REIGNS OF VLADEMER, YAROSLAF, YSIASLAF AND VSEVOLOD
From 973 to 1092.
Flight of Vlademer.--His Stolen Bride.--The March Upon
Kief.--Debauchery of Valdemar.--Zealous Paganism.--Introduction of
Christianity.--Baptism in the Dnieper.--Entire Change in the Character
of Valdemar.--His Great Reforms.--His Death.--Usurpation of Sviatopolk
the Miserable.--Accession of Yaroslaf.--His Administration And
Death.--Accession of Ysiaslaf.--His Strange Reverses.--His
Death.--Vsevolod Ascends the Throne.--His Two Flights to
Poland.--Appeals to the Pope.--Wars, Famine And Pestilence.--Character
of Vsevolod.
Though Vlademer had fled from Russia, it was by no means with the
intention of making a peaceful surrender of his realms to his
ambitious brother. For two years he was incessantly employed, upon the
shores of the Baltic, the home of his ancestors, in gathering
adventurers around his flag, to march upon Novgorod, and chase from
thence the lieutenants of Yaropolk. He at length, at the head of a
strong army, triumphantly entered the city. Half way between Novgorod
and Kief, was the city and province of Polotsk. The governor was a
Norman named Rovgolod. His beautiful daughter Rogneda was affianced to
Yaropolk, and they were soon to be married. Vlademer sent embassadors
to Rovgolod soliciting an alliance, and asking for the hand of his
daughter.
The proud princess, faithful to Yaropolk, returned the stinging reply,
that _she would never marry the son of a slave_. We have before
mentioned that the mother of Vlademer was not the wife of his father.
She was one of the maids of honor of Olga. This insult roused the
indignation of Vlademer to the highest pitch. Burning with rage he
marched suddenly upon Polotsk, took the city by storm, killed Rovgolod
and his two sons and compelled Rogneda, his captive, to marry him,
paying but little attention to the marriage ceremony. Having thus
satiated his vengeance, he marched upon Kief, with a numerous army,
composed of chosen warriors from various tribes. Yaropolk, alarmed at
the strength with which his brother was approaching, did not dare to
give him battle, but accumulated all his force behind the ramparts of
Kief. The city soon fell into the hands of Vlademer, and Yaropolk,
basely betrayed by one of his generals, was assassinated by two
officers of Vlademer, acting under his authority.
Vlademer was now in possession of the sovereign power, and he
displayed as much energy in the administration of affairs as he had
shown in the acquisition of the crown. He immediately imposed a heavy
tax upon the Russians, to raise money to pay his troops. Having
consolidated his power he became a very zealous supporter of the old
pagan worship, rearing several new idols upon the sacred hill, and
placing in his palace a silver statue of Péroune. His soul seems to
have been harrowed by the consciousness of crime, and he sought, by
the cruel rites of a debasing superstition, to appease the wrath of
the Gods.
Still remorse did not prevent him from plunging into the most
revolting excesses of debauchery. The chronicles of those times state
that he had three hundred concubines in one of his palaces, three
hundred in another at Kief, and two hundred at one of his country
seats. It is by no means certain that these are exaggerations, for
every beautiful maiden in the empire was sought out, to be transferred
to his harems. Paganism had no word of remonstrance to utter against
such excesses. But Vlademer, devoted as he was to sensual indulgence,
was equally fond of war. His armies were ever on the move, and the cry
of battle was never intermitted. On the south-east he extended his
conquests to the Carpathian mountains, where they skirt the plains of
Hungary. In the north-west he extended his sway, by all the energies
of fire and blood, even to the shores of the Baltic, and to the Gulf
of Finland.
Elated beyond measure by his victories, he attributed his success to
the favor of his idol gods, and resolved to express his homage by
offerings of human blood. He collected a number of handsome boys and
beautiful girls, and drew lots to see which of them should be offered
in sacrifice. The lot fell upon a fine boy from one of the Christian
families. The frantic father interposed to save his child. But the
agents of Vlademer fell fiercely upon them, and they both were slain
and offered in sacrifice. Their names, Ivan and Theodore, are still
preserved in the Russian church as the first Christian martyrs of
Kief.
A few more years of violence and crime passed away, when Vlademer
became the subject of that marvelous change which, nine hundred years
before, had converted the persecuting Saul into the devoted apostle.
The circumstances of his conversion are very peculiar, and are very
minutely related by Nestor. Other recitals seem to give authenticity
to the narrative. For some time Vlademer had evidently been in much
anxiety respecting the doom which awaited him beyond the grave. He
sent for the teachers of the different systems of religion, to explain
to him the peculiarities of their faith. First came the Mohammedans
from Bulgaria; then the Jews from Jerusalem; then the Christians from
the papal church at Rome, and then Christians from the Greek church at
Constantinople. The Mohammedans and the Jews he rejected promptly, but
was undecided respecting the claims of Rome and Constantinople. He
then selected ten of the wisest men in his kingdom and sent them to
visit Rome and Constantinople and report in which country divine
worship was conducted in the manner most worthy of the Supreme Being.
The embassadors returning to Kief, reported warmly in favor of the
Greek church. Still the mind of Vlademer was oppressed with doubts. He
assembled a number of the most virtuous nobles and asked their advice.
The question was settled by the remark of one who said, "Had not the
religion of the Greek church been the best, the sainted Olga would not
have accepted it."
This wonderful event is well authenticated; Nestor gives a recital of
it in its minute details; and an old Greek manuscript, preserved in
the royal library at Paris, records the visit of these ambassadors to
Rome and Constantinople. Vlademer's conversion, however, seems, at
this time, to have been intellectual rather than spiritual, a change
in his policy of administration rather than a change of heart. Though
this external change was a boundless blessing to Russia, there is but
little evidence that Vlademer then comprehended that moral renovation
which the gospel of Christ effects as its crowning glory. He saw the
absurdity of paganism; he felt tortured by remorse; perhaps he felt in
some degree the influence of the gospel which was even then faithfully
preached in a few churches in idolatrous Kief; and he wished to
elevate Russia above the degradation of brutal idolatry.
He deemed it necessary that his renunciation of idolatry and adoption
of Christianity should be accompanied with pomp which should produce a
wide-spread impression upon Russia. He accordingly collected an
immense army, descended the Dnieper in boats, sailed across the Black
Sea, and entering the Gulf of Cherson, near Sevastopol, after several
bloody battles took military possession of the Crimea. Thus
victorious, he sent an embassage to the emperors Basil and Constantine
at Constantinople, that he wished the young Christian princess Anne
for his bride, and that if they did not promptly grant his request, he
would march his army to attack the city.
The emperors, trembling before the approach of such a power, replied
that they would not withhold from him the hand of the princess if he
would first embrace Christianity. Vlademer of course assented to this,
which was the great object he had in view; but demanded that the
princess, who was a sister of the emperors, should first be sent to
him. The unhappy maiden was overwhelmed with anguish at the reception
of these tidings. She regarded the pagan Russians as ferocious
savages; and to be compelled to marry their chief was to her a doom
more dreadful than death.
But policy, which is the religion of cabinets, demanded the sacrifice.
The princess, weeping in despair, was conducted, accompanied by the
most distinguished ecclesiastics and nobles of the empire, to the camp
of Vlademer, where she was received with the most gorgeous
demonstrations of rejoicing. The whole army expressed their
gratification by all the utterances of triumph. The ceremony of
baptism was immediately performed in the church of St. Basil, in the
city of Cherson, and then, at the same hour, the marriage rites with
the princess were solemnized. Vlademer ordered a large church to be
built at Cherson in memory of his visit. He then returned to Kief,
taking with him some preachers of distinction; a communion service
wrought in the most graceful proportions of Grecian art, and several
exquisite specimens of statuary and sculpture, to inspire his subjects
with a love for the beautiful.
He accepted the Christian teachers as his guides, and devoted himself
with extraordinary zeal to the work of persuading all his subjects to
renounce their idol-worship and accept Christianity. Every measure was
adopted to throw contempt upon paganism. The idols were collected and
burned in huge bonfires. The sacred statue of Péroune, the most
illustrious of the pagan Gods, was dragged ignominiously through the
streets, pelted with mud and scourged with whips, until at last,
battered and defaced, it was dragged to the top of a precipice and
tumbled headlong into the river, amidst the derision and hootings of
the multitude.
Our zealous new convert now issued a decree to all the people of
Russia, rich and poor, lords and slaves, to repair to the river in the
vicinity of Kief to be baptized. At an appointed day the people
assembled by thousands on the banks of the Dnieper. Vlademer at length
appeared, accompanied by a great number of Greek priests. The signal
being given, the whole multitude, men, women and children, waded
slowly into the stream. Some boldly advanced out up to their necks in
the water; others, more timid, ventured only waist deep. Fathers and
mothers led their children by the hand. The priests, standing upon the
shore, read the baptismal prayers, and chaunted the praises of God,
and then conferred the name of Christians upon these barbarians. The
multitude then came up from the water.
Vlademer was in a transport of joy. His strange soul was not
insensible to the sublimity of the hour and of the scene. Raising his
eyes to heaven he uttered the following prayer:
"Creator of heaven and earth, extend thy blessing to these thy new
children. May they know thee as the true God, and be strengthened by
thee in the true religion. Come to my help against the temptations of
the evil spirit, and I will praise thy name."
Thus, in the year 988, paganism was, by a blow, demolished in Russia,
and nominal Christianity introduced throughout the whole realm. A
Christian church was erected upon the spot where the statue of Péroune
had stood. Architects were brought from Constantinople to build
churches of stone in the highest artistic style. Missionaries were
sent throughout the whole kingdom, to instruct the people in the
doctrines of Christianity, and to administer the rite of baptism.
Nearly all the people readily received the new faith. Some, however,
attached to the ancient idolatry, refused to abandon it. Vlademer,
nobly recognizing the rights of conscience, resorted to no measures of
violence. The idolaters were left undisturbed save by the teachings of
the missionaries. Thus for several generations idolatry held a
lingering life in the remote sections of the empire. Schools were
established for the instruction of the young, learned teachers from
Greece secured, and books of Christian biography translated into the
Russian tongue.
Vlademer had then ten sons. Three others were afterwards born to him.
He divided his kingdom into ten provinces or states, over each of
which he placed one of these sons as governor. On the frontiers of the
empire he caused cities, strongly fortified, to be erected as
safeguards against the invasion of remote barbarians. For several
years Russia enjoyed peace with but trivial interruptions. The
character of Vlademer every year wonderfully improved. Under his
Christian teachers he acquired more and more of the Christian spirit,
and that spirit was infused into all his public acts. He became the
father of his people, and especially the friend and helper of the
poor. The king was deeply impressed with the words of our Saviour,
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," and with the
declaration of Solomon, "He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the
Lord."
In the excess of his zeal of benevolence he was disposed to forgive
all criminals. Thus crime was greatly multiplied, and the very
existence of the state became endangered. The clergy, in a body,
remonstrated with him, assuring him that God had placed him upon the
throne expressly that he might punish the wicked and thus protect the
good. He felt the force of this reasoning, and instituted, though with
much reluctance, a more rigorous government. War had been his passion.
In this respect also his whole nature seemed to be changed, and
nothing but the most dire necessity could lead him to an appeal to
arms. The princess Anne appears to have been a sincere Christian, and
to have exerted the most salutary influence upon the mind of her
husband. In the midst of these great measures of reform, sudden
sickness seized Vlademer in his palace, and he died, in the year 1015,
so unexpectedly that he appointed no successor. His death caused
universal lamentations, and thousands crowded to the church of Notre
Dame, to take a last look of their beloved sovereign, whose body
reposed there for a time in state, in a marble coffin. The remains
were then deposited by the side of his last wife, the Christian
princess Anne, who had died a few years before. The Russian historian,
Karamsin, says:
"This prince, whom the church has recognized as equal to the apostles,
merits from history the title of Great. It is God alone who can know
whether Vlademer was a true Christian at heart, or if he were
influenced simply by political considerations. It is sufficient for us
to state that, after having embraced that divine religion, Vlademer
appears to have been sanctified by it, and he developed a totally
different character from that which he exhibited when involved in the
darkness of paganism."
One of the sons of Vlademer, whose name was Sviatopolk, chanced to be
at Kief at the time of his father's death. He resolved to usurp the
throne and to cause the assassination of all the brothers from whom he
could fear any opposition. Three of his brothers speedily fell victims
to his bloody perfidy. Yaroslaf, who had been entrusted with the
feudal government of Novgorod, being informed of the death of his
father, of the usurpation of Sviatopolk and of the assassination of
three of his brothers, raised an army of forty thousand men and
marched upon Kief. Sviatopolk, informed of his approach, hastened,
with all his troops to meet him. The two armies encountered each other
upon the banks of the Dnieper about one hundred and fifty miles above
Kief. The river separated them, and neither dared to attempt to cross
in the presence of the other. Several weeks passed, the two camps thus
facing each other, without any collision.
At length Yaroslaf, with the Novgorodians, crossed the stream
stealthily and silently in a dark night, and fell fiercely upon the
sleeping camp of Sviatopolk. His troops, thus taken by surprise,
fought for a short time desperately. They were however soon cut to
pieces or dispersed, and Sviatopolk, himself, saved his life only by
precipitate flight. Yaroslaf, thus signally victorious, continued his
march, without further opposition, to Kief, and entered the capital in
triumph. Sviatopolk fled to Poland, secured the coöperation of the
Polish king, whose daughter he had married, returned with a numerous
army, defeated his brother in a sanguinary battle, drove him back to
Novgorod, and again, with flying banners, took possession of Kief. The
path of history now leads us through the deepest sloughs of perfidy
and crime. Two of the sisters of Yaroslaf were found in Kief. One of
them had previously refused the hand of the king of Poland. The
barbarian in revenge seized her as his concubine. Sviatopolk, jealous
of the authority which his father-in-law claimed, and which he could
enforce by means of the Polish army, administered poison in the food
of the troops. A terrible and unknown disease broke out in the camp,
and thousands perished. The wretch even attempted to poison his
father-in-law, but the crime was suspected, and the Polish king,
Boleslas, fled to his own realms.
Sviatopolk was thus again left so helpless as to invite attack.
Yaroslaf with eagerness availed himself of the opportunity. Raising a
new army, he marched upon Kief, retook the city and drove his brother
again into exile. The energetic yet miserable man fled to the banks of
the Volga, where he formed a large army of the ferocious Petchénègues,
exciting their cupidity with promises of boundless pillage. With these
wolfish legions, he commenced his march back again upon his own
country. The terrible encounter took place on the banks of the Alta.
Russian historians describe the conflict as one of the most fierce in
which men have ever engaged. The two armies precipitated themselves
upon each other with the utmost fury, breast to breast, swords,
javelins and clubs clashing against brazen shields. The Novgorodians
had taken a solemn oath that they would conquer or die. Three times
the combatants from sheer exhaustion ceased the strife. Three times
the deadly combat was renewed with redoubled ardor. The sky was
illumined with the first rays of the morning when the battle
commenced. The evening twilight was already darkening the field before
the victory was decided. The hordes of the wretched Sviatopolk were
then driven in rabble rout from the field, leaving the ground covered
with the slain. The defeat was so awful that Sviatopolk was plunged
into utter despair. Half dead with terror, tortured by remorse, and
pursued by the frown of Heaven, he fled into the deserts of Bohemia,
where he miserably perished, an object of universal execration. In the
annals of Russia the surname of _miserable_ is ever affixed to this
infamous prince.
Yaroslaf, thus crowned by victory, received the undisputed title of
sovereign of Russia. It was now the year 1020. For several years
Yaroslaf reigned in prosperity. There were occasional risings of
barbaric tribes, which, by force of arms, he speedily quelled. Much
time and treasure were devoted to the embellishment of the capital;
churches were erected; the city was surrounded by brick walls;
institutions of learning were encouraged, and, most important of all,
the Bible was translated into the Russian language. It is recorded
that the king devoutly read the Scriptures himself, both morning and
evening, and took great interest in copying the sacred books with his
own hands.
The closing years of life this illustrious prince passed in repose and
in the exercises of piety, while he still continued, with
unintermitted zeal, to watch over the welfare of the state. Nearly all
the pastors of the churches were Greeks from Constantinople, and
Yaroslaf, apprehensive that the Greeks might acquire too much
influence in the empire, made great efforts to raise up Russian
ecclesiastics, and to place them in the most important posts. At
length the last hours of the monarch arrived, and it was evident that
death was near. He assembled his children around his bed, four sons
and five daughters, and thus affectingly addressed them:
"I am about to leave the world. I trust that you, my dear children,
will not only remember that you are brothers and sisters, but that you
will cherish for each other the most tender affection. Ever bear in
mind that discord among you will be attended with the most funereal
results, and that it will be destructive of the prosperity of the
state. By peace and tranquillity alone can its power be consolidated.
"Ysiaslaf will be my successor to ascend the throne of Kief. Obey him
as you have obeyed your father. I give Tchernigof to Sviatoslaf;
Pereaslavle to Vsevolod; and Smolensk to Viatcheslaf. I hope that each
of you will be satisfied with his inheritance. Your oldest brother, in
his quality of sovereign prince, will be your natural judge. He will
protect the oppressed and punish the guilty."
On the 19th of February, 1054, Yaroslaf died, in the seventy-first
year of his age. His subjects followed his remains in tears to the
tomb, in the church of St. Sophia, where his marble monument, carved
by Grecian artists, is still shown. Influenced by a superstition
common in those days, he caused the bones of Oleg and Yaropolk, the
two murdered brothers of Vlademer, who had perished in the errors of
paganism, to be disinterred, baptized, and then consigned to Christian
burial in the church of Kief. He established the first public school
in Russia, where three hundred young men, sons of the priests and
nobles, received instruction in all those branches which would prepare
them for civil or ecclesiastical life. Ambitious of making Kief the
rival of Constantinople, he expended large sums in its decoration.
Grecian artists were munificently patronized, and paintings and
mosaics of exquisite workmanship added attraction to churches reared
in the highest style of existing art. He even sent to Greece for
singers, that the church choirs might be instructed in the richest
utterances of music. He drew up a code of laws, called Russian
Justice, which, for that dark age, is a marvelous monument of
sagacity, comprehensive views and equity.
The death of Yaroslaf proved an irreparable calamity; for his
successor was incapable of leading on in the march of civilization,
and the realm was soon distracted by civil war. It is a gloomy period,
of three hundred years, upon which we now must enter, while violence,
crime, and consequently misery, desolated the land. It is worthy of
record that Nestor attributes the woes which ensued, to the general
forgetfulness of God, and the impiety which commenced the reign
immediately after the death of Yaroslaf.
"God is just," writes the historian. "He punishes the Russians for
their sins. We dare to call ourselves Christians, and yet we live like
idolaters. Although multitudes throng every place of entertainment,
although the sound of trumpets and harps resounds in our houses, and
mountebanks exhibit their tricks and dances, the temples of God are
empty, surrendered to solitude and silence."
Bands of barbarians invaded Russia from the distant regions of the
Caspian Sea, plundering, killing and burning. They came suddenly, like
the thunder-cloud in a summer's day, and as suddenly disappeared where
no pursuit could find them. Ambitious nobles, descendants of former
kings, plied all the arts of perfidy and of assassination to get
possession of different provinces of the empire, each hoping to make
his province central and to extend his sway over all the rest of
Russia. The brothers of Ysiaslaf became embroiled, and drew the sword
against each other. An insurrection was excited in Kief, the populace
besieged the palace, and the king saved his life only by a precipitate
abandonment of his capital. The military mob pillaged the palace and
proclaimed their chieftain, Vseslaf, king.
Ysiaslaf fled to Poland. The Polish king, Boleslas II., who was a
grandson of Vlademer, and who had married a Russian princess,
received the fugitive king with the utmost kindness. With a strong
Polish army, accompanied by the King of Poland, Ysiaslaf returned to
Kief, to recover his capital by the sword. The insurgent chief who had
usurped the throne, in cowardly terror fled. Ysiaslaf entered the city
with the stern strides of a conqueror and wreaked horrible vengeance
upon the inhabitants, making but little discrimination between the
innocent and the guilty. Seventy were put to death. A large number had
their eyes plucked out; and for a long time the city resounded with
the cries of the victims, suffering under all kinds of punishments
from the hands of this implacable monarch. Thus the citizens were
speedily brought into abject submission. The Polish king, with his
army, remained a long time at Kief, luxuriating in every indulgence at
the expense of the inhabitants. He then returned to his own country
laden with riches.
Ysiaslaf re-ascended the throne, having been absent ten months.
Disturbances of a similar character agitated the provinces which were
under the government of the brothers of Ysiaslaf, and which had
assumed the authority and dignity of independent kingdoms. Thus all
Russia was but an arena of war, a volcanic crater of flame and blood.
Three years of conflict and woe passed away, when two of the brothers
of Ysiaslaf united their armies and marched against him; and again he
was compelled to seek a refuge in Poland. He carried with him immense
treasure, hoping thus again to engage the services of the Polish army.
But Boleslas infamously robbed him of his treasure, and then, to use
an expression of Nestor, "_showed him the way out of his kingdom_."
The woe-stricken exile fled to Germany, and entreated the
interposition of the emperor, Henry IV., promising to reward him with
immense treasure, and to hold the crown of Russia as tributary to the
German empire. The emperor was excited by the alluring offer, and sent
embassadors to Sviatoslaf, now enthroned at Kief, ostensibly to
propose reconciliation, but in reality to ascertain what the
probability was of success in a warlike expedition to so remote a
kingdom. The embassadors returned with a very discouraging report.
The banished prince thus disappointed, turned his steps to Rome, and
implored the aid of Gregory VII., that renowned pontiff, who was
ambitious of universal sovereignty, and who had assumed the title of
King of kings. Ysiaslaf, in his humiliation, was ready to renounce his
fidelity to the Greek church, and also the dignity of an independent
prince. He promised, in consideration of the support of the pope, to
recognize not only the spiritual power of Rome, but also the temporal
authority of the pontiff. He also entered bitter complaints against
the King of Poland. Ysiaslaf did not visit Rome in person, but sent
his son to confer with the pope. Gregory, rejoiced to acquire
spiritual dominion over Russia, received the application in the most
friendly manner, and sent embassadors to the fugitive prince with the
following letter:
"Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Ysiaslaf, prince
of the Russians, safety, health and the apostolic benediction.
"Your son, after having visited the sacred places at Rome, has humbly
implored that he might be reëstablished in his possessions by the
authority of Saint Peter, and has given his solemn vow to be faithful
to the chief of the apostles. We have consented to grant his request,
which we understand is in accordance with your wishes; and we, in the
name of the chief of the apostles, confer upon him the government of
the Russian kingdom.
"We pray that Saint Peter may preserve your health, that he will
protect your reign and your estates, even to the end of your life, and
that you may then enjoy a day of eternal glory.
"Wishing also to give a proof of our desire to be useful to you
hereafter, we have charged our embassadors, one of whom is your
faithful friend, to treat with you verbally upon all those subjects
alluded to in your communication to us. Receive them with kindness as
the embassadors of Saint Peter, and receive without restriction all
the propositions they may make in our name.
"May God, the all-powerful, illumine your heart with divine light and
with temporal blessings, and conduct you to eternal glory. Given at
Rome the 15th of May, in the year 1075."
Thus adroitly the pope assumed the sovereignty of Russia, and the
right, and the power, by the mere utterance of a word, to confer it
upon whom he would. The all-grasping pontiff thus annexed Russia to
the domains of Saint Peter. Another short letter Gregory wrote to the
King of Poland. It was as follows:
"In appropriating to yourself illegally the treasures of the Russian
prince, you have violated the Christian virtues. I conjure you, in the
name of God, to restore to him all the property of which you and your
subjects have deprived him; for robbers can never enter the kingdom of
heaven unless they first restore the plunder they have taken."
Fortunately for the fugitive prince, his usurping brother Sviatoslaf
just at this time died, in consequence of a severe surgical operation.
The Polish king appears to have refunded the treasure of which he had
robbed the exiled monarch, and Ysiaslaf, hiring an army of Polish
mercenaries, returned a second time in triumph to his capital. It does
not appear that he subsequently paid any regard to the interposition
of the pope.
We have now but a long succession of conspiracies, insurrections and
battles. In one of these civil conflicts, Ysiaslaf, at the head of a
formidable force, met another powerful army, but a few leagues from
Kief. In the hottest hour of the battle a reckless cavalier, in the
hostile ranks, perceiving Ysiaslaf in the midst of his infantry,
precipitated himself on him, pierced him with his lance and threw him
dead upon the ground. His body was conveyed in a canoe to Kief, and
buried with much funeral pomp in the church of Notre Dame, by the side
of the beautiful monument which had been erected to the memory of
Vlademer.
Ysiaslaf expunged from the Russian code of laws the death penalty, and
substituted, in its stead, heavy fines. The Russian historians,
however, record that it is impossible to decide whether this measure
was the dictate of humanity, or if he wished in this way to replenish
his treasury.
Vsevolod succeeded to the throne of his brother Ysiaslaf in the year
1078. The children of Ysiaslaf had provinces assigned them in
appanage. Vsevolod was a lover of peace, and yet devastation and
carnage were spread everywhere before his eyes. Every province in the
empire was torn by civil strife. Hundreds of nobles and princes were
inflamed with the ambition for supremacy, and with the sword alone
could the path be cut to renown. The wages offered the soldiers, on
all sides, was pillage. Cities were everywhere sacked and burned, and
the realm was crimsoned with blood. Civil war is necessarily followed
by the woes of famine, which woes are ever followed by the pestilence.
The plague swept the kingdom with terrific violence, and whole
provinces were depopulated. In the city of Kief alone, seven thousand
perished in the course of ten weeks. Universal terror, and
superstitious fear spread through the nation. An earthquake indicated
that the world itself was trembling in alarm; an enormous serpent was
reported to have been seen falling from heaven; invisible and
malignant spirits were riding by day and by night through the streets
of the cities, wounding the citizens with blows which, though unseen,
were heavy and murderous, and by which blows many were slain. All
hearts sank in gloom and fear. Barbarian hordes ravaged both banks of
the Dnieper, committing towns and villages to the flames, and killing
such of the inhabitants as they did not wish to carry away as
captives.
Vsevolod, an amiable man of but very little force of character, was
crushed by the calamities which were overwhelming his country. Not an
hour of tranquillity could he enjoy. It was the ambition of his
nephews, ambitious, energetic, unprincipled princes, struggling for
the supremacy, which was mainly the cause of all these disasters.