DESTRUCTION OF KIEF
Igor lived in captivity among the Polovtsi, but without hardship. His
servants were left with him; he had his own equerry. He was even
allowed to hunt. Men set to guard his tent showed the prince honor. One
of those guards, Lavor, grew to love Igor greatly, and to serve him in
Russia became finally his one thought, hence he planned an escape,
which succeeded. During night hours the guard over Igor was strict; for
whole days, and for weeks even, he was never from under the eye of some
watcher. This was true especially in the first days of his captivity.
He was least under guard after sunset, when, during supper, the
Polovtsi drank their kumys and grew tipsy. On the night of escape,
Lavor was waiting with horses beyond the river. When darkness came
down, Igor rose in his tent, and after making the sign of the cross on
himself with a small holy image, hanging this image and a cross around
his neck, he pulled aside the tent curtain, stepped out and walked
rapidly away to the river. The guards were drinking kumys, and thought
the prince safe in his tent. Igor waded through the water and found
Lavor on the other bank waiting with two horses.
Great rejoicing spread through Russia when news came of Igor’s return.
He went first to Kief to visit Sviatoslav, and the aged prince, with
tears of delight in his eyes, embraced him.
Igor’s young son, Vladimir, while in captivity with his father, fell in
love with the Khan’s daughter and married her. “The Khans have
entangled him with a beautiful girl,” was the saying, but he was
ransomed and the marriage was celebrated with great solemnity in
Russia. As war with the Polovtsi did not prevent Russian princes from
being friendly and intermarrying, so also their connections did not
prevent them from warring, as the princes who became related with the
Polovtsi through marriage often warred with them afterward. Hence Igor
warred with the Polovtsi after this marriage, as well as before it.
The raids of the Polovtsi and the campaigns of Russian princes against
them were so many that it would not be possible to describe them in
detail. They were an incurable evil in Russia, and continued to be so
till the Mongol invasion and conquest put an end to them.
While Kief, the mother of Russian cities, was declining, Galitch was
forming a separate principality, and the influence of its western
neighbors rose more and more. Hungarians and Poles, who had joined
Latinized nations, could boast at this time that they formed in Eastern
Europe the foremost advance of Latin influence, the remotest boundary
of the Holy Roman-German Empire, beyond which was Russia. In the life
of Poles and Hungarians, there were many traits in common. First came
subjection of all the people by nobles, while the sovereign merely
focused the splendor of nobles and magnates. The sovereign held office
to preserve supreme privileges for nobles; beyond that he meant nothing
to them, and for the people he had no meaning whatever. From the nobles
came the laws, the disposition of wealth, the amount of taxation and
its character. The income from lands and towns, and all the government
of the country was in possession of the upper class solely, hence the
amazing concentration of wealth in their hands. The nobles did as they
pleased, while the people endured all that was put on them. Hungarians
and Poles yielded themselves to the West in religion. Their learning
was Western, and, for the greater part also, their vices. They imparted
these vices to their neighbors of Galitch, where they found a place in
the palace and brought about a great riot, which ended in the burning
alive of Anastasia, the mistress of Eight Minds, whose legal wife had
fled to seek an asylum with her brother Vsevolod, Prince of Vladimir,
at that time generally called Big Nest. Later on riots were frequent,
and the power of the boyars grew daily.
In 1187, the famous Yaroslav Eight Minds, feeling that death was near
him, summoned his advisers and the clergy, and commanded them to open
his palace to every one, to rich and poor, great and small, to all
people, and he bade farewell to every person, saying: “Fathers,
brothers, sons, forgive me as I go from this world of vain effort. I
have sinned more than any man. Another like me there has not been.
Fathers and brothers, forgive me.” He wept for three days. Three days
did the people come to see him from all sides. The dying man ordered
his goods to be given to the needy and to monasteries. “I did what I
could,” said he, “to defend those who were wronged, and to dispose
taxes so that they should not be a burden to some beyond others. I
tried not to listen to informers, and to drive off the evil-minded;
some I exposed to the public, others I punished in private. I had many
vices myself, I could not control all of them. I beg now forgiveness of
every one.” Many poor people received gifts, and much wealth was
distributed. “God sees,” continued Eight Minds, “that I wished for the
good, but through weakness I could not obtain it.”
The intimate boyars and the older clergy surrounded the death-bed of
Eight Minds; others were in remoter chambers, and the people filled
every entrance. He disposed of the principality to his sons in this
fashion: “To Oleg,” said he, “I bequeath Galitch; to Vladimir, I give
Peremysl,” and he commanded the people to take oath to the princes in
that sense. Oleg was the son of Anastasia, his mistress, and was dear
to him.
Soon after Eight Minds’ death came boundless confusion in Galitch.
Among common people intense hatred of Anastasia was general, and all
the boyars detested Oleg, her son. There was such a variety of factions
that an armed outbreak seemed likely. Though some had kissed the cross
to Oleg, they favored Vladimir; others wished neither son and were
ready to call in Roman, son of Mystislav, Prince of Volynia. A third
group would hear nothing of either son, or of Roman, but declared
openly for Hungary.
The bond between Galitch and Hungary was ancient. Many of the boyars
had friends and even relatives in that country. They visited Hungary,
for it was near, and they went thither frequently on business, and
sometimes lived in that domain. They liked the Hungarian political
order because the common people were submissive and looked on the
nobles as masters. The highest class was exceedingly haughty. It was
sovereign, and the king was its servant. The ties between the boyars of
Galitch and Hungary became so enduring and intimate that the heir to
Galitch might find aid more readily in Hungary than in Kief or
Vladimir.
Vladimir, son of Eight Minds, was by his first marriage a son-in-law of
the Kief prince. His wife, dead at this time, was a daughter of
Sviatoslav, “the sister’s son.” But that marriage had been so
unfortunate that the father-in-law did not like even to mention it.
Roman, son of Mystislav of Volynia, was now intriguing against
Vladimir, though he had promised his daughter to Vladimir’s son. In
Smolensk the prince had just given refuge to the natural enemy of
Vladimir, Rostislav, son of Ivan Berladnik.
After the burial of Eight Minds, the intrigues and the efforts of
boyars led to nothing, and Vladimir was raised to the throne by the
wish of the people. Anastasia’s son, the hated Oleg, had to flee from
the country and, dying while young, vanished from record. Vladimir
inherited every vice of his father, but not one of his virtues.
Disorderly from boyhood, and unconnected at all times, he conducted one
year and a half of his reign most disgracefully. All people complained
of him. If any man’s daughter or wife pleased Vladimir, he took her.
Then he married a woman of such sort that the people of Galitch were
indignant. As happened in the case of Anastasia, his unlegalized
stepmother, people never mentioned this new woman’s name, and would not
speak in detail of her. They only knew that from her the prince had two
children. She had been seized from her husband, a priest, and knowing
this, no one cared to speak further. Among common people she was
mentioned as “the priestess.”
The anger roused by this marriage was so great that it very nearly
caused an uprising. Vladimir’s son by his first wife was married to a
daughter of Roman. She was in Galitch at that time. Roman, the crafty
Prince of Volynia, tempted the boyars of Galitch. To win for himself
the principality, he urged them against the unworthy Vladimir. Common
people were true to Vladimir, but the boyars sent these words to him:
“The people do not oppose thee, but they will not bow down to a
priest’s wife. Take whatever princess seems good to thee; they will
receive any decent woman, but they will put an end to the priest’s
wife.” The boyars knew well that he would not part with the
“priestess,” and that both would leave Galitch if threatened. And thus
it happened.
Vladimir took treasures, and all the gold and silver which he could
carry, and fled to Hungary with his priestess and his children. The
Galitch men made no move to stop him. Roman came promptly and was made
Prince of Galitch. He gave Volynia to Vsevolod, his brother, and kissed
the cross while bestowing it, but, as was shown somewhat later, he was
over hasty in this action.
The King of Hungary, Bela III, gave Vladimir and his priestess a
friendly reception, and promised good aid to the fugitive. They agreed
on all points as to what assistance should be given, and then kissed
the cross to each other. Soon after, at the head of an army, large and
famed for knightly character, Bela III set out to reinstate Vladimir.
Roman, though brave and resolute, on hearing of Bela’s approach, did
not venture an encounter. He saw clearly that though the men of Galitch
were not fond of Vladimir they were true to him, for he was their
“native prince,” and they believed that in a war he would undoubtedly
have God’s justice on his side. They attributed his flight to the
treason of boyars. These same boyars were so hostile to one another
that a bloody conflict seemed impending. Roman’s adherents were few;
they needed protection against other boyars. A large majority of the
boyars throughout the whole country were opposed now to every prince,
no matter who he might be, and they opposed more than all the stern
Roman, whom they dreaded greatly, not doubting that, were he sure of
his strength and position, he would strive to crush them. Many
therefore declared their adherence to Bela, who was then drawing near,
and was already in the Carpathians.
Roman took Vladimir’s property and all the treasure accessible. He
gathered his adherents of lower degree and his boyars, with their wives
and children, and turned toward Volynia, but Vsevolod would not vacate
his capital, and did not admit his brother. Roman, deprived of land,
was obliged to seek the aid of friends. He had been married to a
daughter of Rurik of Smolensk, and now he sent his wife to her father;
with her went the wives of boyars, and their children. Rurik gave Roman
temporary possession of Torchesk, and then commanded Vsevolod to yield
up Volynia to his brother and go back to Bailz, his own portion.
Vsevolod, fearing Rurik’s anger, obeyed without murmuring, and Roman
recovered the lands which he had given away too lightly.
Meanwhile, in Galitch, there happened a thing without parallel in
Russia. King Bela was met with such honor that he was astounded. The
boyars went forth to him with a solemn announcement of loyalty. The
chief men among them declared that they knew well his methods in
Hungary, that to them the order there was very pleasing, and they
begged him to bring just such order into Galitch. Because of this
surprising statement, Bela dropped Vladimir and gave the management of
Galitch to the boyars. He installed his own son, Andrei, as chief of
the government. Vladimir he took back to Hungary as captive, on
pretense that he had given a false and deceitful representation of the
troubles in Galitch, and besides had not paid the sums promised for
friendly assistance. The king took all Vladimir’s property, and put him
and his “priestess” under guard in the tower of a castle. It was made
to appear that the people of Galitch had bowed down to Bela, and had
begged from him a government with his son as a ruler. He had graciously
yielded, and had not only given a son, but his heir to rule Galitch.
To Bela III was now added the title Rex Galiciæ (King of Galicia). But
as Hungary was subject to Rome in religion, and the title of every
dependent State was confirmed by Papal blessing, the Pope of course
reckoned the new kingdom among other bishoprics. The boyars knew well
that when the people of Galitch learned of this there would be a great
outburst, and a war against men of a foreign religion. Still the
adherents of Bela, those who had put the land under Latins, guaranteed
that the people were mild, and that the subjection of Galitch was a
very slight matter, if the Latin faith were brought in without
vaunting, by degrees, and in a way not to be noted. The great point was
to respect ancient customs and venerated ritual.
After Bela had made his son king in Galitch, he learned very soon that
he had been led into serious error. He had word from Andrei that the
position was torturing, and would soon grow impossible. Bela was in
friendly relations with princes in Central and Northern Russia.
Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, negotiated with him continually. He sought
connections for his children, and for his grandchildren, and there are
absolute proofs that before Bela established his son in Galitch,
negotiations directly concerning that principality were carried on
between him and the Kief prince.
Andrei’s position in Galitch became at last unendurable. The adherents
of Hungary, supported by the capital and by the forces of Bela, seemed
to triumph. The whole land was seething, however. The people were ready
to rise, but knew not to whom they might turn for aid. Among boyars
there were a few who had not betrayed the people. Even among those who
found their support in foreign regiments, there were some who began to
speak of preserving their country and its customs. Listening to men who
called for their own native princes, a party of boyars withdrew from
the traitors, and, kissing the cross, swore to stand with the people.
They then sent envoys to Smolensk, on behalf of all Galitch, and
invited Rostislav, son of Ivan Berladnik, to come and be their prince.
Rostislav consented, and was received with joy on the boundary, but he
soon found that he would meet scant support in the capital, where those
boyars who favored Hungary still adhered firmly to King Andrei. At this
time Bela sent fresh troops to his son, and the Hungarian commanders,
on hearing of Rostislav’s coming, made all the people take oath a
second time. “Those who were loyal to Galitch kissed the cross without
changing, while traitors adhered still to Hungary.” Rostislav met the
Hungarians advancing against him, and, fearing betrayal, knew not what
to do. The men who had invited him to Galitch, and who surrounded him
with followers, implored him to retreat for the present, but the son,
as ill-fated as his father, hesitated. “Brothers,” said he at last, “ye
have kissed the cross to me, and now if other men of Galitch wish my
head, let God and this cross be their judge. I will not wander over
foreign earth longer, I will die in the land of my inheritance.” And he
rushed to the battle. He was wounded in the onset and thrown from his
horse. His men rescued him. Swords were sheathed on both sides, and the
wounded prince was taken to the city. The Hungarians, to avoid civil
war, thought it wise, as they said, to be rid of Rostislav, so, as if
to heal his wounds, they placed on them poisonous herbs, from the
effects of which he died soon afterward and was numbered with his
ancestors.
Andrei, who had been assured that no one wished a Russian prince, came
now to see realities. The Hungarians fell to wreaking vengeance on the
people. The Latins ridiculed the Greco-Russian faith; they turned
Russian churches into stables; they contemned the clergy; they brought
their horses into the houses of those boyars who had fled from Galitch,
or did not hide their opposition to Hungary. An unrestrained orgy
began. Violence increased in every place. Hungarians took wives and
daughters from the men of Galitch with growing frequency. Wails of
anguish and despair were heard throughout the principality and finally
they reached all parts of Russia.
In Kief, the clergy turned to Sviatoslav and Rurik. “Strange men have
taken your inheritance,” exclaimed the metropolitan. “Ye should vie one
with another in freeing Galitch from this misery.” But those princes
cared little for anything in Galitch, or elsewhere, unless it gave
power or profit. Moreover a quarrel broke out between them.
It transpired that Bela, negotiating in secret with Sviatoslav, had
worked out for himself many useful conditions. He now proposed to go
from Galitch, and begged Sviatoslav to send some son of his to end
negotiations. So Glaib was sent. But Rurik stood against this embassy
and reproached Sviatoslav, saying: “Since thou hast sent thy son to
Bela, and said no word to me touching the affair, our treaty is
broken.” A dispute rose which came near ending in bloodshed. The Kief
prince, striving to soften Rurik’s anger, returned this answer: “My
friend and brother, I sent my son, not to rouse Hungary against thee,
but on my own business. If it is thy wish to march against Galitch, I
am ready. I go with thee.”
The princes met in peace and planned an expedition. Rurik marched with
his brothers, and Sviatoslav with his sons, but the Kief prince had his
own plan in mind, hidden carefully. Kief was surrounded with the
possessions of Monomach’s descendants,—Vyshgorod, Bailgorod, and almost
all lands on the Ros belonged to them. Sviatoslav hoped to add these
regions to Kief, and give Galitch in exchange for them, which he was
ready to yield altogether to Rurik. He did not speak of this to Rurik
when they were planning the march on Galitch, but only while marching.
It turned out that Rurik was not anxious for unreliable possessions in
Galitch, and preferred greatly his own lands within the Kief region.
This caused a quarrel. No matter how much both princes talked upon the
subject, they reached no agreement. When half the journey was finished,
they turned and marched back to Kief. The fate of Galitch was settled
by other adventurers.
Vladimir, confined in the tower with his priestess, grew weary. Bela
had taken all the property brought by Vladimir to Hungary, but the
captive had coin sufficient to bribe the guards watching him. Among
those guards were some so devoted to Vladimir that they undertook, not
merely to let him escape, but to conduct him through pathless forests
to Germany. The first question, however, was to get out of the tower.
In this work the hitherto shiftless Vladimir proved abler than many a
wise man. The tower was high and the prisoners were kept in the top of
it, where there was a small outside platform. On this platform was a
tent, made of canvas, in which a man might find shelter from heat in
the day-time, and gaze at the stars during night hours. Vladimir tore
this tent into strips with which he made a long rope and slipped to the
earth by it. The trusty guards took him to Barbarossa, the Emperor. The
fleeing prince was well received by Barbarossa, from whom he begged
aid. We know not what reward Vladimir offered Bela, for reinstating him
in Galitch, but we know exactly his agreement with Frederick
Barbarossa. He bound himself to pay two thousand silver grievens yearly
for his restoration. There were other reasons, too, why the Emperor
became interested. He was astonished to see before him the nephew of
Andrei Bogolyubski and of Vsevolod (Big Nest). Hearing that he was a
son of a sister of those two famous princes, he doubted not that he was
an important man. He had grown acquainted with Andrei Bogolyubski
through letters, when that prince was building his cathedral in
Vladimir. Because of those letters, various artists and materials had
gone from Germany. Of Big Nest and his eminence among Russian princes,
reports were frequent. To aid Vladimir would cause the Emperor no
trouble. He had no thought to help with men. He was going then to
Palestine, but Poland was subject to his influence, and he commissioned
Kazimir, King of Poland, to reinstate the exile. The Poles envied
Hungarians Galitch, and were glad to expel them.
Vladimir, leading a Polish army, entered Galitch very easily. When the
return of their native prince was announced, the people rushed to meet
him. Flight was all that was left for Andrei and those Russian boyars
who adhered to him. While the Hungarian was fleeing as best he was
able, and bearing with him the title Rex Galiciæ, which remains to this
day on the shield of his country, Vladimir took the throne; and he held
it as long as there was breath in his nostrils. He held it, thanks to
Big Nest, his uncle, because of this message: “My lord and father, keep
Galitch under me, I pray thee. I belong to God and to thee with all
Galitch.” Big Nest listened to Vladimir’s entreaty, and kept him firmly
in Galitch till his death came.
Sviatoslav, “the sister’s son,” insisted that Kief should have the
boundaries established as in the days of Rostislav’s father, that is he
wanted Kief to have Vyshgorod and Bailgorod, with other towns in the
Ros River region, taken from it by the sons of Rostislav. Disputes
became bitter, and the princes were near deciding the question by force
of arms. Rurik and David sent back their oath papers, and Sviatoslav
declared that he would not yield in any case. In Smolensk the princes
turned to Big Nest, saying: “We have accepted thee as father; judge
this question for us.” Big Nest sided with Smolensk, and sent to
Sviatoslav, saying: “The conditions on which thou wert confirmed are
those to which we adhere. If thou still adhere to the same conditions,
we will be with thee in peace; but seek not to rouse old disputes, and
desert agreements, for we will not permit thee.” Sviatoslav yielded.
Thenceforth he made no mention of lands for Kief, till he tried to get
them by giving Galitch to Roman in exchange for them. Not succeeding in
this, he wished, both for himself and to please his brethren in
Chernigoff, to round out and to defend their inheritance on the Ryazan
side. Their possessions touching the Oká and Ryazan were subject to
ceaseless attacks from Ryazan, whose princes laid claim to them. All
the Chernigoff house assembled at Karachef, under Sviatoslav’s
direction. They declared at that meeting that war alone could settle
boundaries. The princes were ready to war with Ryazan in a body, but
Sviatoslav could not decide to begin, or let his relatives begin,
without the consent of Big Nest, Prince of Vladimir, so he sent to ask
advice of him. From Big Nest came the answer that he forbade Chernigoff
princes to open war on Ryazan, and all obeyed him.
Before this meeting ended, Sviatoslav fell ill for the last time.
“Something appeared on his leg.” Thus his disease was described. Unable
to sit on his horse, he was borne in a sleigh to the river, for
traveling in a wheeled vehicle over those roads would have caused him
great pain; then he sailed down the Desna and the Dnieper. Arriving in
Kief, he went first of all to pray in the church of Boris and Glaib,
and afterward to bow down and pray at the tomb of his father, but the
priest had gone away and taken the key of the church with him, hence
the prince did not see his father’s grave. He reached home broken
completely.
On the wedding day of Euphemia, his granddaughter, who had been
betrothed to the heir of Byzantium, envoys from the Emperor came, but
Sviatoslav took no part in the matter beyond appointing certain boyars
to receive them. He grew weak, ceased speaking, and fell into a torpor.
Recovering after a time, he commanded a monk’s habit to be brought, and
sent for Rurik, who found him alive, but not in his senses. So far as
is known, no word passed between them. Afterward, when Rurik had gone,
the dying man regained consciousness and, turning to the princess,
asked: “When will the day of the Maccabees be?” July was ending, and he
remembered August 1, that day of death for his father and his
grandfather. “Next Monday,” answered the princess. He looked into her
eyes, as if to be sure that he saw her, and said: “I shall not live to
the day of the Maccabees.” He died July 27, 1194.
The next Prince of Kief was Rurik, son of Rostislav, but he had to get
the consent of Big Nest, whom he and his brothers had long recognized
as their senior, and esteemed as a father. Big Nest was not opposed to
Rurik, for Rurik’s son, Rostislav, had married Verhuslava, his favorite
daughter; hence he sent his boyars to confirm the new prince. Soon the
relationship was strengthened by another bond: the Prince of Vladimir
found a bride in Smolensk for his eldest son, Constantine, who married
the daughter of Mystislav, son of Roman the Mild. Later on, this prince
became Prince of Kief, and fell in the battle with Mongols on the
Kalka.
So Rurik and David grew nearer to the Prince of Vladimir. Since the
older line of Monomach, descended from Mystislav the Great, and the
younger line, descended from Yuri Dolgoruki, were so united, all the
descendants of Monomach were now in accord and friendship.
The great man of Volynia, Roman, had married Rurik’s daughter. The
other Volynia princes, heirs of Yaroslav of Lutsk, were insignificant
in those days. Roman, who had not shown great respect for Rurik at any
time, ceased to care for him after he reached Kief dominion. To Roman’s
thinking, the oldest throne in Russia should be held by the strongest
of its princes, a man who could govern wisely, defend the Russian land
in all places, and preserve order so that no prince could offend
another, none attack and ravage a neighboring province. “But,” said he,
“we see the very opposite. The throne of Kief is seized by senseless
rulers, who not only are unable to manage others and stop strife among
relatives, but are unable to defend their own borders; hence they bring
in pagan Polovtsi, and ruin the country. For this, Big Nest is to
blame.” Such was Roman’s opinion of his father-in-law.
Later on, from the enmity of these two men, disputes came among the
southern princes. Rurik lost the throne of Kief repeatedly, while
Roman, without ruling Kief, acquired so much fame among princes that
they saw in him the one southern ruler. Meanwhile both Rurik and Roman
recognized the superiority of Big Nest, who mixed in their quarrels, as
he did in general in all quarrels of princes, only in so far as those
quarrels subserved his own interest; aside from that, he let them
alone, and for this many people blamed him. He reinstated certain
princes against others, thus weakening one through the other, and
finding means to strengthen himself through their dissensions. Rurik,
in the first year of his reign, 1195, felt this keen policy of Big
Nest. When Rurik ascended the Kief throne, and had been greeted by
envoys from Big Nest, he thanked the Vladimir prince with many
expressions of friendship. Delighted over his confirmation, he invited
his brother David to Kief. “Behold,” said he in a letter, “thou and I
are now seniors in Russia. Come hither to Kief to take counsel. We will
think over everything, and settle all questions.”
After such an invitation, David went promptly from Smolensk down the
Dnieper. Rurik met him at Vyshgorod, and invited him to a banquet. He
arranged a great festival for David and his children. They passed the
time in rejoicing and gladness. Then Rostislav, heir of the Kief
prince, with Verhuslava, his princess, had a family festival in
Bailgorod in honor of David, and gave him great gifts. After that David
invited the Kief prince and his children to a dinner. Next he gave a
feast to all monks, and bestowed many gifts on the poor and on
monasteries. Finally he made a feast for the Cherkasi. All drank their
fill, and received rich presents at parting. Then the Kief citizens
wished to give a dinner to David. He accepted their hospitality, and
Kief played the host to him. David then could not fail to give a dinner
and presents to the citizens of Kief, so he invited them to a feast,
and at that feast there was “mighty pleasure for all men.”
While these feasts were in progress the brothers were occupied
seriously. They arranged the whole family and divided up all the
regions and provinces among them. Rurik rewarded his son-in-law richly.
He gave Roman Korchesk, Kaneff, Tripol, Korsun and Bogulov. In one
word, the best towns in the Ros region, and kissed the cross not to
withdraw them at any time.
When news of these festivals came to the city of Vladimir no special
joy was expressed there. Whether Big Nest was offended that nothing had
been given him in the south, or whether he wished to cause Rurik and
Roman to quarrel with each other is unknown, but he sent envoys to Kief
with this message: “Ye have called me the eldest among the descendants
of Monomach, and now, my brother and friend, thou hast bestowed all the
lands on thy younger brothers, and given me no share whatever. If there
be no part for me, let it be so. Thou art in the Kief region apart; to
whom thou wilt, thou mayest give, and with them care for it,—I am
needed no longer. But we shall see how thou wilt hold Kief without me.”
Confused by a turn so unlooked for, Rurik was ready for any
arrangement, and desired Vsevolod to choose from places that he, Rurik,
still had at his disposal. But the Prince of Vladimir asked for those
very places which Rurik had already given to Roman. Rurik tried to
induce Roman to yield the towns, saying that in return he might take
whatever places pleased him. Roman would not hear of this. He
threatened war. An outcry was raised throughout the whole Kief region.
All inclined now toward Roman. They condemned Rurik’s yielding
proposal, and pointed with wrath at the action of Big Nest, saying that
it recalled the old claims of Yuri Dolgoruki, and his struggle with the
grandfather of Roman. They demanded that the metropolitan should
examine the papers and treaties preserved in the treasury of Holy
Sophia. They pointed out that Rurik’s predecessor had yielded Novgorod
in favor of Vsevolod, and let him manage that city on condition that he
dropped his claim on Kief. “By the treaties which are still preserved,
it is clear,” said they, “that Vsevolod resigned Kief.” But the more
they argued, the more did the Vladimir prince insist, and the more
threateningly did he inform the Kief men that he was ready to meet
them, even with war, should the need come.
In this difficulty, Rurik turned for advice to Nikifor, the
metropolitan. “We are placed here by God to keep you from bloodshed,”
replied the metropolitan. “As I see that you cannot avoid it, because
you considered the towns not as belonging to the elder, but the
younger, I will remove from you the oath, and take the sin on my own
soul. I permit you to take back the towns from the younger, and give
them to the elder. But listen to me in this, also: Instead of what thou
takest from Roman, give him its equal in value.” Rurik took this
advice, promised his son-in-law the full value of what he relinquished,
and satisfied him, apparently. In every case when he yielded the Ros
towns, Roman sent this submissive answer: “It is not for thee to
quarrel with the Prince of Vladimir because of me. Give him the places
for which he asks, and because of which he complains of me, and instead
of them, thou wilt give me other lands, or the value of them.”
Rurik now announced to Big Nest that he gave him the five towns in
question. Thus the affair was ended. The Prince of Vladimir, meanwhile,
to the astonishment of all, showed that he did not value the towns,
because of which he was ready for war. The principal one he gave back
to Rurik immediately. Torchesk he gave to his son-in-law, Rostislav; to
the others he paid little heed, sending insignificant men to manage
them. Roman saw in this a new slight. Whether he suspected some plan on
the part of Rurik, or knew clearly that he was innocent, he lost the
last trace of respect which till then he had shown in a small way for
his father-in-law. He accused him of inability to rule Kief, and
concluded an alliance with Oleg’s descendants against him. He
negotiated with them openly to expel the Kief prince; and advised his
wife, Rurik’s daughter, to enter a convent.
Rurik tried to reason with Roman, and explain their relations: “I gave
thee those places, and when the Prince of Vladimir complained that I
did not show him due honor, I declared all his words to thee. Thou
didst agree to relinquish those places. As is known to thee, we cannot
work against the Vladimir prince. We, Monomach’s descendants, made him
the elder. Thou wilt have regions equal to those given to him.”
But Roman was simply feigning offense when he reproached Rurik. In fact
he was seeking reproaches, and had no wish at all to agree with him.
When at last Rurik learned that his son-in-law had kissed the cross
with Yaroslav of Chernigoff to occupy Kief, he sent envoys to cast his
written oath at the feet of the traitor. He wrote then to Big Nest,
explaining Roman’s treason—and a general war was soon in preparation.
Roman, alarmed at Rurik’s act in casting down the oath papers, and
fearing that prince’s powerful ally, Vsevolod of Vladimir, not to lose
time by negotiation, took his military following and marched straight
to Cracow, where he had a few time-serving friends and some temporary
allies. Kazimir the Just, Roman’s uncle, had died in 1194. His widow,
Yelena, the daughter of Vsevolod, Roman’s brother, and her children,
the heirs of the late king, rejoiced at his coming, but instead of
giving aid they begged aid of Roman against Mechislav, who would not
recognize Kazimir’s son, Leshko, as king, though he had been placed on
the throne by all the estates.
“We should be glad to assist thee,” said Leshko, “but we cannot while
Mechislav, my uncle, attacks me. Give aid against him, and when we have
conquered, we will go as one man to assist thee.” This plan of giving
all Poland to Leshko, and then, with its aid, to win primacy in Russia
seemed pleasing to Roman. “I will get my mind’s wish now,” thought he.
Mechislav did not desire war with Roman, and begged that prince,
through envoys, to mediate between him and Leshko. Roman’s Russian
intimates advised compliance with this request, but, listening neither
to them nor the envoys, he attacked Mechislav with his own men and
those of his nephew. His thought: “I will get my mind’s wish,” was not
realized this time, however, for Mechislav gained a great victory.
Roman, so severely wounded that he could not sit on a horse, was borne
back to Cracow on a litter, and thence to Volynia in the same way.
Thus ended at that time the great plans of Roman. When leaving Cracow,
he urged his Polish relatives not to be cast down in spirit, and
promised to help them as soon as he had assembled his forces. Knowing
his father-in-law’s weakness, he sent him a message of penitence and
implored the metropolitan Nikifor to speak for him. Rurik was
delighted. “Since Roman is sorry and repents,” said he, “I will let him
kiss the cross again, and give him provinces. He will honor me now as a
father, I will call him my son again, I have wished him well at all
times.”
In fact Roman received new lands. Rurik, in pacifying his son-in-law in
this way, wished to ward off Chernigoff princes roused against him by
Roman. In treating of this matter, Big Nest and Rurik sent a message to
the descendants of Oleg in the name of all the descendants of Monomach,
as follows: “Kiss the cross to us that ye will not seek to take from
us, or our descendants, or any descendant of Monomach, our Kief
inheritance and Smolensk.” Referring to the ancient ordinance which
left to the ancestor of all the descendants of Oleg the Chernigoff
region as far west as the Dnieper, they added: “Ye do not need Kief.”
The descendants of Oleg met in counsel, and sent this answer to the
Prince of Vladimir: “We adhere to our agreement, which was that we
would not try to take Kief from you, or your relatives. But if we are
to lose Kief forever, we answer that we are not Poles or Hungarians,
but grandsons of one grandfather. During thy life we will not strive
for Kief, but after thy death, let it go to whom God will give it.”
Such a decided reply troubled Big Nest considerably, and brought Rurik
to confusion. He begged the Vladimir prince insistently to make war on
Chernigoff. Big Nest promised “to mount his horse,” and commanded his
warriors to assemble. Even Novgorod took the field at his order. But at
the same time he received with pleasure envoys from Chernigoff, who
declared that they had no thought to offend him. Big Nest dismounted,
and commanded the Novgorod men to return to their city. We can
understand easily this action of Big Nest. The demand made on
Chernigoff, not only to abstain from seeking Kief, but also from
entering Smolensk lands, showed the cause of the fear which disturbed
Rurik, and concerned even Big Nest, though he considered it without
direct interest. This question touched Drutsk, Vitebsk and neighboring
places which, because they were near Chernigoff borders, were seized
frequently by Smolensk princes. If the Chernigoff princes could not get
these lands themselves, they preferred that the Polotsk princes should
have them. The great point was that Smolensk should not get them. Now
David, Rurik’s son, had seized Vitebsk, and therefore was in open
enmity with Yaroslav of Chernigoff. To end this quarrel, Rurik promised
to discuss the question with his brother. He laid down the condition
that Chernigoff should not take arms till negotiations were finished.
But the Chernigoff princes, who had prepared for war some months
earlier, being roused now by Roman, were unwilling to wait for the end
of negotiations between Smolensk and Kief, and began war that same
winter to win the Smolensk border, where it touched their possessions
on the Polotsk side.
Yaroslav of Chernigoff sent forward Oleg, his nephew, and the Polotsk
princes helped him. David, Rurik’s brother, sent against them his
nephew, Mystislav, son-in-law of Big Nest. The first battle came out
very strangely. The Chernigoff princes were thrown into confusion, and
their banners were trampled by Smolensk. When Oleg’s son, David, was
pursued by Mystislav of Smolensk, and Oleg was growing weak from
attacks of the enemy, the Smolensk men were put to flight by a Polotsk
onset. Since Smolensk was now beaten by Chernigoff, the Polotsk
warriors ceased to pursue other Smolensk men, and turning, fell on the
rear of Mystislav’s regiment and trampled it. Mystislav himself was
following one of Oleg’s divisions. When he turned, after stopping
pursuit, he thought that he would see his own men, that Chernigoff was
conquered, but, to his amazement, he found not his men, but Polotsk
warriors in front of him. They recognized him, and he was seized at
once. Others, returning from the pursuit of Oleg of Chernigoff, beheld
from afar the Polotsk triumph, and fled, as did all the men of
Smolensk.
Freed from pursuers, and discovering the Polotsk men, Oleg could
scarcely believe his senses. Straightway he sent this message to
Yaroslav, his uncle: “I have captured Mystislav; I have beaten his army
and the army of David and the Smolensk men. O father, such a time will
not come again. March without delay. Put all our forces together. We
will get our honor back!”
On receiving this message, Yaroslav, with Igor and all the descendants
of Oleg, joined their forces for the expedition. They wished to fall
upon Smolensk unexpectedly, but when Rurik of Kief was going from the
capital to take rest in his favorite residence, Ovrutch, he sent his
oath papers to Yaroslav with these words: “If in thy joy thou art going
to kill my brother, here are thy oath papers. If thou go to Smolensk, I
will go to Chernigoff. Let us see how God and the holy cross will judge
between us.” Because of this threat, Yaroslav did not go to Smolensk,
but returned to Chernigoff, and the two princes, Rurik of Kief and
Yaroslav of Chernigoff, continued to send envoys to each other with
reproaches of oath breaking. Yaroslav declared that he had not broken
his oath, but that the real blame was on David, son of Rostislav, who
had seized Vitebsk. There were many disputes and high words between
them, and they came to no agreement. Thereupon Rurik sent this message
to Big Nest: “Since thou didst agree with David and me to set out about
Christmas, and meet us near Chernigoff, I joined him with troops and
wild Polovtsi, and waited all winter; thou didst not move, thinking
that the Chernigoff princes would not attack us. In view of this, I
dismissed David and the Polovtsi, and Yaroslav and I kissed the cross
not to raise arms against each other till we had agreed or failed in
agreement. Now Mystislav is sitting in chains in Chernigoff. If we
should delay longer, wilt thou mount thy horse and declare where we are
to assemble? Avenge the offense and remove the shame. Let us free
Mystislav, and get justice.”
Big Nest gave no answer that summer. In the autumn, when Rurik had
summoned his brethren and the Polovtsi, he marched on Chernigoff. Then
Yaroslav of Chernigoff sent this message to Rurik: “My brother, why
dost thou wage war on my country and use pagans to help thee? Thou hast
done me no harm, and I am not seeking thy capital. If thy brother sent
his nephew against me, God judged between me and Mystislav. I ask no
ransom for Mystislav; I am ready to free him. Kiss the cross to me that
thou wilt bring me to friendship with David, thy brother, and that thou
hast no plot with Big Nest, whether I settle with him or fail in a
settlement.” Rurik, without restraining the Polovtsi, began now to
negotiate, demanding that Yaroslav should let his envoys pass to
Smolensk and Vladimir. But the Chernigoff prince feared, and with
reason, that the labors of those envoys would be directed against him;
hence he closed all of his lands to the Kief prince. War continued till
winter. To one sorrow was added another in Yaroslav’s case, for the
bravest of all the descendants of Oleg, Vsevolod Buitur of Trubchenvsk,
died and was buried “amid mighty wailing and weeping.” They were roused
from this sadness by delight at a friendship proposed by the Prince of
Volynia.
Roman raised weapons now against Rurik. The Kief prince received news
at the same time from his son Rostislav and from David, his brother,
that Roman had attacked their possessions. Thereupon he summoned to
Kief Mystislav the Gallant, and sent him to Galitch to Vladimir, son of
Eight Minds, and nephew of Big Nest, so that both might march into the
lands of Volynia. Rurik, to rouse the Galitch prince greatly, gave
command to say to him: “I would go myself with thee, but Big Nest has
mounted and is marching to help me against the descendants of Oleg; we
have decided to meet near Chernigoff.”
In fact Big Nest with David, Rurik’s brother, had entered the land of
the Vyatichi. They burned town after town and devastated the country.
After this storm, Yaroslav of Chernigoff prepared for a siege. Leaving
his nephews in the capital to defend it, he took Igor of
Novgorod-Seversk and a force of wild Polovtsi, and went to meet Big
Nest and David. In that forest region of the Vyatichi, he felled trees
and erected barriers for defense. He destroyed bridges, and made all
roads and crossings as difficult as possible. Then he sent his most
eminent men to lay terms of peace before Big Nest, but also a word of
decision. “My brother and relative,” said he, “thou hast seized our
bread and our inheritance, but, if it is thy true wish to agree and be
in accord with us, we do not flee from agreement, and will act with
thee. We will liberate Mystislav without ransom. If thou hast plans
against us, we will not avoid meeting thee. Let God and the Holy
Saviour give judgment.”
Big Nest called a council of the Ryazan princes who were with him. At
this council, he declared that there was no reason for the war now, as
he thought, and that he wished to give peace to Chernigoff. David was
indignant. “How?” asked he. “Thou hast stipulated with Rurik, my
brother, and me to meet us both at Chernigoff, and make peace only
there, and as we all agreed. Rurik waits with impatience for news from
us, while fighting with his force against Chernigoff. For me and for
thee he has let his whole country be covered with fire, and now we wish
to make peace without him. I tell thee sincerely that such a peace will
not please my brother.” But, in spite of David’s protest, Big Nest
stopped the advance and began to negotiate.
At this time Yaropolk, son of Yaroslav of Chernigoff, was Prince of
Novgorod, called there by the Novgorod men some months earlier. Big
Nest demanded that Yaropolk leave Novgorod. Mystislav must be freed
without ransom, and then he advised that Chernigoff abandon the
alliance with Roman. All these conditions were accepted save the last.
Finally the negotiations were concluded with a strict and precise
obligation on the part of Chernigoff, without mentioning alliances, not
to strive to take Kief or Smolensk from Rurik or David. The Vladimir
prince gave peace on this basis. “I have made peace with Yaroslav. He
has kissed the cross not to seek Kief from thee, or Smolensk from thy
brother,” was his message to Rurik.
Rurik flashed up with rage at these words, and sent a reproach, not an
answer to Big Nest. “Thou didst kiss the cross to me that whoso was my
enemy was thine also. Thou didst ask of me a share in Southern Russia,
and I gave thee the best province, not from excess of land at my
disposal, since I was forced to take the land from Roman, and he is for
that cause my enemy. No matter how many promises thou didst make to
help me, thou didst pass the winter and summer in promises. How didst
thou assist me, and how didst thou finish that touching which thou
didst kiss the cross with me?” And the enraged Rurik took back those
towns on the Ros which he had given to Big Nest. Big Nest, though very
angry, paid no heed to this action. He had given already, as we know,
the best towns to Rurik and to Rurik’s son, Rostislav.
Thus rose the quarrel between the Kief prince and the Prince of
Vladimir, a complete break between relatives. That this was a bad move
for Rurik, and that he would not remain in Kief long, seemed clear to
most men; his fall appeared certain. In addition to this trouble, he
lost David, his best friend and defender, who died in Smolensk in 1197.
The throne of Smolensk and the lands around Kief which belonged to him,
David left to Mystislav, son of Roman, the oldest in his family. His
children he committed to Rurik.
That Rurik was weakened in Kief and had lowered its dignity, Roman was
more convinced now than ever. Divorced from Rurik’s daughter, he sent
her to her father and married a second time. Rurik, however, held Kief
for some years after this. Meanwhile Roman was collecting strength to
get his “mind’s wish,” and later it came to him; for soon he reached
immense power for that place and period. About this time the bravest of
Oleg’s descendants, Vsevolod, son of Sviatoslav, died and disappeared
from the field of activity. The Chernigoff prince, Rostislav, died in
1198, and his throne was occupied, according to seniority, by Igor of
Novgorod-Seversk. Two years later “Rushing Bull” the hero of the Slovo
died. Among the descendants of Oleg, Vsevolod Chermny, son of
Sviatoslav “the sister’s son,” became prominent, and soon occupied the
first place. The decease of these older men was not followed by any
disorder, but a little later, Vladimir, son of Eight Minds, died, and
as he left no heir his death caused immense changes and brought after
it endless disturbance throughout Southern Russia. The Hungarians and
Poles struggled for his possessions, but were set aside promptly by
Roman, who having once held the Galitch throne never again turned his
eyes from it.
Bela of Hungary, who still called himself “King of Galicia,” hurried
straightway with his troops to take possession of Galitch, but Roman
moved his forces still more quickly. He had planned to arm Poland
against Hungary, its permanent rival, and hastening to Cracow turned
again to Leshko, for whom he had shed his blood some years earlier.
Taking him and his forces, he anticipated Bela and was in the capital
before him. The Hungarians, hearing of Roman’s success, fell back
beyond the Carpathians. The men of Galitch, who had opened the city to
Roman, seated him on the throne of Volodar, Vladimirko and Eight Minds.
The new ruler surpassed without exception all who had preceded him;
with his strong mind and heroic manner, it could not be otherwise.
Galitch and Volynia, through the character of the people and the nature
of the country, formed one possession. From the time that they were
separated through violence by Vsevolod, son of Monomach, who died in
1093 (he separated them for the benefit of the landless “orphan”
princes), disputes touching boundaries had been continual between
princes of Galitch and Volynia. The first prince who held both lands
was Roman. It should be remembered that Galitch in those days extended
to the Danube, and included the present Roumania. Roman took Galitch
without a struggle, because the people there helped him. They had
learned to fear foreign rule, hence received him as the prince of their
wishes; they would have no prince but Roman. The Poles boasted,
however, that thanks to them Roman was seated in Galitch, and in later
years, when Roman had been slain, and while his two sons were still
children, they robbed Volynia and plundered Galitch. Polish boasting
and the really close relationship between Mazovian and Volynian princes
gave rise to the fable and claim in Poland that those lands were an
ancient appanage of Poland. After Roman’s death, they were claimed by
the Poles as their own lands, which their princes through kindness had
given, as they averred, for temporary use to Russian princes, their
relatives.
But come what might, Leshko was glad that they had stopped the
Hungarians, who in their turn were glad that Galitch had gone from the
Poles to their opponents. Both sides feared Roman and made a proverb
declaring him to be “as brave as a bull, as pugnacious as a rat, and as
deadly as a crocodile.”
Andrei, the former “King of Galicia,” raised no claim during Roman’s
time. Polish princes sought Roman’s friendship, and not only made no
attack on his territory, but feared lest he might demand of them lands
which were formerly Russian, but had been seized by Polish princes.
Roman was feared still more by his enemies in Galitch. Almost all the
boyars were traitors to the people through their love of power and
delight in loose living, in which they resembled their western
neighbors. To raise themselves high above the people and bind them in
absolute slavery, so as to hold Galitch as the Poles and Hungarians
held their lands, was the ideal of those boyars, and that is why they
yielded so gladly to Hungary. These tendencies they exalted, of course,
as love of country, and sacrifice for the fatherland. But the keen
Roman saw through such pretenses. His opponents said that he acted
inhumanly with the boyars of Galitch. During his short reign he
destroyed many of them. His enemies declared that he quartered boyars,
shot them, or buried them alive; that when they fled he lured them back
by promises of kindness, and when, trusting in his words, they
returned, he delivered them to torrents. The truth is that at the time
of his first occupation of Galitch, he saw its disorders most clearly.
That which his own eyes beheld fully convinced him that the boyars who
pretended to care for and toil in the interest of the country were the
ones who gave it up to a Latin prince and a foreigner, and he would not
spare traitors. When he settled finally in Galitch, he was forced to
take mighty measures against men who were at once his opponents and the
enemies of the people. There is no doubt that the greater part of them
fled from Roman’s anger, withdrawing in season to Hungary. Those who
remained, he either put to death, or reduced to obedience. For this he
received from the chroniclers not blame but thanks, and the title
“Single Ruler of Galitch.” He reigned with glory, possessing all
Carpathian Russia, that is, ruling alone on the banks of the Dniester,
the Pruth, the Seret in the Danube regions, in places which are now
Roumania, and in the Volynian lands in addition.
Rome sought now more intimate relations with Roman, but all attempts
failed and further approach was deferred till a more favorable period,
which did not come during Roman’s days. In the short interval from 1197
to 1201, Galitch and Volynia held the first place in Southern Russia.
In other principalities, nothing happened of interest. Big Nest’s whole
activity was confined to Vladimir, except that he renewed Gorodok and
strengthened its Kremlin, and sent Yaroslav, his son, to Pereyaslavl,
thus making it clear that he had part in Southern Russia. With Rurik of
Kief he stopped all relations. The Polovtsi did not trouble Kief during
this period, but their new day was coming.
Of all the descendants of Monomach and even of Oleg, “those ancient
allies of the wild Polovtsi,” there was no prince in history so
intimate with those steppe men as Rurik. He wished to be friends with
every horde without exception, and in cases of need they were ready to
serve him. It was not stated in chronicles without good reason that
“the pagans delighted in Rurik, for he received all with love, whether
Christians or pagans, and sent away no man unsatisfied.”
In 1202 came the end of peace. In that year began wars without number,
and expeditions which plunged the whole country into gloom. As soon as
Rurik had made a firm treaty with the princes of Chernigoff, he
hastened to use it. He resolved to humiliate Roman. The Chernigoff
princes joined this league against Roman, and persuaded all descendants
of Oleg to be with them. Chermny, the Chernigoff prince, went to Kief
with his brethren, to help Rurik against the “Single Ruler of Galitch”
and his kinsmen who managed under him in Volynia. These allied princes
could not forgive Roman for taking Galitch without their consent, and
without sharing it with another; they also envied him his swift
exaltation. It was learned besides that Roman had come to an agreement
with Big Nest, whom alone he considered as his senior. And, to finish
the matter, it had been decided between those two princes to give the
Kief throne to Ingvar, son of Yaroslav of Volynia.
But, while sitting in Galitch, the golden-domed capital of Eight Minds,
Roman knew well what was happening in Kief, the old capital. Marching
swiftly, he anticipated his enemies and forestalled their campaign. The
Cherkasi and the Black Caps rose to a man and went forth gladly to join
the on-marching regiments of Volynia and Galitch. Kief and the towns
around it were excited in favor of Roman. While the allies were talking
over the future division of Bailgorod, Vyshgorod and other towns, and
also the partition of Galitch; while they were planning the positions
of the regiments and the hordes of Polovtsi, Roman, supported by the
population, approached Kief on a sudden. The inhabitants opened the
gates, and he marched in without opposition. He occupied Podol, the
lower part of the city, and sent to Rurik, who was in the hill part,
demanding surrender. In view of the fact that the people had opened the
gates and were ready for a general uprising, the allies made no
resistance whatever. Roman brought them all to kiss the cross to him;
he kissed it also in this,—that he did not take Kief for himself. He
then permitted them to withdraw from the city and go to their homes.
Rurik went to his Ovrutch, and the Chernigoff princes to their lands
east of the Dnieper. Then, deferring to Big Nest, Roman seated Ingvar,
son of Yaroslav, on the Kief throne. After this, Roman won the double
love of the people by a campaign against the Polovtsi, “the wild ones.”
Instead of the plunder of Galitch promised the Polovtsi by Rurik, they
had now to pay dearly for assisting him. Roman seized their towns and
made a vast number of prisoners. He freed Christian captives, and the
delight at his victory was unbounded.
Thus began a new reign in Kief. But while Ingvar sat there no one
dreamed of calling him Grand Prince, for he was simply a lieutenant;
moreover his rule had but one feature of brightness,—its brevity.
The vanquished Rurik and Oleg’s descendants, who had been humiliated,
could not forgive the Kief people their treason, and prepared to take
vengeance. A crime was committed then that has not its like in Kief
history. Though many evils had come upon the mother city they were
slight in comparison with this one. Rurik with his people and Chermny
with his troops, in January, 1204, brought to Kief countless legions of
Polovtsi, promising those savage warriors and wild men of the steppes
the plunder of the capital. It was said that “the whole land of the
Polovtsi” was present. Kief was taken by storm; not only did the
Polovtsi sack all the lower town, but they rushed to the upper part;
they plundered the monasteries, Sophia cathedral, and the Tithe church;
they stripped the holy images, and carried away the consecrated vessels
and crosses. “The wild ones” seized the precious robes of ancient
princes, of Saint Vladimir and his son, Yaroslav the Lawgiver, and
other robes which had been kept in the churches and revered as sacred
relics. The city was blazing. Along the streets captive people were
driven in multitudes. Foreign merchants defended themselves in the
stone churches so manfully that the Polovtsi bargained with them,
taking a part of their merchandise as ransom.
In general, the Polovtsi spared neither the great nor the
insignificant, the rich nor the indigent. A multitude of old monks and
nuns, and also the parish clergy, were slain with lances or cut down
with swords, as were the lame, the blind, and all useless people. The
healthy and young were taken captive. Not a house was left unplundered.
In the churches not one sacred vessel was spared, or one holy image
with its ornaments. When they had sated themselves with plunder and
withdrawn from the city, Kief was a smoking ruin; only the groans of
the dying broke the silence. The streets, stained with blood, were
covered with corpses.
People afterward called to mind many prophecies and omens given during
that year: one night, for example, the heavens suddenly appeared as if
dyed with blood; on the streets and in the houses each object seemed
blood-covered. Men saw how stars torn from the sky fell to the earth.
This phenomenon terrified all who witnessed it. People thought that the
end of life was approaching. It seemed now that the destruction of Kief
had been foretold by those heavenly wonders. “It might have been so,
for what could be more awful than the ruin of Kief by its own princes.
Had such a crime ever been heard of in the world till that day?” But
the words describing its terrors had not ceased to sound among people,
when they were drowned by an outcry still more terrible.
A tale came from afar giving an account of a new and dreadful woe to
all people of the Orthodox world. Tsargrad had been taken by the
Latins. The Western Crusaders had seized the capital of the Emperors,
had plundered it to the last object, and had robbed and slaughtered
people too numerous for reckoning. They had entered Holy Sophia, had
torn off the door, and cut in pieces the ambo covered with silver; they
had stripped the wonderful altar, had taken all the precious stones and
candlesticks, the Gospels bound in gold and silver, the holy crosses
and the priceless images. Other churches without number in the city and
outside the city and the monasteries they had stripped naked. “The
number of these and their beauty could not be recounted or described by
any man.” Thus had fallen the God-preserved city of Tsargrad, the
capital of the empire and of the land of the Greeks.
These two deeds, the capture of Kief by Rurik and the Polovtsi, and the
capture of Tsargrad by the Latins, happened in the same year, 1204.
Rurik, chief destroyer of Kief, not daring to set foot in the capital,
went back to Ovrutch. Ingvar buried himself for the rest of his life in
Volynia.
Roman, not believing his ears when he learned of the terrible
destruction of Kief, wished to hear from Rurik himself the explanation,
and went from Galitch directly to Ovrutch. We know not what Rurik told
Roman, who for his own selfish purposes greatly desired to detach Rurik
from the princes of Chernigoff and from the Polovtsi. Rurik was willing
to desert them, or at least to promise to do so, if Kief might be his
again. Whatever the result was, both parties were dissatisfied.
Apparently Roman did not wish, in view of detaching Rurik from
Chernigoff and the Polovtsi, to refuse him the Kief throne. Being
friendly with Big Nest, and knowing his dislike for the Kief prince,
since he had contributed to Rurik’s disgrace, and the establishment of
Ingvar, Roman arranged in this way: he declared to Rurik that to
confirm a prince in Kief did not depend on him, the Prince of Galitch,
and advised Rurik to turn with his request to Big Nest, promising to
write himself to the Prince of Vladimir touching the matter. He made
this promise, believing that Big Nest would reject the proposal. But,
in this case, Big Nest did not justify Roman’s expectation. The Grand
Prince of Vladimir, to the utter amazement of all persons, gave his
consent to the return of Rurik, and no one, save Roman, could explain
the act, otherwise than as due to the marvelous good nature of Big
Nest. “This merciful prince,” said the people, “does not remember
Rurik’s crimes, or even the offense which he himself has endured from
him.” But Roman apparently explained this unexpected act differently,
and, not wishing Rurik’s return, took his own course.
In 1205, the following year, when Rurik was prince in Kief again, Roman
strengthened his earlier friendship with Chernigoff, and with Yaroslav,
son of Big Nest, ruling at that time in Pereyaslavl on the Alta. Then
he went to Rurik with regiments from Volynia and Galitch, and announced
a campaign against the Polovtsi. No matter how Rurik might favor the
Polovtsi, he could not refuse to fight against the enemies of his
country. The sacred cry raised all Southern Russia. A general arming
took place, and under Roman a successful campaign was made. The
Polovtsi were beaten, as they had not been beaten for a long time. Many
captives were rescued, and much of the wealth seized in Kief at the
sacking of the city was restored. Roman won immense honor, and the
gratitude shown him was general.
But to conquer the Polovtsi was not the only, or perhaps the chief
reason for this expedition. On their return, Rurik was removed from the
Kief throne. We know not how this was effected; we know only that Roman
did it indirectly. This is shown by the fact that he took home with him
to Galitch Rurik’s two sons, Vladimir and Rostislav, the former a
son-in-law of Big Nest. Rurik himself became a monk, while his
daughters and wife were forced to enter a convent. No one doubted that
Rurik took the habit through compulsion from Roman. When Big Nest heard
of these acts, he was angry, but only because the husband of his
favorite daughter was, as he thought, a captive in Galitch. He demanded
the instant liberation of both brothers. To this Roman answered, not
merely with perfect compliance, but he made an addition: Rostislav was
not only set free, he was placed on the Kief throne.
Roman proposed now a meeting in Kief of all the ruling princes to
discuss and establish new rules which he intended to lay before the
assembly. These rules were in substance as follows: To prevent local
princes from becoming insignificant, they must be stopped from dividing
their lands, and made to give rule to the eldest son only. At the death
of the Grand Prince, the other ruling princes were to choose from among
them the man most deserving of primacy. The princes did not like this
proposal, but not wishing, or perhaps not daring to anger Roman, they
promised to assemble and examine his project. Later on, in one way and
another, they avoided the meeting. Big Nest refused to consider the
question at all, and answered: “I have no wish to violate customs. Let
matters rest as they were in the days of our fathers.”
Involved more and more with his Polish relations, Roman did not cease
to help Leshko in the war which he waged against Mechislav, his uncle.
He took part in a later war, also, against Mechislav’s son, surnamed
Cane Legs (Laska Nogi). Meanwhile, regiments of Volynia and Galitch
occupied the ancient Russian region of Lublin. But Leshko and Cane Legs
made peace with each other, and asked Roman to lead home his warriors.
Roman, in answer, laid siege to Lublin and demanded either a return in
money for all his campaign, or that they should yield up to him this
ancient Russian region so long in dispute between Poles and Russians.
Leshko, roused against Roman by Cane Legs, marched with Konrad, his
brother, to attack him. Roman abandoned the siege and went to meet the
two brothers. When he was encamped on the left of the Vistula, at
Zavihvost, envoys came to him from Leshko, and a truce was agreed upon,
pending a final arrangement and treaty. Supposing this truce to be
genuine, Roman, taking no further thought about action or safety, went
out one day from his camp to hunt with a small party. All at once he
was surrounded, and, in a desperate struggle with men who would not
take note of the truce, he fell, weapons in hand, with all his
attendants. This was in 1205, on the day of Saints Gervasius and
Protasius.
Leshko and his brother were so rejoiced at the unhoped-for deliverance,
that in the Cracow cathedral they raised an altar to those two saints
and made them their patrons.