After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, a weak and greedy prince, received the Kiev table. In conditions of princely strife and external threat (Polovtsy), he and his advisers led the people to an uprising. Not having the strength to suppress the popular uprising, Izyaslav fled to Poland, counting on the support of Prince Boleslav II the Bold. The Polish prince Boleslav used the expulsion of Izyaslav to attack Russia and seize Kiev.
Boleslav II the Bold
After the death of Casimir, Boleslav II took the throne. Poland at this time was dependent on the Second Reich and was in conflict with the Czech Republic. The main task of the Polish prince was to find allies in a possible battle with the empire. Hungary and Russia could be such allies. Boleslav had strong ties with Russia - he was the son of Dobronega (Mary), apparently the daughter of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Grand Duke of Kiev. He was married to the daughter of Svyatoslav of Chernigov Vysheslav. The new great Russian prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich was married to Gertrude, the daughter of the Polish king Meshko II. An alliance with Russia was established by his father Casimir.
It is worth noting that at this time between Russia and Poland there was still no full-fledged conceptual and ideological (the Russian idea of truth and justice, living according to conscience against the parasitic Western "matrix") and civilizational conflict along the East-West, Russian and Western civilizations. The Polish nationality, which consisted of various Slavic unions of tribes of the super-ethnos of the Rus, in language, culture and even faith (paganism had not yet died), practically did not differ from the Russians. The conflicts were of a kindred nature - Polish princes helped some Russian princes against others, Russian princes helped one part of the Polish elite against another. The Western "matrix", through informational, ideological sabotage - the introduction of Christianity, has not yet crushed the Slavic identity in Poland. And the western parasitic slaveholding, feudal system, with the transformation of the majority of Poles into cattle slaves, has not yet won. Poland was just becoming a part of Western civilization.
Relying on an alliance with Hungary and Kievan Rus, Boleslav II intervened in the internecine wars in Bohemia in 1061, but failed. The Polish-Czech conflict took advantage of the nobility of Western Pomerania and refused to recognize dependence on Poland. Boleslav did not step up his actions in this direction. Soon Western Pomerania became part of the state of the vigorous. Then Boleslav actively intervened in the affairs of the Russian state, using the unrest and uprising in Kiev that had begun.
Boleslav II the Bold
General situation in Russia
In 1054, the great Kiev prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich passed away. Kiev received the weakest of the brothers - Izyaslav, warlike Svyatoslav - Chernigov, balanced and peaceful, father's favorite Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl, Vyacheslav - Smolensk, Igor - Vladimir-Volynsky. It was possible to give the main Kiev table to Svyatoslav or Vsevolod, bypassing Izyaslav, but Yaroslav the Wise considered order as the main thing and asked the brothers to observe the "row", the order of inheritance. The elder, the Grand Duke of Kiev, everyone was obliged to honor and obey, like a father. But he also had to take care of the younger ones, to protect them. Yaroslav established a hierarchy of Russian cities and princely thrones. The first in rank is Kiev, the second is Chernigov, the third is Pereyaslavl, the fourth is Smolensk, the fifth is Vladimir-Volynsky. None of the sons was left without an inheritance, each received possession by seniority. But Russia was not divided at the same time. The younger princes were subordinate to the elder, Kiev, and important issues were resolved together. Lots were not given for perpetual use. The Grand Duke will die, he will be replaced by the Chernigov one, and the rest of the princes move along a kind of "ladder" (ladder) to higher "steps".
Other cities and lands were not distributed personally, but were attached to the main appanages. The right bank of the Dnieper and the Turovo-Pinsk land departed to Kiev. Novgorod was directly subordinate to the Grand Duke. The two most important centers of Rus - Kiev and Novgorod, which determined the development of the Russian land, were to be in the same hands. Tmutarakan, other advanced outposts of Russia, lands on the Desna and Oka up to Murom belonged to the Chernigov table. Towards Pereyaslavl - southern lines of fortified towns to Kursk. The distant Zalesye - Rostov, Suzdal, Beloozero - was also added to Pereyaslavl. The vast Smolensk and Vladimir-Volyn principality did not require any "additions".
In the beginning, the reign of Izyaslav was calm. However, the Kiev boyar-trading elite quickly took advantage of the weak will of the new Grand Duke, he was densely rooted by the nobles, who regulated the policy of the Kiev prince in their own interests. In Kiev, grandiose construction continued. Recently, Yaroslav expanded the capital with Yaroslav's city, and Izyaslav began to build "Izyaslav's city" to please his wife and nobles. They outlined the construction of a new palace, the Dmitrievsky Monastery (the Grand Duke had the Christian name Dmitry). On construction, as then, as now, you can always warm your hands well, here the thousand Kosnyachko with other close ones had complete freedom. True, there was no extra money, but it was borrowed from Jewish usurers who had strong ties with the Kiev elite. The prince paid for the loans with contracts, benefits and privileges. But the money had to be returned. As usual, the common people suffered the most. Taxes were increased and new taxes were introduced. In Kiev, predation and embezzlement flourished - the treasury, nobles, boyars, merchants, Greeks, Jewish usurers, tiuns who collected taxes, grew richer. The nobles and boyars seized the land and villages. The peasants, who yesterday were free communes, became dependent.
The advisers suggested that it is necessary to edit the Russian Pravda - the laws of Russia. Laws came from ancient times, when there was no slavery and the overwhelming majority of people were free members of the community. According to Russkaya Pravda, death was avenged by death. Now amendments were made - blood feud and the death penalty were abolished, replaced by a monetary vira (fine). And if the criminal cannot pay, he can be sold to the same merchants, usurers. It is clear that the rich strata of the population could pay off for the crime.
At the same time, the Byzantine influence, which had been shaken before, was restored in the church structures. In the Sophia Cathedral, the Greeks prevailed, placing their relatives in the temples. The Pechersk Monastery, which remained a Russian spiritual center, came under attack. The monks even wanted to leave for Chernigov, under the wing of Svyatoslav, only under the influence of the wife of the Grand Duke Gertrude (she feared a repetition of the turmoil in Russia and the war with pagans, which was in Poland), they were persuaded to return. The people responded to Greek Christianization by preferring pagan rituals and games in the fields and forests. Thus, the socio-economic and religious situation in Kiev heated up.
In the meantime, the situation on the steppe borders of Russia sharply deteriorated. There was a massacre in the steppe. In the middle of the 11th century, in another war, the Cumans-Polovtsy defeated the Torks. And the Pechenegs were weakened by the previous wars with the Rus, and a significant part of their clans and tribes went to the Balkans. The Torks fell on the remaining Pechenegs and they threw the Black Sea region and fled to their relatives in the Balkans. A horde of torks fell on Russia. The main city of the Russian southern border system was Pereyaslavl, the inheritance of Vsevolod Yaroslavich. This prince, although peace-loving, knew how to fight. He led the squads and defeated the Torks. But after the torques there was a wave of Polovtsians. In 1055, the Polovtsians appeared at Pereyaslavl. They did not immediately fight. Khan Bolush caused Vsevolod to negotiate. The Polovtsi said that their enemies are torques, they do not fight the Russians. We exchanged gifts, made peace and friendship. Later Vsevolod, after the death of his first wife, married a Polovtsian princess. The relatives of Anna Polovetskaya became Vsevolod's loyal allies.
It is worth knowing that in spite of the image of a nomad formed by the media - a short, dark Mongoloid, on a small horse with a bow and saber, this is a lie. This myth was created in order to distort the true history of the super-ethnos of the Rus, the history of Eurasia. The Kumans, like the Pechenegs before them, the bulk of the Khazars, Torks, Berendeys, were not representatives of the Mongoloid race and the Turkic language family. These were the remains of the ancient Scythian-Sarmatian population of Northern Eurasia, Great Scythia. In this respect, they were relatives of the Rus-Russians, also the direct heirs of Great Scythia. In Russia, the Cumans were nicknamed the Polovtsy from the word "chaff", straw "- by the color of their hair, these nomads were blue-eyed blondes. No wonder the Russian princes loved to marry Polovtsian girls, they were distinguished by their beauty and devotion. The inhabitants of the steppe were close to the Russians in their spiritual and material culture and outward appearance.
The myth is the image of a typical nomadic steppe dweller, who only does what wanders across the steppe with his huge herds, makes raids and plunders. The Polovtsi, like the Scythians, had their own city-camps, rates, although their main economy was developed animal husbandry. Taking into account the military threat that emanated from the steppe, it is clear that the Scythians, and their heirs - the Pechenegs, Polovtsians and "Mongol-Tatars" had a developed military production, which made it possible to arm powerful armies. The "Mongolo-Tatars", who were attributed to the primitive Mongolian ethnos, which had no opportunity to conquer a significant part of Eurasia, were also descendants of the Scythian-Rus - blue-eyed, gray-eyed "giants" (for the short Mongoloids, the representatives of the white race were tall and physically developed) … Hence the myths and legends of the Turkic ethnic groups about white-skinned, light-eyed giant ancestors. Only they had an ancient military culture and industrial base, which made it possible to create the great empire of Genghis Khan. In a later period, the descendants of the Scythians, "Mongolo-Tatars" partly mixed with the Ugrians, Mongoloids, Türks, received a Mongoloid appearance (the genetics of the Mongoloids is dominant in relation to Caucasians), switched to the Türkic languages. Another part of the Polovtsians and "Mongol-Tatars" organically became part of the Russian superethnos, without causing any serious anthropological and cultural-linguistic changes, since they were all direct descendants of the Scythians, and before them - the Aryans.
A fierce war in the steppe went on for several years. New knees of torques retreated from the Volga and Don. On the Russian border, skirmishes constantly took place, heroic outposts collided with detachments of nomads, the guard squads of the fortress towns were in constant tension. Separate detachments of the Torks penetrated into the Russian lands, burned and plundered. Russian squads tried to intercept them. The masses of torcs, which were squeezed by the Polovtsians, accumulated in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. There was a threat of a major invasion of the Kiev region and Volhynia. The Russian princes announced a general campaign. In 1060, the whole of Russia came out - the Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl squads, the Novgorod, Smolensk and Volyn army approached. Even the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich arrived and held on to himself. The whole flotilla took in the infantry. In the first skirmishes, the torques were scattered. Having learned what kind of force was coming on them, the torquay, not accepting the battle, went further west, to the Danube. The Tork horde burst into the possessions of Byzantium, but then they were met by the earlier arrived Pechenegs and defeated. Torquay split, some went into the service of the Byzantine emperor, others returned to the north and offered their services to the great Kiev prince. Izyaslav settled them on the right bank of the Dnieper, here they built the fortress Torchesk.
However, now there was no Tork buffer between the Polovtsy and the Rus. Polovtsian raids began. In 1061, the Polovtsy in winter, when no one was waiting for them, broke through the Russian border defense and defeated the Pereyaslavl squads of Prince Vsevolod. He locked himself in the fortress. At the same time, there was no total war. Some princes were friends with the Russians, entered into family alliances, others fought, then made peace, traded. Since that time, the Polovtsi, like the Pechenegs before them, have become active participants in internal Russian strife. Russian princes actively attracted Polovtsian mercenaries and detachments of their relatives to fight their rivals.
Strife
There was no unity within Russia, as Yaroslav the Wise dreamed. His heirs quickly began to quarrel. And the Grand Duke Izyaslav began. When the eldest of the Yaroslavichi, Vladimir, died before his father, after him his son Rostislav sat down to rule in Novgorod. And Novgorod was a gold mine, and an important political center of Russia. The great Kiev prince Izyaslav and his mercenary entourage were worried that all the benefits of owning the great trading city went to his nephew Rostislav, and not to them. Rostislav was recalled from Novgorod. Vyacheslav Yaroslavich Smolensky died soon after. The passage along the ladder began. Igor was transferred from Vladimir-Volynsky, the fifth city in rank, to Smolensk. But he did not reign for long, fell ill and died. Rostislav received the rights to Smolensk. In full accordance with the ladder: when the brothers die, their sons begin to move up the ladder. First - the eldest, then the second oldest, etc. And Rostislav's father, Vladimir, was older than Izyaslav. In this situation, Rostislav was the fourth in line for the Kiev table! This did not suit the Grand Duke, his entourage, and even Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Rostislav walked ahead of the sons of the three main rulers of Russia. As a result, the law was “edited”. Like, when the distribution of the inheritance was going on, Vladimir was no longer alive. Therefore Rostislav falls out of the ladder system. The children of the dead brothers - Vyacheslav and Igor - were also thrown out of the stairs. They became rogue princes. Outcasts in Russia were called people who fell out of their social stratum (for example, peasants who left the rural community for the city, slaves released to freedom, etc.). Smolensk and Vladimir-Volynsky became estates under the direct control of the Grand Duke and his people.
Rostislav was given Vladimir-Volynsky to feed, but not according to the ladder system, but from the "bounty" of the Grand Duke. It is clear that Rostislav was offended. His father was the heir to Yaroslav the Wise, a favorite of Novgorod. And now his son is just a vassal of the Grand Duke, Izyaslav wanted - he gave Volhynia, he wants - he will take it away, as he took Novgorod. And the descendants of Rostislav will not be able to climb the stairs, they will not be able to get Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and Kiev. Then Rostislav made a strong move - made an alliance with Hungary, married the daughter of the Hungarian ruler Bela. With such a father-in-law, the Volyn prince became independent from Kiev. However, in 1063, his patron Bela died. Volhynia could not be held alone. The decisive and enterprising prince came up with another move - he suddenly occupied Tmutarakan, which belonged to the Chernigov prince. Here he began to plan a trip to Chersonesos or other Byzantine possessions. But the Greeks preemptively poisoned the Russian prince.
A new turmoil immediately began. It was started by the independent Polotsk prince Vseslav of Polotsk (Vseslav the Prophet or Sorcerer), who was considered a sorcerer and a werewolf. Polotsk has long harbored a grudge against Kiev. When Rostislav made porridge in the south, the Polotsk prince decided that a big war would begin, the Yaroslavich brothers would be busy and would not be able to react to his actions. He tried to take Pskov, but they managed to shut themselves up there. Vseslav rushed to Novgorod. There they did not expect an attack, and Vseslav's warriors robbed the rich city well. Vseslav even robbed the church of St. Sophia to the skin. The Yaroslavich brothers - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, in 1067 responded with a campaign against Minsk. The city was taken by storm, the defenders were killed. The townspeople were sent into slavery, Minsk was burned.
It is worth noting that because of the mistakes of the rulers, ordinary people always suffer, as then as now. Russian soldiers from the Polotsk land quietly plundered Novgorod. The Russian army of the Yaroslavichs took the Russian city of Minsk by storm and burned it down. The inhabitants were sold into slavery. It’s no better at the moment. Russians, some of whom consider themselves "Ukrainians", calmly shoot the Russian cities of Donetsk and Lugansk. Therefore, the ideal form of government for Russia is an empire with a strong central government. When energy is directed to the outer frontiers, the bulk of ordinary people live in safety.
While Minsk was still fighting, Vseslav Bryachislavich wasted no time collecting Polotsk ratios. In March 1067, the two armies met on the Nemiga River. The troops stood facing each other in deep snow for 7 days. Finally Vseslav of Polotsk launched an attack on the full moon, and many soldiers fell on both sides. The battle is described in the Word about Igor's regiment: "… on Nemiga sheaves are laid from their heads, beaten with damask flails, life is put on the current, the soul is blowing from the body …". The battle became one of the largest and most fierce internecine battles in Russia. Vseslav's troops were defeated. The prince himself was able to escape. The Polotsk land was devastated. Many people were captured and sold to the usurers-slave traders.
4 months after the battle, the Yaroslavichs called Vseslav for negotiations, kissed the cross and promised safety, but they broke their promise - they seized him along with their two sons, took him to Kiev and imprisoned. At the same time, the Greek clergy supported the Grand Duke. For Byzantium, betrayal was commonplace.
Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle
