Izyaslav I

(1024 - 1078), grand prince of Kiev and progenitor of the Turov dynasty.

Before Yaroslav Vladimirovich "the Wise" died in 1054, he designated his eldest living son, Izyaslav, as grand prince of Kiev. Izyaslav and his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod ruled as a triumvirate for some twenty years. During that time they asserted their authority over all the other princes and defended Rus against the nomadic Polovtsy (Cumans). However, Izyaslav's rule in Kiev was insecure. In 1068, after he was defeated by the Polovtsy and refused to arm the Kievans, the latter rebelled, and he fled to the Poles. Because his brother Svyatoslav refused to occupy the throne, Izyaslav returned to Kiev in 1069 with the help of Polish troops. Two noteworthy events occurred during his second term of rule. In 1072 he and his brothers transported the relics of Saints Boris and Gleb into a new church that he had built in Vyshgorod. They also compiled the socalled "Law Code of Yaroslav's Sons" (Pravda Yaroslavichey). In 1073, however, Izyaslav quarreled with his brothers. They drove him out of Kiev and forced him to flee once again to Boleslaw II of the Poles. Failing to obtain help there, he traveled to Western Europe, where he sought aid unsuccessfully from the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and from Pope Gregory VII. He finally returned to Kiev after his brother Svyatoslav died there in 1076. His last sojourn in Kiev was also short: on October 3, 1078, he was killed in battle fighting his nephew Oleg, Svyatoslav's son.

Bibliography

Dimnik, Martin. (1994). The Dynasty of Chernigov 1054 - 1146. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.

Franklin, Simon, and Shepard, Jonathan. (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750 - 1200. London: Longman.

—MARTIN DIMNIK