The Rostislavichi of Smolensk [a] were one of the four dominant princely clans of Kievan Rus' in the 12th and 13th century. [b] They were one of many branches of the House of Rurik. [3]
The Rostislavichi of Smolensk [a] were one of the four dominant princely clans of Kievan Rus' in the 12th and 13th century. [b] They were one of many branches of the House of Rurik. [3]
They are named after Rostislav I Mstislavich of Kiev (died 1167), prince of Smolensk (r. 1125–1160) and intermittently prince of Kiev (modern Kyiv) since 1154. [4] They were closely related to the Iziaslavichi of Volhynia, which descended from Rostislav's brother Iziaslav II Mstislavich of Kiev. The Rostislavichi would reign in their main patrimony, the Principality of Smolensk, from 1126 to 1404, intermittently as Grand Princes of Kiev, in Novgorod, in Pereyaslavl, in Polotsk, and Galicia. While the Vsevolodichi ceased claiming the Kievan throne after the 1272 death of Yaroslav of Tver, the Rostislavichi, Iziaslavichi and Olgovichi kept vying for it. [5] In the 14th and early 15th century, the Rostislavichi clan lost its prominence when it was defeated and subsumed into the Ruthenian nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Vsevolod I Yaroslavich was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1078 until his death in 1093.
The Grand Prince of Kiev was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the grand prince of Vladimir and the Mongol Golden Horde governors, and later was taken over by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Vladimir II Monomakh was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1113 to 1125. He is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is celebrated on May 6.
Andrey Yuryevich Bogolyubsky, was Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal from 1157 until his death. During repeated internecine wars between the princely clans, Andrey accompanied his father Yuri Dolgorukiy during a brief capture of Kiev in 1149. 20 years later, his son led the Sack of Kiev (1169). He was canonized as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1702.
Mstislav I Vladimirovich Monomakh, also known as Mstislav the Great, was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1125 until his death in 1132. After his death, the state began to quickly disintegrate into rival principalities.
Rostislav Mstislavich was Prince of Smolensk (1125–1160), Novgorod (1154) and Grand Prince of Kiev. He is the founder of the Rostislavichi branch of Rurikid princes in Smolensk. He was the son of Mstislav I of Kiev and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden.
Oleg Svyatoslavich was a prince from Kievan Rus' whose equivocal adventures ignited political unrest in the country at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. He reigned as Prince of Chernigov from 1094 to 1097, and as Prince of Novgorod-Seversk from 1097 to 1115. He was the progenitor of the Olgovichi family.
The inner Principality of Kiev was a medieval principality centered on the city of Kiev.
The siege of Novgorod was a 1169/1170 siege of the city of Veliky Novgorod, capital of the Novgorod Republic, in the aftermath of the Sack of Kiev (1169).
The Principality of Smolensk was a Kievan Rus' lordship from the 11th to the 16th century. Until 1127, when it passed to Rostislav Mstislavich, the principality was part of the land of Kiev. The principality gradually came under Lithuanian influence and was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1404. The principality was reorganized into the Smolensk Voivodeship in 1508. The Principality of Moscow controlled the city from 1514 to 1611, then it was recaptured by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Tsardom of Russia recaptured the city in 1654.
The Rurik dynasty, also known as the Rurikid or Riurikid dynasty, as well as simply Rurikids or Riurikids, was a noble lineage allegedly founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who, according to tradition, established himself at Novgorod in the year 862. The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus' and its principalities following its disintegration.
The Principality of Turov, later called the Principality of Turov and Pinsk, also known as Turovian Rus', was a medieval principality of Kievan Rus' from the 10th century on the territory of modern-day Belarus and northern Ukraine. The princes of Turov often served as grand princes early in 10th and 11th centuries. Its capital was Turov (Turaŭ), and other important cities included Pinsk, Mazyr, Slutsk, Lutsk, Brest, and Volodymyr.
The Principality of Volhynia was a western Kievan Rus' principality founded by the Rurikid prince Vsevolod in 987 centered in the region of Volhynia, straddling the borders of modern-day Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. From 1069 to 1118, it belonged to Izyaslavichi who primarily ruled from Turov. After losing Turov to Monomakhovichi in 1105, the descendants of Iziaslav Yaroslavovich for a few years continued to rule in Volhynia. From 1154 to 1199, the Principality was referred to as the Principality of Volodymyr when the Principality of Lutsk (1154–1228) was separated.
Monomakhovichi or House of Monomakh was a major princely branch of the Rurikid dynasty, descendants of which managed to inherit many princely titles which originated in Kievan Rus'. The progenitor of the house is Vladimir II Monomakh. The name derived from the grandfather of Vladimir, Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos of the Monomachos family.
The Kievan Chronicle or Kyivan Chronicle is a chronicle of Kievan Rus'. It was written around 1200 in Vydubychi Monastery as a continuation of the Primary Chronicle. It is known from two manuscripts: a copy in the Hypatian Codex, and a copy in the Khlebnikov Codex ; in both codices, it is sandwiched between the Primary Chronicle and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle. It covers the period from 1118, where the Primary Chronicle ends, until about 1200, although scholars disagree where exactly the Kievan Chronicle ends and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle begins.
The sack of Kiev took place on 8–12 March 1169 when a coalition of 11 princes, assembled by prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal, attacked the Kievan Rus' capital city of Kiev during the 1167–1169 Kievan succession crisis. The conflict, caused by the death of grand prince Rostislav I of Kiev, was between rival branches of the Monomakhovichi clan: the Iziaslavichi of Volhynia on the one hand, and the Rostislavichi of Smolensk, the Yurievichi, and the Olgovichi of Chernigov on the other. Prince Mstislav II of Kiev sought to defend Kiev against the Rostislavichi–Yurievichi–Olgovichi coalition.
The Olgovichi or Olhovychi were one of the four dominant princely clans of Kievan Rus' in the 12th and 13th century. First mentioned in the Hypatian continuation of the Primary Chronicle (PVL) under the year 1116 and literally meaning "the sons of Oleg", they were named after Oleg I Sviatoslavich, Prince of Chernigov and Principality of Novgorod-Seversk.
The battle and siege of Vyshgorod took place in late 1173, during the 1171–1173 Kievan succession crisis. Commanding another broad coalition army, prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal launched a second campaign against Kiev, capital city of Kievan Rus'. After the conquest and sack of Kiev in March 1169 by an earlier coalition assembled by Andrey, his brother Gleb of Pereyaslavl had been installed as the new grand prince, only to die under suspicious circumstances in January 1171. A series of princes briefly reigned in Kiev thereafter, with Andrey usually managing to put his preferred candidates on its throne, until his brother Vsevolod "the Big Nest" was driven out by the Rostislavichi of Smolensk in April 1172, enthroning Rurik Rostislavich. Andrey was most displeased when he heard about this, and assembled another coalition army under his son Yury to militarily enforce his will on Kiev.
The Suzdalian war of succession of 1174–1177 was a war of succession in Vladimir-Suzdal (Suzdalia), a complex of principalities in the northeast of Kievan Rus'. The casus belli was the assassination of prince Andrey Bogolyubsky on 28 June 1174 by his own boyars. Immediately, his surviving step-brothers, son and nephews started fighting amongst themselves about who had the right to succeed him. The conflict would not be resolved until Vsevolod Yurievich "the Big Nest" had defeated his other brothers and his nephews, and seized power across Suzdalia in 1177.
Princess Yaropolkovna of Minsk was the daughter of prince Yaropolk Iziaslavich of Volhynia and Kunigunde von Orlamünde; the princess-consort of Gleb Vseslavich of Minsk ; and, according to some scholarly interpretations, princess regnant of Minsk for about 40 years after her husband's death.