Vsevolod IV of Kiev - Prince of Chernigov and His Struggle For Kiev

Prince of Chernigov and His Struggle For Kiev

In 1201, Vsevolod’s brother, Oleg Svyatoslavich pledged loyalty to grand prince Rurik Rostislavich of Kiev who had summoned the Olgovichi to campaign against prince Roman Mstislavich of Halych. The latter, however, pre-empted their attack, and the Kievans opened the gates of the podol’ to him; he forced Ryurik Rostislavich and the Olgovichi to capitulate.

On January 2, 1203, Ryurik Rostislavich and the Olgovichi re-captured Kiev. Ryurik Rostislavich avenged himself against the Kievans; the chronicler declares that his devastation exceeded that caused by all previous attacks. Ryurik Rostislavich had no intention of occupying the town, but he could not leave Kiev without a prince for fear that it would return into Roman Mstislavich’s hand. Accordingly, Vsevolod occupied the town.

However, Ryurik Rostislavich evidently appointed his ally to Kiev until he could settle his dispute with Roman Mstislavich and be reinstated. In February, Roman Mstislavich marched against Ryurik Rostislavich; the latter submitted to him and to Vsevolod III Yuryevich. Roman Mstislavich also advised him to ask Vsevolod Yuryevich to reinstate him in Kiev and promised to support his request. Consequently, the grand prince of Vladimir forgave Ryurik Rostislavich and reappointed him to the town which forced him to sever ties with the Olgovichi. Some month later, however, Roman Mstislavich seized Ryurik Rostislavich and had him tonsured as a monk.

Under the year 1204, a number of chronicles state that Oleg Svyatoslavich of Chernigov died, while others add that his son died with him. The chroniclers do not identify Oleg’s successor at the time of his death, but later evidence confirms that his brother, Vsevolod replaced him. We may assume that, with the demise of Oleg Svyatoslavich’s family, Vsevolod appropriated his brother’s domains along with the territories Oleg himself had taken from his elder brother, Vladimir Svyatoslavich; thus, with the extinction of the lines of his two elder brothers, Vsevolod’s family became the most powerful line of the Olgovichi.

On June 29, 1205, Roman Mstislavich died, and two sons survived him: Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich. The Olgovichi marched to Kiev and met Ryurik Rostislavich who had reinstated himself there; they made a pact to attack Halych. The Olgovichi had presumably promised that, in exchange for Halych, they would support Ryurik Rostislavich’s rule in Kiev. Although, they achieved nothing in Halych, Ryurik Rostislavich paid Vsevolod for his support by giving him Belgorod; Vsevolod, in turn, handed it over to his brother Gleb Svyatoslavich.

In the early summer of 1206, Vsevolod assembled all the Olgovichi for a snem (a meeting) in Chernigov presumably to organize a second campaign against Halych. Vsevolod also invited prince Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk; his Polish in-laws also brought troops, and at Kiev, Ryurik Rostislavich joined them with his troops. When the Galicians and Daniil Romanovich heard how large a force had assembled against them, they asked the king Andrew II of Hungary for help; even so, Daniil Romanovich fled to his patrimony of Volodymyr-Volynskyi. Meanwhile, Andrew II crossed the mountains and sent messengers to prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (a son of grand prince Vsevolod III Yuryevich) inviting him to rule Halych.

On hearing that the Hungarians stood poised for battle near Volodymyr-Volynskyi, the Olgovichi dared not attack Halych. For many days neither side made a move; finally, after the king negotiated peace with the Poles and returned home, the Olgovichi also withdrew.

At that time, the Galicians sent word in secret to Vladimir Igorevich (Vsevolod’s cousin) asking him to rule Halych. On receiving their invitation, Vladimir Igorevich stole away at night from the Olgovichi without informing Vsevolod; he rode to Halych, and occupied it. The Galicians also gave domains to Vladimir Igorevich’s brothers. The sources do not report the fate of Novhorod-Siverskyi and the Poseme towns (along the Seym River) after the Igorevichi vacated them; to judge from an earlier example of absentee prince, the vacated towns were probably administered by Vsevolod.

After Vsevolod failed to take Halych, he took advantage of the large force at his disposal, snatched Kiev from Ryurik Rostislavich, and forced him to withdraw to Vruchiy. Vsevolod also sent his posadniki to all the Kievan towns. There can be no doubt that Vsevolod made generous concessions to the Rostislavichi (the members of the dynasty of Smolensk) to win their support: Ryurik Rostislavich’s son, Rostislav Rurikovich returned to Vyshgorod and his nephew Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk seized Belgorod. Vsevolod, however, evicted Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from Pereyaslavl, and in September, he returned to his father (grand prince Vsevolod III Yuryevich) in Suzdalia.

Although his brother, Mstislav Svyatoslavich was next in line for a major domain after his elder brother Gleb Svyatoslavich occupied Chernigov following Vsevolod’s seizure of Kiev, Vsevolod bypassed his brother and gave Pereyaslavl to his son Mikhail Vsevolodovich.

However, Ryurik Rostislavich, the erstwhile monk, was determined to regain control of Kiev. Consequently, soon after Vsevolod occupied the town, Ryurik Rostislavich expelled him with relative ease. This is not surprising because the troops that had helped Vsevolod to capture Kiev had returned home. His failure to barricade himself in Kiev also suggests that the townsmen deserted him, and he withdrew to Chernigov.

At the beginning of 1207, Vsevolod marched against Kiev, but this time his attacking force constituted only his brothers Gleb and Mstislav Svyatoslavich with their sons; the Cumans came in the main to pillage. They pillaged around Kiev for 3 weeks but accomplished nothing and withdrew.

Some time in the summer of 1207, Vsevolod assembled his brothers, his nephews, the Cumans, and the princes of Turov and Pinsk; prince Vladimir Igorevich of Halych also came to his aid. He approached Kiev via Trepol in order to disable Kiev’s southern outposts and deprive Ryurik Rostislavich of their military assistance. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Ryurik Rostislavich fled to Vruchiy even before the Olgovichi reached Kiev. Vsevolod besieged Belgorod, where Mstislav Romanovich had barricaded himself, and forced him to flee to Smolensk. Next, he attacked Ryurik Rostislavich’s nephew, Mstislav Mstislavich in Torchesk. Mstislav Mstislavich put up such a valiant resistance; however, when Vsevolod unleashed the Cumans onto his lands, Mstislav capitulated in order to stop their atrocities. In the light of Ryurik Rostislavich’s flight and Vsevolod’s victories, the Kievans opened their gates.

On hearing that Vsevolod had expelled Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from Pereyaslavl, his father Vsevolod III Yuryevich summoned his eldest son Konstantin Vsevolodovich from Novgorod, prince Roman Glebovich of Ryazan with his brothers, and prince David Yuryevich of Murom. On August 19, Vsevolod Yuryevich set out for the river Oka to meet the princes of Ryazan. After the latter arrived, two of the princelings accused their uncles of conspiring with the Olgovichi against Vsevolod Yuryevich; after satisfying himself that the accused were guilty, he took them captive on September 22 and carted them off to Vladimir. Then Vsevolod Yuryevich marched against Pronsk, where Vsevolod’s son-in-law Mikhail Vsevolodovich was prince who fled to his father-in-law. On October 18 Vsevolod Yuryevich captured Pronsk and took Mikhail Vsevolodovich’s wife (Vsevolod’s daughter) captive. After devastating the lands of Ryazan, Vsevolod Yuryevich returned home without attacking Chernigov.

When Ryurik Rostislavich learnt that Vsevolod Yuryevich was devastating Ryazan, he rode post-haste to Kiev, drove out Vsevolod, and occupied the town. Vsevolod fled from Kiev with his wife and children. Vsevolod launched an attack against Kiev in late February 1208, but he accomplished nothing, and he must have derived some satisfaction from pillaging the environs of Kiev. However, Ryurik Rostislavich died in that year, and thus Vsevolod became the only claimant to the capital of Rus’, and he occupied Kiev.