Since school years, from history lessons, for many of us, the name of Prince Yaroslav the Wise has been firmly associated with the first domestic code of laws -. In a sense, it is comparable to the laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, for both laws reflected the life, customs and traditions of our distant ancestors. In a word, it was not for nothing that contemporaries gave the Moscow prince the nickname “Wise”.
Biography of Yaroslav the Wise (978-1054)
Yaroslav was one of the many children of Svyatoslavich, the baptist of Rus', and his concubine and then wife, Princess Rogneda of Polotsk. When the sons grew up, the father granted them estates and set them up to reign. So, Yaroslav got Rostov. The legendary, apocryphal tale about the founding of the city, which was then named after the prince - Yaroslavl, dates back to this period. Allegedly, the city began with a wooden settlement founded by order of the prince to commemorate his fight with a bear, the image of which was reflected on the city’s coat of arms. Whether this is really so is difficult to say.
Considering the high infant and human mortality rates in general at that time, even taking into account temporary errors, Yaroslav lived a long life - more than seventy years. Was married twice. The fate of the first wife was tragic - she disappeared forever in Polish captivity. Thanks to his marriage to the Swedish princess Ingegerda, he is a distant relative of many monarchs of modern Europe. The marriage had nine children.
The prince was buried with St. Sophia Cathedral. The famous Soviet anthropologist (and today we would add also a physiognomist) Mikhail Gerasimov, shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, reconstructed the appearance of Yaroslav from the preserved skull. The current location of the prince's remains is unknown.
Domestic and foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise
Neither the Rostov nor Novgorod reigns of Yaroslav found any detailed reflection in Russian chronicles and in the Tale of Bygone Years. Yaroslav began to play a prominent role in domestic politics when he dared to oppose his own father, as well as his brothers. Naturally, his goal was the Kiev throne. Yaroslav relied on the support of the Novgorodians and the hired Varangian squad. After the death of his father, Yaroslav's main strategic opponent turned out to be his brother Svyatopolk. It took several years of internecine strife for one of them to gain the upper hand. It turned out to be Yaroslav.
Together with another brother, Mstislav, they divided their possessions and no longer interfered in each other’s affairs. Until Mstislav's death, Yaroslav preferred to remain in Novgorod, formally already being the Grand Duke of Kyiv. Yaroslav achieved a final and decisive victory over the Pechenegs. The Cathedral of St. Sophia of Kyiv was founded precisely to commemorate this victory. He conquered the Chud tribes and founded the city of Yuryev (now Tartu in Estonia) in their lands.
Numerous marriages began to take place between Yaroslav's children reaching adulthood and the offspring of famous Polish, Swedish and Norwegian rulers. The total duration of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise is 37 years. This is the second longest tenure in power after Ivan IV the Terrible, who ruled much later.
The creation of the first Russian monasteries - Yuryev in Novgorod and Kiev-Pechersk - dates back to the reign of Yaroslav. Metropolitan Hilarion, author of the “Sermon on Law and Grace”, is a protege of Yaroslav the Wise. The number of literate people grew, the first schools were opened.
- Fearing for himself and for his sole power, Yaroslav imprisoned the youngest of his siblings, Sudislav, in a cellar, who spent 23 years in captivity, outlived Yaroslav, and then abandoned the Kyiv throne for the sake of the monastic schema.
- Being baptized by George, Yaroslav also established the day of St. George, which later became part of the saying “Here’s St. George’s Day for you, grandma!”
Yaroslav is the son of the Polotsk princess Rogneda and Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Already in 987, the Rostov lands were given to him to reign. But, after the eldest son of the Grand Duke Vysheslav died, the reign of Yaroslav in Novgorod began. The death of the Grand Duke of Kyiv provoked a fierce power struggle between his children. The Kiev throne was seized by Svyatopolk, who received the popular nickname The Accursed. He killed his brothers Boris and Gleb, who reigned respectively in the Rostov and Smolensk lands, and Svyatoslav, who was planted by his father in the lands of the Drevlyans. Only Yaroslav, who after that became the Grand Duke, was able to defeat Svyatopolk. But he was unable to cope with the prince of Tmutarakan Mstislav, and all the lands of Rus' again came under the rule of Kyiv only after the death of Mstislav in 1036. The characteristics of Yaroslav the Wise and the entire period of his reign are ambiguous, but all historians agree that the prince fully justified his nickname.
The prince was married to Ingigerda, the daughter of the king of the Swedes. Since the chronicles mention two names of Yaroslav’s wife, Irina and Anna, historians conclude that she received the name Irina at baptism, and Anna after entering the monastery.
During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise 1019 - 1054, the state of Kievan Rus reached its peak. It became one of the strongest in Europe. The activities of Yaroslav the Wise were aimed at strengthening not only the capital city, but also all of his vast possessions. Several new cities were founded under him.
Thanks to the reasonable foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise, the authority of the state in the international arena has grown significantly. The prince was also successful in military affairs. His campaigns against Poland, the Principality of Lithuania, and lands that belonged to the Finnish peoples were successful. But one of the most important for Rus' was the victory over the nomadic Pechenegs in 1036.
The last time Kievan Rus under Yaroslav the Wise collided with Byzantium. The conflict ended with the signing of a peace treaty, supported by a dynastic marriage. Prince Vsevolod's son married the Byzantine princess Anna. Yaroslav used dynastic marriages as a means of promoting peace. The sons of Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise, Svyatoslav, Vyacheslav and Igor, married German princesses. The eldest daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Harald, a Norwegian prince. Anna, his second daughter, married King Henry 1 of France, and Anastasia married King Andrew 1 of Hungary.
The reforms of Yaroslav the Wise covered almost all spheres of society. The Grand Duke attached great importance to education, and the internal policy of Yaroslav the Wise was aimed at increasing education and literacy. The prince built a school where boys were taught “church work.” It should be noted that under Yaroslav, a metropolitan of Russian origin appeared in Rus' for the first time. To strengthen the position of the church in Yaroslav’s domains, the payment of “tithes” previously established by Vladimir was resumed. The prince's vigorous activity significantly changed Kievan Rus. Stone monasteries and temples were built, architecture and painting developed rapidly. The publication of the first set of laws, called “Russian Truth,” is also of great importance. This document regulated under Yaroslav the Wise the amount of tribute (vira) and punishments for various violations. A little later, a set of church laws “The Helmsman’s Book” (“Nomocanon”) appeared.
The answer to the question why Yaroslav was nicknamed the Wise lies not only in the prince’s love for books and the church, but also in his great deeds, which made Rus' one of the strongest states. True, this nickname appeared relatively recently, in the second half of the 19th century. During his reign, the prince was known as "Khromets". He was indeed lame, but this defect was considered a sign of special strength and intelligence. And a short biography of Prince Yaroslav the Wise confirms that these qualities were fully inherent in him. The prince lived a long life and died in 1054 at the age of 76. After his death, another bloody strife ensued.
The future Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise was born into the family of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Rogneda, the Polotsk princess. He began reigning already in 987, when the Rostov lands were transferred to him for rule. However, after the death of his eldest son Vysheslav, Yaroslav became the ruler of Novgorod. The death of the Kyiv prince Vladimir gave rise to a fierce struggle between his children to gain paternal power. At the same time, the throne is seized by Svyatopolk the Accursed, who killed for this his two brothers Gleb and Boris, who reigned in the Smolensk and Rostov lands. It was destined for Yaroslav to stop Svyatopolk, who, having won, became the Grand Duke.
The prince married Ingigerda, who was the daughter of the king of the Swedes.
During the reign of this great prince (1019-1054), Kievan Rus reached its greatest prosperity, becoming one of the most powerful in Europe. All political and military activities of Yaroslav the Wise were entirely aimed at strengthening the capital city and vast possessions. It was during the period of this ruler that the active construction of cities began.
Thanks to his strategic mind and the conduct of a wise foreign policy, the Kiev prince was able to significantly increase the authority of the state. Yaroslav was also very successful in military affairs. For example, military campaigns against Poland, the Principality of Lithuania, and also in territories that belonged to the Finnish peoples are considered very successful. However, the most memorable significant victory was the defeat of the Pechenegs in 1036.
In addition, during the reign of this wise prince, Kievan Rus faced Byzantium for the last time, entering into a military conflict with it and subsequently signing a peace treaty, which was supported by a dynastic marriage. It should be noted that Yaroslav the Wise quite often used this political device (dynastic marriages) to consolidate the results of his foreign policy.
The reforms of the Kyiv prince were able to cover every sphere of public life. Yaroslav the Wise actively developed the ideas of enlightenment in Rus', and most of his domestic policy was aimed at increasing the literacy and education of the people. He founded a school where boys were taught church work. By the way, it was during the reign of Yaroslav that Kievan Rus had its own metropolitan.
And, of course, it is worth noting the mentoring literary activity of the prince, who left behind very important literary and legal monuments.
Yaroslav was the son of Prince Vladimir the Saint. There are many versions regarding the seniority of Yaroslav among his many brothers, which gives reason to see in the personality of Yaroslav the prince of his time, a man who managed to overcome all difficulties and establish a legal order of inheritance that determined the development of Russia for the next two centuries.
Initially, Yaroslav received Rostov as an inheritance from his father, but he did not rule independently, but under the tutelage of the governor Buda (or Budai). After the death of his brother Vysheslav, Yaroslav in 1011 received his inheritance - the Novgorod land, which was second in status after the Kyiv lands. Traditionally, Novgorod princes did not live in Novgorod itself, but not far from it - in Gorodishche, but Yaroslav became the first prince who created his own court (Yaroslav's Dvorishche) in the city itself.
The Novgorod prince was supposed to annually send tribute to Kyiv in the amount of 2000 hryvnia, but in 1014 Yaroslav unexpectedly refused to send tribute to his father and hired a squad of Varangians for this amount to march on Kyiv. However, the Varangians in Novgorod provoked its inhabitants and were killed, and Yaroslav was actually left without military force. In the same year, the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir also died.
After his death, it was not clear which of his sons should become the next prince in Kyiv. Vladimir’s beloved son Boris was ready to cede this right to his elder brother Svyatopolk, who took advantage of his brother’s peacefulness by killing him and the youngest of the Vladimirovichs, Gleb. Prince Yaroslav was warned about Svyatopolk's atrocities by his sister Predslava.
Yaroslav gathered a new army from the Varangians and Novgorodians and marched against Svyatopolk, capturing Kyiv in 1016. Let us note that before the campaign, in which many Novgorodians participated, Yaroslav collected the first written set of laws - Yaroslav's Truth, which later became the basis for the formation of national law in Russia. In 1018, the Polish king Boleslav, an ally of Svyatopolk, defeated Yaroslav on the river. Bug and occupied Kyiv. The people of Kiev did not accept the power of Boleslav, demanding that Svyatopolk remain prince. This destroyed the allied relations between Boleslav and Svyatopolk, who, left without Polish help, was defeated on the river in 1019. Alta, and Yaroslav established himself in Kyiv.
Yaroslav, having become the prince of Kyiv, did not forget about the support that the Novgorodians provided him. In 1030, he defeated the Chud tribe and founded the fortress city of Yuryev in the Baltic states. During the years of his reign, Yaroslav stopped the Pecheneg raids on Rus', defeating them in 1038 near the walls of Kyiv, in honor of which the Hagia Sophia Cathedral was founded. In an effort to strengthen international ties, Yaroslav used dynastic marriages, in particular, he married his daughter Princess Anna Yaroslavna to the French king Henry I.
Prince Yaroslav died in 1054, leaving a will to his children, in which he determined the next (ladder) order of government. Some historians believe that it was this order that became one of the reasons for fragmentation in Rus'.
Yaroslav Vladimirovich(in the later historiographical tradition Yaroslav the Wise; OK. 978 - February 20, 1054, Vyshgorod) - Prince of Rostov (987-1010), Prince of Novgorod (1010-1034), Grand Duke of Kiev (1016-1018, 1019-1054).
Yaroslav Vladimirovich is the son of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (from the Rurik family) and the Polotsk princess Rogneda Rogvolodovna, the father, grandfather and uncle of many rulers of Europe. At baptism he was named George. In the Russian Orthodox Church he is revered as a noble prince; Memorial Day - February 20 (March 4) in a leap year or February 20 (March 5) in non-leap years.
Under Yaroslav Vladimirovich, the first known set of laws of Russian law was compiled, which went down in history as “Russian Truth”.
Year of birth of Yaroslav and seniority
Yaroslav is first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years in article 6488 (980), which talks about the marriage of his father, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, and Rogneda, and then lists 4 sons born from this marriage: Izyaslav, Mstislav, Yaroslav and Vsevolod. In the article of the year 6562 (1054), which talks about the death of Yaroslav, it is said that he lived for 76 years (according to the ancient Russian count of years, that is, he lived for 75 years and died in the 76th year of his life). Accordingly, according to the chronicles, Yaroslav was born in 978 or 979. This date is the most commonly used in the literature.
However, there is an opinion that this year is erroneous. The chronicle article under the year 1016 (6524) speaks of the reign of Yaroslav in Kyiv:
Be Ꙗroslav then · k҃ i҃ · let
If you believe this news, then Yaroslav should have been born in 988 or 989. This is explained in different ways. Tatishchev believes that there was a mistake and he should be not 28, but 38 years old. In the chronicles that were not preserved to this day, which were at his disposal (Raskolnichya, Golitsyn and Khrushchev chronicles), there were 3 options - 23, 28 and 34 years, and according to the Orenburg manuscript, the date of birth of Yaroslav should have been attributed to 972. Moreover, in some later chronicles it is read not 28 years, but 18 (Sofia First Chronicle, Arkhangelsk Chronicle, Ipatiev List of the Ipatiev Chronicle). And in the Laurentian Chronicle it was stated that “And then Yaroslav would be 28 years old in Novgorod,” which gave S. M. Solovyov grounds to assume that the news refers to the duration of Yaroslav’s Novgorod reign: if we take 18 years as correct, then from 998, and if 28 years is the total reign in Rostov and Novgorod since 988. Solovyov also doubted the correctness of the news that Yaroslav was 76 years old in the year of his death.
Taking into account the fact that the marriage between Vladimir and Rogneda, according to the now established opinion, was concluded in 978, and also that Yaroslav was the third son of Rogneda, he could not have been born in 978. According to historians, the dating of 76 years appeared in order to present Yaroslav as older than Svyatopolk. However, there is evidence that it was Svyatopolk who was the eldest of the sons at the time of Vladimir’s death. Indirect evidence of this can be the words of Boris, which he said to his squad, not wanting to occupy Kyiv, since Svyatopolk is the eldest:
He also says · Don’t let me lay my hands on my elder brother · even if my father dies · then I will be like my father
At the moment, the fact of Svyatopolk’s seniority is considered proven, and the indication of age is considered evidence that the chronicler tried to present Yaroslav as the elder, thus justifying his right to the great reign.
If we accept the traditional date of birth and seniority of Svyatopolk, then this leads to a revision of the chronicle story about the struggle of Vladimir and Yaropolk for the Kiev throne, and attributing the capture of Polotsk and Vladimir’s marriage to Rogneda to 976 or the beginning of 977, before his departure for the sea.
Additional information about Yaroslav’s age at the time of death is provided by data from a study of Yaroslav’s bone remains conducted in 1939-1940. D. G. Rokhlin indicates that Yaroslav was over 50 years old at the time of death and indicates 986 as the probable year of birth, and V. V. Ginzburg - 60-70 years old. Based on these data, it is assumed that Yaroslav could have been born between 983 and 986.
In addition, some historians, following N.I. Kostomarov, expressed doubts that Yaroslav is the son of Rogneda. However, this contradicts the news of the chronicles, in which Yaroslav is repeatedly called her son. There is also a hypothesis by the French historian Arrignon, according to which Yaroslav was the son of the Byzantine princess Anna, and this explains Yaroslav’s intervention in internal Byzantine affairs in 1043. However, this hypothesis also contradicts all other sources.
Rostov period
The Tale of Bygone Years for the year 6496 (988) reports that Vladimir Svyatoslavich sent his sons to various cities. Among the listed sons is Yaroslav, who received Rostov as a table. However, the date indicated in this article, 988, is quite arbitrary, since many events fit into it. Historian Alexey Karpov suggests that Yaroslav could have left for Rostov no earlier than 989.
The chronicles about Yaroslav's reign in Rostov do not report anything other than the fact of his imprisonment. All information about the Rostov period of his biography is of a late and legendary nature, their historical reliability is low.
Since Yaroslav received the Rostov table as a child, real power was in the hands of the mentor sent with him. According to A. Karpov, this mentor could be the “breadwinner and governor named after Buda (or Budy)” mentioned in the chronicle in 1018. He was probably Yaroslav's closest ally in Novgorod, but he no longer needed a breadwinner during the Novgorod reign, so it is likely that he was Yaroslav's educator even during the Rostov reign.
The founding of the city of Yaroslavl, named after the prince, is associated with the reign of Yaroslav in Rostov. Yaroslavl was first mentioned in the “Tale of Bygone Years” in 1071, when the “revolt of the Magi” caused by famine in the Rostov land was described. But there are legends that attribute the founding of the city to Yaroslav. According to one of them, Yaroslav traveled along the Volga from Novgorod to Rostov. According to legend, on the way he was attacked by a bear, which Yaroslav, with the help of his retinue, hacked to death with an axe. After this, the prince ordered to cut down a small wooden fortress on an impregnable cape above the Volga, named after him - Yaroslavl. These events are reflected on the city's coat of arms. This legend was reflected in “The Legend of the Construction of the City of Yaroslavl,” published in 1877. According to the research of the historian and archaeologist N. N. Voronin, the “Tale” was created in the 18th-19th centuries, however, according to his assumption, the basis of the “Tale” was formed by folk legends associated with the ancient cult of the bear, characteristic of the tribes living in the forest zone of the modern Russia. An earlier version of the legend is given in an article published by M. A. Lenivtsev in 1827.
However, there are doubts that the Yaroslavl legend is connected specifically with Yaroslav, although it probably reflects some facts from the initial history of the city.
In 1958-1959, Yaroslavl historian Mikhail Germanovich Meyerovich substantiated that the city appeared no earlier than 1010. This date is currently considered the founding date of Yaroslavl.
Yaroslav reigned in Rostov until the death of his elder brother Vysheslav, who ruled in Novgorod. The Tale of Bygone Years does not report the date of Vysheslav’s death. The “State Book” (XVI century) reports that Vysheslav died before Rogneda, Yaroslav’s mother, whose year of death is indicated in the “Tale of Bygone Years” (1000). However, this information is not based on any documents and is probably a guess. Another version was given in “Russian History” by V.N. Tatishchev. Based on some chronicle that has not reached our time (probably of Novgorod origin), he places information about the death of Vysheslav in an article for the year 6518 (1010/1011). This date is now accepted by most historians. Vysheslav was replaced in Novgorod by Yaroslav.
Novgorod period
After the death of Vysheslav, Svyatopolk was considered the eldest son of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. However, according to Thietmar of Merseburg, he was put in prison by Vladimir on charges of treason. The next eldest son, Izyaslav, had also died by that time, but even during his father’s life he was actually deprived of the right to inherit - Polotsk was allocated to him as an inheritance. And Vladimir installed Yaroslav in Novgorod.
The Novgorod reign at this time had a higher status than the Rostov and all others, with the exception of Kyiv. The Novgorod prince annually paid a tribute of 2,000 hryvnia to Kyiv, which amounted to 2/3 of the tribute collected in Novgorod and the lands subordinate to it. 1/3 (1000 hryvnia) remained for the maintenance of the prince and his squad, the size of which was second only to the size of the squad of the Kyiv prince.
The period of the Novgorod reign of Yaroslav until 1014 is just as little described in the chronicles as the Rostov one. It is likely that from Rostov Yaroslav first went to Kyiv, and from there he left for Novgorod. He probably arrived there no earlier than 1011. Before Yaroslav, the Novgorod princes from the time of Rurik lived, as a rule, on the Settlement near Novgorod, but Yaroslav settled in Novgorod itself, which, by that time, was a significant settlement. His princely court was located on the Trade side of Volkhov, this place was called “Yaroslav’s courtyard”. In addition, Yaroslav also had a country residence in the village of Rakoma, located south of Novgorod.
It is likely that Yaroslav's first marriage dates back to this period. The name of his first wife is unknown, but presumably her name was Anna.
During excavations in Novgorod, archaeologists found the only copy of the lead seal of Yaroslav the Wise, which was once suspended from a princely charter. On one side of it are depicted the holy warrior George with a spear and shield and his name, on the second - a man in a cloak and helmet, relatively young, with a protruding mustache, but without a beard, as well as inscriptions on the sides of the chest figure: “Yaroslav. Prince Russian." Apparently, the seal contains a rather conventional portrait of the prince himself, a strong-willed man with a humped, predatory nose, whose dying appearance was reconstructed from the skull by the famous scientist - archaeologist and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov.
Rebellion against father
In 1014, Yaroslav resolutely refused to pay his father, the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, an annual lesson of two thousand hryvnia. Historians suggest that these actions of Yaroslav were connected with Vladimir’s intention to transfer the throne to one of his younger sons, the Rostov prince Boris, whom he brought closer to himself in recent years and transferred command of the princely squad, which actually meant the recognition of Boris as heir. It is possible that this is precisely why the eldest son Svyatopolk rebelled against Vladimir, who was then imprisoned (he remained there until his father’s death). And it was precisely this news that could prompt Yaroslav to oppose his father.
In order to confront his father, Yaroslav, according to the chronicle, hired the Varangians overseas, who arrived led by Eymund. Vladimir, who in recent years lived in the village of Berestovo near Kiev, ordered to “break the path and pave bridges” for the campaign, but fell ill. In addition, in June 1015, the Pechenegs invaded and the army gathered against Yaroslav, led by Boris, was forced to set off to repel the raid of the steppes, who, having heard about Boris’s approach, turned back.
At the same time, the Varangians hired by Yaroslav, doomed to inaction in Novgorod, began to cause unrest. According to the Novgorod first chronicle:
... the Varangians began to commit violence on their married wives
As a result, the Novgorodians, unable to withstand the violence committed, rebelled and killed the Varangians in one night. Yaroslav at this time was at his country residence in Rakom. Having learned about what had happened, he called to him representatives of the Novgorod nobility who participated in the rebellion, promising them forgiveness, and when they arrived to him, he brutally dealt with them. This happened in July - August 1015.
After this, Yaroslav received a letter from his sister Predslava, in which she reported about the death of his father and about the events that happened after that. This news forced Prince Yaroslav to make peace with the Novgorodians. He also promised to pay the viru for each person killed. And in subsequent events, the Novgorodians invariably supported their prince.
The struggle for the Kyiv throne
On July 15, 1015, Vladimir Svyatoslavich died in Berestovo, having not managed to extinguish his son’s rebellion. And Yaroslav began the fight for the Kiev throne with his brother Svyatopolk, who was released from prison and declared their prince by the rebellious Kyivians. In this struggle, which lasted four years, Yaroslav relied on the Novgorodians and the hired Varangian squad led by King Eymund.
In 1016, Yaroslav defeated the army of Svyatopolk near Lyubech and occupied Kyiv in late autumn. He generously rewarded the Novgorod squad, giving each warrior ten hryvnias. From the chronicles:
... And let them all go home, and having given them the truth, and having copied the charter, thus saying to them: walk according to this letter, just as I copied it for you, keep it in the same way
The victory at Lyubech did not end the fight with Svyatopolk: he soon approached Kyiv with the Pechenegs, and in 1018 the Polish king Boleslav the Brave, invited by Svyatopolk, defeated Yaroslav’s troops on the banks of the Bug, captured his sisters, wife Anna and Yaroslav’s stepmother in Kyiv and, instead In order to transfer the city (“table”) to his daughter’s husband Svyatopolk, he himself made an attempt to establish himself in it. But the people of Kiev, outraged by the furies of his squad, began to kill the Poles, and Boleslav had to hastily leave Kyiv, depriving Svyatopolk of military assistance. And Yaroslav, having returned to Novgorod after the defeat, prepared to flee “overseas.” But the Novgorodians, led by the mayor Konstantin Dobrynich, having chopped up his ships, told the prince that they wanted to fight for him with Boleslav and Svyatopolk. They collected money, concluded a new treaty with the Varangians of King Eymund and armed themselves. In the spring of 1019, this army, led by Yaroslav, carried out a new campaign against Svyatopolk. In the battle on the Alta River, Svyatopolk was defeated, his banner was captured, he himself was wounded, but escaped. King Eymund asked Yaroslav: “Will you order him to be killed or not?” - to which Yaroslav gave his consent:
... - I won’t do any of this: I won’t set anyone up for a (personal, chest-to-chest) battle with King Burisleif, nor will I blame anyone if he is killed.
Kyiv period
In 1019, Yaroslav married the daughter of the Swedish king Olaf Sjötkonung - Ingigerda, for whom the king of Norway Olaf Haraldson had previously wooed her, who dedicated his wife to her and subsequently married her younger sister Astrid. Ingigerda was baptized in Rus' with a consonant name - Irina. As a “wedding gift” from her husband, Ingigerda received the city of Aldeigaborg (Ladoga) with adjacent lands, which have since received the name Ingermanlandia (Ingigerda’s land).
In 1020, Yaroslav's nephew Bryachislav attacked Novgorod, but on the way back he was overtaken by Yaroslav on the Sudoma River, defeated here by his troops and fled, leaving behind prisoners and loot. Yaroslav pursued him and forced him to agree to peace terms in 1021, assigning two cities to his inheritance - Usvyat and Vitebsk.
In 1023, Yaroslav's brother - the Tmutarakan prince Mstislav - attacked with his allies the Khazars and Kasogs and captured Chernigov and the entire Left Bank of the Dnieper, and in 1024 Mstislav defeated Yaroslav's troops under the leadership of the Varangian Yakun near Listven (near Chernigov). Mstislav moved his capital to Chernigov and, sending ambassadors to Yaroslav, who had fled to Novgorod, offered to divide the lands along the Dnieper with him and stop the wars:
Sit down in your Kyiv, you are the elder brother, and let me have this side.
In 1025, Bolesław the Brave's son Mieszko II became king of Poland, and his two brothers, Bezprym and Otto, were expelled from the country and took refuge with Jarosław.
In 1026, Yaroslav, having gathered a large army, returned to Kyiv and made peace at Gorodets with his brother Mstislav, agreeing with his peace proposals. The brothers divided the lands along the Dnieper. The left bank was retained by Mstislav, and the right bank by Yaroslav. Yaroslav, being the Grand Duke of Kyiv, preferred to stay in Novgorod until 1036 (the time of Mstislav's death).
In 1028, the Norwegian king Olaf (later called the Saint) was forced to flee to Novgorod. He arrived there with his five-year-old son Magnus, leaving his mother Astrid in Sweden. In Novgorod, Ingigerda, the half-sister of Magnus's mother, Yaroslav's wife and Olaf's former fiancée, insisted that Magnus remain with Yaroslav after the king returned to Norway in 1030, where he died in the battle for the Norwegian throne.
In 1029, helping his brother Mstislav, he made a campaign against the Yases, expelling them from Tmutarakan. The following year, 1030, Yaroslav defeated Chud and founded the city of Yuryev (now Tartu, Estonia). In the same year he took Belz in Galicia. At this time, an uprising arose against King Mieszko II in the Polish land, the people killed bishops, priests and boyars. In 1031, Yaroslav and Mstislav, supporting Bezprym's claims to the Polish throne, gathered a large army and marched against the Poles, recaptured the cities of Przemysl and Cherven, conquered Polish lands, and, taking many Poles prisoner, divided them. Yaroslav resettled his prisoners along the Ros River. Shortly before this, in the same 1031, Harald III the Severe, king of Norway, half-brother of Olaf the Saint, fled to Yaroslav the Wise and served in his squad. As is commonly believed, he took part in Yaroslav's campaign against the Poles and was a co-leader of the army. Subsequently, Harald became Yaroslav's son-in-law, taking Elizabeth as his wife.
In 1034, Yaroslav installed his son Vladimir as prince of Novgorod. In 1036, Mstislav suddenly died while hunting, and Yaroslav, apparently fearing any claims to the Kiev reign, imprisoned his last brother, the youngest of the Vladimirovichs - the Pskov prince Sudislav - in a dungeon (cut). Only after these events did Yaroslav decide to move with his court from Novgorod to Kyiv.
In 1036, he defeated the Pechenegs and thereby freed Kievan Rus from their raids. In memory of the victory over the Pechenegs, the prince founded the famous Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv; artists from Constantinople were called to paint the temple.
In the same year, after the death of his brother Mstislav Vladimirovich, Yaroslav became the sole ruler of most of Rus', with the exception of the Principality of Polotsk, where his nephew Bryachislav reigned, and after the death of the latter in 1044 - Vseslav Bryachislavich.
In 1038, Yaroslav's troops made a campaign against the Yatvingians, in 1040 against Lithuania, and in 1041 a water expedition on boats to Mazovia. In 1042, his son Vladimir defeated the Yams, and during this campaign there was a large loss of horses. Around this time (1038-1043), the English prince Edward the Exile fled from Canute the Great to Yaroslav. In addition, in 1042, Prince Yaroslav the Wise provided great assistance in the struggle for the Polish royal throne to the grandson of Boleslav the Brave - Casimir I. Casimir married Yaroslav's sister - Maria, who became the Polish Queen Dobronega. This marriage was concluded in parallel with the marriage of Yaroslav’s son Izyaslav to Casimir’s sister, Gertrude, as a sign of alliance with Poland.
In 1043, Yaroslav, for the murder of “one famous Russian” in Constantinople, sent his son Vladimir, together with Harald Surov and governor Vyshata, on a campaign against Emperor Constantine Monomakh, in which hostilities unfolded on sea and land with varying success and which ended in peace concluded in 1046. In 1044, Yaroslav organized a campaign against Lithuania.
In 1045, Prince Yaroslav the Wise and Princess Irina (Ingegerda) went to Novgorod from Kyiv to visit their son Vladimir to lay the foundation stone for the St. Sophia Cathedral, instead of the burnt wooden one.
In 1047, Yaroslav the Wise broke the alliance with Poland.
In 1048, ambassadors of Henry I of France arrived in Kyiv to ask for the hand of Yaroslav's daughter Anna.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise lasted 37 years. Yaroslav spent the last years of his life in Vyshgorod.
Yaroslav the Wise died on February 20, 1054 in Vyshgorod on the holiday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the arms of his son Vsevolod, having outlived his wife Ingigerda by four years and his eldest son Vladimir by two years.
The inscription (graffiti) on the central nave of the St. Sophia Cathedral under the ktitor's fresco of Yaroslav the Wise himself, dated 1054, speaks of the death of “our king”: “In 6562 February 20 of the Ascension of our Tsar in (Sunday) in (n) food (lyu) (mu)ch Theodore.” In different chronicles, the exact date of Yaroslav’s death was determined differently: either February 19, or February 20. V. S. Drachuk explains these disagreements by the fact that Yaroslav died on the night from Saturday to Sunday. In Ancient Rus', there were two principles for determining the beginning of the day: in church reckoning - from midnight, in everyday life - from dawn. That is why the date of Yaroslav’s death is called differently: according to one account, it was still Saturday, and according to another, church account, it was already Sunday. Historian A. Karpov believes that the prince could have died on the 19th (according to the chronicle), but he was buried on the 20th.
However, the date of death is not accepted by all researchers. Professor Victor Ziborov dates this event to February 17, 1054.
Yaroslav was buried in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The six-ton marble sarcophagus of Yaroslav still stands in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. It was discovered in 1936, 1939 and 1964 and not always qualified research was carried out. Based on the results of the autopsy in January 1939, anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov created a sculptural portrait of the prince in 1940. His height was 175 cm. He had a Slavic type face, a medium-height forehead, a narrow bridge of the nose, a strongly protruding nose, large eyes, a sharply defined mouth (with almost all teeth, which was extremely rare in old age), and a sharply protruding chin. It is also known that he was lame (which is why he walked poorly): according to one version, from birth, according to another, as a result of being wounded in battle. Prince Yaroslav's right leg was longer than his left due to damage to the hip and knee joints. This may have been a consequence of hereditary Perthes disease.
According to the magazine Newsweek, when opening the box with the remains of Yaroslav the Wise on September 10, 2009, it was found that it contained, presumably, only the skeleton of Yaroslav’s wife, Princess Ingegerda. During the investigation conducted by journalists, a version was put forward that the remains of the prince were taken from Kyiv in 1943 during the retreat of German troops and are currently possibly at the disposal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA (the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople).
Marriages, children and dynastic connections
A. I. Trankovsky. Yaroslav the Wise and the Swedish Princess Ingigerda
- The first wife (before 1019) is presumably a Norwegian named Anna. She was captured in Kyiv in 1018 by the Polish king Boleslav the Brave along with Yaroslav's sisters and taken forever to Poland.
- Second wife (from 1019) - Ingegerda (in baptism Irina, in monasticism, possibly Anna); daughter of King Olaf Skötkonung of Sweden. Their children dispersed throughout Europe:
Sons
- Ilya (before 1018 -?) - possible son of Yaroslav the Wise from his first wife, who was taken to Poland. Hypothetical prince of Novgorod.
- Vladimir (1020-1052) - Prince of Novgorod.
- Izyaslav (Dmitry) (1024-1078) - married the sister of the Polish king Casimir I - Gertrude.
- Svyatoslav (Nicholas) (1027-1076) - Prince of Chernigov, it is believed that he was married twice: the first time in Killikia (or Cicilia, Cecilia), of unknown origin; the second time was probably on the Austrian princess Oda, daughter of Count Leopold.
- Vsevolod (Andrey) (1030-1093) - married a Greek princess (presumably the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh), from whose marriage Prince Vladimir Monomakh was born.
- Vyacheslav (1033-1057) - Prince of Smolensk.
- Igor (1036-1060) - Prince of Volyn. Some historians assign Igor fifth place among the sons of Yaroslav, in particular, based on the order of listing sons in the news of the will of Yaroslav the Wise and the news that after the death of Vyacheslav in Smolensk Igor was withdrawn from Vladimir (“The Tale of Bygone Years”).
Daughters
- Elizabeth became the wife of the Norwegian king Harald the Harsh.
- Anastasia became the wife of King Andras I of Hungary. In the city of Tichony, on the shores of Lake Balaton, a church was named in their honor and a monument was erected.
- Anna married King Henry I of France. In France, she became known as “the daughter of the King of Rus', Anna.” In France, in the city of Senlis, a monument was erected to Anna.
Holy relatives
The future Orthodox saint, noble prince Yaroslav (King Yaritsleiv) was the brother-in-law of the common Christian future saint, the Norwegian king Olaf the Saint - they were married to sisters: Yaroslav to his older sister, the future Orthodox saint Ingigerd, Olaf to his younger sister, Astrid.
Before that, both saints had one bride - Princess Ingigerd of Sweden (in Rus', the blessed princess Irina), who in the spring of 1018 agreed to marry Olaf of Norway and personally embroidered a cloak with a gold clasp for her groom, and in the fall of the same year, at the request of her father, she gave agreement to marry Yaroslav (the wedding took place in 1019). The romantic relationship between Olaf and Ingigerd from 1018 to 1030 is described in three Scandinavian sagas: “The Saga of Olaf the Holy”, “The Strands of Eymund”, etc. "Rotten skin." In 1029, Olaf, while in exile in Novgorod, wrote a visu (poem) about Ingigerd; part of it has survived to the present day. According to the sagas, Olaf in Novgorod in the winter of 1029/1030 showed two miracles of healing: in particular, he cured the seriously ill nine-year-old son of Yaroslav and Ingigerd, the future Orthodox saint Vladimir (Valdemar). After the death and glorification of Olaf in Novgorod, b. In the capital city of Yaroslav, the Church of St. Olaf, popularly nicknamed the “Varangian”, was erected.
The young son of the future Saint Olaf, Magnus the Good, was adopted by the future Saint Yaroslav the Wise after the death of his father, was brought up in his family, and upon reaching adulthood, with the help of his adoptive father, received back the throne of Norway, and then Denmark.
Also Yaroslav the Wise is the brother of the Orthodox, the first saints glorified in Rus' - princes Boris and Gleb, the father of the Orthodox saints Vladimir and Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, the grandfather of the locally revered Orthodox saint Vladimir Monomakh and the Catholic Hugo the Great, Count of Vermandois.
Yaroslav was buried in Sophia of Kyiv in the former six-ton Prokonesian marble tomb of the Holy Pope Clement, which his father Vladimir Svyatoslavich took from the Byzantine Chersonese he conquered. The tomb is still intact.
Controversial genealogy
There is also a point of view that Yaroslav the Wise had another daughter named Agatha, who became the wife of Edward the Exile, heir to the throne of England. Some researchers question the fact that Yaroslav was the son of Rogneda, and there is also a hypothesis that he had a wife, Anna, who died around 1018. Perhaps Anna was Norwegian, and in 1018 she was captured by Boleslav the Brave during the capture of Kyiv . There, a hypothesis is put forward that a certain Ilya is the “son of the King of Rus'” Yaroslav the Wise.
The origin of the wife of one of the sons - the German princess Oda, daughter of Leopold - is a controversial fact in terms of belonging to the Staden family (rulers of the North March) or the Babenbergs (rulers of Austria before the Habsburgs). It is also controversial whose wife Oda was - Vladimir, Svyatoslav or Vyacheslav. Today the dominant point of view is that Oda Leopoldovna was the wife of Svyatoslav and came from the Babenberg family.
Missing remains
In the 20th century, the Sarcophagus of Yaroslav the Wise was opened three times: in 1936, 1939 and 1964. In 2009, the tomb in the St. Sophia Cathedral was opened again, and the remains were sent for examination. During the autopsy, Soviet newspapers Izvestia and Pravda, dated 1964, were discovered. The results of a genetic examination published in March 2011 are as follows: the tomb contains not male, but only female remains, and they are composed of two skeletons, dating from completely different times: one skeleton from the times of Ancient Rus', and the second a thousand years older, that is, from the time of Scythian settlements . The remains of the Old Russian period, according to anthropologists, belong to a woman who did a lot of hard physical labor during her life - clearly not of a princely family. M. M. Gerasimov was the first to write about female remains among the found skeletons in 1939. Then it was announced that in addition to Yaroslav the Wise, other people were buried in the tomb. The trace of the ashes of Yaroslav the Wise can be traced to the icon of St. Nicholas the Wet, which was taken from the St. Sophia Cathedral by representatives of the UGCC, who retreated along with the German occupiers from Kyiv in the fall of 1943. The icon was discovered in the Holy Trinity Church (Brooklyn, New York, USA) in 1973. According to historians, the remains of the Grand Duke should also be looked for in the USA.
Historical significance
“Yaroslav the Legislator” (lithograph by B. A. Chorikov, 1836)
He founded Yuryev (now Tartu) (the first written mention of Tartu), Yaroslavl in the Volga region, Yuryev Russky, Yaroslavl in the Carpathian region and Novgorod-Seversky.
Thietmar of Merseburg already at this time considered Kyiv to be an extremely large city, with more than 400 churches and 8 markets. Another Western chronicler of the same century, Adam of Bremen, called Kyiv a rival of Constantinople, “the most beautiful pearl.”
Under Yaroslav, the first Russian monasteries arose. In 1030, Yaroslav founded the monasteries of St. George: Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod and the Kiev Pechersky Monastery in Kyiv; ordered throughout Rus' to “create a holiday” of St. George on November 26 (“St. George’s Day”). He published the Church Charter and the “Russian Truth” - a set of laws of ancient Russian feudal law. In 1051, having gathered bishops, he himself appointed Hilarion as metropolitan, for the first time without the participation of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Hilarion became the first Russian metropolitan. Intensive work began on translating Byzantine and other books into Church Slavonic and Old Russian languages. Huge amounts of money were spent on copying books. In 1028, the first large school was founded in Novgorod, in which about 300 children of priests and elders were gathered. With him appeared coins with the inscription "Yaroslavl silver". On one side of it Jesus Christ was depicted, on the other - St. George the Victorious, the patron of Yaroslav.
It is known that to maintain peace on the northern borders, Yaroslav annually sent the Varangians 300 hryvnia of silver. This payment was small, rather symbolic, but it ensured peace with the Varangians and protection of the northern lands.
M. D. Priselkov interpreted one of the translations of Yaroslav’s title as “emperor.” Metropolitan Hilarion called him “Kagan,” and in the fresco on the wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, telling about the death of the prince, Yaroslav Vladimirovich is called Caesar.
Veneration in Christianity
The noble prince Yaroslav the Wise began to be revered in Rus' immediately after his death. The first mention of this is in the “Acts of the High Priests of the Hamburg Church,” dating back to 1075, where a contemporary of the Grand Duke, chronographer Adam of Bremen, calls Yaroslav Vladimirovich saints. Yaroslav the Wise was not formally one of the saints of the Russian Orthodox Church.
On March 9, 2004, in connection with the 950th anniversary of his death, he was included in the calendar of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and on December 8, 2005, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II, February 20 (March 5) was included in the calendar as the day of remembrance of the blessed Prince Yaroslav the Wise. The determination of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 3, 2016 established church-wide veneration of the blessed prince Yaroslav the Wise.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate at the Local Council in 2008 canonized Yaroslav the Wise as a holy noble prince.
Image in culture
In medieval literature
Yaroslav is a traditional character in literary works of the hagiographic genre - Life of Boris and Gleb.
The very fact of the murder serves as a favorite theme for individual legends for ancient chroniclers. In total, “The Tale of Boris and Gleb” has been preserved in more than 170 copies, of which the oldest and most complete are attributed to the Monk Nestor and the monk Jacob Mnich.
It says, for example, that after the death of Vladimir, power in Kyiv was seized by Vladimir’s stepson Svyatopolk. Fearing the rivalry of the Grand Duke's own children - Boris, Gleb and others - Svyatopolk first of all sent assassins to the first contenders for the table in Kyiv - Boris and Gleb. A messenger sent from Yaroslav conveys to Gleb the news of the death of his father and the murder of his brother Boris... And now, saddened by grief, Prince Gleb sails along the river in a boat, and it is surrounded by the enemies who have overtaken him. He realized that this was the end, and said in a humble voice: “Since you have already started, when you start, do what you were sent to do.” And Yaroslav’s sister Predslava warns that their brother Svyatopolk is going to eliminate him too.
Yaroslav is also mentioned in the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion and in “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Vladimir” by Jacob Mnich.
Since Yaroslav was married to Ingegerd - the daughter of the Swedish king Olaf Skötkonung - and arranged dynastic marriages of his daughters, including Elizabeth (Ellisiv) - with the King of Norway Harald the Severe, he himself and his name are repeatedly mentioned in the Scandinavian sagas, where he appears under the name “Yarisleyva Konung Holmgard”, that is, Novgorod.
In 1834, St. Petersburg University professor O. Senkovsky, having translated “Eymund’s Saga” into Russian, discovers that the Varangian Eymund and his retinue were hired by Yaroslav the Wise. The saga tells how King Yarisleif (Yaroslav) fights with King Burisleif (Boris), and in the saga Burisleif is killed by the Varangians by order of Yarisleif. Then, some researchers, based on the saga about Eymund, supported the hypothesis that the death of Boris was the “work of the Varangians” sent by Yaroslav the Wise in 1017, given that, according to the chronicles, Yaroslav, Bryachislav and Mstislav refused to recognize Svyatopolk as the legitimate prince in Kyiv.
However, Senkovsky’s hypothesis, based solely on the data of the “Saga of Eymund”, an active supporter of which is currently the historian and source scientist I. N. Danilevsky, proves the possible “involvement” of Yaroslav only in the murder of Boris (“Buritsleiv”), but not Gleb , which is not mentioned at all in the saga.
At the same time, it is known that after the death of Prince Vladimir, only two brothers - Boris and Gleb - declared their allegiance to the new Kyiv prince and pledged to “honor him as their father,” and for Svyatopolk it would be very strange to kill his allies. To date, this hypothesis has both its supporters and opponents.
Also, historians, starting with S. M. Solovyov, suggest that the story of the death of Boris and Gleb was clearly inserted into the Tale of Bygone Years later, otherwise the chronicler would not have repeated again about the beginning of the reign of Svyatopolk in Kyiv.
Wisdom of Yaroslav
Old Russian chroniclers raise the topic of Yaroslav’s wisdom, starting with the “praise of books” placed under 1037 in the “Tale of Bygone Years”, which, according to them, consisted in the fact that Yaroslav was wise because he built the churches of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv and Novgorod, that is, he dedicated the main temples of the cities of Sofia - the wisdom of God, to which the main temple of Constantinople is dedicated. Thus, Yaroslav declares that the Russian Church is on a par with the Byzantine Church. Having mentioned wisdom, chroniclers, as a rule, reveal this concept by referring to the Old Testament Solomon.
In painting
The oldest of the portraits of the Kyiv prince was made during his lifetime on the famous fresco in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. Unfortunately, part of the fresco with portraits of Yaroslav and his wife Ingegerda has been lost. Only a copy of A. van Westerfeld, the court painter of the Lithuanian hetman A. Radzivil, made in 1651 from an entire fresco, has survived.
In sculpture
The famous sculptor and anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov reconstructed Yaroslav's face based on his skull. The sculptural image of Yaroslav was created by M. O. Mikeshin and I. N. Schroeder in the monument “Millennium of Russia” in 1862 in Novgorod.
Monuments to Yaroslav the Wise were erected in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv, Chernigov, Kharkov (Ukraine) and Yaroslavl (Russia).
Monument in the city of Bila Tserkva
2 hryvnia, 1995
2 hryvnia, 2003
Ukrainian commemorative coin 10 hryvnia, dedicated to Yaroslav the Wise
In music
- Cantata “Yaroslav the Wise” by Alexander Rosenblat - a vocal-symphonic picture for soloists, choir and orchestra in 11 parts, poetic libretto by P. Gladilin. The premiere took place in 2002 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Performers: State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia named after Svetlanov, choir of the Academy of Choral Art (artistic director V. Popov) under the direction of conductor V. Kozhukhar invited from Kyiv.
In cinema
- Yaroslavna, Queen of France (1978; USSR) directed by Igor Maslennikov, in the role Prince Yaroslav Kirill Lavrov.
- Yaroslav the Wise (1981; USSR) directed by Grigory Kokhan, in the role Yaroslav Yuri Muravitsky, Yaroslav in childhood Mark Gres.
- Yaroslav. A thousand years ago (2010; Russia) directed by Dmitry Korobkin, in the role Yaroslav Alexander Ivashkevich.
In fiction
- He is a minor character in the historical novels by Valentin Ivanov “Great Rus'” (1961), by Antonin Ladinsky “Anna Yaroslavna - Queen of France” (1973), in the historical story by Elizaveta Dvoretskaya “The Treasure of Harald”, as well as in the story by Boris Akunin “The Fiery Finger” (2014 ).
Other
- Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise
- National Law University named after Yaroslav the Wise (Kharkov)
- State award of Ukraine - Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
- Yaroslav the Wise (patrol ship)
Quotes
- “If you live in hatred, in strife and quarrels, you will perish yourself and destroy the land of your fathers and grandfathers, who obtained it through their great labor...”(The Tale of Bygone Years under 1054, translation by D. S. Likhachev)
Historical facts
- In 2008, Yaroslav the Wise took first place in the television project “Great Ukrainians”.
- The “Library of Yaroslav the Wise” has become legendary, which is often compared to the “Library of Ivan the Terrible”.
- On September 10, 2009, the opening of the marble sarcophagus of the Grand Duke of Kyiv took place in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Sophia of Kiev National Reserve. His relics were not found in the tomb (they were present during the pre-war autopsy). According to the Russian Newsweek magazine, they are in the USA (probably taken from Kyiv during the German occupation in 1943).
- Yaroslav the Wise founded the following cities: Yaroslavl on the Volga and Yaroslavl in modern Poland (named after him), Yuryev (Gyurgev, named after his patron saint George the Victorious), Yuryev the Russian.
