In the Rus metropolitan archive are preserved six yarlyki (constituting the so-called Short Collection) considered to be translations into Russian of authentic patents issued from the Qipchaq Khanate: (1) from Khan Tiuliak (Tulunbek) of Ma-mai’s Horde to Metropolitan Mikhail (Mtia) (1379); (2) from Khatun Taydula to the Rus’ princes (1347); (3) from Khan Mengu-Temir to Metropolitan Peter (1308); (4) from Khatun Taydula to Metropolitan Feognost (1343); (5) from Khan Berdibek to Metropolitan Alexei (1357); and (6) from Khatun
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
Taydula to Metropolitan Alexei (1354). A seventh yarlyk, which purports to be from Khan ?zbeg to Metropolitan Peter (found in the so-called full collection) has been determined to be a sixteenth-century forgery. The yarlyki to the metropolitans affirm the freedom of the Church from taxes and tributes, and declare that the Church’s property should be protected from expropriation or damage as long as Rus churchmen pray for the well- being of the khan and his family. See also: GOLDEN HORDE
(d. 980), son of Svyatoslav and the grandson of Igor and Olga; fourth grand prince of Kiev.
The date of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich’s birth is unknown, but the Primary Chronicle reports that in 968 he and his two brothers were under Olga’s care. In 970 their father Svyatoslav gave Kiev to Yaropolk, the Derevlyane lands to Oleg, and Novgorod (after Yaropolk and Oleg rejected it) to their half-brother Vladimir. Yaropolk married a Greek woman, a former nun whom Svyatoslav had taken captive. In 973, after the death of his father, Yaropolk became the grand prince of Kiev. In 977, after Oleg killed the son of Yaropolk’s commander Sveneld while on a hunting trip, Yaropolk avenged his death by attacking Oleg. The latter died in battle, and Yaropolk appropriated his domain. When Vladimir learned of Oleg’s fate, he feared for his own life and fled to Scandinavia to seek aid from the Varangians. Yaropolk then appointed his man to Novgorod and became sole ruler in all Rus. In 980 Vladimir returned to Novgorod and attacked Yaropolk because the latter had killed Oleg and refused to divide Oleg’s domain with him. On June 11, 980, Vladimir’s men treacherously killed Yaropolk. Vladimir then took Yaropolk’s pregnant wife to himself, and she gave birth to Svyatopolk, who would later have Vladimir’s sons Boris and Gleb murdered. In 1044 Vladimir’s son Yaroslav “the Wise” exhumed the bodies of Yaropolk and Oleg, baptized them, and buried them in the Church of the Mother of God (the Tithe Church) in Kiev. See also: GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; OLGA; PRIMARY CHRONICLE; SVYATOPOLK I; VLADIMIR, ST.; YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dimnik, Martin. (1996). “Succession and Inheritance in Rus’ before 1054.” Mediaeval Studies 58:87-117. Vernadsky, George. (1948). Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press.
(c. 980-1054), Yaroslav “the wise”; grand prince of Kiev which he secured for his family; the main agent of the so-called Golden Age of Kievan Rus.
Yaroslav’s father was Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Christianizer of Rus, and his mother was Princess Rogneda of Polotsk, of Scandinavian ancestry. Vladimir first sent Yaroslav to Rostov, but around 1010 transferred him to Novgorod. While there, he developed close ties with the townspeople and the Varangians of Scandinavia. He also minted coins and issued two charters granting the Nov-gorodians special privileges. In 1014 Yaroslav rebelled against his father by refusing to pay the annual tribute. He summoned Varangians to help him fend off the expected punitive attack, but before Vladimir could set out from Kiev, he died. Svyatopolk, his eldest surviving son succeeded him and decided to consolidate his rule by eliminating his half-brothers, beginning with Boris, Gleb, and Svyatoslav.
After Yaroslav learned of his father’s death and Svyatopolk’s treachery, he marched south with the Varangians and the Novgorodians. In 1016 his forces confronted Svyatopolk and the Pechenegs around Lyubech and defeated them. Svyatopolk fled to the Poles, and Yaroslav occupied Kiev. In 1018, however, Svyatopolk returned with his father-in-law, Boleslaw I, and forced Yaroslav to flee to Novgorod. In 1019, after the king returned home, Yaroslav evicted Svyatopolk from Kiev once again and occupied it a second time. Nevertheless, his rule was not secure. Taking advantage of his absence from Novgorod, Bryacheslav Izyaslavich of Polotsk captured the town and took many captives, forcing Yaroslav to attack him and free the Novgorodians. A greater threat to his power came in 1024, when Yaroslav’s brother Mstislav of Tmutarakan attempted to take Kiev from him while he was looking after northern affairs. Yaroslav brought the Novgorodians against Mstislav, but the latter defeated him at Listven west of Chernigov. All the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
1701
same, Mstislav did not occupy Kiev but took Chernigov and the entire left bank of the Dnieper. In 1026, therefore, Chernigov and Kiev became two autonomous domains, with Yaroslav, the elder brother, enjoying seniority in Kiev. When Mstislav died without an heir around 1034, Yaroslav repossessed Chernigov and the left bank. After he imprisoned his only surviving brother Sudislav, he became sole ruler of the entire land except for Polotsk, which remained independent of Kiev.
Yaroslav also waged war against external enemies. In the early 1030s he recaptured the Cher-ven towns that Boleslaw I had seized. In the 1040s he strengthened his ties with Casimir I by forming marriage alliances with him and by sending him military aid. He was also the first prince of Kiev to form marriage ties with the Germans and the French. He was married to Ingigerd, the daughter of the King of Sweden. In the 1030s and 1040s he expanded Novgorod’s western and northern frontiers into the neighboring lands of the Lithuanians and the Chud, where he founded the outpost of Yurev (Tartu). To the south, Yaroslav encountered no serious aggression from the Pechenegs after 1036, when they failed to capture Kiev. In 1043, however, he organized an unsuccessful expedition against Constantinople. Historians do not concur on his motive for attacking the Greeks. Nevertheless, he restored good relations with them and concluded a marriage alliance with the imperial family three years later.
Yaroslav made Kiev his political and ecclesiastical capital and strove to make it the intellectual, cultural, and economic center in imitation of Constantinople. He founded monasteries and churches such as the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev, the metropolitan’s church. Around 1051, evidently in an unsuccessful attempt to assert the independence of the Church in Rus from Constantinople, he appointed Hilarion as the first native metropolitan of Kiev. Yaroslav promoted the writing and translation of religious and secular texts, assembled a library, and brought scribes and master builders from Byzantium. His secular building projects, such as the new court and the defensive rampart around Kiev, its Golden Gate adorned with a chapel, enhanced the capital’s prestige. Yaroslav issued a Church Statute and the first version of the first written code of civil law (Russkaya Pravda). He bequeathed to each of his sons a patrimonial domain. In an effort to ensure a peaceful transition of power in the future, and to keep the land unified, Yaroslav issued his so-called Testament. In it he outlined the
1702
order of succession to Kiev that his sons and their descendants were to follow. He designated Izyaslav, his eldest surviving son, as his immediate successor. Yaroslav died on February 20, 1054, and was buried in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. See also: CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, KIEV; GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; HILARION, METROPOLITAN; MSTISLAV; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; PECHENEGS; SVYATOPOLK I; VIKINGS; VLADIMIR, ST.
Cross, Samuel Hazzard, and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P., eds. (1973). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Lau- rentian Text. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America. Dimnik, Martin. (1987). “The Testament’ of Iaroslav ‘The Wise’: A Re-examination.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 29(4):369-386. Dimnik, Martin. (1996). “Succession and Inheritance in Rus’ before 1054.” Mediaeval Studies 58:87-117. Franklin, Simon, and Shepard, Jonathan. (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia 980 -1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Vernadsky, George. (1948). Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale
