people and the prince stood face to face squarely. The people knew well that their popular society could not stand without the prince, and the prince knew that he could not rule a day without the people to support him. This mutual understanding secured the position of Vladimir[116]and made Northern Russia what it is to-day, the head of a great empire, and, after Northern Russia, made what is called Great Russia, that country beyond the forest. This land of the younger sons of Monomach grew to be more important than the domains of the eldest sons, and got the upper hand of Southern Russia.Rostoff and Suzdal bowed at last, when forced to do so, and Vladimir became, as to influence, the mother of Russian cities, the recognized capital. This was the result of the understanding between prince and people, and of that searching for the best place wherein to do a work,—an effort which is always made when people are in earnest. Later on, Vladimir lost the position and Moscow attained it. But at first Vladimir was the natural capital of Russia. It was the place in which the greatest number of people were willing to give their adherence to him whom they considered best qualified to hold their society together. And in that age the prince by descent and connection with their history was the man for that work. Because of this great mutual interest, the people and their prince formed a unit, while the boyars formed a number of units, each acting mainly for itself.Among the princes who preceded and followed him, Vsevolod occupied an exceptional position. He seemed not to strive for mastery. He made no claim to be Grand Prince of all Russia, or even of Vladimir. But when all Russia was mentioned, it meant in the minds of most people that Russia which had its head in Vladimir. In this way, though Vsevolod was not called Grand Prince of all Russia, he was treated as holding that position, and the political business of Russia was carried on in great part in Vladimir.After the death of Sviatoslav of Chernigoff, “the sister’s son,” Kief had no great significance. During the life of this Sviatoslav, it might have been said that the Russia of Kief and that of Vladimir balanced each other, but in different senses. After Sviatoslav’s death, Vladimir was beyond question the capital of Russia. Galitch fell a victim to the struggles between boyars. Rent by internal dissensions, it became a prey at times to Volynia, at times to Smolensk and Chernigoff, and was torn apart finally by Poles and Hungarians, to the first of whom it at last became a possession.Toward the end of his reign, Vsevolod felt able to treat Kief more decisively. While his friend Sviatoslav was living, the Prince[117]of Vladimir held aloof from the South, but when “the sister’s son” died, Vsevolod’s activity so increased that South and North became closely connected. Through nearness to Ryazan and to Novgorod, Vsevolod had to deal with them always, and his dealings with these two regions were more important than those of any prince who preceded him.The Ryazan princes, conquered in that war after which Glaib died in prison, had engaged to appear before Vsevolod whenever he summoned them. Kolomna had been joined to Vladimir. The same fate awaited Ryazan, in case of refusal to carry out promises. Its princes had increased greatly in number, and to them were added those of Pronsk and Murom. But no matter how those princes united and fought, they could not resist Vladimir. In case of resistance, they knew not how to deal with the problem. Behind them were small quarreling parties, in front a united strong people. The Ryazan princes were under guidance, and this meant what it means always, subjection. Vsevolod, through kindness, but also through wisdom, would not claim to be master.As to “Great Lord Novgorod,” it was surrounded by adherents of Vsevolod. Not at that moment, but soon afterward, the city preferred a bad peace to good warfare. The Dvina land dropped away from Great Novgorod, and from giving tribute to that city, and joined Vladimir. After that, smaller places about which there might be disputes crept away gradually and became connected inseparably with the capital. Novgorod could not go anywhere, to the harm of Vladimir. The Volga was closed to the city completely, nothing that touched the Volga was accessible to Novgorod without the consent of Vladimir. Vsevolod strengthened the town at that point where the Oká joins the Volga, and called it Lower Novgorod (Nizni-Novgorod). Soon he settled people there, and so roused that region that during the time of his children Lower Novgorod became a considerable city. In the days of his grandchildren, the settlement which extended from the city became a large district, and to one of those grandchildren it went as a portion.On the Volga, at its upper waters, Tver was now founded at the side of the Tvertsa River. To this well-fortified little town came settlers in such numbers that, even in Vsevolod’s day, it became the head of a principality. The Vladimir men not only defended[118]this place from “Lord Novgorod,” but they made it a new advance post against that proud city. They seized also Nova-Torg, the portage.The Vladimir princes held now an exceptional position toward Novgorod. If they could retain the two places Torjok and Tver, they were superior to Novgorod, in every case equal. In Yuri Dolgoruki’s day, Novgorod men, keen to spy out advantage, were watching for eastern connections, and would have seized the Vladimir position and prevented the rise of a principality, had not Yuri anticipated them. Yuri’s work, done in the nick of time, settled the fate of “Lord Novgorod.”It was only when firmly seated on the throne of Vladimir that Vsevolod found himself at enmity with the men of Novgorod, whom he could not forgive for receiving the Bezoki (Eyeless) with great kindness, and for having seated Mystislav, one of those brothers, in Novgorod, and the other, Yaropolk, in Nova-Torg. Mystislav died somewhat later, and they buried him in Saint Sophia, the Novgorod cathedral. They transferred Yaropolk then to their own city.Vsevolod seized at once every Novgorod merchant in the land of Vladimir. He stopped commerce between the two cities, and began war in earnest. This alarmed the Novgorod men greatly, and they showed Yaropolk the road leading out of their city. Though Vsevolod himself was satisfied with the banishment of Yaropolk, and was ready to raise his blockade, the war was continued by the people, the reason being that Vladimir and Tver men thought that it touched not only the honor of their prince, but still more their own profit. They wished to stop the encroachments of Lord Novgorod. Again they blamed Vsevolod for good nature; again they accused him of indecision. “The Novgorod men,” said they, “take oaths every day, but they break them continually. We are not here to kiss Novgorod warriors, but to stop their advance.” They took Nova-Torg then, bound every man in it capable of fighting, seized women and children, took all goods, burned the place, and sent the captives, tied with ropes, to Vladimir.Vsevolod moved now toward Nova-Torg, but before reaching the town, he decided that enough had been done to punish Novgorod, hence he retired to Vladimir. Soon after this the Novgorod[119]people invited Mystislav the Brave, son of Rostislav, the Smolensk prince, to rule in Novgorod. Mystislav the Great was revered beyond all princes who had ever ruled, and Mystislav the Brave was his grandson. The young prince’s heart did not lean toward the city, however, and the more he thought over the matter, the more he resolved on refusal. But his brothers and his drujina began to urge him, and at last he yielded to their persuasion and went to Novgorod, where he was received by a procession and with great honor. He visited Holy Sophia and then sat on the throne of his father and his grandfather.The service Novgorod men prized most in their princes was the defense of the city against pagans,—the Chud, who swept in from the side of the Baltic. Pskoff and Novgorod borders suffered greatly at first from wild men, who had an unknown, boundless country behind them. These men had at last been defeated and tribute imposed on them. Among the tributes established was the bearing of goods and boats over portages. All at once, just before Mystislav’s coming, these men sent to bear goods became robbers. When the prince assumed power, he called together the best men of Novgorod, and said: “Brothers, let us free this Novgorod land of offenders.” With one voice they answered: “If it please God and thee, we are ready.”When the troops were assembled, and Mystislav drew them up in review, he found that they numbered twenty thousand. He went to the land of the pagans, and these twenty thousand men marched with him. He passed through that land from end to end, not stopping till he reached the seacoast. He seized men, cattle and property; when there was need to punish, he reduced all before him to ashes. In one word, he established obedience. Then he turned toward Pskoff.According to old usage, the posadnik of Pskoff was appointed by Novgorod, but on this point there were endless disputes between the two cities. The Pskoff men wished independence and their own prince. During the winter of 1180 Mystislav planned a campaign for the springtime. He remembered the offenses of Prince Vseslav, the Plotsk wizard, who could turn, as the people declared, into a gray wolf and run in one night from the Caucasus to Novgorod. Vseslav, years before, had seized a part of Great Novgorod; he had carried off its assembly bell and borne away holy images and[120]church vessels. Mystislav resolved to bring all these back to the city. The prince in Polotsk at that time was Vseslav, a brother-in-law of Roman, son of Rostislav.When spring came, Mystislav moved against Polotsk with his army. Roman sent an envoy to meet him with these words: “Thou hast not been offended by Vseslav, why go against him? If thou decide on attack, thou wilt meet me before others.” Mystislav, not wishing to offend his own elder brother, turned back from his enterprise. Barely had he reached Great Novgorod, when he fell ill. No man could tell what affected him. For a time he lay without memory. His wife stood at his bedside, as did his drujina and best friends. When his mind returned, he looked at those present, and tears came to his eyes. Only a few of the words which he uttered had meaning. Vladimir, his youngest son, he entrusted to a favorite boyar. Of the two sons left to his brothers, one was renowned much in later years as Mystislav the Gallant. “Forget not my children,” begged he of his brothers. He raised his hands, sighed from the depth of his heart, tears came to his eyes again, and his breath left him.Roman, eldest son of Glaib, and once prisoner in Vladimir, had married a daughter of Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, and had thus become an ally of “the sister’s son.” In 1180 Roman’s brothers turned to Vsevolod of Vladimir, saying: “Thou art our lord and father; settle between us and Roman, who takes away our land at the advice of his brother-in-law, Sviatoslav.” Vsevolod moved against Roman, who met him at Kolomna. Sviatoslav sent his son Glaib from Kief to aid Roman. Vsevolod invited this son of Sviatoslav to meet him and negotiate. Glaib was unwilling to do so, but as Kolomna was occupied by Vsevolod, he had to accept the inevitable. Upon his arrival, Vsevolod ordered him put in chains and sent him to Vladimir, whither he sent all the men and property seized by Glaib’s warriors, commanding that both man and property should be kept under strong guard. Roman, leaving his two younger brothers in Ryazan to defend it, fled to steppe regions. When Vsevolod marched to Ryazan, the princes submitted, whereupon he made peace and apportioned the principality between them. All kissed the cross to Vsevolod, even Roman, who returned now and joined his brothers.When he heard that his son had been captured, Sviatoslav was[121]tremendously indignant, and went at once to Chernigoff. In Chernigoff, at that time, ruled Yaroslav, brother of the Kief prince. Of the younger princes, there were present in the city Igor, son of Sviatoslav, and his brother, Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” as he is called by a Russian poet. With them were their sons just reaching maturity. All had taken to heart the offense which Sviatoslav had suffered. After they had counseled together and were agreed, Sviatoslav addressed them in these words: “As a father, I command you to act as follows: thou, Igor, will stay with Yaroslav, my brother, to guard Chernigoff, while I will go to Suzdal to free my son from Vsevolod. And let God judge between us.”Sviatoslav left one half of his forces in Chernigoff, and led away the other half, taking with him a man who was his guest at that time, Yaropolk Bezoki. Sviatoslav’s son, Vladimir, who had become prince in Novgorod after the death of Mystislav, was to meet his father on the road. The allies from North and South assembled in lands within the Tver boundaries, and marched toward Pereyaslavl.Beginning at theTvertsaand on the Dubna, they laid everything in ashes, sparing nothing. “They emptied the whole Volga region,” says the chronicler. When forty versts from Pereyaslavl, they met Vsevolod on the Blena River, a branch of the Dubna. The Vladimir prince was in a wonderful position. The Blena had steep, rough, stony banks, broken into gullies. The place was chosen wisely, for it was remarkably defensive. The warriors had their positions on heights and in hollows. No enemy could reach them. During two weeks the armies faced each other. Vsevolod’s army was numerous, and, if compared with the forces of Sviatoslav, was enormous. As the Ryazan and Murom princes had to ride with their men at the stirrup of Vsevolod, they were now in his army. Against Vsevolod were the sons of the Kief prince, Oleg and Vladimir, the latter now Prince of Novgorod. These were the two princes who a short time before had conducted Vsevolod to Vladimir, and had cut down the Polovtsi in battling with Ryazan, which was now on the side of Vladimir. The personal following of the Vladimir prince was eager to engage the enemy; his warriors were praying to begin the battle, but Vsevolod would not permit them to advance. At first he sent out the warriors[122]of Ryazan and Murom, who burst into Sviatoslav’s camp and broke the regiments of Chernigoff, but “Rushing Bull” came to the rescue and drove back the assailants with much loss. After that, nothing was won on either side; every effort was fruitless. Sviatoslav tried now to negotiate, and, through two priests who had come with him, sent this message to Vsevolod: “My brother and my son, I have done thee much good and did not think to receive such a return from thee. Thou hast imprisoned my son, and harmed me greatly. Give now a road by which I can go to thee. If not, I will give thee a road to meet me, and let God judge between us.”Vsevolod sent the two priests as prisoners to Vladimir, and gave no answer to Sviatoslav, whose position then was not free of danger. Delay was impossible; Sviatoslav saw that warm weather was coming, that rivers would rise, and all roads would be impassable, that, in fact, if he did not withdraw he would be forced to surrender, hence he raised camp and departed. Vsevolod gave his men leave to attack Sviatoslav’s train, but forbade them to injure the Kief prince, or pursue him. Sviatoslav’s allies, avoiding places which they had plundered in coming, burned many towns, among others Dmitroff, the town in which Vsevolod was born. Sviatoslav permitted his son Oleg to withdraw, and also Rushing Bull, his cousin, and with Vladimir, another son, went to Novgorod, taking with him Yaropolk Besoki, and seating him in Nova-Torg.In the South, after Sviatoslav had gone on this expedition against Vsevolod, Rurik, son of Rostislav, prepared again to seize Kief. He brought from Volynia Vsevolod, and also asked aid of Yaroslav “Eight Minds,” who sent a few men under Tudor, his boyar. David, Rurik’s brother, set out for Smolensk to get help from Roman, but Roman died before he arrived there. David then seized the vacant throne, and delayed in Smolensk. Yaroslav, who with Igor, his cousin, was left to take care of Chernigoff, did not wait for the enemy, but marched at once to strike Smolensk regions. With their own men those two princes took also Polovtsi, and hastened toward Vitebsk. One of the Polotsk princes, Glaib, had joined the Smolensk side, and, with the aid of Smolensk warriors, was fighting against the other Polotsk princes, who were defending their independence. They had brought in allies from Lithuania, and timely assistance came now from[123]Chernigoff. Because of this, the war assumed large proportions at once. The Chernigoff princes sent to Novgorod, then acting with Sviatoslav of Kief, and expected help from that city. In the camp of the Polotsk and Chernigoff allies appeared—a thing till then never witnessed—aid from Lithuania and Livona. And now was understood what “strength from the Baltic” meant.Against this combination stood David, the new Smolensk prince. He had wished to force the battle, but Yaroslav of Chernigoff held back; he was waiting for his brother. Yaroslav occupied a strong position near the Drutcha River, and remained a whole week, warding off the enemy, who could only reach him by crossing the river. Sviatoslav of Kief now appeared, and began at once to bridge the Drutcha. David, seeing the strength of the enemy, would not risk a battle, and withdrew to Smolensk very promptly. Sviatoslav burned the Drutcha fortress, ended the expedition, and returned to his capital. Yaroslav and his cousin, Igor, went to Chernigoff.Vsevolod of Vladimir, incensed at this Novgorod and Ryazan struggle, attacked Nova-Torg, stormed and captured the town, seized Yaropolk Bezoki, and carried him to Vladimir. Novgorod, grown weary of wrangling, dismissed Vladimir, son of Sviatoslav, and requested Vsevolod to send the prince whom he liked best. He sent one of the most obscure princes of that period, his own brother-in-law, however. Satisfied with the change in Novgorod, Vsevolod now liberated Glaib, and all were in agreement again.The peace which followed was strengthened by two marriages. A son of Sviatoslav of Kief, that Glaib just released from prison, married Rurik’s daughter, and Mystislav, another son, married a sister-in-law of Vsevolod. So there was harmony between North and South for a season. Sviatoslav not only made peace with the Prince of Vladimir, but sent two sons to assist him in his campaign against the Silver Bulgars. “God grant us in my day to stand against pagans,” wrote Sviatoslav, and he sent one thousand men, led by Vladimir, his son, late prince in Novgorod. Forces came, too, from Ryazan and Murom, also from Pereyaslavl in the South, that place which the Polovtsi had always hit the hardest. This contingent was led by Izyaslav, the most gallant of Vsevolod’s nephews. All the forces met at Nizni-Novgorod, whence one[124]part of the army advanced on horseback, and the other in boats down the Volga. Vsevolod himself was with the expedition.Never before did Russians go into an enemy’s country so deeply as this time. They gave many a defeat to the pagan Bohmitan, as Mohammedans were called at that period. But in front of a palisaded fort, to the great grief of all, the gallant Izyaslav, son of Glaib, was struck in the heart by an arrow, and brought to the Russian camp dying. The loss of this youth, loved by the army, was avenged through a crushing battle fought at the edge of the Volga. More than one thousand Bulgars were drowned with their boats. More than fifteen hundred were cut down near the river. The body of the brave Izyaslav was taken back to Vladimir, and buried there with great honor.The Grand Prince did not wish at that time to bring Mohammedans under his rule; his only desire was to prove beyond question that Nizni-Novgorod and the places around it belonged to Vladimir, his capital. He wished to settle Russian ownership in those places, and establish moral influence over the people who lived between him and the Mohammedans, and who were still pagans.Not fearing war when it must come, but shunning it always when possible, Vsevolod, at home again, toiled at developing the lands of Vladimir. He desired, above all, the confidence of the people, and won it through giving them safety, order, and prosperity. He was busied specially with the many towns founded by Yuri, his father. In Suzdal he built a strong fortress, and put walls around it. He also repaired the cathedral in that city. “Though old, let it be as if new,” was said of the building. Pereyaslavl, renewed, and adorned as in the old time, grew distinguished.In Vladimir the Kremlin was enlarged with walls and towers of greater beauty and strength than even those of Suzdal. In other towns also did Vsevolod labor and erect buildings which were monuments. But the chief one, the marvel of Vsevolod’s day, and the one which, after centuries, forms in our time the glory of Vladimir, is the cathedral, which he built in honor of Dmitri, the martyr of Salonica. Not equal in size and in wealth to the church which Andrei built, it surpassed that golden-domed structure in proportions and beauty. It was noted, moreover, for a subtle variety of exterior adornment. But the God-loving church builder enriched it with relics more precious by far to believers than silver[125]or gold. Those treasures were a slab from the grave of Dmitri, his tunic, and some of the great martyr’s bones. Unbounded delight was felt by the men of Vladimir when those sacred relics were brought to the city.Ryazan was a source of great anxiety to Vsevolod, for its princes were always quarreling, and they did not hesitate to openly threaten one another with destruction. The Grand Prince was forced to put an end to these disputes. To guard his own cities he must protect Ryazan regions from the Polovtsi. The insolence of those nomads increased with the quarrels of the Ryazan princes. In view of this, Vsevolod undertook a campaign against the Polovtsi, and went to the heart of the Don region. He struck at the center of the steppes occupied by the “wild” Polovtsi, those who made the Ryazan attacks. He passed quickly and assailed their winter quarters, but his agile foes slipped away at once; he merely frightened them. To defend Ryazan, it was necessary to have Ryazan itself under control.At this period party struggles in Novgorod sometimes threatened the peace of Vladimir, but Vsevolod had no need to support princes whom by request he had sent to that city. He made no move to stop Novgorod from changing their prince. When the city complained of Yaroslav, Vsevolod replaced him by Mystislav, son of David of Smolensk, his ally in the Bulgar expedition. When Novgorod, which never liked any prince long, asked for Yaroslav a second time, it got him. More than once did those two unimportant princes rule Novgorod. Later on these words came from the city to Vsevolod: “Novgorod is the inheritance of thy father and grandfather; send thy own son to us.”Vsevolod sent Sviatoslav, one of his younger sons, at that time a boy. Several times this son was returned to his father, and sent back each time at request of the city. Holding Novgorod in peace by commanding the roads to it, the Grand Prince was not disquieted by that city, but Ryazan affairs were involved and troublesome.Roman, the eldest Ryazan prince, had brought his brothers to war with one another. He was a vain and ambitious man who, as son-in-law of the Kief prince, thought far more of himself than was proper. Igor and Vladimir, younger brothers of this Roman, who with him held Ryazan, had invited Vsevolod and Sviatoslav, their brothers who ruled in Pronsk, to visit them. Those younger[126]brothers, hearing that the other two wished to imprison or kill them, remained in Pronsk and fortified the city. The elder brothers marched promptly against Pronsk, besieged the place, and ravaged the country around it. Roman and his brothers, in making this war, appeared to censure their younger brothers for good will toward the Prince of Vladimir, and also to declare that they themselves cared not a whit for that Vladimir principality. Thus their action was a challenge to Vsevolod, and he gave answer very quickly. Without mingling in the quarrel between the brothers, he sent two boyars to Ryazan with this message, which was really a warning: “It is not a wonder to me that pagans ravage your country. But it is a wonder that ye, instead of living like brothers and guarding your lands against Bulgars and Polovtsi, attack one another and slay your own people. I will not permit such deeds. God has sent me to preserve justice and protect people, to bring to obedience those who break the law criminally. I fear that unless I am careful, God will judge me for the crimes that ye are committing. O brothers, what harm are ye doing? I leave that for you to judge.”Though the princes knew well what these words meant, they answered haughtily. Wise and cool advisers were not numerous among them. “Each man of their intimates gave nine powers to himself in comparison with others, and, seeing no enemy, was a victor at all times.” They nourished the quarrelsome nature of Roman, and he answered the envoys, with insolence: “What right has Vsevolod to talk here? Are we not just such princes as he is?” The envoys brought back these words to Vladimir. The younger princes in Pronsk had asked Vsevolod to help them. He, to show that he had been asked to protect the weaker, and not as an exhibition of strength, sent three hundred men to aid Pronsk, where they were received gladly. But Roman, with his brothers, continued the siege, looking contemptuously on such a contingent. Vsevolod now sent against Roman the Murom princes and a regiment of his own men. These troops were still in Kolomna when Roman, alarmed at the approach of such forces, left Pronsk with his warriors and hurried home. Vsevolod, one of the Pronsk princes, left Sviatoslav, his brother, in the city and went himself to the allies in Kolomna. When informed of Roman’s flight, the contingent considered the campaign at an end, and returned[127]to Vladimir. But the Pronsk prince went to Vsevolod’s capital, and asked for further protection, as he had no confidence in maintaining peace with his elder brothers.When Roman heard of the retreat from Kolomna of the allies, he returned and attacked Pronsk a second time. Turning the river, he deprived the place of water and brought the people to great suffering. Then he tried to capture Pronsk by treachery, and at last succeeded in this way: Sviatoslav, who held the city, became an enemy of Vsevolod, his brother, who had gone to Vladimir. “Destroy not thyself and thy men with hunger,” said Roman to him. “Come out to us. Thou art our brother, why fear us? We are fighting not against thee, but against the Prince of Vladimir.” The friends of the besieged prince continually repeated to him words like these: “Thy brother Vsevolod has gone over to the Prince of Vladimir; he has deserted and betrayed thee. Why destroy thyself and us?” At last, influenced by these speeches, the Pronsk prince surrendered. The three hundred men from Vladimir were captured and sent to Ryazan. A worse fate befell the men serving the prince who had gone to Vladimir, and, as his enemies alleged, had gone over to the Grand Prince. They were seized, every one of them, both boyars and common men, bound with ropes and thrown into prison. Roman detained Vsevolod’s wife and children, and imprisoned them. Vsevolod of Pronsk, on hearing of this, began war against all of his brothers.When news was brought to the Prince of Vladimir that Pronsk had been captured by deceit, he at once prepared for war in earnest. He began by sending a message to the prince who had surrendered to Roman: “Give back my men. Give back all my men and property. Thou and thy brother asked aid of me. Not wishing to desert you in trouble, I gave it; now thou hast made peace with Roman and betrayed the men sent by me.” When the Pronsk prince received this message, Roman, fearing an attack from Vladimir, sent straightway these words to the Grand Prince: “Thou art our lord, father and elder brother. Wherever there is an offense against thee, we will be first to avenge thee. We have warred against our brother, for he would not obey us, but be not angry because of that. We stand with bowed heads before thee. Thy men will be freed without harm, and immediately.”[128]The Grand Prince, seeing that Roman had turned from venomous malice to deceitful submission, did not wait for a lying peace. “An honorable war is better than a disgraceful peace,” declared he to the envoys of Roman, and he sent them away. He moved then on Kolomna, and commanded the Murom men and the Pronsk prince to advance. They crossed the Oká, and on the Ryazan side made a desert wherever they showed themselves. Knowing the state of affairs in Ryazan, the Polovtsi, who were ever watching with keenness, rose and began to ravage the country. The lands of those wrangling brothers were subjected to every evil that man could inflict. Roman, not forgetting that he was a son-in-law of the Kief prince, and remembering that Ryazan was connected with Chernigoff territory in some degree, begged the Chernigoff princes to bring Vsevolod to leniency. The bishop of Chernigoff, who was the Ryazan bishop also, was sent to the city of Vladimir, where he begged the resident bishop to assist him. The two bishops, aided by boyars from the Kief prince, persuaded Vsevolod that peace was best if obtained with honor. The trouble now lay in details. The real question which rose in the mind of Vsevolod was this, that the Ryazan princes must cease to be sovereign, they must obey Vladimir. The bishop assured him that the princes promised this faithfully, that they would kiss the cross to be under his will altogether, and would in future obey him. The Grand Prince granted power to make peace on this basis. That done, he liberated all the Ryazan men held captive in Vladimir. He freed also the envoys, who had been sent to him, and then appointed an embassy to conclude the treaty in Ryazan. The Chernigoff bishop reached Ryazan earlier than Vsevolod’s envoys. He brought details of the conditions proposed, and had influence on negotiations, but everything that he presented, and that he did was in a different spirit from that concerted in Vladimir. Then he hastened home to Chernigoff, avoiding the envoys of the Grand Prince. The Chernigoff bishop, it is clear, desired that Ryazan should remain bound to Chernigoff in church matters, and subjected, in some degree at least, to his own direction.To Vladimir it was very important that Ryazan should not be under Chernigoff in any way. The Vladimir people blamed Porfiri, the Chernigoff bishop, for acting not as a man of God, but as a wily politician. They complained that peace with Ryazan[129]was not concluded on the conditions fixed in Vladimir. They wished Vsevolod to expose the man who had given information in a sense hostile to Vladimir, and then vanished. But Vsevolod did not find it proper to do what they demanded. Peace was concluded, and the princes, who had sworn to recognize Vsevolod of Vladimir “to the full extent of his will,” were bound over now to submission. Vsevolod, Roman’s brother, was reinstated in Pronsk, and he and his brother regained all the lands there, both ruling in common.After that the princes of Ryazan without exception remained obedient to Vladimir. The troubles just described occurred in 1185–86, and so strong were the relations formed then that years later, when Constantine, son of Vsevolod, was crowned in Vladimir, all the Ryazan princes were present to render homage.In 1184, being again friendly with Rurik of Bailgorod, and David of Smolensk, as well as with the Volynia princes and the Prince of Galitch, Sviatoslav of Kief invited all princes to join him in a war against their common enemy, the Polovtsi. The southern princes promised Sviatoslav aid, but in Chernigoff his brothers and cousins were more difficult to deal with than remoter relatives, because of questions touching land in Chernigoff. His sons needed territory in that region, and princes, when dividing lands, nearly always disputed. Still his brothers and cousins did not refuse directly. The campaign, they said, was arranged awkwardly for them. If he would change the plan they would go with him. But other princes had assembled, and with them warriors in sufficient number.With the Kief prince marched his sons, Glaib and Mystislav, also the gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, from Pereyaslavl on the Alta. From Volynia came Roman, son of Mystislav, who brought with him two cousins, and also princes less distinguished. From Smolensk came Izyaslav, son of David, and Rurik came from Bailgorod. Yaroslav Eight Minds sent a contingent also. The allies, under Sviatoslav, came upon the enemy near a river, now known as the Orel, but then called Erela by the Polovtsi, at a place where the Vorskla and the Erela, both tributaries of the Dnieper, flowing almost parallel and close to each other, form a long tongue of land bounded by the Dnieper and those two rivers on two sides and one end. At that time this place was called simply “The Corner.” In that corner was won a great victory.When they were nearing the Polovtsi, the daring Vladimir, son[130]of Glaib, therefore grandson of Sviatoslav, begged for the first place. “Let me go against them, O my father,” implored he. “They have turned my lands into a desert. Let me go in advance with my men to attack them.” But the sons of the prince would not consent to be behind Vladimir in valor, hence Sviatoslav sent forward with his gallant grandson all the youngest princes of his guard, adding twenty-one hundred Cherkasi to strengthen their forces, but Vladimir led on with such swiftness that the princes going with him were left far behind, and he with his single command met the enemy in “The Corner.”The numerous vanguard of the Polovtsi swept round the advancing Vladimir and sent word quickly to Kobyk, the chief Khan in command of the army, that they had the Russians surrounded. The Polovtsi were delighted. “We have not worked for this,” said they, “but the Russians have come to us. Great wealth is falling into our hands; we will take it.” And they rushed with shrill, piercing shouts to the battle. Vladimir withstood the fierce onset. The youngest of the princes held his ground; he did not quiver. The Polovtsi, not dreaming of resistance such as that, were astounded and whirled back on both sides to give a blow with more impetus. Meanwhile Kobyk, the commander, moved out strong detachments. These rushed forward swiftly. The Khan, thinking that there were no attackers save those who were fighting in front of him, commanded to strike savagely, to break, and then to hunt down Vladimir’s detachment.But, all at once, the Polovtsi saw new forces hurrying forward. These were the princes who had set out with Vladimir, but Kobyk mistook them for Sviatoslav and his whole army. The Polovtsi, now greatly alarmed, wished to escape from the field, but that second force held them at bay. A fierce battle raged, till at last the Polovtsi were thrown into disorder. At that juncture, Sviatoslav and the older prince came up. The victory was complete. Kobyk was captured, and with him his two sons; Toblie with his son and also his brother. Of Khans alone twenty were captured, and common men were taken in great numbers. Among Khans who fell, the chief one was Tarsuk. The battle was on Monday, June 30, 1184. “God gave an immense victory over pagans, and Sviatoslav returned to Kief with great glory and honor.”Igor, the Chernigoff prince, who had not gone with Sviatoslav[131]against the Polovtsi, had, besides land questions, many cares to detain him at home. He was a son-in-law of Eight Minds. This old Galitch prince had long since divorced his wife, a daughter of Yuri Dolgoruki, hence a sister of Vsevolod of Vladimir, with whom she had taken refuge. Eight Minds had also expelled his legitimate son, Vladimir, who for a time could find no asylum in any place. From Galitch he turned first to Roman, son of Mystislav, in Volynia, but this stern prince had so much fear of old Eight Minds that, for reasons of interest and policy, he would not let the exile pass even one night in his capital. No matter where Vladimir tried, and he even went to Vsevolod, his uncle in Vladimir, he found no reception till he turned at last to his sister, and Igor, her husband, in Chernigoff. With them he found rest, for they met him with kindness. He lived two years in Chernigoff,—lived there until he was reconciled with his dying father, old Eight Minds.This connection of Igor with Galitch brought ruin later on to his sons, but who in that day could foresee this? Just at the time of Vladimir’s visit, a wave of delight was passing over Russia. Sviatoslav’s victory over the Polovtsi was magnified as the “Erela triumph.” All men glorified this marvelous adventure. The Chernigoff princes had taken no part in it, so now the thought dropped into Igor’s mind to win glory in this very field, independently, and at all costs. He boasted of his own campaigns, and said to his warriors: “Though the Polovtsi came to those princes and they fought with them, they dared not follow them. But with you I will cross the Don and crush them. If true success comes, we will pursue them to places to which our grandfathers never thought, even in dreams, of advancing. We will win for ourselves splendid glory.”With his own men and a detachment of Chernigoff warriors, Igor set out on his adventure, April 23, 1185, accompanied by his son, now touching manhood, his brother Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” and a few neighboring princes with their forces. He met the Polovtsi in a desperate battle, and was vanquished with great slaughter. He and his fellow princes all went beyond the Don,—but they went as prisoners. “They were taken from the saddles of princes and put on the saddles of captives.” Along the whole Luko Morye (Sea of Azoff) shouts of delight rose from pagans.[132]At the place where the Don River touches the Sea of Azoff, thousands of Polovtsi were singing and celebrating, not honor to Russia, butwoefuldisaster. “Little Polovtsi boys and beautiful Polovtsi maidens magnified the fame of their people.”This crushing defeat of Igor’s forces roused all the Polovtsi to greater activity, and gave them at once boundless insolence. They sent a message to Sviatoslav: “Come hither and ransom thy brothers, or wait at thy own place till we come for our people.” By this they referred to Kobyk and the other Khans captured on the Erela. And now the Polovtsi raced over Russia. They burned and plundered, and seized captives. The gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, defended himself at Pereyaslavl on the Alta. “Wounded from head to foot,” he was borne out of battle dead, as his friends thought. A year later he died of those wounds, though he had apparently recovered, and had warred against the Polovtsi a second time. After Vladimir’s death there was no heir to Pereyaslavl on the Alta, hence the place went to Vsevolod of Vladimir.Sviatoslav’s grief was unspeakable when he heard what had happened to Igor and his comrades. “Striplings!” said he, overwhelmed with sorrow and bitterly bewailing their rash enterprise. “Why did they tarnish the glory of victory? Why did they ruin the work of an old man and his allies? Why did they destroy a God-given triumph?” He had walled up the road against pagans, and the “striplings” had thrown this wall down again.All measures possible were taken by Sviatoslav to ward off the onrushing Polovtsi, but these measures were inadequate and in no way proportionate to the strength of the enemy. Igor was humble in presence of the misfortune which he had caused. He prayed and did penance, often repeating: “Why have I remained alive; I, who have destroyed so many people?”Not soon did those robber raids cease, but they did cease in time, not so much because the Polovtsi had inflicted great and sufficient loss on the Russians as because that flush of joy at a victory, which for them seemed well-nigh incredible, died away; and then the two camps, one on the Kief-Chernigoff border, and the other on the Polovtsi steppe, resumed their former attitude.[133]

[Contents]CHAPTER VVLADIMIR BECOMES THE CAPITAL OF RUSSIAPeace in Vladimir was short-lived, however. Mihalko died that year, 1176. The men of Vladimir acknowledged Vsevolod and kissed the cross to him, as did all the Suzdal men then in Vladimir. The popular voice was in favor of Vsevolod, but the boyars of Rostoff insisted that in the oath given to the late prince no mention had been made of his brother, hence no man was bound to consider him as heir of Mihalko, and this occupation of the throne was illegal. “Come to us quickly!” said the boyars, in a message to Mystislav. “We will have none but thee to rule over us.”Vsevolod marched now with his forces toward Suzdal, but the people were not altogether satisfied with him; they complained of his kindness, and his self-effacing politeness to rebels. He had sent to Mystislav, his nephew, saying: “Vladimir and Pereyaslavl have kissed the cross to me; they are mine. Rostoff has sent for thee. Let it be so; stay thou in Rostoff. Let Suzdal wait; whomever Suzdal chooses will be prince there.” Mystislav was not opposed to this offer, but the boyars who had sent for him would not consider it and said: “If thou think to be reconciled with thy uncle, we will not permit thee.”Mystislav now invaded Vladimir, and from Yurieff sent his uncle a message, which was something between a demand and a request to visit him for a personal conference. Vsevolod seemed ready to go, but when his partisans heard of the matter their anger was very great. “Think not,” cried they, “to visit the camp of the enemy. Those people are seeking thy life; they are oath-breakers, all of them. Are we to perish because thou art soft-hearted?”So Vsevolod refused the request and a fierce battled ensued with Mystislav, his nephew, near Yurieff. The boyars of Rostoff and[112]their followers fought with great valor. The men of Vladimir, “the masons and carpenters,” needed no urging to pay back the insults which they had received, and strike down the men who had tried to enslave them. The battle hung long in even balance, till the Pereyaslavl men “tore forward with all their strength,” and pushed back the right wing of Mystislav’s forces; at this juncture the Vladimir men, aided by a regiment from Suzdal, swept everything before them. Mystislav fled from the field with few followers; not many of his adherents could save themselves. His two main advisers, Dobrynya Dalgi and Ivanko Stefanovitch, fell in the battle. The surviving boyars were seized and bound with ropes. Mystislav made his way to Novgorod, but Novgorod men conducted him out of the city with these words: “God has given judgment against thee, in the dispute between thee and thy uncle.”He went then to Glaib of Ryazan for assistance. Glaib gave fresh aid to his brother-in-law, and they raided Vladimir territory at once, plundering and burning all before them. At last they burned Moscow. This action forced Vsevolod to leave Rostoff regions, and make ready to attack Glaib’s inheritance. But Glaib marched home quickly from Moscow, and Vsevolod deferred the attack till his forces were properly assembled. Novgorod of its own will had offered volunteers. From Chernigoff were coming Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, with good warriors. From southern Pereyaslavl on the Alta were coming men under Vladimir, Vsevolod’s nephew. Vsevolod set out for Ryazan toward the beginning of winter, but on the way halted at Kolomna, where he received most astonishing intelligence,—intelligence which turned his campaign in another direction.Glaib with his two sons, and with Mystislav, who led a large force of Polovtsi, had gone by other roads to Vladimir, the capital. The Polovtsi were plundering, burning, and taking captives; Glaib had given them a free hand on every side. He himself had seized Bogolyuboff, had torn down the chief doors of its church and stripped the place of everything.Vsevolod, moving with swift marches toward his capital, found the invaders in a strong camp near the Koloksha, a river flowing into the Klyasma, some miles from Vladimir. The Polovtsi had their thousands of prisoners in stockaded pens, while Glaib’s booty-laden[113]wagons were arranged in a place at that time inaccessible. Both he and the Polovtsi were beyond the river. Winter was beginning, but the season was capricious beyond parallel. Frosts, thaws, rains, followed one another unexpectedly, and made the passage of the river dangerous and exceedingly difficult, hence the two armies stood a whole month there facing each other. Glaib wished for peace, but Vsevolod would not grant it. Glaib had not been offended by Vsevolod. He had listened to evil tales from Rostoff men and from Mystislav; he had brought in the Polovtsi; he had plundered the churches and pillaged Vladimir; his punishment must meet him.Vladimir of Pereyaslavl on the Alta at last led troops across the river, and took a flank position against Mystislav, Glaib’s ally. After this, reinforcements crossed over in numbers to strengthen him, Vsevolod remaining meanwhile on the other bank of the river: Glaib, thinking to cut Vsevolod off and capture him, pushed across the river. While he was making this movement, Vladimir struck with great impetus on Mystislav, put his warriors to flight and pursued them. Glaib’s men crossed the river, but seeing their comrades in flight on the other side, fell into disorder. Vsevolod charged now quickly, and a general rout was the end of the battle. Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, rushed forward to hunt down the Polovtsi. Their warriors were trained well in sword-play, and they spared no man. Of the Polovtsi only those who were swiftest and strongest could save themselves. Joyous shouts were raised in the pens which the pagans had built around their captives, freed now by that fortunate battle. Mystislav was made prisoner. Nearly all his advisers were slain; those who survived were bound with hemp ropes and taken to Vladimir.The return of the victors to the capital was a triumph such as no man there had ever seen or imagined. In front of all rode the princes, Oleg and Vladimir, who had hewn down the Polovtsi; next came the bound prisoners, the boyars, then Vsevolod the conqueror, and last of all came the captives saved from the Polovtsi by the battle. Delight was unbounded in Vladimir, where there were mothers who had been weeping for sons, and wives for husbands whom they had looked on as lost to this world. To crown the whole victory were the treasures and booty seized from the Polovtsi.[114]After the triumph came questions of policy, and here the prince and the people differed greatly. “He is too kind,” said the people. “He does not understand those traitors, their plans and their wickedness. He is too innocent, too good-hearted.” Still Vsevolod’s celebrated “good-heartedness” was what bound the people to him. They believed him to be honest and kind. But they saw in the captured boyars vile enemies with whom there could be no compromise. They were traitors who had burned, robbed and slain, and were not to be forgiven. They accused the Ryazan princes and boyars openly of framing the plot to kill Andrei. They accused Glaib’s brother-in-law and his adherents of being connected with the murder, because they exhibited no enmity toward the assassins.All the inhabitants met and took counsel. Then, going to Vsevolod, they addressed him thus: “We are willing to lay down our lives for thee, and will spare nothing. But those Ryazan prisoners are treated as if they were guests in our city. In secret they are preparing to attack us, and will do so if freed from prison. We ask thee to punish these enemies with death, or if not with death to put their eyes out. If thou wilt do neither, deliver them to us. We will care for them.”It was difficult for Vsevolod to restrain the people who stood there before him. He promised to keep the prisoners, not as guests, but in strictness, and to treat future captives more sternly. He declared also that he had sent a demand to deliver other enemies to Vladimir; if not, he would march to Ryazan with his warriors. But prayers for the captives came now from many sides. Mystislav the Brave, who had married Glaib’s daughter, begged Sviatoslav of Chernigoff to free the prisoners if possible. A whole embassy came from Chernigoff with the bishop at the head of it. In Vladimir the report spread that Vsevolod was weakening. There was anger a second time, and more danger than ever. The people threatened to break open the prisons and slay the captives, or at least blind them. The crowd gathered in greater numbers than before. Vsevolod went out to them, accompanied by the bishop, and declared that the Ryazan princes would not be freed until all the conditions were complied with. The bishop spoke to the people, who answered: “We wish not to break faith, we ask only that God’s justice be dealt out to traitors. The Lord himself,[115]seeing their wickedness, has delivered them to us. Are we free to liberate such criminals?”Seeing this intense feeling, Vsevolod gave his final decision: “Yaropolk and Mystislav will be freed only when blinded. If Glaib yields not the cities which we demand of him, he will stay in prison till he dies there.” On hearing this the people went to their homes somewhat pacified. Toward evening of that day the sons of Rostislav suffered that operation which gave them the name of Bezoki, or The Eyeless ever after. The “Good-hearted,” however, had given command not to injure their eyes, but to simply perform an operation which would deceive the people. The executioner made deep cuts above their eyes, which he seemed then to dig out. In the night both princes were borne away to Smolensk very speedily, lest the people should kill them even though they had been blinded, as was supposed. Years after, the story was current that they had been blinded through too great anger of the people, and that the Lord had given back to them their eyesight. Still, though they had their eyes, they retained the surname—Bezoki.Freedom was offered Glaib if he would yield up Kolomna. He did not accept the proposal. To the offer made through the Prince of Chernigoff that he should go to the south and surrender the Ryazan principality, he gave the stern answer: “Rather than do that, I will die here in prison.” Some time later, while still a prisoner, he was found dead. After Glaib’s death his son, Roman, having promised perfect submission, was set free with permission to go to Ryazan.Thus ended the war and the disturbance which broke out after the murder of Andrei, and lasted from 1174 till 1177. It ended to the profit of the work begun by Yuri Dolgoruki, enlarged by Andrei, and strengthened by Vsevolod.The work of Yuri, his father, and Andrei, his elder brother, was completed finally by Vsevolod. During his life Rostoff and Suzdal, and now we must call it the Vladimir country, contained a well-ordered society, in which the prince’s authority was great, because the people approved and accepted it. The people and the prince stood face to face squarely. The people knew well that their popular society could not stand without the prince, and the prince knew that he could not rule a day without the people to support him. This mutual understanding secured the position of Vladimir[116]and made Northern Russia what it is to-day, the head of a great empire, and, after Northern Russia, made what is called Great Russia, that country beyond the forest. This land of the younger sons of Monomach grew to be more important than the domains of the eldest sons, and got the upper hand of Southern Russia.Rostoff and Suzdal bowed at last, when forced to do so, and Vladimir became, as to influence, the mother of Russian cities, the recognized capital. This was the result of the understanding between prince and people, and of that searching for the best place wherein to do a work,—an effort which is always made when people are in earnest. Later on, Vladimir lost the position and Moscow attained it. But at first Vladimir was the natural capital of Russia. It was the place in which the greatest number of people were willing to give their adherence to him whom they considered best qualified to hold their society together. And in that age the prince by descent and connection with their history was the man for that work. Because of this great mutual interest, the people and their prince formed a unit, while the boyars formed a number of units, each acting mainly for itself.Among the princes who preceded and followed him, Vsevolod occupied an exceptional position. He seemed not to strive for mastery. He made no claim to be Grand Prince of all Russia, or even of Vladimir. But when all Russia was mentioned, it meant in the minds of most people that Russia which had its head in Vladimir. In this way, though Vsevolod was not called Grand Prince of all Russia, he was treated as holding that position, and the political business of Russia was carried on in great part in Vladimir.After the death of Sviatoslav of Chernigoff, “the sister’s son,” Kief had no great significance. During the life of this Sviatoslav, it might have been said that the Russia of Kief and that of Vladimir balanced each other, but in different senses. After Sviatoslav’s death, Vladimir was beyond question the capital of Russia. Galitch fell a victim to the struggles between boyars. Rent by internal dissensions, it became a prey at times to Volynia, at times to Smolensk and Chernigoff, and was torn apart finally by Poles and Hungarians, to the first of whom it at last became a possession.Toward the end of his reign, Vsevolod felt able to treat Kief more decisively. While his friend Sviatoslav was living, the Prince[117]of Vladimir held aloof from the South, but when “the sister’s son” died, Vsevolod’s activity so increased that South and North became closely connected. Through nearness to Ryazan and to Novgorod, Vsevolod had to deal with them always, and his dealings with these two regions were more important than those of any prince who preceded him.The Ryazan princes, conquered in that war after which Glaib died in prison, had engaged to appear before Vsevolod whenever he summoned them. Kolomna had been joined to Vladimir. The same fate awaited Ryazan, in case of refusal to carry out promises. Its princes had increased greatly in number, and to them were added those of Pronsk and Murom. But no matter how those princes united and fought, they could not resist Vladimir. In case of resistance, they knew not how to deal with the problem. Behind them were small quarreling parties, in front a united strong people. The Ryazan princes were under guidance, and this meant what it means always, subjection. Vsevolod, through kindness, but also through wisdom, would not claim to be master.As to “Great Lord Novgorod,” it was surrounded by adherents of Vsevolod. Not at that moment, but soon afterward, the city preferred a bad peace to good warfare. The Dvina land dropped away from Great Novgorod, and from giving tribute to that city, and joined Vladimir. After that, smaller places about which there might be disputes crept away gradually and became connected inseparably with the capital. Novgorod could not go anywhere, to the harm of Vladimir. The Volga was closed to the city completely, nothing that touched the Volga was accessible to Novgorod without the consent of Vladimir. Vsevolod strengthened the town at that point where the Oká joins the Volga, and called it Lower Novgorod (Nizni-Novgorod). Soon he settled people there, and so roused that region that during the time of his children Lower Novgorod became a considerable city. In the days of his grandchildren, the settlement which extended from the city became a large district, and to one of those grandchildren it went as a portion.On the Volga, at its upper waters, Tver was now founded at the side of the Tvertsa River. To this well-fortified little town came settlers in such numbers that, even in Vsevolod’s day, it became the head of a principality. The Vladimir men not only defended[118]this place from “Lord Novgorod,” but they made it a new advance post against that proud city. They seized also Nova-Torg, the portage.The Vladimir princes held now an exceptional position toward Novgorod. If they could retain the two places Torjok and Tver, they were superior to Novgorod, in every case equal. In Yuri Dolgoruki’s day, Novgorod men, keen to spy out advantage, were watching for eastern connections, and would have seized the Vladimir position and prevented the rise of a principality, had not Yuri anticipated them. Yuri’s work, done in the nick of time, settled the fate of “Lord Novgorod.”It was only when firmly seated on the throne of Vladimir that Vsevolod found himself at enmity with the men of Novgorod, whom he could not forgive for receiving the Bezoki (Eyeless) with great kindness, and for having seated Mystislav, one of those brothers, in Novgorod, and the other, Yaropolk, in Nova-Torg. Mystislav died somewhat later, and they buried him in Saint Sophia, the Novgorod cathedral. They transferred Yaropolk then to their own city.Vsevolod seized at once every Novgorod merchant in the land of Vladimir. He stopped commerce between the two cities, and began war in earnest. This alarmed the Novgorod men greatly, and they showed Yaropolk the road leading out of their city. Though Vsevolod himself was satisfied with the banishment of Yaropolk, and was ready to raise his blockade, the war was continued by the people, the reason being that Vladimir and Tver men thought that it touched not only the honor of their prince, but still more their own profit. They wished to stop the encroachments of Lord Novgorod. Again they blamed Vsevolod for good nature; again they accused him of indecision. “The Novgorod men,” said they, “take oaths every day, but they break them continually. We are not here to kiss Novgorod warriors, but to stop their advance.” They took Nova-Torg then, bound every man in it capable of fighting, seized women and children, took all goods, burned the place, and sent the captives, tied with ropes, to Vladimir.Vsevolod moved now toward Nova-Torg, but before reaching the town, he decided that enough had been done to punish Novgorod, hence he retired to Vladimir. Soon after this the Novgorod[119]people invited Mystislav the Brave, son of Rostislav, the Smolensk prince, to rule in Novgorod. Mystislav the Great was revered beyond all princes who had ever ruled, and Mystislav the Brave was his grandson. The young prince’s heart did not lean toward the city, however, and the more he thought over the matter, the more he resolved on refusal. But his brothers and his drujina began to urge him, and at last he yielded to their persuasion and went to Novgorod, where he was received by a procession and with great honor. He visited Holy Sophia and then sat on the throne of his father and his grandfather.The service Novgorod men prized most in their princes was the defense of the city against pagans,—the Chud, who swept in from the side of the Baltic. Pskoff and Novgorod borders suffered greatly at first from wild men, who had an unknown, boundless country behind them. These men had at last been defeated and tribute imposed on them. Among the tributes established was the bearing of goods and boats over portages. All at once, just before Mystislav’s coming, these men sent to bear goods became robbers. When the prince assumed power, he called together the best men of Novgorod, and said: “Brothers, let us free this Novgorod land of offenders.” With one voice they answered: “If it please God and thee, we are ready.”When the troops were assembled, and Mystislav drew them up in review, he found that they numbered twenty thousand. He went to the land of the pagans, and these twenty thousand men marched with him. He passed through that land from end to end, not stopping till he reached the seacoast. He seized men, cattle and property; when there was need to punish, he reduced all before him to ashes. In one word, he established obedience. Then he turned toward Pskoff.According to old usage, the posadnik of Pskoff was appointed by Novgorod, but on this point there were endless disputes between the two cities. The Pskoff men wished independence and their own prince. During the winter of 1180 Mystislav planned a campaign for the springtime. He remembered the offenses of Prince Vseslav, the Plotsk wizard, who could turn, as the people declared, into a gray wolf and run in one night from the Caucasus to Novgorod. Vseslav, years before, had seized a part of Great Novgorod; he had carried off its assembly bell and borne away holy images and[120]church vessels. Mystislav resolved to bring all these back to the city. The prince in Polotsk at that time was Vseslav, a brother-in-law of Roman, son of Rostislav.When spring came, Mystislav moved against Polotsk with his army. Roman sent an envoy to meet him with these words: “Thou hast not been offended by Vseslav, why go against him? If thou decide on attack, thou wilt meet me before others.” Mystislav, not wishing to offend his own elder brother, turned back from his enterprise. Barely had he reached Great Novgorod, when he fell ill. No man could tell what affected him. For a time he lay without memory. His wife stood at his bedside, as did his drujina and best friends. When his mind returned, he looked at those present, and tears came to his eyes. Only a few of the words which he uttered had meaning. Vladimir, his youngest son, he entrusted to a favorite boyar. Of the two sons left to his brothers, one was renowned much in later years as Mystislav the Gallant. “Forget not my children,” begged he of his brothers. He raised his hands, sighed from the depth of his heart, tears came to his eyes again, and his breath left him.Roman, eldest son of Glaib, and once prisoner in Vladimir, had married a daughter of Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, and had thus become an ally of “the sister’s son.” In 1180 Roman’s brothers turned to Vsevolod of Vladimir, saying: “Thou art our lord and father; settle between us and Roman, who takes away our land at the advice of his brother-in-law, Sviatoslav.” Vsevolod moved against Roman, who met him at Kolomna. Sviatoslav sent his son Glaib from Kief to aid Roman. Vsevolod invited this son of Sviatoslav to meet him and negotiate. Glaib was unwilling to do so, but as Kolomna was occupied by Vsevolod, he had to accept the inevitable. Upon his arrival, Vsevolod ordered him put in chains and sent him to Vladimir, whither he sent all the men and property seized by Glaib’s warriors, commanding that both man and property should be kept under strong guard. Roman, leaving his two younger brothers in Ryazan to defend it, fled to steppe regions. When Vsevolod marched to Ryazan, the princes submitted, whereupon he made peace and apportioned the principality between them. All kissed the cross to Vsevolod, even Roman, who returned now and joined his brothers.When he heard that his son had been captured, Sviatoslav was[121]tremendously indignant, and went at once to Chernigoff. In Chernigoff, at that time, ruled Yaroslav, brother of the Kief prince. Of the younger princes, there were present in the city Igor, son of Sviatoslav, and his brother, Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” as he is called by a Russian poet. With them were their sons just reaching maturity. All had taken to heart the offense which Sviatoslav had suffered. After they had counseled together and were agreed, Sviatoslav addressed them in these words: “As a father, I command you to act as follows: thou, Igor, will stay with Yaroslav, my brother, to guard Chernigoff, while I will go to Suzdal to free my son from Vsevolod. And let God judge between us.”Sviatoslav left one half of his forces in Chernigoff, and led away the other half, taking with him a man who was his guest at that time, Yaropolk Bezoki. Sviatoslav’s son, Vladimir, who had become prince in Novgorod after the death of Mystislav, was to meet his father on the road. The allies from North and South assembled in lands within the Tver boundaries, and marched toward Pereyaslavl.Beginning at theTvertsaand on the Dubna, they laid everything in ashes, sparing nothing. “They emptied the whole Volga region,” says the chronicler. When forty versts from Pereyaslavl, they met Vsevolod on the Blena River, a branch of the Dubna. The Vladimir prince was in a wonderful position. The Blena had steep, rough, stony banks, broken into gullies. The place was chosen wisely, for it was remarkably defensive. The warriors had their positions on heights and in hollows. No enemy could reach them. During two weeks the armies faced each other. Vsevolod’s army was numerous, and, if compared with the forces of Sviatoslav, was enormous. As the Ryazan and Murom princes had to ride with their men at the stirrup of Vsevolod, they were now in his army. Against Vsevolod were the sons of the Kief prince, Oleg and Vladimir, the latter now Prince of Novgorod. These were the two princes who a short time before had conducted Vsevolod to Vladimir, and had cut down the Polovtsi in battling with Ryazan, which was now on the side of Vladimir. The personal following of the Vladimir prince was eager to engage the enemy; his warriors were praying to begin the battle, but Vsevolod would not permit them to advance. At first he sent out the warriors[122]of Ryazan and Murom, who burst into Sviatoslav’s camp and broke the regiments of Chernigoff, but “Rushing Bull” came to the rescue and drove back the assailants with much loss. After that, nothing was won on either side; every effort was fruitless. Sviatoslav tried now to negotiate, and, through two priests who had come with him, sent this message to Vsevolod: “My brother and my son, I have done thee much good and did not think to receive such a return from thee. Thou hast imprisoned my son, and harmed me greatly. Give now a road by which I can go to thee. If not, I will give thee a road to meet me, and let God judge between us.”Vsevolod sent the two priests as prisoners to Vladimir, and gave no answer to Sviatoslav, whose position then was not free of danger. Delay was impossible; Sviatoslav saw that warm weather was coming, that rivers would rise, and all roads would be impassable, that, in fact, if he did not withdraw he would be forced to surrender, hence he raised camp and departed. Vsevolod gave his men leave to attack Sviatoslav’s train, but forbade them to injure the Kief prince, or pursue him. Sviatoslav’s allies, avoiding places which they had plundered in coming, burned many towns, among others Dmitroff, the town in which Vsevolod was born. Sviatoslav permitted his son Oleg to withdraw, and also Rushing Bull, his cousin, and with Vladimir, another son, went to Novgorod, taking with him Yaropolk Besoki, and seating him in Nova-Torg.In the South, after Sviatoslav had gone on this expedition against Vsevolod, Rurik, son of Rostislav, prepared again to seize Kief. He brought from Volynia Vsevolod, and also asked aid of Yaroslav “Eight Minds,” who sent a few men under Tudor, his boyar. David, Rurik’s brother, set out for Smolensk to get help from Roman, but Roman died before he arrived there. David then seized the vacant throne, and delayed in Smolensk. Yaroslav, who with Igor, his cousin, was left to take care of Chernigoff, did not wait for the enemy, but marched at once to strike Smolensk regions. With their own men those two princes took also Polovtsi, and hastened toward Vitebsk. One of the Polotsk princes, Glaib, had joined the Smolensk side, and, with the aid of Smolensk warriors, was fighting against the other Polotsk princes, who were defending their independence. They had brought in allies from Lithuania, and timely assistance came now from[123]Chernigoff. Because of this, the war assumed large proportions at once. The Chernigoff princes sent to Novgorod, then acting with Sviatoslav of Kief, and expected help from that city. In the camp of the Polotsk and Chernigoff allies appeared—a thing till then never witnessed—aid from Lithuania and Livona. And now was understood what “strength from the Baltic” meant.Against this combination stood David, the new Smolensk prince. He had wished to force the battle, but Yaroslav of Chernigoff held back; he was waiting for his brother. Yaroslav occupied a strong position near the Drutcha River, and remained a whole week, warding off the enemy, who could only reach him by crossing the river. Sviatoslav of Kief now appeared, and began at once to bridge the Drutcha. David, seeing the strength of the enemy, would not risk a battle, and withdrew to Smolensk very promptly. Sviatoslav burned the Drutcha fortress, ended the expedition, and returned to his capital. Yaroslav and his cousin, Igor, went to Chernigoff.Vsevolod of Vladimir, incensed at this Novgorod and Ryazan struggle, attacked Nova-Torg, stormed and captured the town, seized Yaropolk Bezoki, and carried him to Vladimir. Novgorod, grown weary of wrangling, dismissed Vladimir, son of Sviatoslav, and requested Vsevolod to send the prince whom he liked best. He sent one of the most obscure princes of that period, his own brother-in-law, however. Satisfied with the change in Novgorod, Vsevolod now liberated Glaib, and all were in agreement again.The peace which followed was strengthened by two marriages. A son of Sviatoslav of Kief, that Glaib just released from prison, married Rurik’s daughter, and Mystislav, another son, married a sister-in-law of Vsevolod. So there was harmony between North and South for a season. Sviatoslav not only made peace with the Prince of Vladimir, but sent two sons to assist him in his campaign against the Silver Bulgars. “God grant us in my day to stand against pagans,” wrote Sviatoslav, and he sent one thousand men, led by Vladimir, his son, late prince in Novgorod. Forces came, too, from Ryazan and Murom, also from Pereyaslavl in the South, that place which the Polovtsi had always hit the hardest. This contingent was led by Izyaslav, the most gallant of Vsevolod’s nephews. All the forces met at Nizni-Novgorod, whence one[124]part of the army advanced on horseback, and the other in boats down the Volga. Vsevolod himself was with the expedition.Never before did Russians go into an enemy’s country so deeply as this time. They gave many a defeat to the pagan Bohmitan, as Mohammedans were called at that period. But in front of a palisaded fort, to the great grief of all, the gallant Izyaslav, son of Glaib, was struck in the heart by an arrow, and brought to the Russian camp dying. The loss of this youth, loved by the army, was avenged through a crushing battle fought at the edge of the Volga. More than one thousand Bulgars were drowned with their boats. More than fifteen hundred were cut down near the river. The body of the brave Izyaslav was taken back to Vladimir, and buried there with great honor.The Grand Prince did not wish at that time to bring Mohammedans under his rule; his only desire was to prove beyond question that Nizni-Novgorod and the places around it belonged to Vladimir, his capital. He wished to settle Russian ownership in those places, and establish moral influence over the people who lived between him and the Mohammedans, and who were still pagans.Not fearing war when it must come, but shunning it always when possible, Vsevolod, at home again, toiled at developing the lands of Vladimir. He desired, above all, the confidence of the people, and won it through giving them safety, order, and prosperity. He was busied specially with the many towns founded by Yuri, his father. In Suzdal he built a strong fortress, and put walls around it. He also repaired the cathedral in that city. “Though old, let it be as if new,” was said of the building. Pereyaslavl, renewed, and adorned as in the old time, grew distinguished.In Vladimir the Kremlin was enlarged with walls and towers of greater beauty and strength than even those of Suzdal. In other towns also did Vsevolod labor and erect buildings which were monuments. But the chief one, the marvel of Vsevolod’s day, and the one which, after centuries, forms in our time the glory of Vladimir, is the cathedral, which he built in honor of Dmitri, the martyr of Salonica. Not equal in size and in wealth to the church which Andrei built, it surpassed that golden-domed structure in proportions and beauty. It was noted, moreover, for a subtle variety of exterior adornment. But the God-loving church builder enriched it with relics more precious by far to believers than silver[125]or gold. Those treasures were a slab from the grave of Dmitri, his tunic, and some of the great martyr’s bones. Unbounded delight was felt by the men of Vladimir when those sacred relics were brought to the city.Ryazan was a source of great anxiety to Vsevolod, for its princes were always quarreling, and they did not hesitate to openly threaten one another with destruction. The Grand Prince was forced to put an end to these disputes. To guard his own cities he must protect Ryazan regions from the Polovtsi. The insolence of those nomads increased with the quarrels of the Ryazan princes. In view of this, Vsevolod undertook a campaign against the Polovtsi, and went to the heart of the Don region. He struck at the center of the steppes occupied by the “wild” Polovtsi, those who made the Ryazan attacks. He passed quickly and assailed their winter quarters, but his agile foes slipped away at once; he merely frightened them. To defend Ryazan, it was necessary to have Ryazan itself under control.At this period party struggles in Novgorod sometimes threatened the peace of Vladimir, but Vsevolod had no need to support princes whom by request he had sent to that city. He made no move to stop Novgorod from changing their prince. When the city complained of Yaroslav, Vsevolod replaced him by Mystislav, son of David of Smolensk, his ally in the Bulgar expedition. When Novgorod, which never liked any prince long, asked for Yaroslav a second time, it got him. More than once did those two unimportant princes rule Novgorod. Later on these words came from the city to Vsevolod: “Novgorod is the inheritance of thy father and grandfather; send thy own son to us.”Vsevolod sent Sviatoslav, one of his younger sons, at that time a boy. Several times this son was returned to his father, and sent back each time at request of the city. Holding Novgorod in peace by commanding the roads to it, the Grand Prince was not disquieted by that city, but Ryazan affairs were involved and troublesome.Roman, the eldest Ryazan prince, had brought his brothers to war with one another. He was a vain and ambitious man who, as son-in-law of the Kief prince, thought far more of himself than was proper. Igor and Vladimir, younger brothers of this Roman, who with him held Ryazan, had invited Vsevolod and Sviatoslav, their brothers who ruled in Pronsk, to visit them. Those younger[126]brothers, hearing that the other two wished to imprison or kill them, remained in Pronsk and fortified the city. The elder brothers marched promptly against Pronsk, besieged the place, and ravaged the country around it. Roman and his brothers, in making this war, appeared to censure their younger brothers for good will toward the Prince of Vladimir, and also to declare that they themselves cared not a whit for that Vladimir principality. Thus their action was a challenge to Vsevolod, and he gave answer very quickly. Without mingling in the quarrel between the brothers, he sent two boyars to Ryazan with this message, which was really a warning: “It is not a wonder to me that pagans ravage your country. But it is a wonder that ye, instead of living like brothers and guarding your lands against Bulgars and Polovtsi, attack one another and slay your own people. I will not permit such deeds. God has sent me to preserve justice and protect people, to bring to obedience those who break the law criminally. I fear that unless I am careful, God will judge me for the crimes that ye are committing. O brothers, what harm are ye doing? I leave that for you to judge.”Though the princes knew well what these words meant, they answered haughtily. Wise and cool advisers were not numerous among them. “Each man of their intimates gave nine powers to himself in comparison with others, and, seeing no enemy, was a victor at all times.” They nourished the quarrelsome nature of Roman, and he answered the envoys, with insolence: “What right has Vsevolod to talk here? Are we not just such princes as he is?” The envoys brought back these words to Vladimir. The younger princes in Pronsk had asked Vsevolod to help them. He, to show that he had been asked to protect the weaker, and not as an exhibition of strength, sent three hundred men to aid Pronsk, where they were received gladly. But Roman, with his brothers, continued the siege, looking contemptuously on such a contingent. Vsevolod now sent against Roman the Murom princes and a regiment of his own men. These troops were still in Kolomna when Roman, alarmed at the approach of such forces, left Pronsk with his warriors and hurried home. Vsevolod, one of the Pronsk princes, left Sviatoslav, his brother, in the city and went himself to the allies in Kolomna. When informed of Roman’s flight, the contingent considered the campaign at an end, and returned[127]to Vladimir. But the Pronsk prince went to Vsevolod’s capital, and asked for further protection, as he had no confidence in maintaining peace with his elder brothers.When Roman heard of the retreat from Kolomna of the allies, he returned and attacked Pronsk a second time. Turning the river, he deprived the place of water and brought the people to great suffering. Then he tried to capture Pronsk by treachery, and at last succeeded in this way: Sviatoslav, who held the city, became an enemy of Vsevolod, his brother, who had gone to Vladimir. “Destroy not thyself and thy men with hunger,” said Roman to him. “Come out to us. Thou art our brother, why fear us? We are fighting not against thee, but against the Prince of Vladimir.” The friends of the besieged prince continually repeated to him words like these: “Thy brother Vsevolod has gone over to the Prince of Vladimir; he has deserted and betrayed thee. Why destroy thyself and us?” At last, influenced by these speeches, the Pronsk prince surrendered. The three hundred men from Vladimir were captured and sent to Ryazan. A worse fate befell the men serving the prince who had gone to Vladimir, and, as his enemies alleged, had gone over to the Grand Prince. They were seized, every one of them, both boyars and common men, bound with ropes and thrown into prison. Roman detained Vsevolod’s wife and children, and imprisoned them. Vsevolod of Pronsk, on hearing of this, began war against all of his brothers.When news was brought to the Prince of Vladimir that Pronsk had been captured by deceit, he at once prepared for war in earnest. He began by sending a message to the prince who had surrendered to Roman: “Give back my men. Give back all my men and property. Thou and thy brother asked aid of me. Not wishing to desert you in trouble, I gave it; now thou hast made peace with Roman and betrayed the men sent by me.” When the Pronsk prince received this message, Roman, fearing an attack from Vladimir, sent straightway these words to the Grand Prince: “Thou art our lord, father and elder brother. Wherever there is an offense against thee, we will be first to avenge thee. We have warred against our brother, for he would not obey us, but be not angry because of that. We stand with bowed heads before thee. Thy men will be freed without harm, and immediately.”[128]The Grand Prince, seeing that Roman had turned from venomous malice to deceitful submission, did not wait for a lying peace. “An honorable war is better than a disgraceful peace,” declared he to the envoys of Roman, and he sent them away. He moved then on Kolomna, and commanded the Murom men and the Pronsk prince to advance. They crossed the Oká, and on the Ryazan side made a desert wherever they showed themselves. Knowing the state of affairs in Ryazan, the Polovtsi, who were ever watching with keenness, rose and began to ravage the country. The lands of those wrangling brothers were subjected to every evil that man could inflict. Roman, not forgetting that he was a son-in-law of the Kief prince, and remembering that Ryazan was connected with Chernigoff territory in some degree, begged the Chernigoff princes to bring Vsevolod to leniency. The bishop of Chernigoff, who was the Ryazan bishop also, was sent to the city of Vladimir, where he begged the resident bishop to assist him. The two bishops, aided by boyars from the Kief prince, persuaded Vsevolod that peace was best if obtained with honor. The trouble now lay in details. The real question which rose in the mind of Vsevolod was this, that the Ryazan princes must cease to be sovereign, they must obey Vladimir. The bishop assured him that the princes promised this faithfully, that they would kiss the cross to be under his will altogether, and would in future obey him. The Grand Prince granted power to make peace on this basis. That done, he liberated all the Ryazan men held captive in Vladimir. He freed also the envoys, who had been sent to him, and then appointed an embassy to conclude the treaty in Ryazan. The Chernigoff bishop reached Ryazan earlier than Vsevolod’s envoys. He brought details of the conditions proposed, and had influence on negotiations, but everything that he presented, and that he did was in a different spirit from that concerted in Vladimir. Then he hastened home to Chernigoff, avoiding the envoys of the Grand Prince. The Chernigoff bishop, it is clear, desired that Ryazan should remain bound to Chernigoff in church matters, and subjected, in some degree at least, to his own direction.To Vladimir it was very important that Ryazan should not be under Chernigoff in any way. The Vladimir people blamed Porfiri, the Chernigoff bishop, for acting not as a man of God, but as a wily politician. They complained that peace with Ryazan[129]was not concluded on the conditions fixed in Vladimir. They wished Vsevolod to expose the man who had given information in a sense hostile to Vladimir, and then vanished. But Vsevolod did not find it proper to do what they demanded. Peace was concluded, and the princes, who had sworn to recognize Vsevolod of Vladimir “to the full extent of his will,” were bound over now to submission. Vsevolod, Roman’s brother, was reinstated in Pronsk, and he and his brother regained all the lands there, both ruling in common.After that the princes of Ryazan without exception remained obedient to Vladimir. The troubles just described occurred in 1185–86, and so strong were the relations formed then that years later, when Constantine, son of Vsevolod, was crowned in Vladimir, all the Ryazan princes were present to render homage.In 1184, being again friendly with Rurik of Bailgorod, and David of Smolensk, as well as with the Volynia princes and the Prince of Galitch, Sviatoslav of Kief invited all princes to join him in a war against their common enemy, the Polovtsi. The southern princes promised Sviatoslav aid, but in Chernigoff his brothers and cousins were more difficult to deal with than remoter relatives, because of questions touching land in Chernigoff. His sons needed territory in that region, and princes, when dividing lands, nearly always disputed. Still his brothers and cousins did not refuse directly. The campaign, they said, was arranged awkwardly for them. If he would change the plan they would go with him. But other princes had assembled, and with them warriors in sufficient number.With the Kief prince marched his sons, Glaib and Mystislav, also the gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, from Pereyaslavl on the Alta. From Volynia came Roman, son of Mystislav, who brought with him two cousins, and also princes less distinguished. From Smolensk came Izyaslav, son of David, and Rurik came from Bailgorod. Yaroslav Eight Minds sent a contingent also. The allies, under Sviatoslav, came upon the enemy near a river, now known as the Orel, but then called Erela by the Polovtsi, at a place where the Vorskla and the Erela, both tributaries of the Dnieper, flowing almost parallel and close to each other, form a long tongue of land bounded by the Dnieper and those two rivers on two sides and one end. At that time this place was called simply “The Corner.” In that corner was won a great victory.When they were nearing the Polovtsi, the daring Vladimir, son[130]of Glaib, therefore grandson of Sviatoslav, begged for the first place. “Let me go against them, O my father,” implored he. “They have turned my lands into a desert. Let me go in advance with my men to attack them.” But the sons of the prince would not consent to be behind Vladimir in valor, hence Sviatoslav sent forward with his gallant grandson all the youngest princes of his guard, adding twenty-one hundred Cherkasi to strengthen their forces, but Vladimir led on with such swiftness that the princes going with him were left far behind, and he with his single command met the enemy in “The Corner.”The numerous vanguard of the Polovtsi swept round the advancing Vladimir and sent word quickly to Kobyk, the chief Khan in command of the army, that they had the Russians surrounded. The Polovtsi were delighted. “We have not worked for this,” said they, “but the Russians have come to us. Great wealth is falling into our hands; we will take it.” And they rushed with shrill, piercing shouts to the battle. Vladimir withstood the fierce onset. The youngest of the princes held his ground; he did not quiver. The Polovtsi, not dreaming of resistance such as that, were astounded and whirled back on both sides to give a blow with more impetus. Meanwhile Kobyk, the commander, moved out strong detachments. These rushed forward swiftly. The Khan, thinking that there were no attackers save those who were fighting in front of him, commanded to strike savagely, to break, and then to hunt down Vladimir’s detachment.But, all at once, the Polovtsi saw new forces hurrying forward. These were the princes who had set out with Vladimir, but Kobyk mistook them for Sviatoslav and his whole army. The Polovtsi, now greatly alarmed, wished to escape from the field, but that second force held them at bay. A fierce battle raged, till at last the Polovtsi were thrown into disorder. At that juncture, Sviatoslav and the older prince came up. The victory was complete. Kobyk was captured, and with him his two sons; Toblie with his son and also his brother. Of Khans alone twenty were captured, and common men were taken in great numbers. Among Khans who fell, the chief one was Tarsuk. The battle was on Monday, June 30, 1184. “God gave an immense victory over pagans, and Sviatoslav returned to Kief with great glory and honor.”Igor, the Chernigoff prince, who had not gone with Sviatoslav[131]against the Polovtsi, had, besides land questions, many cares to detain him at home. He was a son-in-law of Eight Minds. This old Galitch prince had long since divorced his wife, a daughter of Yuri Dolgoruki, hence a sister of Vsevolod of Vladimir, with whom she had taken refuge. Eight Minds had also expelled his legitimate son, Vladimir, who for a time could find no asylum in any place. From Galitch he turned first to Roman, son of Mystislav, in Volynia, but this stern prince had so much fear of old Eight Minds that, for reasons of interest and policy, he would not let the exile pass even one night in his capital. No matter where Vladimir tried, and he even went to Vsevolod, his uncle in Vladimir, he found no reception till he turned at last to his sister, and Igor, her husband, in Chernigoff. With them he found rest, for they met him with kindness. He lived two years in Chernigoff,—lived there until he was reconciled with his dying father, old Eight Minds.This connection of Igor with Galitch brought ruin later on to his sons, but who in that day could foresee this? Just at the time of Vladimir’s visit, a wave of delight was passing over Russia. Sviatoslav’s victory over the Polovtsi was magnified as the “Erela triumph.” All men glorified this marvelous adventure. The Chernigoff princes had taken no part in it, so now the thought dropped into Igor’s mind to win glory in this very field, independently, and at all costs. He boasted of his own campaigns, and said to his warriors: “Though the Polovtsi came to those princes and they fought with them, they dared not follow them. But with you I will cross the Don and crush them. If true success comes, we will pursue them to places to which our grandfathers never thought, even in dreams, of advancing. We will win for ourselves splendid glory.”With his own men and a detachment of Chernigoff warriors, Igor set out on his adventure, April 23, 1185, accompanied by his son, now touching manhood, his brother Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” and a few neighboring princes with their forces. He met the Polovtsi in a desperate battle, and was vanquished with great slaughter. He and his fellow princes all went beyond the Don,—but they went as prisoners. “They were taken from the saddles of princes and put on the saddles of captives.” Along the whole Luko Morye (Sea of Azoff) shouts of delight rose from pagans.[132]At the place where the Don River touches the Sea of Azoff, thousands of Polovtsi were singing and celebrating, not honor to Russia, butwoefuldisaster. “Little Polovtsi boys and beautiful Polovtsi maidens magnified the fame of their people.”This crushing defeat of Igor’s forces roused all the Polovtsi to greater activity, and gave them at once boundless insolence. They sent a message to Sviatoslav: “Come hither and ransom thy brothers, or wait at thy own place till we come for our people.” By this they referred to Kobyk and the other Khans captured on the Erela. And now the Polovtsi raced over Russia. They burned and plundered, and seized captives. The gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, defended himself at Pereyaslavl on the Alta. “Wounded from head to foot,” he was borne out of battle dead, as his friends thought. A year later he died of those wounds, though he had apparently recovered, and had warred against the Polovtsi a second time. After Vladimir’s death there was no heir to Pereyaslavl on the Alta, hence the place went to Vsevolod of Vladimir.Sviatoslav’s grief was unspeakable when he heard what had happened to Igor and his comrades. “Striplings!” said he, overwhelmed with sorrow and bitterly bewailing their rash enterprise. “Why did they tarnish the glory of victory? Why did they ruin the work of an old man and his allies? Why did they destroy a God-given triumph?” He had walled up the road against pagans, and the “striplings” had thrown this wall down again.All measures possible were taken by Sviatoslav to ward off the onrushing Polovtsi, but these measures were inadequate and in no way proportionate to the strength of the enemy. Igor was humble in presence of the misfortune which he had caused. He prayed and did penance, often repeating: “Why have I remained alive; I, who have destroyed so many people?”Not soon did those robber raids cease, but they did cease in time, not so much because the Polovtsi had inflicted great and sufficient loss on the Russians as because that flush of joy at a victory, which for them seemed well-nigh incredible, died away; and then the two camps, one on the Kief-Chernigoff border, and the other on the Polovtsi steppe, resumed their former attitude.[133]

CHAPTER VVLADIMIR BECOMES THE CAPITAL OF RUSSIA

Peace in Vladimir was short-lived, however. Mihalko died that year, 1176. The men of Vladimir acknowledged Vsevolod and kissed the cross to him, as did all the Suzdal men then in Vladimir. The popular voice was in favor of Vsevolod, but the boyars of Rostoff insisted that in the oath given to the late prince no mention had been made of his brother, hence no man was bound to consider him as heir of Mihalko, and this occupation of the throne was illegal. “Come to us quickly!” said the boyars, in a message to Mystislav. “We will have none but thee to rule over us.”Vsevolod marched now with his forces toward Suzdal, but the people were not altogether satisfied with him; they complained of his kindness, and his self-effacing politeness to rebels. He had sent to Mystislav, his nephew, saying: “Vladimir and Pereyaslavl have kissed the cross to me; they are mine. Rostoff has sent for thee. Let it be so; stay thou in Rostoff. Let Suzdal wait; whomever Suzdal chooses will be prince there.” Mystislav was not opposed to this offer, but the boyars who had sent for him would not consider it and said: “If thou think to be reconciled with thy uncle, we will not permit thee.”Mystislav now invaded Vladimir, and from Yurieff sent his uncle a message, which was something between a demand and a request to visit him for a personal conference. Vsevolod seemed ready to go, but when his partisans heard of the matter their anger was very great. “Think not,” cried they, “to visit the camp of the enemy. Those people are seeking thy life; they are oath-breakers, all of them. Are we to perish because thou art soft-hearted?”So Vsevolod refused the request and a fierce battled ensued with Mystislav, his nephew, near Yurieff. The boyars of Rostoff and[112]their followers fought with great valor. The men of Vladimir, “the masons and carpenters,” needed no urging to pay back the insults which they had received, and strike down the men who had tried to enslave them. The battle hung long in even balance, till the Pereyaslavl men “tore forward with all their strength,” and pushed back the right wing of Mystislav’s forces; at this juncture the Vladimir men, aided by a regiment from Suzdal, swept everything before them. Mystislav fled from the field with few followers; not many of his adherents could save themselves. His two main advisers, Dobrynya Dalgi and Ivanko Stefanovitch, fell in the battle. The surviving boyars were seized and bound with ropes. Mystislav made his way to Novgorod, but Novgorod men conducted him out of the city with these words: “God has given judgment against thee, in the dispute between thee and thy uncle.”He went then to Glaib of Ryazan for assistance. Glaib gave fresh aid to his brother-in-law, and they raided Vladimir territory at once, plundering and burning all before them. At last they burned Moscow. This action forced Vsevolod to leave Rostoff regions, and make ready to attack Glaib’s inheritance. But Glaib marched home quickly from Moscow, and Vsevolod deferred the attack till his forces were properly assembled. Novgorod of its own will had offered volunteers. From Chernigoff were coming Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, with good warriors. From southern Pereyaslavl on the Alta were coming men under Vladimir, Vsevolod’s nephew. Vsevolod set out for Ryazan toward the beginning of winter, but on the way halted at Kolomna, where he received most astonishing intelligence,—intelligence which turned his campaign in another direction.Glaib with his two sons, and with Mystislav, who led a large force of Polovtsi, had gone by other roads to Vladimir, the capital. The Polovtsi were plundering, burning, and taking captives; Glaib had given them a free hand on every side. He himself had seized Bogolyuboff, had torn down the chief doors of its church and stripped the place of everything.Vsevolod, moving with swift marches toward his capital, found the invaders in a strong camp near the Koloksha, a river flowing into the Klyasma, some miles from Vladimir. The Polovtsi had their thousands of prisoners in stockaded pens, while Glaib’s booty-laden[113]wagons were arranged in a place at that time inaccessible. Both he and the Polovtsi were beyond the river. Winter was beginning, but the season was capricious beyond parallel. Frosts, thaws, rains, followed one another unexpectedly, and made the passage of the river dangerous and exceedingly difficult, hence the two armies stood a whole month there facing each other. Glaib wished for peace, but Vsevolod would not grant it. Glaib had not been offended by Vsevolod. He had listened to evil tales from Rostoff men and from Mystislav; he had brought in the Polovtsi; he had plundered the churches and pillaged Vladimir; his punishment must meet him.Vladimir of Pereyaslavl on the Alta at last led troops across the river, and took a flank position against Mystislav, Glaib’s ally. After this, reinforcements crossed over in numbers to strengthen him, Vsevolod remaining meanwhile on the other bank of the river: Glaib, thinking to cut Vsevolod off and capture him, pushed across the river. While he was making this movement, Vladimir struck with great impetus on Mystislav, put his warriors to flight and pursued them. Glaib’s men crossed the river, but seeing their comrades in flight on the other side, fell into disorder. Vsevolod charged now quickly, and a general rout was the end of the battle. Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, rushed forward to hunt down the Polovtsi. Their warriors were trained well in sword-play, and they spared no man. Of the Polovtsi only those who were swiftest and strongest could save themselves. Joyous shouts were raised in the pens which the pagans had built around their captives, freed now by that fortunate battle. Mystislav was made prisoner. Nearly all his advisers were slain; those who survived were bound with hemp ropes and taken to Vladimir.The return of the victors to the capital was a triumph such as no man there had ever seen or imagined. In front of all rode the princes, Oleg and Vladimir, who had hewn down the Polovtsi; next came the bound prisoners, the boyars, then Vsevolod the conqueror, and last of all came the captives saved from the Polovtsi by the battle. Delight was unbounded in Vladimir, where there were mothers who had been weeping for sons, and wives for husbands whom they had looked on as lost to this world. To crown the whole victory were the treasures and booty seized from the Polovtsi.[114]After the triumph came questions of policy, and here the prince and the people differed greatly. “He is too kind,” said the people. “He does not understand those traitors, their plans and their wickedness. He is too innocent, too good-hearted.” Still Vsevolod’s celebrated “good-heartedness” was what bound the people to him. They believed him to be honest and kind. But they saw in the captured boyars vile enemies with whom there could be no compromise. They were traitors who had burned, robbed and slain, and were not to be forgiven. They accused the Ryazan princes and boyars openly of framing the plot to kill Andrei. They accused Glaib’s brother-in-law and his adherents of being connected with the murder, because they exhibited no enmity toward the assassins.All the inhabitants met and took counsel. Then, going to Vsevolod, they addressed him thus: “We are willing to lay down our lives for thee, and will spare nothing. But those Ryazan prisoners are treated as if they were guests in our city. In secret they are preparing to attack us, and will do so if freed from prison. We ask thee to punish these enemies with death, or if not with death to put their eyes out. If thou wilt do neither, deliver them to us. We will care for them.”It was difficult for Vsevolod to restrain the people who stood there before him. He promised to keep the prisoners, not as guests, but in strictness, and to treat future captives more sternly. He declared also that he had sent a demand to deliver other enemies to Vladimir; if not, he would march to Ryazan with his warriors. But prayers for the captives came now from many sides. Mystislav the Brave, who had married Glaib’s daughter, begged Sviatoslav of Chernigoff to free the prisoners if possible. A whole embassy came from Chernigoff with the bishop at the head of it. In Vladimir the report spread that Vsevolod was weakening. There was anger a second time, and more danger than ever. The people threatened to break open the prisons and slay the captives, or at least blind them. The crowd gathered in greater numbers than before. Vsevolod went out to them, accompanied by the bishop, and declared that the Ryazan princes would not be freed until all the conditions were complied with. The bishop spoke to the people, who answered: “We wish not to break faith, we ask only that God’s justice be dealt out to traitors. The Lord himself,[115]seeing their wickedness, has delivered them to us. Are we free to liberate such criminals?”Seeing this intense feeling, Vsevolod gave his final decision: “Yaropolk and Mystislav will be freed only when blinded. If Glaib yields not the cities which we demand of him, he will stay in prison till he dies there.” On hearing this the people went to their homes somewhat pacified. Toward evening of that day the sons of Rostislav suffered that operation which gave them the name of Bezoki, or The Eyeless ever after. The “Good-hearted,” however, had given command not to injure their eyes, but to simply perform an operation which would deceive the people. The executioner made deep cuts above their eyes, which he seemed then to dig out. In the night both princes were borne away to Smolensk very speedily, lest the people should kill them even though they had been blinded, as was supposed. Years after, the story was current that they had been blinded through too great anger of the people, and that the Lord had given back to them their eyesight. Still, though they had their eyes, they retained the surname—Bezoki.Freedom was offered Glaib if he would yield up Kolomna. He did not accept the proposal. To the offer made through the Prince of Chernigoff that he should go to the south and surrender the Ryazan principality, he gave the stern answer: “Rather than do that, I will die here in prison.” Some time later, while still a prisoner, he was found dead. After Glaib’s death his son, Roman, having promised perfect submission, was set free with permission to go to Ryazan.Thus ended the war and the disturbance which broke out after the murder of Andrei, and lasted from 1174 till 1177. It ended to the profit of the work begun by Yuri Dolgoruki, enlarged by Andrei, and strengthened by Vsevolod.The work of Yuri, his father, and Andrei, his elder brother, was completed finally by Vsevolod. During his life Rostoff and Suzdal, and now we must call it the Vladimir country, contained a well-ordered society, in which the prince’s authority was great, because the people approved and accepted it. The people and the prince stood face to face squarely. The people knew well that their popular society could not stand without the prince, and the prince knew that he could not rule a day without the people to support him. This mutual understanding secured the position of Vladimir[116]and made Northern Russia what it is to-day, the head of a great empire, and, after Northern Russia, made what is called Great Russia, that country beyond the forest. This land of the younger sons of Monomach grew to be more important than the domains of the eldest sons, and got the upper hand of Southern Russia.Rostoff and Suzdal bowed at last, when forced to do so, and Vladimir became, as to influence, the mother of Russian cities, the recognized capital. This was the result of the understanding between prince and people, and of that searching for the best place wherein to do a work,—an effort which is always made when people are in earnest. Later on, Vladimir lost the position and Moscow attained it. But at first Vladimir was the natural capital of Russia. It was the place in which the greatest number of people were willing to give their adherence to him whom they considered best qualified to hold their society together. And in that age the prince by descent and connection with their history was the man for that work. Because of this great mutual interest, the people and their prince formed a unit, while the boyars formed a number of units, each acting mainly for itself.Among the princes who preceded and followed him, Vsevolod occupied an exceptional position. He seemed not to strive for mastery. He made no claim to be Grand Prince of all Russia, or even of Vladimir. But when all Russia was mentioned, it meant in the minds of most people that Russia which had its head in Vladimir. In this way, though Vsevolod was not called Grand Prince of all Russia, he was treated as holding that position, and the political business of Russia was carried on in great part in Vladimir.After the death of Sviatoslav of Chernigoff, “the sister’s son,” Kief had no great significance. During the life of this Sviatoslav, it might have been said that the Russia of Kief and that of Vladimir balanced each other, but in different senses. After Sviatoslav’s death, Vladimir was beyond question the capital of Russia. Galitch fell a victim to the struggles between boyars. Rent by internal dissensions, it became a prey at times to Volynia, at times to Smolensk and Chernigoff, and was torn apart finally by Poles and Hungarians, to the first of whom it at last became a possession.Toward the end of his reign, Vsevolod felt able to treat Kief more decisively. While his friend Sviatoslav was living, the Prince[117]of Vladimir held aloof from the South, but when “the sister’s son” died, Vsevolod’s activity so increased that South and North became closely connected. Through nearness to Ryazan and to Novgorod, Vsevolod had to deal with them always, and his dealings with these two regions were more important than those of any prince who preceded him.The Ryazan princes, conquered in that war after which Glaib died in prison, had engaged to appear before Vsevolod whenever he summoned them. Kolomna had been joined to Vladimir. The same fate awaited Ryazan, in case of refusal to carry out promises. Its princes had increased greatly in number, and to them were added those of Pronsk and Murom. But no matter how those princes united and fought, they could not resist Vladimir. In case of resistance, they knew not how to deal with the problem. Behind them were small quarreling parties, in front a united strong people. The Ryazan princes were under guidance, and this meant what it means always, subjection. Vsevolod, through kindness, but also through wisdom, would not claim to be master.As to “Great Lord Novgorod,” it was surrounded by adherents of Vsevolod. Not at that moment, but soon afterward, the city preferred a bad peace to good warfare. The Dvina land dropped away from Great Novgorod, and from giving tribute to that city, and joined Vladimir. After that, smaller places about which there might be disputes crept away gradually and became connected inseparably with the capital. Novgorod could not go anywhere, to the harm of Vladimir. The Volga was closed to the city completely, nothing that touched the Volga was accessible to Novgorod without the consent of Vladimir. Vsevolod strengthened the town at that point where the Oká joins the Volga, and called it Lower Novgorod (Nizni-Novgorod). Soon he settled people there, and so roused that region that during the time of his children Lower Novgorod became a considerable city. In the days of his grandchildren, the settlement which extended from the city became a large district, and to one of those grandchildren it went as a portion.On the Volga, at its upper waters, Tver was now founded at the side of the Tvertsa River. To this well-fortified little town came settlers in such numbers that, even in Vsevolod’s day, it became the head of a principality. The Vladimir men not only defended[118]this place from “Lord Novgorod,” but they made it a new advance post against that proud city. They seized also Nova-Torg, the portage.The Vladimir princes held now an exceptional position toward Novgorod. If they could retain the two places Torjok and Tver, they were superior to Novgorod, in every case equal. In Yuri Dolgoruki’s day, Novgorod men, keen to spy out advantage, were watching for eastern connections, and would have seized the Vladimir position and prevented the rise of a principality, had not Yuri anticipated them. Yuri’s work, done in the nick of time, settled the fate of “Lord Novgorod.”It was only when firmly seated on the throne of Vladimir that Vsevolod found himself at enmity with the men of Novgorod, whom he could not forgive for receiving the Bezoki (Eyeless) with great kindness, and for having seated Mystislav, one of those brothers, in Novgorod, and the other, Yaropolk, in Nova-Torg. Mystislav died somewhat later, and they buried him in Saint Sophia, the Novgorod cathedral. They transferred Yaropolk then to their own city.Vsevolod seized at once every Novgorod merchant in the land of Vladimir. He stopped commerce between the two cities, and began war in earnest. This alarmed the Novgorod men greatly, and they showed Yaropolk the road leading out of their city. Though Vsevolod himself was satisfied with the banishment of Yaropolk, and was ready to raise his blockade, the war was continued by the people, the reason being that Vladimir and Tver men thought that it touched not only the honor of their prince, but still more their own profit. They wished to stop the encroachments of Lord Novgorod. Again they blamed Vsevolod for good nature; again they accused him of indecision. “The Novgorod men,” said they, “take oaths every day, but they break them continually. We are not here to kiss Novgorod warriors, but to stop their advance.” They took Nova-Torg then, bound every man in it capable of fighting, seized women and children, took all goods, burned the place, and sent the captives, tied with ropes, to Vladimir.Vsevolod moved now toward Nova-Torg, but before reaching the town, he decided that enough had been done to punish Novgorod, hence he retired to Vladimir. Soon after this the Novgorod[119]people invited Mystislav the Brave, son of Rostislav, the Smolensk prince, to rule in Novgorod. Mystislav the Great was revered beyond all princes who had ever ruled, and Mystislav the Brave was his grandson. The young prince’s heart did not lean toward the city, however, and the more he thought over the matter, the more he resolved on refusal. But his brothers and his drujina began to urge him, and at last he yielded to their persuasion and went to Novgorod, where he was received by a procession and with great honor. He visited Holy Sophia and then sat on the throne of his father and his grandfather.The service Novgorod men prized most in their princes was the defense of the city against pagans,—the Chud, who swept in from the side of the Baltic. Pskoff and Novgorod borders suffered greatly at first from wild men, who had an unknown, boundless country behind them. These men had at last been defeated and tribute imposed on them. Among the tributes established was the bearing of goods and boats over portages. All at once, just before Mystislav’s coming, these men sent to bear goods became robbers. When the prince assumed power, he called together the best men of Novgorod, and said: “Brothers, let us free this Novgorod land of offenders.” With one voice they answered: “If it please God and thee, we are ready.”When the troops were assembled, and Mystislav drew them up in review, he found that they numbered twenty thousand. He went to the land of the pagans, and these twenty thousand men marched with him. He passed through that land from end to end, not stopping till he reached the seacoast. He seized men, cattle and property; when there was need to punish, he reduced all before him to ashes. In one word, he established obedience. Then he turned toward Pskoff.According to old usage, the posadnik of Pskoff was appointed by Novgorod, but on this point there were endless disputes between the two cities. The Pskoff men wished independence and their own prince. During the winter of 1180 Mystislav planned a campaign for the springtime. He remembered the offenses of Prince Vseslav, the Plotsk wizard, who could turn, as the people declared, into a gray wolf and run in one night from the Caucasus to Novgorod. Vseslav, years before, had seized a part of Great Novgorod; he had carried off its assembly bell and borne away holy images and[120]church vessels. Mystislav resolved to bring all these back to the city. The prince in Polotsk at that time was Vseslav, a brother-in-law of Roman, son of Rostislav.When spring came, Mystislav moved against Polotsk with his army. Roman sent an envoy to meet him with these words: “Thou hast not been offended by Vseslav, why go against him? If thou decide on attack, thou wilt meet me before others.” Mystislav, not wishing to offend his own elder brother, turned back from his enterprise. Barely had he reached Great Novgorod, when he fell ill. No man could tell what affected him. For a time he lay without memory. His wife stood at his bedside, as did his drujina and best friends. When his mind returned, he looked at those present, and tears came to his eyes. Only a few of the words which he uttered had meaning. Vladimir, his youngest son, he entrusted to a favorite boyar. Of the two sons left to his brothers, one was renowned much in later years as Mystislav the Gallant. “Forget not my children,” begged he of his brothers. He raised his hands, sighed from the depth of his heart, tears came to his eyes again, and his breath left him.Roman, eldest son of Glaib, and once prisoner in Vladimir, had married a daughter of Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, and had thus become an ally of “the sister’s son.” In 1180 Roman’s brothers turned to Vsevolod of Vladimir, saying: “Thou art our lord and father; settle between us and Roman, who takes away our land at the advice of his brother-in-law, Sviatoslav.” Vsevolod moved against Roman, who met him at Kolomna. Sviatoslav sent his son Glaib from Kief to aid Roman. Vsevolod invited this son of Sviatoslav to meet him and negotiate. Glaib was unwilling to do so, but as Kolomna was occupied by Vsevolod, he had to accept the inevitable. Upon his arrival, Vsevolod ordered him put in chains and sent him to Vladimir, whither he sent all the men and property seized by Glaib’s warriors, commanding that both man and property should be kept under strong guard. Roman, leaving his two younger brothers in Ryazan to defend it, fled to steppe regions. When Vsevolod marched to Ryazan, the princes submitted, whereupon he made peace and apportioned the principality between them. All kissed the cross to Vsevolod, even Roman, who returned now and joined his brothers.When he heard that his son had been captured, Sviatoslav was[121]tremendously indignant, and went at once to Chernigoff. In Chernigoff, at that time, ruled Yaroslav, brother of the Kief prince. Of the younger princes, there were present in the city Igor, son of Sviatoslav, and his brother, Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” as he is called by a Russian poet. With them were their sons just reaching maturity. All had taken to heart the offense which Sviatoslav had suffered. After they had counseled together and were agreed, Sviatoslav addressed them in these words: “As a father, I command you to act as follows: thou, Igor, will stay with Yaroslav, my brother, to guard Chernigoff, while I will go to Suzdal to free my son from Vsevolod. And let God judge between us.”Sviatoslav left one half of his forces in Chernigoff, and led away the other half, taking with him a man who was his guest at that time, Yaropolk Bezoki. Sviatoslav’s son, Vladimir, who had become prince in Novgorod after the death of Mystislav, was to meet his father on the road. The allies from North and South assembled in lands within the Tver boundaries, and marched toward Pereyaslavl.Beginning at theTvertsaand on the Dubna, they laid everything in ashes, sparing nothing. “They emptied the whole Volga region,” says the chronicler. When forty versts from Pereyaslavl, they met Vsevolod on the Blena River, a branch of the Dubna. The Vladimir prince was in a wonderful position. The Blena had steep, rough, stony banks, broken into gullies. The place was chosen wisely, for it was remarkably defensive. The warriors had their positions on heights and in hollows. No enemy could reach them. During two weeks the armies faced each other. Vsevolod’s army was numerous, and, if compared with the forces of Sviatoslav, was enormous. As the Ryazan and Murom princes had to ride with their men at the stirrup of Vsevolod, they were now in his army. Against Vsevolod were the sons of the Kief prince, Oleg and Vladimir, the latter now Prince of Novgorod. These were the two princes who a short time before had conducted Vsevolod to Vladimir, and had cut down the Polovtsi in battling with Ryazan, which was now on the side of Vladimir. The personal following of the Vladimir prince was eager to engage the enemy; his warriors were praying to begin the battle, but Vsevolod would not permit them to advance. At first he sent out the warriors[122]of Ryazan and Murom, who burst into Sviatoslav’s camp and broke the regiments of Chernigoff, but “Rushing Bull” came to the rescue and drove back the assailants with much loss. After that, nothing was won on either side; every effort was fruitless. Sviatoslav tried now to negotiate, and, through two priests who had come with him, sent this message to Vsevolod: “My brother and my son, I have done thee much good and did not think to receive such a return from thee. Thou hast imprisoned my son, and harmed me greatly. Give now a road by which I can go to thee. If not, I will give thee a road to meet me, and let God judge between us.”Vsevolod sent the two priests as prisoners to Vladimir, and gave no answer to Sviatoslav, whose position then was not free of danger. Delay was impossible; Sviatoslav saw that warm weather was coming, that rivers would rise, and all roads would be impassable, that, in fact, if he did not withdraw he would be forced to surrender, hence he raised camp and departed. Vsevolod gave his men leave to attack Sviatoslav’s train, but forbade them to injure the Kief prince, or pursue him. Sviatoslav’s allies, avoiding places which they had plundered in coming, burned many towns, among others Dmitroff, the town in which Vsevolod was born. Sviatoslav permitted his son Oleg to withdraw, and also Rushing Bull, his cousin, and with Vladimir, another son, went to Novgorod, taking with him Yaropolk Besoki, and seating him in Nova-Torg.In the South, after Sviatoslav had gone on this expedition against Vsevolod, Rurik, son of Rostislav, prepared again to seize Kief. He brought from Volynia Vsevolod, and also asked aid of Yaroslav “Eight Minds,” who sent a few men under Tudor, his boyar. David, Rurik’s brother, set out for Smolensk to get help from Roman, but Roman died before he arrived there. David then seized the vacant throne, and delayed in Smolensk. Yaroslav, who with Igor, his cousin, was left to take care of Chernigoff, did not wait for the enemy, but marched at once to strike Smolensk regions. With their own men those two princes took also Polovtsi, and hastened toward Vitebsk. One of the Polotsk princes, Glaib, had joined the Smolensk side, and, with the aid of Smolensk warriors, was fighting against the other Polotsk princes, who were defending their independence. They had brought in allies from Lithuania, and timely assistance came now from[123]Chernigoff. Because of this, the war assumed large proportions at once. The Chernigoff princes sent to Novgorod, then acting with Sviatoslav of Kief, and expected help from that city. In the camp of the Polotsk and Chernigoff allies appeared—a thing till then never witnessed—aid from Lithuania and Livona. And now was understood what “strength from the Baltic” meant.Against this combination stood David, the new Smolensk prince. He had wished to force the battle, but Yaroslav of Chernigoff held back; he was waiting for his brother. Yaroslav occupied a strong position near the Drutcha River, and remained a whole week, warding off the enemy, who could only reach him by crossing the river. Sviatoslav of Kief now appeared, and began at once to bridge the Drutcha. David, seeing the strength of the enemy, would not risk a battle, and withdrew to Smolensk very promptly. Sviatoslav burned the Drutcha fortress, ended the expedition, and returned to his capital. Yaroslav and his cousin, Igor, went to Chernigoff.Vsevolod of Vladimir, incensed at this Novgorod and Ryazan struggle, attacked Nova-Torg, stormed and captured the town, seized Yaropolk Bezoki, and carried him to Vladimir. Novgorod, grown weary of wrangling, dismissed Vladimir, son of Sviatoslav, and requested Vsevolod to send the prince whom he liked best. He sent one of the most obscure princes of that period, his own brother-in-law, however. Satisfied with the change in Novgorod, Vsevolod now liberated Glaib, and all were in agreement again.The peace which followed was strengthened by two marriages. A son of Sviatoslav of Kief, that Glaib just released from prison, married Rurik’s daughter, and Mystislav, another son, married a sister-in-law of Vsevolod. So there was harmony between North and South for a season. Sviatoslav not only made peace with the Prince of Vladimir, but sent two sons to assist him in his campaign against the Silver Bulgars. “God grant us in my day to stand against pagans,” wrote Sviatoslav, and he sent one thousand men, led by Vladimir, his son, late prince in Novgorod. Forces came, too, from Ryazan and Murom, also from Pereyaslavl in the South, that place which the Polovtsi had always hit the hardest. This contingent was led by Izyaslav, the most gallant of Vsevolod’s nephews. All the forces met at Nizni-Novgorod, whence one[124]part of the army advanced on horseback, and the other in boats down the Volga. Vsevolod himself was with the expedition.Never before did Russians go into an enemy’s country so deeply as this time. They gave many a defeat to the pagan Bohmitan, as Mohammedans were called at that period. But in front of a palisaded fort, to the great grief of all, the gallant Izyaslav, son of Glaib, was struck in the heart by an arrow, and brought to the Russian camp dying. The loss of this youth, loved by the army, was avenged through a crushing battle fought at the edge of the Volga. More than one thousand Bulgars were drowned with their boats. More than fifteen hundred were cut down near the river. The body of the brave Izyaslav was taken back to Vladimir, and buried there with great honor.The Grand Prince did not wish at that time to bring Mohammedans under his rule; his only desire was to prove beyond question that Nizni-Novgorod and the places around it belonged to Vladimir, his capital. He wished to settle Russian ownership in those places, and establish moral influence over the people who lived between him and the Mohammedans, and who were still pagans.Not fearing war when it must come, but shunning it always when possible, Vsevolod, at home again, toiled at developing the lands of Vladimir. He desired, above all, the confidence of the people, and won it through giving them safety, order, and prosperity. He was busied specially with the many towns founded by Yuri, his father. In Suzdal he built a strong fortress, and put walls around it. He also repaired the cathedral in that city. “Though old, let it be as if new,” was said of the building. Pereyaslavl, renewed, and adorned as in the old time, grew distinguished.In Vladimir the Kremlin was enlarged with walls and towers of greater beauty and strength than even those of Suzdal. In other towns also did Vsevolod labor and erect buildings which were monuments. But the chief one, the marvel of Vsevolod’s day, and the one which, after centuries, forms in our time the glory of Vladimir, is the cathedral, which he built in honor of Dmitri, the martyr of Salonica. Not equal in size and in wealth to the church which Andrei built, it surpassed that golden-domed structure in proportions and beauty. It was noted, moreover, for a subtle variety of exterior adornment. But the God-loving church builder enriched it with relics more precious by far to believers than silver[125]or gold. Those treasures were a slab from the grave of Dmitri, his tunic, and some of the great martyr’s bones. Unbounded delight was felt by the men of Vladimir when those sacred relics were brought to the city.Ryazan was a source of great anxiety to Vsevolod, for its princes were always quarreling, and they did not hesitate to openly threaten one another with destruction. The Grand Prince was forced to put an end to these disputes. To guard his own cities he must protect Ryazan regions from the Polovtsi. The insolence of those nomads increased with the quarrels of the Ryazan princes. In view of this, Vsevolod undertook a campaign against the Polovtsi, and went to the heart of the Don region. He struck at the center of the steppes occupied by the “wild” Polovtsi, those who made the Ryazan attacks. He passed quickly and assailed their winter quarters, but his agile foes slipped away at once; he merely frightened them. To defend Ryazan, it was necessary to have Ryazan itself under control.At this period party struggles in Novgorod sometimes threatened the peace of Vladimir, but Vsevolod had no need to support princes whom by request he had sent to that city. He made no move to stop Novgorod from changing their prince. When the city complained of Yaroslav, Vsevolod replaced him by Mystislav, son of David of Smolensk, his ally in the Bulgar expedition. When Novgorod, which never liked any prince long, asked for Yaroslav a second time, it got him. More than once did those two unimportant princes rule Novgorod. Later on these words came from the city to Vsevolod: “Novgorod is the inheritance of thy father and grandfather; send thy own son to us.”Vsevolod sent Sviatoslav, one of his younger sons, at that time a boy. Several times this son was returned to his father, and sent back each time at request of the city. Holding Novgorod in peace by commanding the roads to it, the Grand Prince was not disquieted by that city, but Ryazan affairs were involved and troublesome.Roman, the eldest Ryazan prince, had brought his brothers to war with one another. He was a vain and ambitious man who, as son-in-law of the Kief prince, thought far more of himself than was proper. Igor and Vladimir, younger brothers of this Roman, who with him held Ryazan, had invited Vsevolod and Sviatoslav, their brothers who ruled in Pronsk, to visit them. Those younger[126]brothers, hearing that the other two wished to imprison or kill them, remained in Pronsk and fortified the city. The elder brothers marched promptly against Pronsk, besieged the place, and ravaged the country around it. Roman and his brothers, in making this war, appeared to censure their younger brothers for good will toward the Prince of Vladimir, and also to declare that they themselves cared not a whit for that Vladimir principality. Thus their action was a challenge to Vsevolod, and he gave answer very quickly. Without mingling in the quarrel between the brothers, he sent two boyars to Ryazan with this message, which was really a warning: “It is not a wonder to me that pagans ravage your country. But it is a wonder that ye, instead of living like brothers and guarding your lands against Bulgars and Polovtsi, attack one another and slay your own people. I will not permit such deeds. God has sent me to preserve justice and protect people, to bring to obedience those who break the law criminally. I fear that unless I am careful, God will judge me for the crimes that ye are committing. O brothers, what harm are ye doing? I leave that for you to judge.”Though the princes knew well what these words meant, they answered haughtily. Wise and cool advisers were not numerous among them. “Each man of their intimates gave nine powers to himself in comparison with others, and, seeing no enemy, was a victor at all times.” They nourished the quarrelsome nature of Roman, and he answered the envoys, with insolence: “What right has Vsevolod to talk here? Are we not just such princes as he is?” The envoys brought back these words to Vladimir. The younger princes in Pronsk had asked Vsevolod to help them. He, to show that he had been asked to protect the weaker, and not as an exhibition of strength, sent three hundred men to aid Pronsk, where they were received gladly. But Roman, with his brothers, continued the siege, looking contemptuously on such a contingent. Vsevolod now sent against Roman the Murom princes and a regiment of his own men. These troops were still in Kolomna when Roman, alarmed at the approach of such forces, left Pronsk with his warriors and hurried home. Vsevolod, one of the Pronsk princes, left Sviatoslav, his brother, in the city and went himself to the allies in Kolomna. When informed of Roman’s flight, the contingent considered the campaign at an end, and returned[127]to Vladimir. But the Pronsk prince went to Vsevolod’s capital, and asked for further protection, as he had no confidence in maintaining peace with his elder brothers.When Roman heard of the retreat from Kolomna of the allies, he returned and attacked Pronsk a second time. Turning the river, he deprived the place of water and brought the people to great suffering. Then he tried to capture Pronsk by treachery, and at last succeeded in this way: Sviatoslav, who held the city, became an enemy of Vsevolod, his brother, who had gone to Vladimir. “Destroy not thyself and thy men with hunger,” said Roman to him. “Come out to us. Thou art our brother, why fear us? We are fighting not against thee, but against the Prince of Vladimir.” The friends of the besieged prince continually repeated to him words like these: “Thy brother Vsevolod has gone over to the Prince of Vladimir; he has deserted and betrayed thee. Why destroy thyself and us?” At last, influenced by these speeches, the Pronsk prince surrendered. The three hundred men from Vladimir were captured and sent to Ryazan. A worse fate befell the men serving the prince who had gone to Vladimir, and, as his enemies alleged, had gone over to the Grand Prince. They were seized, every one of them, both boyars and common men, bound with ropes and thrown into prison. Roman detained Vsevolod’s wife and children, and imprisoned them. Vsevolod of Pronsk, on hearing of this, began war against all of his brothers.When news was brought to the Prince of Vladimir that Pronsk had been captured by deceit, he at once prepared for war in earnest. He began by sending a message to the prince who had surrendered to Roman: “Give back my men. Give back all my men and property. Thou and thy brother asked aid of me. Not wishing to desert you in trouble, I gave it; now thou hast made peace with Roman and betrayed the men sent by me.” When the Pronsk prince received this message, Roman, fearing an attack from Vladimir, sent straightway these words to the Grand Prince: “Thou art our lord, father and elder brother. Wherever there is an offense against thee, we will be first to avenge thee. We have warred against our brother, for he would not obey us, but be not angry because of that. We stand with bowed heads before thee. Thy men will be freed without harm, and immediately.”[128]The Grand Prince, seeing that Roman had turned from venomous malice to deceitful submission, did not wait for a lying peace. “An honorable war is better than a disgraceful peace,” declared he to the envoys of Roman, and he sent them away. He moved then on Kolomna, and commanded the Murom men and the Pronsk prince to advance. They crossed the Oká, and on the Ryazan side made a desert wherever they showed themselves. Knowing the state of affairs in Ryazan, the Polovtsi, who were ever watching with keenness, rose and began to ravage the country. The lands of those wrangling brothers were subjected to every evil that man could inflict. Roman, not forgetting that he was a son-in-law of the Kief prince, and remembering that Ryazan was connected with Chernigoff territory in some degree, begged the Chernigoff princes to bring Vsevolod to leniency. The bishop of Chernigoff, who was the Ryazan bishop also, was sent to the city of Vladimir, where he begged the resident bishop to assist him. The two bishops, aided by boyars from the Kief prince, persuaded Vsevolod that peace was best if obtained with honor. The trouble now lay in details. The real question which rose in the mind of Vsevolod was this, that the Ryazan princes must cease to be sovereign, they must obey Vladimir. The bishop assured him that the princes promised this faithfully, that they would kiss the cross to be under his will altogether, and would in future obey him. The Grand Prince granted power to make peace on this basis. That done, he liberated all the Ryazan men held captive in Vladimir. He freed also the envoys, who had been sent to him, and then appointed an embassy to conclude the treaty in Ryazan. The Chernigoff bishop reached Ryazan earlier than Vsevolod’s envoys. He brought details of the conditions proposed, and had influence on negotiations, but everything that he presented, and that he did was in a different spirit from that concerted in Vladimir. Then he hastened home to Chernigoff, avoiding the envoys of the Grand Prince. The Chernigoff bishop, it is clear, desired that Ryazan should remain bound to Chernigoff in church matters, and subjected, in some degree at least, to his own direction.To Vladimir it was very important that Ryazan should not be under Chernigoff in any way. The Vladimir people blamed Porfiri, the Chernigoff bishop, for acting not as a man of God, but as a wily politician. They complained that peace with Ryazan[129]was not concluded on the conditions fixed in Vladimir. They wished Vsevolod to expose the man who had given information in a sense hostile to Vladimir, and then vanished. But Vsevolod did not find it proper to do what they demanded. Peace was concluded, and the princes, who had sworn to recognize Vsevolod of Vladimir “to the full extent of his will,” were bound over now to submission. Vsevolod, Roman’s brother, was reinstated in Pronsk, and he and his brother regained all the lands there, both ruling in common.After that the princes of Ryazan without exception remained obedient to Vladimir. The troubles just described occurred in 1185–86, and so strong were the relations formed then that years later, when Constantine, son of Vsevolod, was crowned in Vladimir, all the Ryazan princes were present to render homage.In 1184, being again friendly with Rurik of Bailgorod, and David of Smolensk, as well as with the Volynia princes and the Prince of Galitch, Sviatoslav of Kief invited all princes to join him in a war against their common enemy, the Polovtsi. The southern princes promised Sviatoslav aid, but in Chernigoff his brothers and cousins were more difficult to deal with than remoter relatives, because of questions touching land in Chernigoff. His sons needed territory in that region, and princes, when dividing lands, nearly always disputed. Still his brothers and cousins did not refuse directly. The campaign, they said, was arranged awkwardly for them. If he would change the plan they would go with him. But other princes had assembled, and with them warriors in sufficient number.With the Kief prince marched his sons, Glaib and Mystislav, also the gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, from Pereyaslavl on the Alta. From Volynia came Roman, son of Mystislav, who brought with him two cousins, and also princes less distinguished. From Smolensk came Izyaslav, son of David, and Rurik came from Bailgorod. Yaroslav Eight Minds sent a contingent also. The allies, under Sviatoslav, came upon the enemy near a river, now known as the Orel, but then called Erela by the Polovtsi, at a place where the Vorskla and the Erela, both tributaries of the Dnieper, flowing almost parallel and close to each other, form a long tongue of land bounded by the Dnieper and those two rivers on two sides and one end. At that time this place was called simply “The Corner.” In that corner was won a great victory.When they were nearing the Polovtsi, the daring Vladimir, son[130]of Glaib, therefore grandson of Sviatoslav, begged for the first place. “Let me go against them, O my father,” implored he. “They have turned my lands into a desert. Let me go in advance with my men to attack them.” But the sons of the prince would not consent to be behind Vladimir in valor, hence Sviatoslav sent forward with his gallant grandson all the youngest princes of his guard, adding twenty-one hundred Cherkasi to strengthen their forces, but Vladimir led on with such swiftness that the princes going with him were left far behind, and he with his single command met the enemy in “The Corner.”The numerous vanguard of the Polovtsi swept round the advancing Vladimir and sent word quickly to Kobyk, the chief Khan in command of the army, that they had the Russians surrounded. The Polovtsi were delighted. “We have not worked for this,” said they, “but the Russians have come to us. Great wealth is falling into our hands; we will take it.” And they rushed with shrill, piercing shouts to the battle. Vladimir withstood the fierce onset. The youngest of the princes held his ground; he did not quiver. The Polovtsi, not dreaming of resistance such as that, were astounded and whirled back on both sides to give a blow with more impetus. Meanwhile Kobyk, the commander, moved out strong detachments. These rushed forward swiftly. The Khan, thinking that there were no attackers save those who were fighting in front of him, commanded to strike savagely, to break, and then to hunt down Vladimir’s detachment.But, all at once, the Polovtsi saw new forces hurrying forward. These were the princes who had set out with Vladimir, but Kobyk mistook them for Sviatoslav and his whole army. The Polovtsi, now greatly alarmed, wished to escape from the field, but that second force held them at bay. A fierce battle raged, till at last the Polovtsi were thrown into disorder. At that juncture, Sviatoslav and the older prince came up. The victory was complete. Kobyk was captured, and with him his two sons; Toblie with his son and also his brother. Of Khans alone twenty were captured, and common men were taken in great numbers. Among Khans who fell, the chief one was Tarsuk. The battle was on Monday, June 30, 1184. “God gave an immense victory over pagans, and Sviatoslav returned to Kief with great glory and honor.”Igor, the Chernigoff prince, who had not gone with Sviatoslav[131]against the Polovtsi, had, besides land questions, many cares to detain him at home. He was a son-in-law of Eight Minds. This old Galitch prince had long since divorced his wife, a daughter of Yuri Dolgoruki, hence a sister of Vsevolod of Vladimir, with whom she had taken refuge. Eight Minds had also expelled his legitimate son, Vladimir, who for a time could find no asylum in any place. From Galitch he turned first to Roman, son of Mystislav, in Volynia, but this stern prince had so much fear of old Eight Minds that, for reasons of interest and policy, he would not let the exile pass even one night in his capital. No matter where Vladimir tried, and he even went to Vsevolod, his uncle in Vladimir, he found no reception till he turned at last to his sister, and Igor, her husband, in Chernigoff. With them he found rest, for they met him with kindness. He lived two years in Chernigoff,—lived there until he was reconciled with his dying father, old Eight Minds.This connection of Igor with Galitch brought ruin later on to his sons, but who in that day could foresee this? Just at the time of Vladimir’s visit, a wave of delight was passing over Russia. Sviatoslav’s victory over the Polovtsi was magnified as the “Erela triumph.” All men glorified this marvelous adventure. The Chernigoff princes had taken no part in it, so now the thought dropped into Igor’s mind to win glory in this very field, independently, and at all costs. He boasted of his own campaigns, and said to his warriors: “Though the Polovtsi came to those princes and they fought with them, they dared not follow them. But with you I will cross the Don and crush them. If true success comes, we will pursue them to places to which our grandfathers never thought, even in dreams, of advancing. We will win for ourselves splendid glory.”With his own men and a detachment of Chernigoff warriors, Igor set out on his adventure, April 23, 1185, accompanied by his son, now touching manhood, his brother Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” and a few neighboring princes with their forces. He met the Polovtsi in a desperate battle, and was vanquished with great slaughter. He and his fellow princes all went beyond the Don,—but they went as prisoners. “They were taken from the saddles of princes and put on the saddles of captives.” Along the whole Luko Morye (Sea of Azoff) shouts of delight rose from pagans.[132]At the place where the Don River touches the Sea of Azoff, thousands of Polovtsi were singing and celebrating, not honor to Russia, butwoefuldisaster. “Little Polovtsi boys and beautiful Polovtsi maidens magnified the fame of their people.”This crushing defeat of Igor’s forces roused all the Polovtsi to greater activity, and gave them at once boundless insolence. They sent a message to Sviatoslav: “Come hither and ransom thy brothers, or wait at thy own place till we come for our people.” By this they referred to Kobyk and the other Khans captured on the Erela. And now the Polovtsi raced over Russia. They burned and plundered, and seized captives. The gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, defended himself at Pereyaslavl on the Alta. “Wounded from head to foot,” he was borne out of battle dead, as his friends thought. A year later he died of those wounds, though he had apparently recovered, and had warred against the Polovtsi a second time. After Vladimir’s death there was no heir to Pereyaslavl on the Alta, hence the place went to Vsevolod of Vladimir.Sviatoslav’s grief was unspeakable when he heard what had happened to Igor and his comrades. “Striplings!” said he, overwhelmed with sorrow and bitterly bewailing their rash enterprise. “Why did they tarnish the glory of victory? Why did they ruin the work of an old man and his allies? Why did they destroy a God-given triumph?” He had walled up the road against pagans, and the “striplings” had thrown this wall down again.All measures possible were taken by Sviatoslav to ward off the onrushing Polovtsi, but these measures were inadequate and in no way proportionate to the strength of the enemy. Igor was humble in presence of the misfortune which he had caused. He prayed and did penance, often repeating: “Why have I remained alive; I, who have destroyed so many people?”Not soon did those robber raids cease, but they did cease in time, not so much because the Polovtsi had inflicted great and sufficient loss on the Russians as because that flush of joy at a victory, which for them seemed well-nigh incredible, died away; and then the two camps, one on the Kief-Chernigoff border, and the other on the Polovtsi steppe, resumed their former attitude.[133]

Peace in Vladimir was short-lived, however. Mihalko died that year, 1176. The men of Vladimir acknowledged Vsevolod and kissed the cross to him, as did all the Suzdal men then in Vladimir. The popular voice was in favor of Vsevolod, but the boyars of Rostoff insisted that in the oath given to the late prince no mention had been made of his brother, hence no man was bound to consider him as heir of Mihalko, and this occupation of the throne was illegal. “Come to us quickly!” said the boyars, in a message to Mystislav. “We will have none but thee to rule over us.”

Vsevolod marched now with his forces toward Suzdal, but the people were not altogether satisfied with him; they complained of his kindness, and his self-effacing politeness to rebels. He had sent to Mystislav, his nephew, saying: “Vladimir and Pereyaslavl have kissed the cross to me; they are mine. Rostoff has sent for thee. Let it be so; stay thou in Rostoff. Let Suzdal wait; whomever Suzdal chooses will be prince there.” Mystislav was not opposed to this offer, but the boyars who had sent for him would not consider it and said: “If thou think to be reconciled with thy uncle, we will not permit thee.”

Mystislav now invaded Vladimir, and from Yurieff sent his uncle a message, which was something between a demand and a request to visit him for a personal conference. Vsevolod seemed ready to go, but when his partisans heard of the matter their anger was very great. “Think not,” cried they, “to visit the camp of the enemy. Those people are seeking thy life; they are oath-breakers, all of them. Are we to perish because thou art soft-hearted?”

So Vsevolod refused the request and a fierce battled ensued with Mystislav, his nephew, near Yurieff. The boyars of Rostoff and[112]their followers fought with great valor. The men of Vladimir, “the masons and carpenters,” needed no urging to pay back the insults which they had received, and strike down the men who had tried to enslave them. The battle hung long in even balance, till the Pereyaslavl men “tore forward with all their strength,” and pushed back the right wing of Mystislav’s forces; at this juncture the Vladimir men, aided by a regiment from Suzdal, swept everything before them. Mystislav fled from the field with few followers; not many of his adherents could save themselves. His two main advisers, Dobrynya Dalgi and Ivanko Stefanovitch, fell in the battle. The surviving boyars were seized and bound with ropes. Mystislav made his way to Novgorod, but Novgorod men conducted him out of the city with these words: “God has given judgment against thee, in the dispute between thee and thy uncle.”

He went then to Glaib of Ryazan for assistance. Glaib gave fresh aid to his brother-in-law, and they raided Vladimir territory at once, plundering and burning all before them. At last they burned Moscow. This action forced Vsevolod to leave Rostoff regions, and make ready to attack Glaib’s inheritance. But Glaib marched home quickly from Moscow, and Vsevolod deferred the attack till his forces were properly assembled. Novgorod of its own will had offered volunteers. From Chernigoff were coming Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, with good warriors. From southern Pereyaslavl on the Alta were coming men under Vladimir, Vsevolod’s nephew. Vsevolod set out for Ryazan toward the beginning of winter, but on the way halted at Kolomna, where he received most astonishing intelligence,—intelligence which turned his campaign in another direction.

Glaib with his two sons, and with Mystislav, who led a large force of Polovtsi, had gone by other roads to Vladimir, the capital. The Polovtsi were plundering, burning, and taking captives; Glaib had given them a free hand on every side. He himself had seized Bogolyuboff, had torn down the chief doors of its church and stripped the place of everything.

Vsevolod, moving with swift marches toward his capital, found the invaders in a strong camp near the Koloksha, a river flowing into the Klyasma, some miles from Vladimir. The Polovtsi had their thousands of prisoners in stockaded pens, while Glaib’s booty-laden[113]wagons were arranged in a place at that time inaccessible. Both he and the Polovtsi were beyond the river. Winter was beginning, but the season was capricious beyond parallel. Frosts, thaws, rains, followed one another unexpectedly, and made the passage of the river dangerous and exceedingly difficult, hence the two armies stood a whole month there facing each other. Glaib wished for peace, but Vsevolod would not grant it. Glaib had not been offended by Vsevolod. He had listened to evil tales from Rostoff men and from Mystislav; he had brought in the Polovtsi; he had plundered the churches and pillaged Vladimir; his punishment must meet him.

Vladimir of Pereyaslavl on the Alta at last led troops across the river, and took a flank position against Mystislav, Glaib’s ally. After this, reinforcements crossed over in numbers to strengthen him, Vsevolod remaining meanwhile on the other bank of the river: Glaib, thinking to cut Vsevolod off and capture him, pushed across the river. While he was making this movement, Vladimir struck with great impetus on Mystislav, put his warriors to flight and pursued them. Glaib’s men crossed the river, but seeing their comrades in flight on the other side, fell into disorder. Vsevolod charged now quickly, and a general rout was the end of the battle. Oleg and Vladimir, sons of Sviatoslav, rushed forward to hunt down the Polovtsi. Their warriors were trained well in sword-play, and they spared no man. Of the Polovtsi only those who were swiftest and strongest could save themselves. Joyous shouts were raised in the pens which the pagans had built around their captives, freed now by that fortunate battle. Mystislav was made prisoner. Nearly all his advisers were slain; those who survived were bound with hemp ropes and taken to Vladimir.

The return of the victors to the capital was a triumph such as no man there had ever seen or imagined. In front of all rode the princes, Oleg and Vladimir, who had hewn down the Polovtsi; next came the bound prisoners, the boyars, then Vsevolod the conqueror, and last of all came the captives saved from the Polovtsi by the battle. Delight was unbounded in Vladimir, where there were mothers who had been weeping for sons, and wives for husbands whom they had looked on as lost to this world. To crown the whole victory were the treasures and booty seized from the Polovtsi.[114]

After the triumph came questions of policy, and here the prince and the people differed greatly. “He is too kind,” said the people. “He does not understand those traitors, their plans and their wickedness. He is too innocent, too good-hearted.” Still Vsevolod’s celebrated “good-heartedness” was what bound the people to him. They believed him to be honest and kind. But they saw in the captured boyars vile enemies with whom there could be no compromise. They were traitors who had burned, robbed and slain, and were not to be forgiven. They accused the Ryazan princes and boyars openly of framing the plot to kill Andrei. They accused Glaib’s brother-in-law and his adherents of being connected with the murder, because they exhibited no enmity toward the assassins.

All the inhabitants met and took counsel. Then, going to Vsevolod, they addressed him thus: “We are willing to lay down our lives for thee, and will spare nothing. But those Ryazan prisoners are treated as if they were guests in our city. In secret they are preparing to attack us, and will do so if freed from prison. We ask thee to punish these enemies with death, or if not with death to put their eyes out. If thou wilt do neither, deliver them to us. We will care for them.”

It was difficult for Vsevolod to restrain the people who stood there before him. He promised to keep the prisoners, not as guests, but in strictness, and to treat future captives more sternly. He declared also that he had sent a demand to deliver other enemies to Vladimir; if not, he would march to Ryazan with his warriors. But prayers for the captives came now from many sides. Mystislav the Brave, who had married Glaib’s daughter, begged Sviatoslav of Chernigoff to free the prisoners if possible. A whole embassy came from Chernigoff with the bishop at the head of it. In Vladimir the report spread that Vsevolod was weakening. There was anger a second time, and more danger than ever. The people threatened to break open the prisons and slay the captives, or at least blind them. The crowd gathered in greater numbers than before. Vsevolod went out to them, accompanied by the bishop, and declared that the Ryazan princes would not be freed until all the conditions were complied with. The bishop spoke to the people, who answered: “We wish not to break faith, we ask only that God’s justice be dealt out to traitors. The Lord himself,[115]seeing their wickedness, has delivered them to us. Are we free to liberate such criminals?”

Seeing this intense feeling, Vsevolod gave his final decision: “Yaropolk and Mystislav will be freed only when blinded. If Glaib yields not the cities which we demand of him, he will stay in prison till he dies there.” On hearing this the people went to their homes somewhat pacified. Toward evening of that day the sons of Rostislav suffered that operation which gave them the name of Bezoki, or The Eyeless ever after. The “Good-hearted,” however, had given command not to injure their eyes, but to simply perform an operation which would deceive the people. The executioner made deep cuts above their eyes, which he seemed then to dig out. In the night both princes were borne away to Smolensk very speedily, lest the people should kill them even though they had been blinded, as was supposed. Years after, the story was current that they had been blinded through too great anger of the people, and that the Lord had given back to them their eyesight. Still, though they had their eyes, they retained the surname—Bezoki.

Freedom was offered Glaib if he would yield up Kolomna. He did not accept the proposal. To the offer made through the Prince of Chernigoff that he should go to the south and surrender the Ryazan principality, he gave the stern answer: “Rather than do that, I will die here in prison.” Some time later, while still a prisoner, he was found dead. After Glaib’s death his son, Roman, having promised perfect submission, was set free with permission to go to Ryazan.

Thus ended the war and the disturbance which broke out after the murder of Andrei, and lasted from 1174 till 1177. It ended to the profit of the work begun by Yuri Dolgoruki, enlarged by Andrei, and strengthened by Vsevolod.

The work of Yuri, his father, and Andrei, his elder brother, was completed finally by Vsevolod. During his life Rostoff and Suzdal, and now we must call it the Vladimir country, contained a well-ordered society, in which the prince’s authority was great, because the people approved and accepted it. The people and the prince stood face to face squarely. The people knew well that their popular society could not stand without the prince, and the prince knew that he could not rule a day without the people to support him. This mutual understanding secured the position of Vladimir[116]and made Northern Russia what it is to-day, the head of a great empire, and, after Northern Russia, made what is called Great Russia, that country beyond the forest. This land of the younger sons of Monomach grew to be more important than the domains of the eldest sons, and got the upper hand of Southern Russia.

Rostoff and Suzdal bowed at last, when forced to do so, and Vladimir became, as to influence, the mother of Russian cities, the recognized capital. This was the result of the understanding between prince and people, and of that searching for the best place wherein to do a work,—an effort which is always made when people are in earnest. Later on, Vladimir lost the position and Moscow attained it. But at first Vladimir was the natural capital of Russia. It was the place in which the greatest number of people were willing to give their adherence to him whom they considered best qualified to hold their society together. And in that age the prince by descent and connection with their history was the man for that work. Because of this great mutual interest, the people and their prince formed a unit, while the boyars formed a number of units, each acting mainly for itself.

Among the princes who preceded and followed him, Vsevolod occupied an exceptional position. He seemed not to strive for mastery. He made no claim to be Grand Prince of all Russia, or even of Vladimir. But when all Russia was mentioned, it meant in the minds of most people that Russia which had its head in Vladimir. In this way, though Vsevolod was not called Grand Prince of all Russia, he was treated as holding that position, and the political business of Russia was carried on in great part in Vladimir.

After the death of Sviatoslav of Chernigoff, “the sister’s son,” Kief had no great significance. During the life of this Sviatoslav, it might have been said that the Russia of Kief and that of Vladimir balanced each other, but in different senses. After Sviatoslav’s death, Vladimir was beyond question the capital of Russia. Galitch fell a victim to the struggles between boyars. Rent by internal dissensions, it became a prey at times to Volynia, at times to Smolensk and Chernigoff, and was torn apart finally by Poles and Hungarians, to the first of whom it at last became a possession.

Toward the end of his reign, Vsevolod felt able to treat Kief more decisively. While his friend Sviatoslav was living, the Prince[117]of Vladimir held aloof from the South, but when “the sister’s son” died, Vsevolod’s activity so increased that South and North became closely connected. Through nearness to Ryazan and to Novgorod, Vsevolod had to deal with them always, and his dealings with these two regions were more important than those of any prince who preceded him.

The Ryazan princes, conquered in that war after which Glaib died in prison, had engaged to appear before Vsevolod whenever he summoned them. Kolomna had been joined to Vladimir. The same fate awaited Ryazan, in case of refusal to carry out promises. Its princes had increased greatly in number, and to them were added those of Pronsk and Murom. But no matter how those princes united and fought, they could not resist Vladimir. In case of resistance, they knew not how to deal with the problem. Behind them were small quarreling parties, in front a united strong people. The Ryazan princes were under guidance, and this meant what it means always, subjection. Vsevolod, through kindness, but also through wisdom, would not claim to be master.

As to “Great Lord Novgorod,” it was surrounded by adherents of Vsevolod. Not at that moment, but soon afterward, the city preferred a bad peace to good warfare. The Dvina land dropped away from Great Novgorod, and from giving tribute to that city, and joined Vladimir. After that, smaller places about which there might be disputes crept away gradually and became connected inseparably with the capital. Novgorod could not go anywhere, to the harm of Vladimir. The Volga was closed to the city completely, nothing that touched the Volga was accessible to Novgorod without the consent of Vladimir. Vsevolod strengthened the town at that point where the Oká joins the Volga, and called it Lower Novgorod (Nizni-Novgorod). Soon he settled people there, and so roused that region that during the time of his children Lower Novgorod became a considerable city. In the days of his grandchildren, the settlement which extended from the city became a large district, and to one of those grandchildren it went as a portion.

On the Volga, at its upper waters, Tver was now founded at the side of the Tvertsa River. To this well-fortified little town came settlers in such numbers that, even in Vsevolod’s day, it became the head of a principality. The Vladimir men not only defended[118]this place from “Lord Novgorod,” but they made it a new advance post against that proud city. They seized also Nova-Torg, the portage.

The Vladimir princes held now an exceptional position toward Novgorod. If they could retain the two places Torjok and Tver, they were superior to Novgorod, in every case equal. In Yuri Dolgoruki’s day, Novgorod men, keen to spy out advantage, were watching for eastern connections, and would have seized the Vladimir position and prevented the rise of a principality, had not Yuri anticipated them. Yuri’s work, done in the nick of time, settled the fate of “Lord Novgorod.”

It was only when firmly seated on the throne of Vladimir that Vsevolod found himself at enmity with the men of Novgorod, whom he could not forgive for receiving the Bezoki (Eyeless) with great kindness, and for having seated Mystislav, one of those brothers, in Novgorod, and the other, Yaropolk, in Nova-Torg. Mystislav died somewhat later, and they buried him in Saint Sophia, the Novgorod cathedral. They transferred Yaropolk then to their own city.

Vsevolod seized at once every Novgorod merchant in the land of Vladimir. He stopped commerce between the two cities, and began war in earnest. This alarmed the Novgorod men greatly, and they showed Yaropolk the road leading out of their city. Though Vsevolod himself was satisfied with the banishment of Yaropolk, and was ready to raise his blockade, the war was continued by the people, the reason being that Vladimir and Tver men thought that it touched not only the honor of their prince, but still more their own profit. They wished to stop the encroachments of Lord Novgorod. Again they blamed Vsevolod for good nature; again they accused him of indecision. “The Novgorod men,” said they, “take oaths every day, but they break them continually. We are not here to kiss Novgorod warriors, but to stop their advance.” They took Nova-Torg then, bound every man in it capable of fighting, seized women and children, took all goods, burned the place, and sent the captives, tied with ropes, to Vladimir.

Vsevolod moved now toward Nova-Torg, but before reaching the town, he decided that enough had been done to punish Novgorod, hence he retired to Vladimir. Soon after this the Novgorod[119]people invited Mystislav the Brave, son of Rostislav, the Smolensk prince, to rule in Novgorod. Mystislav the Great was revered beyond all princes who had ever ruled, and Mystislav the Brave was his grandson. The young prince’s heart did not lean toward the city, however, and the more he thought over the matter, the more he resolved on refusal. But his brothers and his drujina began to urge him, and at last he yielded to their persuasion and went to Novgorod, where he was received by a procession and with great honor. He visited Holy Sophia and then sat on the throne of his father and his grandfather.

The service Novgorod men prized most in their princes was the defense of the city against pagans,—the Chud, who swept in from the side of the Baltic. Pskoff and Novgorod borders suffered greatly at first from wild men, who had an unknown, boundless country behind them. These men had at last been defeated and tribute imposed on them. Among the tributes established was the bearing of goods and boats over portages. All at once, just before Mystislav’s coming, these men sent to bear goods became robbers. When the prince assumed power, he called together the best men of Novgorod, and said: “Brothers, let us free this Novgorod land of offenders.” With one voice they answered: “If it please God and thee, we are ready.”

When the troops were assembled, and Mystislav drew them up in review, he found that they numbered twenty thousand. He went to the land of the pagans, and these twenty thousand men marched with him. He passed through that land from end to end, not stopping till he reached the seacoast. He seized men, cattle and property; when there was need to punish, he reduced all before him to ashes. In one word, he established obedience. Then he turned toward Pskoff.

According to old usage, the posadnik of Pskoff was appointed by Novgorod, but on this point there were endless disputes between the two cities. The Pskoff men wished independence and their own prince. During the winter of 1180 Mystislav planned a campaign for the springtime. He remembered the offenses of Prince Vseslav, the Plotsk wizard, who could turn, as the people declared, into a gray wolf and run in one night from the Caucasus to Novgorod. Vseslav, years before, had seized a part of Great Novgorod; he had carried off its assembly bell and borne away holy images and[120]church vessels. Mystislav resolved to bring all these back to the city. The prince in Polotsk at that time was Vseslav, a brother-in-law of Roman, son of Rostislav.

When spring came, Mystislav moved against Polotsk with his army. Roman sent an envoy to meet him with these words: “Thou hast not been offended by Vseslav, why go against him? If thou decide on attack, thou wilt meet me before others.” Mystislav, not wishing to offend his own elder brother, turned back from his enterprise. Barely had he reached Great Novgorod, when he fell ill. No man could tell what affected him. For a time he lay without memory. His wife stood at his bedside, as did his drujina and best friends. When his mind returned, he looked at those present, and tears came to his eyes. Only a few of the words which he uttered had meaning. Vladimir, his youngest son, he entrusted to a favorite boyar. Of the two sons left to his brothers, one was renowned much in later years as Mystislav the Gallant. “Forget not my children,” begged he of his brothers. He raised his hands, sighed from the depth of his heart, tears came to his eyes again, and his breath left him.

Roman, eldest son of Glaib, and once prisoner in Vladimir, had married a daughter of Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, and had thus become an ally of “the sister’s son.” In 1180 Roman’s brothers turned to Vsevolod of Vladimir, saying: “Thou art our lord and father; settle between us and Roman, who takes away our land at the advice of his brother-in-law, Sviatoslav.” Vsevolod moved against Roman, who met him at Kolomna. Sviatoslav sent his son Glaib from Kief to aid Roman. Vsevolod invited this son of Sviatoslav to meet him and negotiate. Glaib was unwilling to do so, but as Kolomna was occupied by Vsevolod, he had to accept the inevitable. Upon his arrival, Vsevolod ordered him put in chains and sent him to Vladimir, whither he sent all the men and property seized by Glaib’s warriors, commanding that both man and property should be kept under strong guard. Roman, leaving his two younger brothers in Ryazan to defend it, fled to steppe regions. When Vsevolod marched to Ryazan, the princes submitted, whereupon he made peace and apportioned the principality between them. All kissed the cross to Vsevolod, even Roman, who returned now and joined his brothers.

When he heard that his son had been captured, Sviatoslav was[121]tremendously indignant, and went at once to Chernigoff. In Chernigoff, at that time, ruled Yaroslav, brother of the Kief prince. Of the younger princes, there were present in the city Igor, son of Sviatoslav, and his brother, Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” as he is called by a Russian poet. With them were their sons just reaching maturity. All had taken to heart the offense which Sviatoslav had suffered. After they had counseled together and were agreed, Sviatoslav addressed them in these words: “As a father, I command you to act as follows: thou, Igor, will stay with Yaroslav, my brother, to guard Chernigoff, while I will go to Suzdal to free my son from Vsevolod. And let God judge between us.”

Sviatoslav left one half of his forces in Chernigoff, and led away the other half, taking with him a man who was his guest at that time, Yaropolk Bezoki. Sviatoslav’s son, Vladimir, who had become prince in Novgorod after the death of Mystislav, was to meet his father on the road. The allies from North and South assembled in lands within the Tver boundaries, and marched toward Pereyaslavl.

Beginning at theTvertsaand on the Dubna, they laid everything in ashes, sparing nothing. “They emptied the whole Volga region,” says the chronicler. When forty versts from Pereyaslavl, they met Vsevolod on the Blena River, a branch of the Dubna. The Vladimir prince was in a wonderful position. The Blena had steep, rough, stony banks, broken into gullies. The place was chosen wisely, for it was remarkably defensive. The warriors had their positions on heights and in hollows. No enemy could reach them. During two weeks the armies faced each other. Vsevolod’s army was numerous, and, if compared with the forces of Sviatoslav, was enormous. As the Ryazan and Murom princes had to ride with their men at the stirrup of Vsevolod, they were now in his army. Against Vsevolod were the sons of the Kief prince, Oleg and Vladimir, the latter now Prince of Novgorod. These were the two princes who a short time before had conducted Vsevolod to Vladimir, and had cut down the Polovtsi in battling with Ryazan, which was now on the side of Vladimir. The personal following of the Vladimir prince was eager to engage the enemy; his warriors were praying to begin the battle, but Vsevolod would not permit them to advance. At first he sent out the warriors[122]of Ryazan and Murom, who burst into Sviatoslav’s camp and broke the regiments of Chernigoff, but “Rushing Bull” came to the rescue and drove back the assailants with much loss. After that, nothing was won on either side; every effort was fruitless. Sviatoslav tried now to negotiate, and, through two priests who had come with him, sent this message to Vsevolod: “My brother and my son, I have done thee much good and did not think to receive such a return from thee. Thou hast imprisoned my son, and harmed me greatly. Give now a road by which I can go to thee. If not, I will give thee a road to meet me, and let God judge between us.”

Vsevolod sent the two priests as prisoners to Vladimir, and gave no answer to Sviatoslav, whose position then was not free of danger. Delay was impossible; Sviatoslav saw that warm weather was coming, that rivers would rise, and all roads would be impassable, that, in fact, if he did not withdraw he would be forced to surrender, hence he raised camp and departed. Vsevolod gave his men leave to attack Sviatoslav’s train, but forbade them to injure the Kief prince, or pursue him. Sviatoslav’s allies, avoiding places which they had plundered in coming, burned many towns, among others Dmitroff, the town in which Vsevolod was born. Sviatoslav permitted his son Oleg to withdraw, and also Rushing Bull, his cousin, and with Vladimir, another son, went to Novgorod, taking with him Yaropolk Besoki, and seating him in Nova-Torg.

In the South, after Sviatoslav had gone on this expedition against Vsevolod, Rurik, son of Rostislav, prepared again to seize Kief. He brought from Volynia Vsevolod, and also asked aid of Yaroslav “Eight Minds,” who sent a few men under Tudor, his boyar. David, Rurik’s brother, set out for Smolensk to get help from Roman, but Roman died before he arrived there. David then seized the vacant throne, and delayed in Smolensk. Yaroslav, who with Igor, his cousin, was left to take care of Chernigoff, did not wait for the enemy, but marched at once to strike Smolensk regions. With their own men those two princes took also Polovtsi, and hastened toward Vitebsk. One of the Polotsk princes, Glaib, had joined the Smolensk side, and, with the aid of Smolensk warriors, was fighting against the other Polotsk princes, who were defending their independence. They had brought in allies from Lithuania, and timely assistance came now from[123]Chernigoff. Because of this, the war assumed large proportions at once. The Chernigoff princes sent to Novgorod, then acting with Sviatoslav of Kief, and expected help from that city. In the camp of the Polotsk and Chernigoff allies appeared—a thing till then never witnessed—aid from Lithuania and Livona. And now was understood what “strength from the Baltic” meant.

Against this combination stood David, the new Smolensk prince. He had wished to force the battle, but Yaroslav of Chernigoff held back; he was waiting for his brother. Yaroslav occupied a strong position near the Drutcha River, and remained a whole week, warding off the enemy, who could only reach him by crossing the river. Sviatoslav of Kief now appeared, and began at once to bridge the Drutcha. David, seeing the strength of the enemy, would not risk a battle, and withdrew to Smolensk very promptly. Sviatoslav burned the Drutcha fortress, ended the expedition, and returned to his capital. Yaroslav and his cousin, Igor, went to Chernigoff.

Vsevolod of Vladimir, incensed at this Novgorod and Ryazan struggle, attacked Nova-Torg, stormed and captured the town, seized Yaropolk Bezoki, and carried him to Vladimir. Novgorod, grown weary of wrangling, dismissed Vladimir, son of Sviatoslav, and requested Vsevolod to send the prince whom he liked best. He sent one of the most obscure princes of that period, his own brother-in-law, however. Satisfied with the change in Novgorod, Vsevolod now liberated Glaib, and all were in agreement again.

The peace which followed was strengthened by two marriages. A son of Sviatoslav of Kief, that Glaib just released from prison, married Rurik’s daughter, and Mystislav, another son, married a sister-in-law of Vsevolod. So there was harmony between North and South for a season. Sviatoslav not only made peace with the Prince of Vladimir, but sent two sons to assist him in his campaign against the Silver Bulgars. “God grant us in my day to stand against pagans,” wrote Sviatoslav, and he sent one thousand men, led by Vladimir, his son, late prince in Novgorod. Forces came, too, from Ryazan and Murom, also from Pereyaslavl in the South, that place which the Polovtsi had always hit the hardest. This contingent was led by Izyaslav, the most gallant of Vsevolod’s nephews. All the forces met at Nizni-Novgorod, whence one[124]part of the army advanced on horseback, and the other in boats down the Volga. Vsevolod himself was with the expedition.

Never before did Russians go into an enemy’s country so deeply as this time. They gave many a defeat to the pagan Bohmitan, as Mohammedans were called at that period. But in front of a palisaded fort, to the great grief of all, the gallant Izyaslav, son of Glaib, was struck in the heart by an arrow, and brought to the Russian camp dying. The loss of this youth, loved by the army, was avenged through a crushing battle fought at the edge of the Volga. More than one thousand Bulgars were drowned with their boats. More than fifteen hundred were cut down near the river. The body of the brave Izyaslav was taken back to Vladimir, and buried there with great honor.

The Grand Prince did not wish at that time to bring Mohammedans under his rule; his only desire was to prove beyond question that Nizni-Novgorod and the places around it belonged to Vladimir, his capital. He wished to settle Russian ownership in those places, and establish moral influence over the people who lived between him and the Mohammedans, and who were still pagans.

Not fearing war when it must come, but shunning it always when possible, Vsevolod, at home again, toiled at developing the lands of Vladimir. He desired, above all, the confidence of the people, and won it through giving them safety, order, and prosperity. He was busied specially with the many towns founded by Yuri, his father. In Suzdal he built a strong fortress, and put walls around it. He also repaired the cathedral in that city. “Though old, let it be as if new,” was said of the building. Pereyaslavl, renewed, and adorned as in the old time, grew distinguished.

In Vladimir the Kremlin was enlarged with walls and towers of greater beauty and strength than even those of Suzdal. In other towns also did Vsevolod labor and erect buildings which were monuments. But the chief one, the marvel of Vsevolod’s day, and the one which, after centuries, forms in our time the glory of Vladimir, is the cathedral, which he built in honor of Dmitri, the martyr of Salonica. Not equal in size and in wealth to the church which Andrei built, it surpassed that golden-domed structure in proportions and beauty. It was noted, moreover, for a subtle variety of exterior adornment. But the God-loving church builder enriched it with relics more precious by far to believers than silver[125]or gold. Those treasures were a slab from the grave of Dmitri, his tunic, and some of the great martyr’s bones. Unbounded delight was felt by the men of Vladimir when those sacred relics were brought to the city.

Ryazan was a source of great anxiety to Vsevolod, for its princes were always quarreling, and they did not hesitate to openly threaten one another with destruction. The Grand Prince was forced to put an end to these disputes. To guard his own cities he must protect Ryazan regions from the Polovtsi. The insolence of those nomads increased with the quarrels of the Ryazan princes. In view of this, Vsevolod undertook a campaign against the Polovtsi, and went to the heart of the Don region. He struck at the center of the steppes occupied by the “wild” Polovtsi, those who made the Ryazan attacks. He passed quickly and assailed their winter quarters, but his agile foes slipped away at once; he merely frightened them. To defend Ryazan, it was necessary to have Ryazan itself under control.

At this period party struggles in Novgorod sometimes threatened the peace of Vladimir, but Vsevolod had no need to support princes whom by request he had sent to that city. He made no move to stop Novgorod from changing their prince. When the city complained of Yaroslav, Vsevolod replaced him by Mystislav, son of David of Smolensk, his ally in the Bulgar expedition. When Novgorod, which never liked any prince long, asked for Yaroslav a second time, it got him. More than once did those two unimportant princes rule Novgorod. Later on these words came from the city to Vsevolod: “Novgorod is the inheritance of thy father and grandfather; send thy own son to us.”

Vsevolod sent Sviatoslav, one of his younger sons, at that time a boy. Several times this son was returned to his father, and sent back each time at request of the city. Holding Novgorod in peace by commanding the roads to it, the Grand Prince was not disquieted by that city, but Ryazan affairs were involved and troublesome.

Roman, the eldest Ryazan prince, had brought his brothers to war with one another. He was a vain and ambitious man who, as son-in-law of the Kief prince, thought far more of himself than was proper. Igor and Vladimir, younger brothers of this Roman, who with him held Ryazan, had invited Vsevolod and Sviatoslav, their brothers who ruled in Pronsk, to visit them. Those younger[126]brothers, hearing that the other two wished to imprison or kill them, remained in Pronsk and fortified the city. The elder brothers marched promptly against Pronsk, besieged the place, and ravaged the country around it. Roman and his brothers, in making this war, appeared to censure their younger brothers for good will toward the Prince of Vladimir, and also to declare that they themselves cared not a whit for that Vladimir principality. Thus their action was a challenge to Vsevolod, and he gave answer very quickly. Without mingling in the quarrel between the brothers, he sent two boyars to Ryazan with this message, which was really a warning: “It is not a wonder to me that pagans ravage your country. But it is a wonder that ye, instead of living like brothers and guarding your lands against Bulgars and Polovtsi, attack one another and slay your own people. I will not permit such deeds. God has sent me to preserve justice and protect people, to bring to obedience those who break the law criminally. I fear that unless I am careful, God will judge me for the crimes that ye are committing. O brothers, what harm are ye doing? I leave that for you to judge.”

Though the princes knew well what these words meant, they answered haughtily. Wise and cool advisers were not numerous among them. “Each man of their intimates gave nine powers to himself in comparison with others, and, seeing no enemy, was a victor at all times.” They nourished the quarrelsome nature of Roman, and he answered the envoys, with insolence: “What right has Vsevolod to talk here? Are we not just such princes as he is?” The envoys brought back these words to Vladimir. The younger princes in Pronsk had asked Vsevolod to help them. He, to show that he had been asked to protect the weaker, and not as an exhibition of strength, sent three hundred men to aid Pronsk, where they were received gladly. But Roman, with his brothers, continued the siege, looking contemptuously on such a contingent. Vsevolod now sent against Roman the Murom princes and a regiment of his own men. These troops were still in Kolomna when Roman, alarmed at the approach of such forces, left Pronsk with his warriors and hurried home. Vsevolod, one of the Pronsk princes, left Sviatoslav, his brother, in the city and went himself to the allies in Kolomna. When informed of Roman’s flight, the contingent considered the campaign at an end, and returned[127]to Vladimir. But the Pronsk prince went to Vsevolod’s capital, and asked for further protection, as he had no confidence in maintaining peace with his elder brothers.

When Roman heard of the retreat from Kolomna of the allies, he returned and attacked Pronsk a second time. Turning the river, he deprived the place of water and brought the people to great suffering. Then he tried to capture Pronsk by treachery, and at last succeeded in this way: Sviatoslav, who held the city, became an enemy of Vsevolod, his brother, who had gone to Vladimir. “Destroy not thyself and thy men with hunger,” said Roman to him. “Come out to us. Thou art our brother, why fear us? We are fighting not against thee, but against the Prince of Vladimir.” The friends of the besieged prince continually repeated to him words like these: “Thy brother Vsevolod has gone over to the Prince of Vladimir; he has deserted and betrayed thee. Why destroy thyself and us?” At last, influenced by these speeches, the Pronsk prince surrendered. The three hundred men from Vladimir were captured and sent to Ryazan. A worse fate befell the men serving the prince who had gone to Vladimir, and, as his enemies alleged, had gone over to the Grand Prince. They were seized, every one of them, both boyars and common men, bound with ropes and thrown into prison. Roman detained Vsevolod’s wife and children, and imprisoned them. Vsevolod of Pronsk, on hearing of this, began war against all of his brothers.

When news was brought to the Prince of Vladimir that Pronsk had been captured by deceit, he at once prepared for war in earnest. He began by sending a message to the prince who had surrendered to Roman: “Give back my men. Give back all my men and property. Thou and thy brother asked aid of me. Not wishing to desert you in trouble, I gave it; now thou hast made peace with Roman and betrayed the men sent by me.” When the Pronsk prince received this message, Roman, fearing an attack from Vladimir, sent straightway these words to the Grand Prince: “Thou art our lord, father and elder brother. Wherever there is an offense against thee, we will be first to avenge thee. We have warred against our brother, for he would not obey us, but be not angry because of that. We stand with bowed heads before thee. Thy men will be freed without harm, and immediately.”[128]

The Grand Prince, seeing that Roman had turned from venomous malice to deceitful submission, did not wait for a lying peace. “An honorable war is better than a disgraceful peace,” declared he to the envoys of Roman, and he sent them away. He moved then on Kolomna, and commanded the Murom men and the Pronsk prince to advance. They crossed the Oká, and on the Ryazan side made a desert wherever they showed themselves. Knowing the state of affairs in Ryazan, the Polovtsi, who were ever watching with keenness, rose and began to ravage the country. The lands of those wrangling brothers were subjected to every evil that man could inflict. Roman, not forgetting that he was a son-in-law of the Kief prince, and remembering that Ryazan was connected with Chernigoff territory in some degree, begged the Chernigoff princes to bring Vsevolod to leniency. The bishop of Chernigoff, who was the Ryazan bishop also, was sent to the city of Vladimir, where he begged the resident bishop to assist him. The two bishops, aided by boyars from the Kief prince, persuaded Vsevolod that peace was best if obtained with honor. The trouble now lay in details. The real question which rose in the mind of Vsevolod was this, that the Ryazan princes must cease to be sovereign, they must obey Vladimir. The bishop assured him that the princes promised this faithfully, that they would kiss the cross to be under his will altogether, and would in future obey him. The Grand Prince granted power to make peace on this basis. That done, he liberated all the Ryazan men held captive in Vladimir. He freed also the envoys, who had been sent to him, and then appointed an embassy to conclude the treaty in Ryazan. The Chernigoff bishop reached Ryazan earlier than Vsevolod’s envoys. He brought details of the conditions proposed, and had influence on negotiations, but everything that he presented, and that he did was in a different spirit from that concerted in Vladimir. Then he hastened home to Chernigoff, avoiding the envoys of the Grand Prince. The Chernigoff bishop, it is clear, desired that Ryazan should remain bound to Chernigoff in church matters, and subjected, in some degree at least, to his own direction.

To Vladimir it was very important that Ryazan should not be under Chernigoff in any way. The Vladimir people blamed Porfiri, the Chernigoff bishop, for acting not as a man of God, but as a wily politician. They complained that peace with Ryazan[129]was not concluded on the conditions fixed in Vladimir. They wished Vsevolod to expose the man who had given information in a sense hostile to Vladimir, and then vanished. But Vsevolod did not find it proper to do what they demanded. Peace was concluded, and the princes, who had sworn to recognize Vsevolod of Vladimir “to the full extent of his will,” were bound over now to submission. Vsevolod, Roman’s brother, was reinstated in Pronsk, and he and his brother regained all the lands there, both ruling in common.

After that the princes of Ryazan without exception remained obedient to Vladimir. The troubles just described occurred in 1185–86, and so strong were the relations formed then that years later, when Constantine, son of Vsevolod, was crowned in Vladimir, all the Ryazan princes were present to render homage.

In 1184, being again friendly with Rurik of Bailgorod, and David of Smolensk, as well as with the Volynia princes and the Prince of Galitch, Sviatoslav of Kief invited all princes to join him in a war against their common enemy, the Polovtsi. The southern princes promised Sviatoslav aid, but in Chernigoff his brothers and cousins were more difficult to deal with than remoter relatives, because of questions touching land in Chernigoff. His sons needed territory in that region, and princes, when dividing lands, nearly always disputed. Still his brothers and cousins did not refuse directly. The campaign, they said, was arranged awkwardly for them. If he would change the plan they would go with him. But other princes had assembled, and with them warriors in sufficient number.

With the Kief prince marched his sons, Glaib and Mystislav, also the gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, from Pereyaslavl on the Alta. From Volynia came Roman, son of Mystislav, who brought with him two cousins, and also princes less distinguished. From Smolensk came Izyaslav, son of David, and Rurik came from Bailgorod. Yaroslav Eight Minds sent a contingent also. The allies, under Sviatoslav, came upon the enemy near a river, now known as the Orel, but then called Erela by the Polovtsi, at a place where the Vorskla and the Erela, both tributaries of the Dnieper, flowing almost parallel and close to each other, form a long tongue of land bounded by the Dnieper and those two rivers on two sides and one end. At that time this place was called simply “The Corner.” In that corner was won a great victory.

When they were nearing the Polovtsi, the daring Vladimir, son[130]of Glaib, therefore grandson of Sviatoslav, begged for the first place. “Let me go against them, O my father,” implored he. “They have turned my lands into a desert. Let me go in advance with my men to attack them.” But the sons of the prince would not consent to be behind Vladimir in valor, hence Sviatoslav sent forward with his gallant grandson all the youngest princes of his guard, adding twenty-one hundred Cherkasi to strengthen their forces, but Vladimir led on with such swiftness that the princes going with him were left far behind, and he with his single command met the enemy in “The Corner.”

The numerous vanguard of the Polovtsi swept round the advancing Vladimir and sent word quickly to Kobyk, the chief Khan in command of the army, that they had the Russians surrounded. The Polovtsi were delighted. “We have not worked for this,” said they, “but the Russians have come to us. Great wealth is falling into our hands; we will take it.” And they rushed with shrill, piercing shouts to the battle. Vladimir withstood the fierce onset. The youngest of the princes held his ground; he did not quiver. The Polovtsi, not dreaming of resistance such as that, were astounded and whirled back on both sides to give a blow with more impetus. Meanwhile Kobyk, the commander, moved out strong detachments. These rushed forward swiftly. The Khan, thinking that there were no attackers save those who were fighting in front of him, commanded to strike savagely, to break, and then to hunt down Vladimir’s detachment.

But, all at once, the Polovtsi saw new forces hurrying forward. These were the princes who had set out with Vladimir, but Kobyk mistook them for Sviatoslav and his whole army. The Polovtsi, now greatly alarmed, wished to escape from the field, but that second force held them at bay. A fierce battle raged, till at last the Polovtsi were thrown into disorder. At that juncture, Sviatoslav and the older prince came up. The victory was complete. Kobyk was captured, and with him his two sons; Toblie with his son and also his brother. Of Khans alone twenty were captured, and common men were taken in great numbers. Among Khans who fell, the chief one was Tarsuk. The battle was on Monday, June 30, 1184. “God gave an immense victory over pagans, and Sviatoslav returned to Kief with great glory and honor.”

Igor, the Chernigoff prince, who had not gone with Sviatoslav[131]against the Polovtsi, had, besides land questions, many cares to detain him at home. He was a son-in-law of Eight Minds. This old Galitch prince had long since divorced his wife, a daughter of Yuri Dolgoruki, hence a sister of Vsevolod of Vladimir, with whom she had taken refuge. Eight Minds had also expelled his legitimate son, Vladimir, who for a time could find no asylum in any place. From Galitch he turned first to Roman, son of Mystislav, in Volynia, but this stern prince had so much fear of old Eight Minds that, for reasons of interest and policy, he would not let the exile pass even one night in his capital. No matter where Vladimir tried, and he even went to Vsevolod, his uncle in Vladimir, he found no reception till he turned at last to his sister, and Igor, her husband, in Chernigoff. With them he found rest, for they met him with kindness. He lived two years in Chernigoff,—lived there until he was reconciled with his dying father, old Eight Minds.

This connection of Igor with Galitch brought ruin later on to his sons, but who in that day could foresee this? Just at the time of Vladimir’s visit, a wave of delight was passing over Russia. Sviatoslav’s victory over the Polovtsi was magnified as the “Erela triumph.” All men glorified this marvelous adventure. The Chernigoff princes had taken no part in it, so now the thought dropped into Igor’s mind to win glory in this very field, independently, and at all costs. He boasted of his own campaigns, and said to his warriors: “Though the Polovtsi came to those princes and they fought with them, they dared not follow them. But with you I will cross the Don and crush them. If true success comes, we will pursue them to places to which our grandfathers never thought, even in dreams, of advancing. We will win for ourselves splendid glory.”

With his own men and a detachment of Chernigoff warriors, Igor set out on his adventure, April 23, 1185, accompanied by his son, now touching manhood, his brother Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” and a few neighboring princes with their forces. He met the Polovtsi in a desperate battle, and was vanquished with great slaughter. He and his fellow princes all went beyond the Don,—but they went as prisoners. “They were taken from the saddles of princes and put on the saddles of captives.” Along the whole Luko Morye (Sea of Azoff) shouts of delight rose from pagans.[132]At the place where the Don River touches the Sea of Azoff, thousands of Polovtsi were singing and celebrating, not honor to Russia, butwoefuldisaster. “Little Polovtsi boys and beautiful Polovtsi maidens magnified the fame of their people.”

This crushing defeat of Igor’s forces roused all the Polovtsi to greater activity, and gave them at once boundless insolence. They sent a message to Sviatoslav: “Come hither and ransom thy brothers, or wait at thy own place till we come for our people.” By this they referred to Kobyk and the other Khans captured on the Erela. And now the Polovtsi raced over Russia. They burned and plundered, and seized captives. The gallant Vladimir, son of Glaib, defended himself at Pereyaslavl on the Alta. “Wounded from head to foot,” he was borne out of battle dead, as his friends thought. A year later he died of those wounds, though he had apparently recovered, and had warred against the Polovtsi a second time. After Vladimir’s death there was no heir to Pereyaslavl on the Alta, hence the place went to Vsevolod of Vladimir.

Sviatoslav’s grief was unspeakable when he heard what had happened to Igor and his comrades. “Striplings!” said he, overwhelmed with sorrow and bitterly bewailing their rash enterprise. “Why did they tarnish the glory of victory? Why did they ruin the work of an old man and his allies? Why did they destroy a God-given triumph?” He had walled up the road against pagans, and the “striplings” had thrown this wall down again.

All measures possible were taken by Sviatoslav to ward off the onrushing Polovtsi, but these measures were inadequate and in no way proportionate to the strength of the enemy. Igor was humble in presence of the misfortune which he had caused. He prayed and did penance, often repeating: “Why have I remained alive; I, who have destroyed so many people?”

Not soon did those robber raids cease, but they did cease in time, not so much because the Polovtsi had inflicted great and sufficient loss on the Russians as because that flush of joy at a victory, which for them seemed well-nigh incredible, died away; and then the two camps, one on the Kief-Chernigoff border, and the other on the Polovtsi steppe, resumed their former attitude.[133]

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