Yaroslav the Wise

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Yaroslav Vladimirovich I. , called the Wise ( Russian Мудрый Mudry , Ukrainian Мудрий the Wise , Belarusian Мудры Mudry ) from the family of Rurik (* 979 / 86 ; † 20th February 1054 ) was Grand Prince of Kiev (1019-1054), son Vladimir I. , the Holy , and Rognedas of Polotsk .

Life

Monument to Yaroslav the Wise in Kiev. In the background the Golden Gate of Kiev

The Rurikids belonged to the Rus , the ruling class of Scandinavian descent who had settled among the Eastern Slavs since the middle of the 9th century and founded the empire of the Kievan Rus . The Rurikids were largely Slavic by the end of the 10th century . Yaroslav's father Vladimir was the first Kiev Grand Duke to adopt Christianity in 988 and thus contributed significantly to the rise of Kiev to the Eastern Slavic hegemony .

Between 987 and 1010 Yaroslav was Prince of Rostov . Legend has it that he defeated a mighty she-bear in battle around 1010 and founded the city of Yaroslavl at this point .

Yaroslav had been granted rule of the rich trading city of Novgorod by his father after the death of his older brother and designated heir to the throne Vysheslav . In 1014 Yaroslav refused to pay tribute to his father. There was no more campaign against his son because Vladimir died on July 15, 1015.

Instead, succession battles between Yaroslav and his brothers and uncles began immediately (see also Boris and Gleb ). First, Yaroslav's half-brother Swjatopolk was able to assert himself with the help of his father-in-law, the Polish Duke Boleslaw I. Yaroslav stayed in Novgorod. There he gathered an army of Scandinavian warriors and defeated Svyatopolk in late summer 1016. In the summer of 1017, Yaroslav I and Emperor Heinrich II attacked Boleslaw I from two sides, following a prior agreement . The following summer, Boleslaw managed to conquer Kiev. Yaroslav was able to flee to Novgorod, but his female relatives and a large gold treasure fell into the hands of the Polish duke. Shortly afterwards, Yaroslav drove the Swjatopolk, who was again appointed as Grand Duke, from Kiev.

From 1029 to 1031 the scenario from 1017 was repeated: Poland was again attacked from the west, now by Conrad II , and from the east by Jaroslaw. This time the Grand Duke succeeded in conquering large areas with an important belt of castles (the Rotburgenland ) for Kiev and temporarily installing the eldest son of Boleslaw, who died in 1025, and brother of Mieszko II. Lambert , Bezprym , who ruled Poland , as ruler in Poland . After the murder of Bezprym in 1032, Mieszko regained his rule.

Around 1035 Yaroslav began a far-reaching marriage policy. He himself had married Ingegerd , the daughter of Olof Skötkonung of Sweden in 1019 . His sons and daughters were married to the royal houses of France ( Anna ), Norway, Hungary, Byzantium and to German princes. The Polish heir to the throne Casimir married a sister of Yaroslav, Maria Dobroniega , with whose help he was able to assert himself as King of Poland.

In 1036 Yaroslav I won the decisive victory against the horsemen of the Pechenegs . In 1043 a naval attack on Constantinople failed .

In 1019 Yaroslav I issued the Russkaja Pravda , the first Russian collection of laws. It represents a mixture of Byzantine laws and Slavic customary law. In addition, he tried with extensive succession regulations to prevent inheritance disputes after his death, but this did not succeed. Rather, he founded the seniority principle , which in the following centuries was a reason why the Russian principalities could hardly stabilize as fixed rulers. His nickname the Wise is based on Russkaya Pravda and the creation of the seniority principle . He achieved further merits through the city expansion of Kiev and Novgorod , especially with the Sophia cathedrals in both cities.

His coffin is still in the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev today .

Marriage and offspring

Yaroslav was married for the first time to a woman whose name has not been passed down. In 1018 she was captured by the Polish ruler Bolesław Chrobry together with the sisters of Jaroslaw. There is no further information about them.
As a son from this marriage is known

In 1019 he married the Swedish princess Ingegerd (* 1001; † 1050), daughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung and his wife Estrid . They had five sons and three daughters together:

Aftermath

There is a monument to Yaroslav the Wise in Kiev .

In 2010 the Russian director Dmitri Korobkin filmed the legend about the founding of the city of Yaroslavl under the title: Prince of the Knights Yaroslav - Attack of the Barbarians .

literature

Web links

Commons : Yaroslav the Wise  - collection of images

Remarks

  1. ↑ Thietmar von Merseburg , Chronicle, Book 8, Chapter 32
predecessor Office successor
Svyatopolk I. Grand Duke of the Kievan Rus
1019–1054 		Isjaslav I.
personal data
SURNAME Yaroslav the Wise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Yaroslav I. Vladimirovich Mudryj
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Prince of Kiev (1019-1054)
DATE OF BIRTH 979 or 986
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1054