Vsevolod Big Nest continues to try to impose his will on the Rostislavichi and Olgovichi as Rus enters the thirteenth century.
[00:00:25] Hello and welcome to the Russian Empire History Podcast, the history of all the peoples, the
[00:00:33] Russian Empire. I'm your host, JP Bristow. This is Season 1. The Forest, The Step and
[00:00:41] the Birth of the Russian Empire, and Episode 59, Big Nest and the Rest. We're on the cusp
[00:00:51] of the 13th century, where nothing much good happens for us. The Knyaz's game of musical
[00:00:58] chairs accelerates with people occupying and surrendering cities multiple times. Sievilod
[00:01:05] continues to attempt to dominate the other Knyaz's, while the Rostislavici and Olgavici
[00:01:11] squabble over Kiev. In the West there is a separate power struggle, and the Western
[00:01:21] lands continue to drift away from the rest of Rus. For now we will be glossing over that
[00:01:27] and focusing on Kiev and Svzdalia, but we will revisit it when we look at the post-Rus period.
[00:01:40] When he got back to Svzdalia, Sievilod got into a dispute with the people of Novgorod.
[00:01:46] He had installed his brother-in-law, Yaroslav Vladimirovich as Knyaz,
[00:01:53] but the people of Novgorod wanted one of his sons or some other royal.
[00:01:59] Nothing about the situation is clarified in the Chronicle. The people of Novgorod had previously
[00:02:06] specifically asked for Yaroslav, who appears to have been without a personal domain,
[00:02:13] and he had ruled there for nine years. We can only assume that the reason
[00:02:20] Sievilod was so keen to keep a missed Slavich from Valinia in Novgorod was because he was his
[00:02:28] brother-in-law. If Yaroslav left Novgorod, Sievilod might have felt that he had an obligation
[00:02:36] to find him another domain and he would not have wanted to give him a chunk of Svzdalia.
[00:02:46] Whatever the actual background was, Sievilod refused to send a replacement,
[00:02:52] so Novgorod expelled Yaroslav anyway and asked Yaroslav of Cinehiv to send a new Knyaz.
[00:03:00] According to the Chronicle, Yaroslav of Cinehiv sent his son, but it took six months for him
[00:03:07] to get there due to the monomugs opposing the move. He shouldn't really have bothered as
[00:03:17] in another six months the city threw him out and welcomed Yaroslav Vladimirovic back.
[00:03:24] With the paucity of information in the Chronicle, we are forced to guess that their real name had been
[00:03:31] to get an actual monomash in charge rather than a brother-in-law, but since Sievilod would not
[00:03:38] play along they had to accept what they were offered. The real significance was that the whole
[00:03:45] episode undermined Sievilod's relationship with the Olgavitchi who had proven they were quite ready
[00:03:51] to take Novgorod out of his control at the first opportunity. The following year 1198
[00:04:03] saw a couple of deaths with the potential to weaken Sievilod's position.
[00:04:09] In Halic, his protege Vladimir Yaroslavic, who had previously run into trouble over his
[00:04:16] debauchery, either drank himself to death or got poisoned. Just like the previous time this
[00:04:24] vacancy opened up there were a lot of contenders. Roman from Vladimir and Valinia was still
[00:04:31] interested as was the king of Hungary. A whole bunch of the Olgavitchi could make claims of
[00:04:38] varying strength based on marriages with the Osmomysil family and there was always a chance
[00:04:44] that Ruric could assert that as Vladimir Yaroslavic had died without heirs,
[00:04:51] Halic had reverted to the disposal of the Knyazov Kiv. Roman was both geographically the closest
[00:05:00] and the quickest of the mark. He turned to Liesek, the ruler of little Poland for assistance.
[00:05:07] He promised Liesek that if he helped him take Halic he would be his ally and do whatever he wanted.
[00:05:16] Liesek seized Halic and forced the citizens to agree to accept Roman as Knyaz. Roman
[00:05:25] promised the citizens that he would treat them well and that they would live together amicably.
[00:05:31] According to the chroniclers, quote, Roman kept neither promise, end quote. We heard last episode
[00:05:44] that some of Siebelod's maneuvers had been directed towards stopping Roman becoming a
[00:05:51] rival power capable of contesting Kiv and resisting Sostali's influence
[00:05:56] and now he has become such a power. Next to go was Yaroslav Mr Slavich,
[00:06:05] big-nest nephew who had been ruling in Periaslavl. Periaslavl has rather dropped out of our story
[00:06:14] compared to its importance a couple of generations back. This was due to the rise of Sostalia
[00:06:20] as the power base of the family which controlled it and to the lingering effects of
[00:06:26] Palloptsy's depredations 20 years earlier which had left it too weak to play any major role
[00:06:33] militarily. Despite this, it remained important and its previous role as a stepping stone to
[00:06:42] Kiv meant that it could potentially play a part in legitimizing a future ruler.
[00:06:48] For now, Siebelod did not appoint a new Knyaz. Siebelod's sons were still young but it seems
[00:07:01] that he had decided that they were ready for public life. In 1199 he finally accepted
[00:07:08] Novgorod's request, summoned Yaroslav Vladimirovich back to Sostalia and replaced him with his son
[00:07:18] Sviatoslavl. The following summer he sent another son Yaroslavl to become Knyaz of Periaslavl.
[00:07:27] Although Yaroslavl was only 10, the appointment of his son,
[00:07:31] accompanied by Pasadniky advices of course, was clearly an attempt to consolidate more
[00:07:37] direct control over the sht. By 1201 Roman Mr Slavich of Vladimir and Valinia had also been
[00:07:58] ruling Halich for three years. He had rejected all attempts at reconciliation from Rurik.
[00:08:06] He believed that Rurik had taken the five disputed Kiv towns from him and given them to Siebelod
[00:08:13] because they had agreed that Siebelod would give Turchesk to Rurik's son Rostislav.
[00:08:21] Rather than any restoration of justice based on Siebelod's seniority, as Big Nest liked to
[00:08:29] present it, the swap was therefore a gift in exchange for a bribe.
[00:08:36] Roman's troops had sporadically been pillaging Rurik's territory ever since
[00:08:42] and now he was ready to attack him directly. We encounter another blank spot in the chronicles
[00:08:53] here. The Rostislavici, the Tcherniklubuqi and all the town militias of the Kiv lands joined Roman.
[00:09:02] The chronicleers tell us nothing about why they abandoned Rurik or what he had done to provoke
[00:09:09] them. No opposition is recorded in the previous years of his rule and there are no comments on
[00:09:15] his unpopularity. Scholars see this as suggesting that it was a specific incident that caused all
[00:09:23] these allies to desert him, but we have no way of knowing for sure. The people of Kiv
[00:09:30] opened the city gates to Roman and Rurik along with Alebev Tchernikov who had not abandoned him
[00:09:39] was left with no alternative but to surrender. The chronicles variously report that Rurik either
[00:09:48] accepted Roman's authority or renounced his claim to Kiv altogether and then he was allowed to return
[00:09:56] to Vruchi. The chronicles also report that Roman had notified Siebelod of his plan to expel Rurik
[00:10:07] and received his approval. No reason is given for Siebelod turning against Rurik either,
[00:10:15] but this is probably true because we find that Roman becomes the latest Knyaz to seize Kiv
[00:10:22] without taking the throne. Instead he and Siebelod appoint a junior Monomashchik Knyaz,
[00:10:30] Ingvar Yaroslavic of Lutsk to rule for them. Once again we can see Siebelod acting entirely out of
[00:10:39] self-interest. Roman had become stronger than Rurik but was prepared to acknowledge Siebelod as the
[00:10:46] senior Knyaz and therefore Siebelod was happy to switch his loyalty from Rurik to Roman.
[00:10:57] Roman had a reasonably solid claim to Kiv. He was the next in line by genealogical seniority
[00:11:05] after Siebelod and Rurik. Ingvar, whose father Yaroslav Izjaslavic had briefly held Kiv in 1173,
[00:11:15] had a claim on that basis but was well down the pecking order and clearly meant to be
[00:11:21] Roman and Big Nests puppet. His lack of authority was demonstrated the next winter
[00:11:29] when Roman led a campaign against the Palovtsi. Defending the Rus' heartland against the Palovtsi
[00:11:37] had previously been the duty of the Knyaz of Kiv. Halic lay out of the nomads reach
[00:11:44] and did not suffer from their raids. Roman leading the campaign and another one later
[00:11:52] was a statement about who was really in charge. While Rurik might have gone home with his tail
[00:12:12] between his legs, he was just as capable of bearing a grudge as Roman. On 2 January 1203
[00:12:21] he returned with the Olgovitchi and Palovtsi allies to attack Kiv. He accepted that the break
[00:12:28] with the people of Kiv, whatever had triggered it was irreparable for now and did not aim to
[00:12:34] retake the throne. He was here for two things. First revenge, second despite Roman.
[00:12:43] Rurik let the Palovtsi run wild. The chronicle has recorded that the devastation
[00:12:50] and cruelty was worse than anything suffered since Christianity arrived in Rus, exceeding
[00:12:56] Gogolubskie's sack of the city in 1168. They also note that foreign merchants were spared
[00:13:03] if they forfeited half of their goods. Rurik did not want to ruin that vital trade.
[00:13:11] Once the massacre was over, Rurik had to decide who he would appoint to rule Kiv
[00:13:17] and he chose Aliag's younger brother, Siavalod Chirmly or the Red, another junior Knyaz who had
[00:13:24] a claim through his father, in this case Skatoslav. This might seem a bit strange since a few years
[00:13:33] earlier Rurik had demanded that the Olgovitchi all swear to give up their claims on Kiv forever
[00:13:39] but he was working with a limited pool. His own family, the Rostislavitchi had deserted him.
[00:13:46] The Izyslavitchi of Volinia had aligned with Roman, Aliag was too senior and independent
[00:13:52] and would have been a new rival. With the job done Rurik returned to Vruchy. Roman seems to have
[00:14:04] drawn his own conclusions from the whole affair. He quickly sent delegations to Bignest and
[00:14:10] Aliag of Tchenychov to conclude a peace. Then he marched on Vruchy. Rurik surrendered
[00:14:18] without battle and agreed to end his alliance with Aliag and the Palovci. Then Roman suggested Rurik
[00:14:27] asked of Siavalod to aid his return to Kiv and agreed to support him. Siavalod agreed and
[00:14:35] Rurik was restored to Kiv. Thus Rurik's actions ended up significantly strengthening Roman.
[00:14:44] Roman had understood that Rurik would remain a threat, especially combined with the Olgovitchi
[00:14:50] and the Palovci. So he broke up that alliance and then by bringing Rurik back to Siavalod
[00:14:58] realigned the three branches of the Monomax once again. Instead of a junior Knyaz as puppet,
[00:15:06] Roman now controlled Rurik. With the Monomax all at peace amongst themselves,
[00:15:25] it seemed like a good time for another campaign against the Palovci. Roman, Rurik, Yaroslav,
[00:15:32] Siavalodovich of Periyaslava and other Liesa Knyazes combined for a successful campaign.
[00:15:41] Once it was over they all gathered at Tripol so that the junior Knyazes could be allotted
[00:15:48] towns as a reward for their service. Here however their agreement came to an end.
[00:15:55] Rurik and Roman disagreed so strongly over who should get what reward that Roman seized Rurik,
[00:16:03] sent him to Kiv, had him forcibly tonsured and made a monk, forced his wife and daughters to
[00:16:09] become nuns and sent his sons to Halic. The severity of this reaction seems to come rather
[00:16:17] out of nowhere. We see a lot of challenges, maneuvers and standoffs but rarely see Knyazes
[00:16:24] directly assaulting each other and their families. The last time something like this happened was
[00:16:30] 150 years ago when Izyslav, Sviatoslav and Siavalod took out their uncle Sudislav.
[00:16:38] It seems clear from the circumstances that the issue was Rurik
[00:16:42] not doing what Roman told him to do. Siavalod backed up Roman and after a short interlude the two
[00:16:50] of them appointed Rurik's son Rostislav as Knyaz of Kiv but this created new grounds for challenges.
[00:17:03] Becoming a monk took Rurik out of the succession line, theoretically at least.
[00:17:09] Willingly or not he had repudiated worldly things. Roman and Siavalod did not want to rule in Kiv
[00:17:18] and Rostislav had a claim through his father but he was from the next generation and that meant
[00:17:25] that there were still other claimants from the previous generation that still had a stronger
[00:17:30] claim than him. Ingvar of Lutsk of course and also Mr Slav Romanovich of Smolensk. Rurik becoming a monk
[00:17:41] also released the oath sworn to him which meant that the Olga Vici could also claim that they were
[00:17:48] free to challenge for Kiv. Shortly after Aleksveta Slavich died and Siavalod Chirmly who we already
[00:17:58] know as a man of ambition became Knyaz of Chernikiv. For a couple of years Siavalod's military strength
[00:18:18] was enough to keep any claimants quiet. He swapped out his younger son Sviatoslav for the elder Konstantin
[00:18:26] in Novgorod and he continued to enforce his authority as the senior Knyaz among the other
[00:18:33] Monomashici. But this is Rus and if there's one thing we have learned over the last 400 years
[00:18:40] it's that these Knyazes just can't be content with what they have.
[00:18:46] The first cracks this time came from Mr Slav Romanovich of Smolensk.
[00:18:52] It's not really laid out in the chronicles we have to read between the lines again.
[00:18:58] In March 1205 Siavalod Bignes's wife entered a monastery and then died.
[00:19:05] According to the chronicles Mr Slav sent his archbishop and an Ygumen,
[00:19:11] something like an abbot named Mikhail, to represent him at the funeral and negotiate
[00:19:17] either peace or forgiveness pending on the chronicle for conspiring with the Olga Vici.
[00:19:24] The last we heard the parties had all been reconciled so we have to suppose that Mr Slav and
[00:19:31] Siavalod Chionni had been disgruntled by Romanovich and Bignes appointing Rurik's son to Kiev
[00:19:38] and had got together to try to do something about it without any real success.
[00:19:48] Next came something rather more serious. Romanovich of Halich was killed in June
[00:19:54] while fighting with the Poles. Romanovich had successfully campaigned to unite
[00:20:01] Valinia and Halich and had made himself a power among the Knyazis, but he adhered to the system
[00:20:07] of lateral succession and tried to control Kiev rather than rule it directly. Because he did
[00:20:15] not sit on the throne his children had no claim and so one more family dropped out of the
[00:20:21] succession line. In his own lands, his sons Danil and Vasylko were aged just four and two,
[00:20:31] clearly incapable of assuming and defending their rights to rule in Vladimir and Valinia
[00:20:37] and Halich. The kings of Hungary and Poland, Svetislav Siavalodovich and their older cousins
[00:20:45] would soon be fighting over Halich again and the struggle for the succession will continue
[00:20:51] until the Mongols ended in thirty years. One person in particular was glad to hear of Romanovich's
[00:21:11] death. Offered his monastery, Rurik quickly swapped his habit for armor and then seized Kiev.
[00:21:19] He summoned Siavalod the Red and bought his support by offering him Halich.
[00:21:24] As the pair of them failed to take Halich, he ended up having to give him Belgerod.
[00:21:30] This was an unprecedented move. He was established that political and royal figures
[00:21:37] could become monks in old age but they could not just return to politics. It undermined
[00:21:44] Rurik's legitimacy and meant that he was once more dependent on someone else keeping him
[00:21:50] on the throne. This time Siavalod the Red. He also needed to appease his son for displacing him
[00:21:58] so he gave Rostislav Vyshgorod. That meant giving Big Ness brother-in-law Yaroslav the boot
[00:22:06] and antagonizing Siavalod. In the summer of 1206, Siavalod Cherimni took advantage
[00:22:17] of his support from Rurik and Mr Slavov Smalyansk to make another move for Halich.
[00:22:23] Halich appealed to Andrew II of Hungary and a Polish army marched into Valinia
[00:22:29] but it did not come down to any fighting. After a standoff the Hungarians and Poles
[00:22:35] choose to withdraw and Halich accepted an Orgovic knyaz, Vladimir Igrovic.
[00:22:43] On the way home though, Siavalod Cherimni betrayed Rurik and occupied Kiev. Rurik fled
[00:22:50] back to Vruchi once again. Although this seems like straight treachery, the consensus in the chronicles
[00:22:58] is that Siavalod did this because it was improper for Rurik to rule as a monk.
[00:23:04] While this may have given him a legitimate cover, it shook up the relationship among
[00:23:10] the knyazes once again. For good measure Red expelled Big Ness son Yaroslav from Periyaslavl
[00:23:18] and installed his own son Mikhail. This left an interesting situation. Siavalod Cherimni had
[00:23:29] to let the forces here disemboweled for the Halich expedition go home, while Rurik continued
[00:23:35] to attack him in Kiev but neither of them could rely on the people of Kiev for support.
[00:23:41] Rurik based on his personal history, Siavalod because he was an Orgovic.
[00:23:47] Siavalod had tried to get around this by relying on the support of Mstislav Romanovich in Belgorod
[00:23:54] and Rurik's son Rostislav in Vyshkara. But Rostislav seems not to have shared
[00:24:01] Siavalod's feelings about monk's ruling, and he supported his father.
[00:24:07] Siavalod was forced to abandon Kiev and Rurik retook the throne.
[00:24:13] He ordered Mikhail Siavalodovich to leave Periyaslavl, but he gave it to his younger brother
[00:24:20] Vladimir instead of returning it to Big Ness. There would be no reconciliation yet.
[00:24:31] In early 1207 Siavalod Cherimni made a probing attack on Kiev with just Orgovic troops and
[00:24:38] some Boloty. Rurik easily fended them off around Kiev and they pillaged the lands on the way home.
[00:24:47] But this seems to have just been a feint. Siavalod took his main forces the long way around and
[00:24:53] instead of attacking from the north, the direct route, he caught Rurik by surprise with an attack
[00:25:00] from the south. Rurik once again fled to Vruchi and Siavalod. At this point Siavalod Big Ness
[00:25:20] decided it was time to get involved in Southern Rus again. This time he was not supporting
[00:25:27] anyone's claim to Kiev, he was accusing Siavalod Cherimni of taking Monomak domains that the
[00:25:34] Orgovic had no right to rule, particularly Periyaslavl. Big Ness dissembled his forces,
[00:25:42] including a Novgorod contingent led by his son Konstantin. Forces from Pskov, Ladoga and Novy Turg,
[00:25:50] the Knyazes of Murom and Ryzan with their troops. But when he joined the junior Knyazes from Ryzan,
[00:26:00] they informed Psiavalod that their uncles, the rulers in Ryzan, were conspiring with the Orgovic
[00:26:06] against him. So Big Ness headed to Ryzan instead of Chernihiv. He seized Pronsk and Ryzan, appointed
[00:26:16] his Basadniki and threw the Knyazes and their advisors into a pit. By the time that was done,
[00:26:23] it was late in the campaign season and he returned home. Big Ness's change of direction was little
[00:26:35] reprieve for Psiavalod Cherimni. As soon as he heard Big Ness was going to attack Chernihiv,
[00:26:42] Rurik gathered his forces including Palovtsi allies and attacked Kiev.
[00:26:49] Psiavalod the Red had already sent most of his men to defend Chernihiv and was not capable of resisting.
[00:26:57] He fled to Chernihiv. He would make a weak attempt to return in February 1208,
[00:27:05] but that was it. His rivalry with Rurik was over. Rurik appeared to finally be secure in Kiev.
[00:27:18] But rather than settle down peacefully, he turned his attention to Halic.
[00:27:24] The succession struggled there had flared up again with the Poles and Hungarians continuing to interfere
[00:27:30] and the Knyazes regularly changing. Rurik reached an agreement with the Hungarians to expel the
[00:27:38] Knyazes and install his son Rostislav in Halic, asserting his right as the Knyaz of Kiev to
[00:27:45] decide the rule over a domain left without an heir. Rostislav was installed on 4th of September
[00:27:53] 1208. A month later he was deposed. Rurik was dead. Although you get used to the chronicler's
[00:28:05] missing important information it's still sometimes surprising what they choose not to include.
[00:28:11] Rurik has been one of the main figures in the Chronicles for decades, but only a couple
[00:28:18] of the Chronicles bothered to note that he had died in Kiev apparently without suspicious
[00:28:23] circumstances. His age was not certain, but he must have been in his 70s. We're not told where he was
[00:28:31] buried. The Chronicles' priorities make it difficult to assess the Knyazes of this era.
[00:28:39] By the end of his life the way he keeps alternately seizing Kiev and then running away
[00:28:45] to Vruchi starts to get comical. But outside of that what did he achieve? Was he a good ruler?
[00:28:52] Who knows. He acknowledged Sivolod's bigness, seniority, even if he could not manage to maintain
[00:29:00] good relations with him and he was loyal to the rest of the Rostislavici and his vassals.
[00:29:07] However he failed to secure the Rostislavici's control of Kiev against Orgavitchy claims
[00:29:14] and did nothing to end the chaotic instability in Sivolod.
[00:29:30] Udruric's death leaves us with the two hostas of Sivolod's as the leading Knyazes and Sivolod
[00:29:39] Tchunri returns to the throne of Kiev unopposed. But as always, when one Kheirs dies another one
[00:29:47] pops up to replace him. While Big Nest was busy in Rizan, Mistislav Mistislavich, who Sivolod
[00:29:56] Tchunri had expelled from Belgorod, turned up in Novgorod. Mistislav, who acquired the name Udathni
[00:30:05] or the Bold, marched on Novgorod in the winter of 1208, seized Sivolod's son Siatislav and his
[00:30:14] officials and sent a statement to the people reminding him that his father had ruled them
[00:30:20] and saying that he had come to save them from the violence of the Sosdalion Knyazes.
[00:30:27] The people responded by welcoming to the city with honour and inviting him to be their Knyaz.
[00:30:34] Siatislav was imprisoned to see what would happen with Big Nest.
[00:30:43] Big Nest was not ready to accept this state of affairs and he reacted in the way that had
[00:30:49] always worked for him before, he threatened them with force. He seized the Novgorodian merchants in
[00:30:56] Sosdalia and confiscated their goods. Mistislav though was ready to show while he was called the
[00:31:04] Bold. He assembled his troops and marched on Torghok, ready to take the fight to Big Nest.
[00:31:12] Sivolod sent Konstantin, Yuri and Yaroslav to meet the threat but first to carry a message.
[00:31:20] You are a son to me and I am a father to you. Release Svetislav and those you have imprisoned
[00:31:27] and I will release the Novgorodian merchants and their goods. Mistislav did not accept
[00:31:35] Sivolod's declaration of seniority but he was prepared to release Svetislav
[00:31:40] and reach an agreement. As a minor prince under Rurik, Mistislav had been just another Rostislavich
[00:31:51] of no note. The death of Rurik left him without many options in the south and seizing Novgorod
[00:31:58] propelled him to prominence as well as strengthening the Rostislavichy. He was now the leader of
[00:32:05] the Antisosdalia party and Big Nest had lost control of Novgorod as well as Eriaslavl.
[00:32:13] Back in Kiev, Sivolod's journey was feeling fairly comfortable.
[00:32:19] Grurik's death left Mistislav as Maliansk as the senior Rostislavich and the two had already
[00:32:25] been allies even if Mistislav had more recently supported Rurik. There was no
[00:32:31] Rostislavich with a strong claim to challenge Sivolod so it would seem that he had the
[00:32:37] opportunity to reconcile with Big Nest and the Rostislavich. Red gave Big Nest some time to let
[00:32:56] the Rizan situation settle and then in 1210 sent the Metropolitan Matthe to carry a peace proposal
[00:33:06] to Svazdalia. We've already seen that Big Nest was not interested in disputing Tjulmni's claim
[00:33:13] to Kiev so there was no real impediment to peace. Sivolod Tjulmi acknowledged Big Nest's seniority,
[00:33:22] returned Periaslavl and declared that he would not conspire against him with Rizan.
[00:33:27] Big Nest released Tjulmi's daughter Vera who had captured in Rizan
[00:33:33] and betrothed his son Yuri to Tjulmi's daughter Agafia. They were married in Vladimir in April
[00:33:40] 1211. From Dolgoruky to Bogolubsky to Big Nest, the key to Svazdali and strength has been its unity.
[00:33:53] Although there had been succession disputes, each new knyaz had quickly consolidated his
[00:34:00] position and maintained that strength. But with Sivolod being named Big Nest due to the
[00:34:07] size of his family, worrying signs were starting to appear for the aging ruler.
[00:34:13] He called Konstantin back from Rostov so that he could give him Vladimir on the Kliasma
[00:34:19] and give Rostov to Yuri. Konstantin refused to go and demanded both towns. Sivolod summoned him
[00:34:28] again. Konstantin refused again. So Sivolod summoned all his boyars, his bishop and his
[00:34:37] prominent churchmen, leading merchants and the common people and had them pledge allegiance to Yuri,
[00:34:44] his second son. Then he gave Vladimir to Yuri and instructed him to care for his brothers.
[00:34:54] Besides angering Konstantin as much as you would expect, this disposition broke the rules of
[00:35:00] succession. While Sivolod might have had the authority to carry it off, once he is dead,
[00:35:07] Yuri will be a different man. Problems for Sivolod came from a familiar direction,
[00:35:27] Halach. As mentioned, the Ihorovichi branch of the Olgavichi had been ruling there,
[00:35:34] although there continued to be numerous pretenders.
[00:35:38] After an attempted rebellion by boyars supporting one of these pretenders,
[00:35:43] the Ihorovichi executed 500 of them, an incident that the chroniclers treat as an unusual extreme
[00:35:51] cruelty. The result is that the Izjaslavichi of Volinia who had been disunited and whose
[00:35:59] chief claimant to Halach was Daniel Romanovich, a 10 year old boy, united to challenge the Ihorovichi.
[00:36:08] First they captured Sjatoslav Ihorovich in Perumichal, then they captured Roman Ihorovich
[00:36:16] who had been ruling in Zvenegorod and the younger brother Rostislav. Vladimir Ihorovich
[00:36:24] who had been ruling in Halach fled. The boyars of Halach switched their loyalty to Daniel
[00:36:31] and the Hungarians also supported him. The people of Halach took the three captured Ihorovichi
[00:36:38] and hanged them. Now this is obviously a bit more flagrant than the maybe he was poisoned type
[00:36:50] assassinations of Knyazes we've previously seen and more deliberate than accidentally suffocating
[00:36:56] in a pit. The Olgavichi took it as an unforgivable insult and Sivolod chumni
[00:37:03] declared that they would be reprisals. However it seems like he was actually playing a bit of a game.
[00:37:10] Rather than challenging the people of Halach who did the hanging or Daniel and the Izjaslavichi,
[00:37:17] he accused some minor Rostislavich Knyazes who held towns in the Kiev lands and expelled them.
[00:37:26] It appears that Chumni was feeling strong with his new alliance with Big Nest and thought
[00:37:31] it was time to put the Rostislavichi in their place. The three evicted Rostislavichi, Vladimir
[00:37:43] Urykovic, Konstantin and Mr Slav Davidovich, asked Mr Slav Udatny and Mr Slav Smalyansk to defend them.
[00:37:54] Udatny asked the people of Novgorod to march with him and they agreed. For a while it
[00:38:01] looked like the people of Novgorod would be as little help as usual when they got to Smalyansk
[00:38:07] Udatny acknowledged Mr Slav Romanovich as the senior Rostislavich and the Novgorodians got in
[00:38:14] a half about taking second place to anyone and went home. Udatny and his druzina stayed and set off south.
[00:38:22] The Novgorodians were shamed by this and after discussions they decided to rejoin their Knyaz.
[00:38:30] They quickly laid siege to and captured Vizgorod and Siviloch Chumni lost his nerve and fled to
[00:38:38] Cernikov. Udatny and his men entered Kyiv and the city submitted to them. Then they continued
[00:38:46] to Cernikov and besieged it for three weeks. Chumni was killed and Glyb Stratislavich
[00:38:53] defended the city until he was forced to surrender and accept terms. Mr Slav Romanovich,
[00:39:01] the senior Rostislavich, was installed as Knyaz of Kyiv and Udatny returned to Novgorod.
[00:39:13] There are some varying descriptions of these events in the chronicles that make them a little
[00:39:18] bit more interesting than just another Knyaz swap in Kyiv. Some of the chronicles hold that
[00:39:24] Ingvar was installed in Kyiv and Mr Slav took his place only after Udatny returned to Novgorod.
[00:39:32] We have generally seen that the senior Knyaz of a family leads any challenge for Kyiv
[00:39:39] and here we seem to have a different case. The junior Rostislavich probably asked Mr Slav
[00:39:54] was well down the seniority line so if his leadership was acknowledged it was evidence of
[00:40:00] his personal talents and reputation. Despite this, in the campaign he followed
[00:40:07] Mr Slav of Smelyansk and served the family's interests. The Kyiv Chronicle says that Udatny
[00:40:15] supported Ingvar as Knyaz and Ingvar had a genealogically superior claim to Mr Slav
[00:40:22] of Smelyansk so it would have been correct for him to do so. Despite this, it appears that Ingvar
[00:40:30] acquiesced to his displacement by Mr Slav and he continued to support the Rostislavich.
[00:40:41] The civil odd Chumly's attempt to expel the Rostislavich from the Kyiv lands was a major
[00:40:47] miscalculation that saw him lose Kyiv and then his life. What's more, none of the Rostislavich
[00:40:55] are named in the coalition that supported Daniel and Halic and we have no evidence in any Chronicle
[00:41:01] that they were in fact involved. Chumly seems to have simply picked them as scapegoats because it
[00:41:07] served his purpose of getting them out of the Kyiv lands. Going back to the 1160s, every time an
[00:41:16] Olgovich seized Kyiv they tried to remove the Rostislavich without success until Siobhalod.
[00:41:24] Siobhalod must have known that he was asking for trouble given that the Rostislavich had already
[00:41:30] declared that they considered these towns their patrimony but he appears to have thought that
[00:41:36] his alliance with Big Nest made him strong enough to take on the Rostislavich.
[00:41:41] Unfortunately for him, when Udathni marched out south towards Kyiv, Siobhalod Big Nest was already dead.
[00:42:02] Siobhalod had ruled Sosdalia for 36 years, expanding its territory and influence
[00:42:09] and continuing the building of churches, monasteries and fortified towns his brother
[00:42:14] and father had begun. He was undoubtedly the dominant Knyas of his era and by some accounts,
[00:42:22] first to take Veliki Knyas usually rendered grand prince as his official title,
[00:42:30] although the phrase had been used occasionally to refer to the Knyas of Kyiv unofficially.
[00:42:36] He continued Sosdalia's run of development culturally, politically and militarily.
[00:42:42] He eliminated any threats to his rule from within his own family and neighbouring Knyaslosts,
[00:42:49] consistently enforced recognition of his seniority among the Monomax and forced the
[00:42:55] Olgavitchi to submit to his influence as well. Until this time churches in Rost had been built
[00:43:03] of wood or brick. Sosdalia had white limestone in the Karma region that became the standard
[00:43:10] building material, first for churches then for fortifications.
[00:43:16] Siobhalod had the impressive cathedral of the assumption built in Vladimir,
[00:43:21] still using Byzantine craftsmen, which became the seat of the bishop of Vladimir Sosdal
[00:43:27] and an important ecclesiastical centre in coming centuries.
[00:43:33] Siobhalod's wife Maria also sponsored the construction of a number of important monasteries
[00:43:39] and the gathering and creation of noted icons. He was not successful in everything,
[00:43:50] he continued the war against the Bulgars for control of the Volga that Andrei Bogolubsky had
[00:43:55] started but was unable to secure risk control of the river. He also lost ground to the Bulgars
[00:44:02] in the rivalry for influence over the Mordvaat tribes and of course he lost control of Novgorod.
[00:44:11] Like other successful and influential Knyazes, he had achieved his success by ruling a unified
[00:44:18] Knyazesper where he was the ultimate power but like those other Knyazes he drew no conclusions
[00:44:26] from this and at his death he gave each of his sons a patrimony. He had ruled Vladimir Sosdal
[00:44:34] and Rostov but he would be the last Knyaz of Vladimir to rule the whole of the northeast.
[00:44:44] We are reaching the end of the story of Rus, the group of medieval kingdoms but not of the Rus,
[00:44:51] the people. In the next episode of the main narrative we will see the first Mongol invasion
[00:44:58] but before we get to that we need to expand our context. Coming up first we have a special
[00:45:05] episode introducing the Mongols and we will catch up on events in the Baltic,
[00:45:11] the Crusades and meet the Hanseatic League. A very important event for the future of Russian history
[00:45:20] took place during Sivilod's reign that we have not mentioned as Rus has been obsessed with
[00:45:26] internal affairs all this time. In 1204 the forced crusade sacked Constantinople,
[00:45:33] a shocking event that laid the foundations for a genuine schism between eastern and western Christians.
[00:45:42] The Novgorod Chronicle recorded the attack on Constantinople in detail
[00:45:48] but it would be nearly two decades before the impact was really felt in Rus.
[00:45:54] In 1222 Poponarius III will order the closing of all Orthodox churches in lands controlled by
[00:46:02] the Latins, enshrining the idea that there is only one correct form of Christianity.
[00:46:09] Soon after the Latin crusaders in the Baltic will begin closing the Russian churches in the
[00:46:16] towns they conquer, turning the crusade into a campaign against the Orthodox as well as Pagans
[00:46:23] and meaning the Rus faced new enemies from both east and west.
[00:46:28] Thank you for listening and until next time, goodbye.