Svyatopolk the Accursed / Святополк Окаянный
Last time (the last three times, actually: 1 2 3), Vladimir, the junior heir to Svyatoslav, drives his brother Yaropolk from Kiev, traps and kills him, then takes over. He expands Russia, defeating rebellions and re-orders the religious life of the nation, finally abandoning paganism and officially adopting Orthodox Christianity. As a Christian, he changed his ways, releasing his many wives and numerous concubines, fed the poor, set up churches and monasteries and reformed legal practices and local administration. He revived an older system of defences against the steppe nomads and built a network of fortresses along the rivers near Kiev. Although the Pechenegs were an enormous threat, in the end, it was Yaroslav’s rebellion that helped hasten Vladimir’s end. Vladimir raised an army to defeat his son but the Pechenegs attacked again, Boris was given the army to protect Russia, and in his absence, Vladimir died.
As we learned a couple of episodes ago, Vladimir had a large number of wives in his pagan days and a large number of sons to deal with and to keep busy. Some of these, Izyaslav, for example, predeceased him. However, by the end of his life, Vladimir had placed the surviving sons to rule local principalities, the replacement for the tribal structure. After Vysheslav’s death, Yaroslav had been sent to rule in Vladimir’s old princely seat – Novgorod in the north west. Svyatopolk ruled in Turov, to the north east of Kiev. Vladimir’s younger son Boris had been given Rostov in the far north east, while his brother Gleb had Murom, just to the south of Rostov, again far to the east and north of Kiev. Izyaslav’s son Vseslav ruled Polotsk, succeeded by his brother Bryacheslav, Svyatoslav ruled in Vruchy over the Drevlyane, Mstislav ruled in distant Tmutarakan, Sudislav held Pskov, last and probably least as well, Stanislav ruled in Smolensk (Chernigov became a major principality in the 1020s, it was still ruled from Kiev at this point).
After a Pecheneg attack, the army Vladimir had raised to deal with Yaroslav was sent, under Boris’s command, to deal with the nomads, but when the Pechenegs realised the size of the force, their horde dissolved into the vastness of the steppe, leaving Boris with a somewhat disappointed army (no victory – no plunder) and with the news that he had to get back to Kiev – fast. However, he was not fast enough.
Although Vladimir’s courtiers had tried to keep the news secret while they sent messengers to Boris to give him time to reach Kiev, Svyatopolk had heard of his father’s death first and moved fast to occupy the throne of the Grand Prince. He had been under arrest while Vladimir was alive, under suspicion of planning a revolt, so was close at hand when news got out of Vladimir’s death and Svyatopolk was released. He called the Kievans to him and gave them generous presents to try and win them over to his side. They accepted the gifts, but were in two minds, not least because many of them had relatives in Boris’s army. However, this particular problem was about to resolve itself: the men in Boris’s army went to him and urged him to advance on Kiev and, with their help, drive out Svyatopolk. However, Boris was a nice chap and told them “I will not raise my hand against my elder brother. If my father has died, let him take the place of my father in my heart.” This did not please the warriors, who drifted away back to Kiev, leaving Boris alone with his servants.
Boris refuses to attack Svyatopolk and take power.
Svyatopolk sent a message to Boris, inviting him to Kiev, promising to live in love with him and to give him lands in addition to those that had been granted by Vladimir. At the same time, he travelled to Vyshgorod and summoned Putsha (presumably the governor) and the Vyshgorod nobles and asked them if they were loyal to him. They assured Svyatopolk that they would lay down their lives for him, at which point the Grand Prince asked them to intercept Boris and kill him. Boris was camped by the river Al’ta, praying when Putsha and his men arrived. They waited while he prayed, but after Boris had finished praying and lay on his bed, the Vyshgorodians burst in. Boris had a favoured Hungarian servant called Georgi, whom he had rewarded with a gold neck ring. Georgy had tried to protect Boris with his own body and died in the attempt. Svyatopolk’s men could not remove the gold ring, so sliced Georgi’s head from his body.
Georgi’s death.
After killing all the servants, Putsha and his men tied up the grievously wounded Boris in the material of his tent and sent him off to Kiev on a wagon. When Svyatopolk heard Boris was still alive, he sent two Vikings off to finish the job. They didn’t mess around, took out their swords and killed him.
Having killed one brother, Svyatopolk tried the same trick out on another: Gleb in Murom. Like Boris, Gleb received a message asking him to come to Kiev. This time the message told Gleb his father was ill and requested his presence immediately. Gleb only took a small guard with him and travelled up the Volga, before heading across land for the Dnieper, then sailed down to Smyadyn’ just outside Smolensk. Here, he received another message, this time from Yaroslav, informing him of both Vladimir’s and Boris’s deaths. Gleb was struck down by grief, wept and prayed for his father and brother. At this point, Svyatopolk’s men arrived and attacked the ship. Gleb hadn’t brought many warriors with him, but Svyatopolk had bought the loyalty of Gleb’s cook Torchin, who stabbed the Prince, killing him.
Gleb’s death.
Gleb’s body was dumped on the shore, but was picked up and later taken to Vyshgorod’s St Basil’s church, where Boris’s remains were buried as well. As the pair of them had been killed without resisting, they were soon venerated as saints and their sainthood was confirmed by the Church in 1070. St Basil’s church was rebuilt and dedicated in their honour – although it has been rebuilt subsequently, a Sts Boris and Gleb church still stands in Vyshgorod.
Although they were killed and laid in coffins, they came to the Heavenly Kingdom; because they pierced one of you with a spear, and the other, like a meek lamb, was slaughtered with a knife, therefore your blood became the healing of the world – for all those who call on you, Saints, for help.
Svyatoslav, Prince of the Drevlyane, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew towards the the Hungarian border. However, Svyatopolk had already decided to rid himself of Svyatoslav as well. Svyatopolk’s far larger forces caught up with his brother near Skole in the Carpathian mountains. There was a battle, in which Svyatoslav and his seven sons died, leaving Svyatopolk in even firmer control of Russia. Svyatoslav’s daughter Paraskovia was killed (or committed suicide) on a nearby mountain which is named after to this day.
One may wonder, as this whole crisis had been sparked by Yaroslav’s refusal to pay tribute, what he had been doing all this time. It turns out things weren’t going well for him. The Vikings he had brought in to help in his rebellion against Vladimir were getting restless and started attacking the men and women of Novgorod. This didn’t go down well with the locals and they banded together and killed Yaroslav’s Viking mercenaries. Yaroslav invited the town elders (i.e. the commanders of his regular warband) who had organised the massacre to him, giving them the impression he approved, but when they turned up at his court, he had the ringleaders killed. He then received a letter from his sister Predislava confirming what had happened to his three brothers and warning him that he was now in Svyatopolk’s sights. Oh dear.
Teaching the Vikings a lesson in manners – the Novgorod way.
The PVL says Yaroslav called the Veche1 People’s Assembly and, in tears, said “Oh my dear warband, which yesterday I decimated and now I need!”, wiped his eyes and continued, “My father has died, my brother Svyatopolk sits in Kiev and is killing his own brothers.” The amazingly forgiving people of Novgorod replied “Although you sliced up our brothers yesterday, we will fight for you!”, Yaroslav managed to find a thousand surviving Vikings and, according to the PVL, forty thousand local fighters (the Novgorod Primary Chronicle states a more realistic three thousand – still a considerable force) and set off to take on Svyatopolk at some point in 1016.
When Svyatopolk heard Yaroslav was coming, he collected a huge army from both Russians and Pechenegs and headed north. They met at Lyubech, or not quite: Yaroslav’s army was on the left bank of the Dnieper, Svyatopolk’s was on the right bank. They sat there watching each other for three months with neither side making a move to attack the other. Svyatopolk may have been hoping that as Yaroslav was now well out of the boundaries of his principality, that he might be isolated and finding it difficult to get supplies. One would assume therefore, that Yaroslav had already brought his brothers and nephews ruling between Novgorod and Lyubech to his side. He certainly had no problems passing through or near the territories of Sudislav, the Prince of Pskov, Stanislav of Smolesnsk and Bryachislav, the Prince of Polotsk.
The two armies face off over the river Dnieper at Lyubech (the Dnieper is about 250m wide at Lyubech)
Rather foolishly, after three months, one of Svyatopolk’s commanders sailed over to the other bank and mocked Yaroslav’s army: “Why did you come with that cripple? You lot are carpenters, right? We’ll set you to build us a new palace2 Was Yaroslav disabled?!” That was enough to wind up the Novgorodtsy to the extent that they went to Yaroslav and told him that the next day, they would cross the river and strike at Svyatopolk, whether anyone else came with them or not.
Why don’t you go and wind up Yaroslav’s army? No harm would come of it.
Svyatopolk and his army was camped between two lakes to offer natural defences on two sides of the camp. As he seemed secure and, after three months, wasn’t expecting an attack, he got drunk with his warband. That morning, while Svyatopolk was sleeping off the effects of last night’s indulgence, Yaroslav was ordering his forces and sailing them over to the other side of the river. His men attacked the camp, but instead of helping, the lakes on either side merely prevented Svyatopolk’s Pecheneg horse-borne allies from using their mobility advantage to outflank Yaroslav’s men. Svyatopolk’s line broke, Yaroslav’s force pushed Svyatopolk’s men back onto one of the ice covered lakes, but the ice wasn’t that thick and cracked beneath them, plunging them into freezing water and finally breaking their will to resist. The Pechenegs rode off home and Svyatopolk fled to his father-in-law, King Boleslaw of Poland.
The battle between the lakes at Lyubech.
In 1017, Yaroslav entered Kiev, but unfortunately, that year there was a serious fire that took out all of the wooden churches. Luckily, as Svyatopolk’s commander had pointed out at Lyubech, Yaroslav’s men were carpenters. Unluckily, Svyatopolk was getting ready for a come-back with the help of King Boleslaw. In 1018, Boleslaw and Svyatopolk made their move, advancing into the area bordering Poland which Vladimir had incorporated into Russia in 982-3. Yaroslav collected an army and went out to meet him, the armies met at the river Bug. This time it was one of Yaroslav’s men who brought disaster upon his side by foolish talk. A commander, Buda, rode up to the Poles and mocked the corpulence of Boleslaw, threatening to spike the King’s very large stomach with his lance. Boleslaw was so angry that he got up on his long-suffering horse and told his army that, even if they weren’t insulted, he was, and was willing to die alone to avenge the blow to his honour. He rode across the river Bug, followed by his men. Unfortunately, Yaroslav did not have time to bring his men to order before Boleslaw arrived. His army fled in disarray and Yaroslav and only four others galloped away to Novgorod.
Never insult a fat man with an army. Especially if his nickname is “the Brave”.
Boleslaw took over Kiev and sent his, obviously Polish, army to garrison the towns of Russia. When Yaroslav reached Novgorod, he made plans to flee overseas, but Konstantin, Dobrynya’s son (and therefore a cousin of Yaroslav’s), the Posadnik (mayor/governor) of Novgorod, led the locals in sabotaging Yaroslav’s ships to prevent him from leaving, saying “We still want to fight Boleslaw and Svyatopolk!” The common men of Novgorod put in a kuna each, while the elders put in ten grivnas and noblemen eighteen grivnas each.3 Money With this wealth, Yaroslav recruited a large army of Vikings.
Chopping up Yaroslav’s boats: We want to fight Svyatopolk and Boleslaw.
One of Yaroslav’s brothers helped the cause by sending a message to all the towns the Poles were occupying, calling on the locals to fall on them and kill them all. Who was this brother? Was it Mstislav the Brave in distant Tmutarakan’, or Sudislav in nearby Pskov? No. It was Svyatopolk. Svyatopolk had realised that Boleslaw was the boss in Kiev now, not him, and decided that the best thing he could do was to destroy the army that was preventing him from ruling Russia, even though it was also the army that was stopping Yaroslav from kicking both Boleslaw and Svyatopolk out.
Svyatopolk’s order was carried out, the Polish garrisons were massacred and Boleslaw fled back to Poland, taking with him as much wealth as he could transport, as well as many of the nobles in Kiev and Svyatopolk and Yaroslav’s sisters. Anastas of Korsun’, the priest who had betrayed that city to Vladimir, returned to his old ways and went over to Boleslaw’s side. Svyatopolk was Grand Prince in Kiev again, but without an army and without the cities in the far south west (Red Russia) that Vladimir had incorporated in the 980s, which Boleslaw reclaimed for Poland. Yaroslav came down the Dnieper at the head of his new army and Svyatopolk fled to his old allies, the Pechenegs.
Running to the Pechenegs.
He returned in 1019 with an army of Pechenegs and Yaroslav advanced against him, stopping at the spot near the river Al’ta where Boris had been killed. He raised his hands and proclaimed “The blood of my brother cries out to you, Lord! Avenge the blood of this righteous man as you avenged the blood of Abel, laying groaning and fear upon Cain: do the same for him.” Then he said “My brothers! Although you are no longer with us, help me against this villain and proudling with your prayers!” It was early in the morning when the two armies came together and the battle lasted all day, with a couple of breaks as they both withdrew, re-ordered themselves and rejoined the fray. It was said to have been the bloodiest encounter seen in Russia to that point, with so much blood flowing that it formed ponds in the low points of the field of battle. Finally, in the evening, the Pecheneg army broke and fled, leaving Yaroslav master of the field and of Russia.
The battle at the river Al’ta. Note the large pool of blood collecting at the bottom.
It is said that a devil came upon Svyatopolk, removing his strength, so that he had to be carried away by his servants. In addition to this, he was driven by a fear that he was being followed and despite an absence of Yaroslav’s men obviously harrying him, he kept demanding to be taken further and further west. He passed through Poland, understanding that he was no longer welcome there, and died somewhere in the mountains between Poland and Bohemia. His grave was still there when the PVL was written, it’s location notorious for the unearthly stink that surrounded it.
The death and burial of Svyatopolk. Would it be uncharitable to say “good riddance to bad rubbish?”
RATINGS
Length of Reign: Svyatopolk was only Grand Prince of Kiev for four years and was in exile for a lot of that time, maybe even half (in Poland late 1016 to early 1018 then with the Pechenegs from late 1018 to 1019). However, he had been Prince of Turov from 988, so giving him an additional 27 years at 1/3 of the rating and a grand total of 3 out of 10 points.
World Fame: It looks like not many Wikipedia users want to read stories of ruthless, dishonourable fratricides. Who’d have thought it? 31 translations is our lowest number yet, winning Svyatopolk only 3 points out of 20.
Achievements: Does killing two of your unarmed brothers in such a way that they become revered as Saints count as an achievement? I thought not4 Was Svyatopolk really that bad?. He did manage to issue good quality silver coins of similar weight and purity to the dirham, which would have enabled international and internal trade.
Svyatopolk’s silver coin.
Not a great deal of positive to see here, and the instability of his reign also blighted the beginning of Yaroslav’s, but the state did not completely collapse, so I’ll give him 7 points out of 30 for just about holding things together for a better man to take charge.
Defence of the Realm: On the positive side, his secret message to the cities of Russia did manage to trigger the destruction of the bulk of the occupying Polish army. On the negative side, he had brought the Poles in himself and the whole sorry episode resulted in Boleslaw of Poland taking back the Red Russian cities in the south-west as well as the wealth of Kiev and many noble hostages, including Svyatopolk’s own sisters. Two battles went well for him in his short reign, one of which was an attack on his own brother’s warband as they tried to escape to Hungary, the other was primarily won by Boleslaw the Brave of Poland. He lost two battles to Yaroslav, both of which lost him the throne, the second time permanently. The very act of Svyatopolk seizing the throne unleashed internecine warfare upon Russia. That foreign enemies were not able to take more than they did was as much to do with Yaroslav’s actions in driving away the Pechenegs at Lyubech in 1016 and in crushing them at the river Al’ta in 1019.
I’ll give Svyatopolk 5 out of 20.
Bonus Points: Normally, one would get points here for being famous among the modern day Eastern Slavs and beyond. Svyatopolk is known primarily as the killer of two of Russia’s most venerated native saints, his own brothers Boris and Gleb. Does infamy count for bonus points?
Svyatopolk is the subject of the fourth of Kondraty Ryleyev’s “Dumy”, and appears in Valentin Ivanov’s 1967 historical novel “Rus’ Velikaya”. He is a supporting character in “Yaroslav Mudriy“, a 1981 film about his brother, as well as in “Vladimir Svyatoy” a 1993 film about the end of Vladimir’s life and in “Lestvitsa Vladimira Krasnoye Solnyshko” from 2004. Finally, his rule is covered in the second half of Ryurikovichi, part 2.
This may surprise you to hear, but it doesn’t look like anyone has put up a statue to him, or named any streets or ships after him, so I’m afraid he doesn’t do very well here either. But, rather like Jack Sparrow, Svyatopolk might be the worst early Russian ruler you’ve ever heard of, but you have heard of him. 5 points out of 20.
Reflected Glory: He was only in power for part of the period from 1015 to 1019 and the most famous people associated with his reign were his martyred brothers Boris and Gleb, whose deaths we have already covered. The PVL gives the names of the people directly responsible for killing the Princes: Putsha, Talets, Yelovit and Lyashko in the case of Boris and Goryaser and Torchin for Gleb. Anastas, the man who betrayed Korsun’ to Vladimir thirty years before was still hanging around like a bad smell to swap sides again and join Boleslaw.
SVYATOPOLK’S RATING: 23 out of 100
In the next episode, we discover how Yaroslav fares as Grand Prince.
- The Veche was the public assembly, like a Germanic “thing” or “moot” where the free male population gathered to discuss matters of state and justice. In Novgorod, it continued into the late mediaeval period as the city turned into something more like a republic, formally electing officers of state and especially “princes” as temporary military leaders, rather as republican Rome appointed temporary dictators in situations of military emergency. ↩︎
- Yaroslav’s remains were investigated in the 1930s and it was discovered he had one leg considerably shorter than the other, with signs of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Svyatopolk’s commander delivered the jibe as a pun, the word for cripple – хромец / khromets – sounds a bit like the word used for a palace complex – хоромы / khoromy ↩︎
- A kuna was originally a marten fur but, by this time, it generally referred to a 2.7g silver dirham. In Novgorod, given an influx of 1.3g English silver pennies from Svein’s Danegeld collections, there is every chance a lot of that was paid as two English silver pennies. The Novgorod grivna was just over 200g of silver, so the city elders would have each paid 2kg of silver and the nobles 3.8kg of silver to raise an army for Yaroslav. ↩︎
- Some historians (Mark Aleshkovsky, Nikolay Ilyin, Andzrej Poppe) suggested that Svyatopolk might not be the true villain of the piece. It seems that neither Yaroslav, nor Bryachislav of Polotsk, nor Mstislav of Tmutarakan’ ever accepted Svyatopolk as the rightful Grand Prince of Kiev. Boris and Gleb, on the other hand, did. It would seem a bit odd for Svyatopolk to murder his allies when he might need their help. With Boris and Gleb on his side and Svyatoslav gone, Svyatopolk would securely hold the south and east of Russia. Without them, Yaroslav and his army gets to travel to Lyubech, just north of Kiev, totally unhindered.
In Eymund’s Thattr, the short tale of a Scandinavian king who served in Yaroslav’s guard, Prince Burisleif (Boris?) is killed by Vikings hired by his brother Jarisleif (Yaroslav). Another possible piece of evidence that Svyatopolk was unfairly accused by later chroniclers in order to exculpate Yaroslav is the fact that the name Svyatopolk continued to be used for Rurikid princes and was not abandoned for shame in the way that, for example, the name Richard was after the reign of Richard III in England.
However, with regards to Eymund’s Thattr, it has been suggested that Burisleif was actually supposed to be Svyatopolk, his name mixed up with that of his ally Boleslaw, a closer vocal fit for Burisleif than Boris, in a tale written down in Iceland, centuries after the events described, in a genre more akin to historical fiction than memoir or history.
The behaviour of Yaroslav after 1019 would also suggest he was unlikely to be the killer of his brothers. In a conflict with his nephew Bryachislav of Polotsk, Yaroslav defeated Bryachislav, but forgave him and allowed him to continue to rule there. His brother Mstislav also fought him for the title of Grand Prince, but the two came to terms, with Mstislav gaining the large principality of Chernigov and Yaroslav continuing to rule in Kiev. The two had good relations after that and co-operated in a campaign against Poland to regain the cities Boleslaw had taken from Svyatopolk. The other ruling brother, Sudislav, must have crossed Yaroslav as well, but rather than killing him, he simply kept him under arrest. Sudislav survived Yaroslav’s reign and was finally released under Izyaslav. Even when provoked, Yaroslav seems NOT to have been a brother-killer. ↩︎
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