Yaroslav I the Wise
| Yaroslav the Wise | |
|---|---|
| Grand Prince of Rus | |
 |
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| Yaroslav at the Millennium Monument in Novgorod | |
| Reign | 1019–1054 |
| Full name | Yaroslav Vladimirovich |
| Titles | Prince of Rostov? (978–1010), Prince of Novgorod (1010–1019) |
| Born | ~978 |
| Died | February 20, 1054 [aged ~76] |
| Predecessor | Sviatopolk the Accursed |
| Successor | Iziaslav I |
| Wives | Anna (uncertain) Irene (a daughter of Olof) |
| Offspring | see the main article |
| Dynasty | Rurik Dynasty |
| Father | Volodymyr the Great |
| Mother | Rogneda of Polotsk by the Primary Chronicle |
Yaroslav I the Wise (Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Old Norse: Jarizleifr Ukranian: Ярослав Мудрий) (c. 978 – February 20, 1054) was thrice Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time under his rule. During his lengthy reign, Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural flowering and military power.
Contents |
Rise to the throne
The early years of Yaroslav's life are shrouded in mystery. He was one of the numerous sons of Vladimir the Great, presumably his second by Rogneda of Polotsk, although his actual age (as stated in the Primary Chronicle and corroborated by the examination of his skeleton in the 1930s) would place him among the youngest children of Volodymyr. It has been suggested that he was a child begotten out of wedlock after Volodymyr's divorce from Rogneda and marriage to Anna Porphyrogeneta, or even that he was a child of Anna Porphyrogeneta herself. Yaroslav figures prominently in the Norse Sagas under the name of Jarisleif the Lame; his legendary lameness (probably resulting from an arrow wound) was corroborated by the scientists who examined his remains.
In his youth, Yaroslav was sent by his father to rule the northern lands around Rostov but was transferred to Novgorod, as befitted a senior heir to the throne, in 1010. While living there, he founded the town of Yaroslavl (literally, "Yaroslav's") on the Volga. His relations with his father were apparently strained, and grew only worse on the news that Volodymyr bequeathed the Kievan throne to his younger son, Boris. In 1014 Yaroslav refused to pay tribute to Kiev and only Volodymyr's death prevented a war.
During the next four years Yaroslav waged a complicated and bloody war for Kiev against his half-brother Sviatopolk, who was supported by his father-in-law, Duke Bolesław I Chrobry of Poland. During the course of this struggle, several other brothers (Boris, Gleb, and Svyatoslav) were brutally murdered. The Primary Chronicle accused Svyatopolk of planning those murders, while the Saga of Eymund is often interpreted as recounting the story of Boris's assassination by the Varangians in the service of Yaroslav.
Yaroslav defeated Svyatopolk in their first battle, in 1016, and Svyatopolk fled to Poland. But Svyatopolk returned with Polish troops furnished by his father-in-law, seized Kiev and pushed Yaroslav back into Novgorod. Yaroslav at last prevailed over Svyatopolk, and in 1019 firmly established his rule over Kiev. One of his first actions as a grand prince was to confer on the loyal Novgorodians (who had helped him to gain the Kievan throne), numerous freedoms and privileges. Thus, the foundation of the Novgorodian republic was laid. For their part, the Novgorodians respected Yaroslav more than they did other Kievan princes; and the princely residence in their city, next to the marketplace (and where the veche often convened) was named Yaroslavovo Dvorishche ("Yaroslav's Court") after him. It probably was during this period that Yaroslav promulgated the first code of laws in the East Slavic lands, "Yaroslav's Justice" (now better known as Russkaya Pravda, "Russian Truth").
Reign
Leaving aside the legitimacy of Yaroslav's claims to the Kievan throne and his postulated guilt in the murder of his brothers, Nestor the Chronicler and later Russian historians often presented him as a model of virtue, styling him "the Wise". A less appealing side of his personality is revealed by his having imprisoned his younger brother Sudislav for life. Yet another brother, Mstislav of Tmutarakan, whose distant realm bordered the Northern Caucasus and the Black Sea, hastened to Kiev and inflicted a heavy defeat on Yaroslav in 1024. Yaroslav and Mstislav then divided Kievan Rus between them: the area stretching left from the Dnieper, with the capital at Chernihiv, was ceded to Mstislav until his death in 1036.
In his foreign policy, Yaroslav relied on the Scandinavian alliance and attempted to weaken the Byzantine influence on Kiev. In 1030, he reconquered Red Rus from the Poles and concluded an alliance with King Casimir I of Poland, sealed by the latter's marriage to Yaroslav's sister Maria. In another successful military raid the same year, he founded Yuryev (today Tartu, Estonia) (named after Saint George, or "Yury", Yaroslav's patron saint) and forced the surrounding province of Ugaunia to pay annual tribute.
In 1043, Yaroslav staged a naval raid against Constantinople led by his son Vladimir and general Vyshata. Although the Rus' navy was defeated, Yaroslav managed to conclude the war with a favourable treaty and prestigious marriage of his son Vsevolod to the emperor's daughter. It has been suggested that the peace was so advantageous because the Kievans had succeeded in taking a key Byzantine possession in Crimea, Chersones.
To defend his state from the Pechenegs and other nomadic tribes threatening it from the south he constructed a line of forts, composed of Yuriev, Boguslav, Kaniv, Korsun, and Pereyaslav. To celebrate his decisive victory over the Pechenegs in 1036 (who thereupon never were a threat to Kiev) he sponsored the construction of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1037. Other celebrated monuments of his reign, such as the Golden Gates of Kiev, have since perished.
Yaroslav was a notable patron of book culture and learning. In 1051, he had a Russian monk Ilarion proclaimed the metropolitan of Kiev, thus challenging old Byzantine tradition of placing Greeks on the episcopal sees. Ilarion's discourse on Yaroslav and his father Vladimir is frequently cited as the first work of Old Russian literature.
Family life and posterity
In 1019, Yaroslav married Ingegerd Olofsdotter, daughter of the king of Sweden, and gave Ladoga to her as a marriage gift. There are good reasons to believe that before that time he had been married to a woman named Anna, of disputed extraction.
The Saint Sophia Cathedral houses a fresco representing the whole family: Yaroslav, Irene (as Ingegerd was known in Rus), their five daughters and five sons. Yaroslav had three of his daughters married to foreign princes who lived in exile at his court:
- Elizabeth of Kiev to Harald III of Norway (who had attained her hand by his military exploits in the Byzantine Empire);
- Anastasia of Kiev to the future Andrew I of Hungary;
- Anne of Kiev married Henry I of France and was the regent of France during their son's minority;
- (possibly) Agatha who married Edward the Exile, of the royal family of England, and was the mother of Edgar Ætheling and St. Margaret of Scotland.
Yaroslav had one son from the first marriage (his Christian name being Ilya (?-1020)), and 6 sons from the second marriage. Apprehending the danger that could ensue from divisions between brothers, he exhorted them to live in peace with each other. The eldest of these, Vladimir of Novgorod, best remembered for building the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, predeceased his father. Three other sons—Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod—reigned in Kiev one after another. The youngest children of Yaroslav were Igor (1036–1060) of Volyn and Vyacheslav (1036–1057) of Smolensk. About the last one there are almost no information. Some documents point out the fact of him having a son Boris who challenged Vsevolod sometime in 1077-1078.
Legacy
Four different towns in four different countries were found by and named after Yaroslav: Jaroslaw (in today's Poland), Yaroslavl (in today's Russia), Yuryev (now Tartu, Estonia) and another Yuryev (now Bila Tserkva, Ukraine). "Yuriy" was a Christian name of Prince Yaroslav. Also, derived from the Russian custom of naming military objects such as tanks & planes after historic characters, The helmet worn by many Russian soldiers during the Crimean War was called the "Helmet of Yaroslav Mudry". It was the first pointed helmet to be used by any army, even before any German armies wore pointed helmets.
See also
- List of rulers of the Kievan Rus
- List of Russian rulers
- List of Ukrainian rulers
Sources
- Martin, Janet (1995). Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36276-8.
- Nazarenko, A. V. (2001) (in Russian). Drevniaia Rus’ na mezhdunarodnykh putiakh: mezhdistsiplinarnye ocherki kul’turnykh, torgovykh, politicheskikh sviazei IX-XII vekov. Moscow: Russian History Institute. ISBN 5-7859-0085-8.
External links
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Yaroslav I the Wise
Rurikovich
Born: 978 Died: 1054 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by established |
Prince of Rostov 996–1010 |
Succeeded by Boris Vladimirich |
| Preceded by Vyachelav Vladimirich |
Prince of Novgorod 1010–1034 |
Succeeded by Vladimir Yaroslavich |
| Preceded by Sviatopolk I Vladimirich |
Grand Prince of Kiev 1016–1054 |
Succeeded by Iziaslav I Yaroslavich |
Ancestors