Vseslav of Polotsk - His Life

His Life

Vselav was the son of Bryachislav Izyaslavich, Prince of Polotsk and Vitebsk, and was thus the great-grandson of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. He was born in ca. 1030–1039 in Polotsk (with Vasilii as his baptismal name) and married around 1060.

He took the throne of Polotsk in 1044 upon his father's death, and although since 1093 he was the senior member of the Rurik Dynasty for his generation, since his father had not been prince in Kiev, Vseslav was excluded (izgoi) from the grand princely succession. In fact, since he was the only major prince in Rus not descended from Yaroslav, he was, according to Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, "an outsider from within"

Unable to secure the capital, which was held by Yaroslav's three sons, Vseslav started pillaging the northern areas of Kievan Rus. In 1065, he laid siege to Pskov but was thrown back. In the winter of 1066-1067, he pillaged and burnt Novgorod the Great, removing the bell and other religious objects from the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom and bringing them to decorate his own cathedral of the same name in Polotsk. His attack threatened to cut the sons of Yaroslav in the Middle Dnieper region off from Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and the far north, important sources of men, trade, and income (in furs for example) for the Rus princes in the Middle Dnieper. The attack also forced the young Mstislav, then enthroned in Novgorod, to flee back to his father, Iziaslav, in Kiev, and was thus and affront to the Kievan grand prince. The Yaroslavichi joined forces and marched north, sacking Minsk (then under the control of Polotsk) and defeating Vseslav in battle on the Nemiga River on March 3, 1067 Vseslav fled but was treacherously captured during the peace talks in June, when Iziaslav violated his oath. He was then imprisoned in Kiev.