Grand Prince of Kiev

The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes grand duke) was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev (modern Kyiv) 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.

Grand Prince of Kiev
Details
First monarchOleg the Wise
(first undisputed "Prince of Kiev")[1]
Yaroslav the Wise
(first undisputed "Grand Prince of Kiev")[2]

Rus' chronicles such as the Primary Chronicle are inconsistent in applying the title "grand prince" to various princes in Kievan Rus'.[3] Although most sources consistently attribute it to the prince of Kiev,[3] there is no agreement which princes were also "grand prince", and scholars have thus come up with different lists of grand princes of Kiev.[4]

Background

Origins

According to a founding myth in the Primary Chronicle, Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and their sister Lybid co-founded the city of Kiev (Kyiv), and the oldest brother Kyi was "chief of his kin" (Old East Slavic: кнѧжаше в родѣ, romanized: knyazhashe v rodie).[5] Some western historians (i.e., Kevin Alan Brook) suppose that Kiev was founded by Khazars or Magyars. Kiev is a Turkic place name (Küi = riverbank + ev = settlement).[6] At least during the 8th and 9th centuries Kiev functioned as an outpost of the Khazar empire (a hill-fortress, called Sambat, "high place" in Old Turkic). According to Omeljan Pritsak, Constantine Zuckerman and other scholars, Khazars lost Kiev at the beginning of the 10th century.[7][8]

At some point, Rurik, a Varangian prince, allegedly founded the "Rurik dynasty" (named after him in the 16th century) in 862 through the "calling of the Varangians", but he is considered to be a legendary, mythical and perhaps even entirely fictional character by modern scholars.[lower-alpha 1] The Primary Chronicle never calls Rurik a prince of Kiev; the passage wherein Oleg "sat in Kiev" (Old East Slavic: понелѣже сѣде въ Кыевѣ, romanized: ponelѣzhe sѣde v" Kyyevѣ) makes no mention of Rurik, suggesting the author was 'more interested in the first Rus' ruler to reside in Kiev than with any founder of a dynasty'.[11]

Kiev was captured by Askold and Dir, whose existence is also debatable, and are called "boyars" who "did not belong to [Rurik's] family" by the Primary Chronicle.[12][1] According to some Russian historians (i.e., Gleb S. Lebedev), Dir was a chacanus of Rhos (Rus khagan).[13] Thomas Noonan asserts that one of the Rus "sea-kings", the "High king", adopted the title khagan in the early 9th century.[14] Peter Benjamin Golden maintained that the Rus became a part of the Khazar federation, and that their ruler was officially accepted as a vassal khagan of the Khazar Khagan of Itil.[15]

First princes

Askold and Dir are narrated to have been killed in 882 by Oleg, the first "prince" (knyaz) of Kiev according to the Primary Chronicle, but not yet a "grand prince" (velikiy knyaz).[1][11] His relation to Rurik is debatable, and has been rejected by several modern scholars.[16] Although later Muscovite chroniclers would call Oleg a "grand prince" and Kiev a "grand principality" (Old East Slavic: великое княжение, romanized: velikoe knyazhenie), the earliest sources do not.[17] Whereas the reconstructed original Greek text of the Rusʹ–Byzantine Treaty (907) calls Oleg a μεγας ἄρχων or "great archon" ("ruler"), the Old East Slavic translations found in the Laurentian Codex and Hypatian Codex do not.[18] On the other hand, only when the Byzantine emperors Leo VI the Wise, Alexander and Constantine VII are called "the Great", Oleg is also called "the Great".[18] Dimnik (2004) argued it should thus be read as "the Rus' prince Oleg the Great" instead of "Oleg the grand prince of Rus'".[18] Similarly, the only occasions Igor of Kiev is ever called velikiy knyaz in the Primary Chronicle (six times) are all found in the Rusʹ–Byzantine Treaty (945), where the Greek emperors are also called k velikiy tsesarem Grech'-skim ("to the great Greek caesars").[18] The same happens when, after Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria, the 971 peace treaty is recorded; it is the only place in the Primary Chronicle where Sviatoslav I is named a velikiy knyaz.[18] Most significantly, the Nachal'nyy svod (found only in the Novgorod First Chronicle) never mentions any of these peace treaties, and never calls Oleg, Igor or Sviatoslav a velikiy knyaz.[19] According to Dimnik (2004), this means that Greek scribes added the word "great" to the princely title, whereas the Rus' themselves did not, except when translating these three treaties from Greek into Slavic.[19]

Yaropolk I of Kiev and Volodimer I of Kiev are both steadily referred to as just a knyaz by the Novgorod First Chronicle and the Laurentian and Hypatian Codices.[20] There is one exception: the Hypatian Codex writes Volodimir knyaz velikii ("Volodimir the grand prince") when reporting the latter's death; because the Hypatian Codex is the latest source of the three (compiled c. 1425), this is probably a later interpolation.[20] A Paterik of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra of the early 13th century also calls Volodimer a velikiy knyaz, but that was written two centuries after his death, and may not necessarily describe how he was known while alive.[21] The oldest surviving source available is Hilarion of Kiev's Sermon on Law and Grace (c. 1040s), which calls Volodimer a kagan (a Khazar title) rather than a knyaz.[21] Some scholars have suggested that this indicates Kievan Rus' had won its independence from the Khazars in the early 10th century, and had inherited the title of kagan from them, before exchanging it for knyaz later.[21] The Church Statute of Prince Volodimir starts with "Behold, I, Prince Vasilii, called Volodimir," (Old East Slavic: Се аз, князь Василий, нарицаемыи Володимир, romanized: Se yaz, knyaz' Vasilii, naritsayemy Volodimir,[22]), but later in the text he interchangeably calls himself knyaz and velikiy knyaz, and the earliest copy of this document is from the 14th century, so it is difficult to say what the lost original text said.[22] Since chroniclers also regularly referred to Volodimer as velikiy without mentioning his title – the reason why he has become known to history as Volodimer "the Great" – suggests that this adjective was not part of his title, but a sobriquet or nickname, that was also applied to other monarchs or clerics around him.[23]

Velikiy knyaz Yaroslav and descendants

Sviatopolk I of Kiev was never called velikiy knyaz ("grand prince") in any source.[24] Moreover, he has been stigmatised by chroniclers with the nickname "the Accursed" or "the Damned" (okayannyy) because of how he violently rose to power in the war of succession following Volodimir's death in 1015.[24] On the other hand, Yaroslav the Wise is the first widely attested velikiy knyaz ("grand prince") in virtually all sources of the second half of the 11th century, and surviving copies of the Church Statute of Prince Yaroslav also strongly suggest he applied the title to himself while he was alive.[25] Dimnik (2004) concluded that by the end of Yaroslav's reign in the third quarter of the 11th century, he was regularly calling himself and being called the velikiy knyaz of Kiev, and the competing titles of kagan and tsar had decisively lost in favour of velikiy knyaz as the preferred appellation of the Kievan monarch.[26] The velikiy knyaz was designated by genealogical seniority and given the right to reign from Kiev – the grand principality superior to all other principalities in the realm – over all other princes descended from Yaroslav.[27] The reason why the system of succession did not always work as Yaroslav intended was because some princes simply usurped power through a coup d'état at the court in Kiev.[28] The 1097 Council of Liubech upgraded the dynastic capitals of the inner circle of senior princes to grand principalities as well, but still acknowledged the superiority of Kiev.[28]

It was not until the Sack of Kiev (1169) by Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal that the grand princes of Vladimir launched a fierce competition with the grand princes of Kiev over who had primacy over the entire realm.[28] Since then, the phrase "velikiy knyaz of Kiev" was merely titular, and chroniclers applied the symbolic title of velikiy knyaz to Kiev or Vladimir on the Klyazma according to whomever they favoured.[28] In practice, the military supremacy of any particular prince – especially from Vsevolod the Big Nest onwards – would determine whether the other princes would or would not acknowledge him as "grand prince".[29] After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' and Sack of Kiev in the late 1230s and 1240s, the khans of the Golden Horde "in effect, terminated the office of the velikiy knyaz' of Kiev and conferred political supremacy on their puppet in Vladimir."[30]

Princes of Kiev

Name Lifespan Ruled From Ruled Until Notes
Oleg[31]  ?–912/922/940s[31] 881/2 or 889[32] 912/922/940s[31] First knyaz ("prince") of Kiev.[1][11] Relation to Rurik and Igor is disputed.[31] Date of accession is unclear in the Primary Chronicle.[32]
Date of death is disputed:
Igor of Kiev  ?–945 912 945 son of Rurik according to Primary Chronicle, but many scholars doubt or reject this claim.[lower-alpha 2]
Olga of Kiev  ?–969 945 962 (regent-consort)
Sviatoslav I[34] 942–972 962 972 son of Igor
Yaropolk I (Jaropolk)[35] 958 (960?)–980 972 980 One of Svyatoslav's two sons
Volodimir I "the Great" 958–1015 980 1015 One Svyatoslav's two sons; in 988 baptized the Rus'. The earliest sources call him just knyaz ("prince") or kagan, and nickname him Volodimir velikiy ("Volodimir the Great"); later sources also call him velikiy knyaz ("grand prince").[36]
Sviatopolk I "the Accursed"[lower-alpha 3] 980–1019 1015 1019 origin is debatable. Is never called velikiy knyaz ("grand prince") in any source.[24]

Grand princes of Kiev

Name House Lifespan Ruled From Ruled Until Notes
Yaroslav the Wise Volodimerovichi[9] 978–1054 1019 1054 son of Vladimir the Great, jointly with Mstislav in 1024–36. First widely attested velikiy knyaz ("grand prince") in virtually all contemporary sources.[2]
Iziaslav I[37] Volodimerovichi[9] 1024–1078 1054 1073[37] son of Yaroslav, first time (in 1068/69 lost state power to Polotsk princes)
Sviatoslav II[37] Volodimerovichi[9] 1027–1076 1073[37] 1076[37] son of Yaroslav
Iziaslav I[37] Volodimerovichi[9] 1024–1078 1076[37] 1078 second time,[37] in 1075 Pope Gregory VII sent him a crown from Rome
Vsevolod I Volodimerovichi[9] 1030–1093 1078 1093 son of Yaroslav
Sviatopolk II Iziaslavichi 1050–1113 1093 1113 son of Iziaslav I
Vladimir II Monomakh Monomakhovychi 1053–1125 1113 1125 son of Vsevolod I
Mstislav I of Kiev[38] Monomakhovychi 1076–1132 1125[38] 1132[38] son of Vladimir II
Yaropolk II[39] Monomakhovychi 1082–1139 1132[38] 1139[40] brother of Mstislav I
Viacheslav IMonomakhovychi1083–115411391139brother of Yaropolk II (first time)
Vsevolod II[40] Svyatoslavichi  ?–1146 1139[40] 1146 son of Oleh Svyatoslavich
Igor II Svyatoslavichi  ?–114711461146brother of Vsevolod II
Iziaslav IIMonomakhovychi1097–115411461149son of Mstislav I (first time)
Yuri DolgorukiyMonomakhovychi1099–115711491151(first time)
Viacheslav IMonomakhovychi1083–115411511154(second time) jointly
Iziaslav II Monomakhovychi 1097–1154 (second time) jointly
Rostislav IMonomakhovychi1110–116711541154brother of Iziaslav II (first time)
Iziaslav IIISvyatoslavichi?–116211541155(first time)
Yuri I Dolgorukiy[40] Monomakhovychi 1099–1157 1155[40] 1157[40] (second time)
Iziaslav IIISvyatoslavichi?–116211571158(second time)
Rostislav I[40] Monomakhovychi 1110–1167 1158[40] 1167[40] (second time) jointly with Iziaslav III in 1162
Mstislav II Iziaslavichi (Monomakh)  ?–1172 1167 1169 son of Iziaslav II (first time)
Gleb[40] Yurievichi (Monomakh)  ?–1171 1169[40] 1169 son of Yuri Dolgorukiy (first time)
Mstislav IIIziaslavichi (Monomakh)?–117211701170(second time)
GlebYurievichi (Monomakh)?–117111701171(second time)
Vladimir III MstislavichMonomakhovychi1132–117111711171son of Mstislav I the Great
Michael IYurievichi (Monomakh)?–117611711171half-brother of Gleb
Roman IRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–118011711173son of Rostislav I (first time)
Vsevolod III the Big NestYurievichi (Monomakh)1154–121211731173brother of Michael I
Rurik RostislavichRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–121511731173brother of Roman I (first time)
Sviatoslav IIIOlgovichi?–119411741174son of Vsevolod II (first time)
Yaroslav IIIziaslavichi (Monomakh)?–118011741175son of Iziaslav II (first time)
Roman IRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–118011751177(second time)
Sviatoslav III[40] Olgovichi  ?–1194 1177[40] 1180 (second time)
Yaroslav IIIziaslavichi (Monomakh)?–118011801180(second time)
Rurik RostislavichRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–121511801182(second time)
Sviatoslav IIIOlgovichi?–119411821194(third time)
Rurik RostislavichRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–121511941202(third time)
Igor IIIIziaslavichi (Monomakh)?–?12021202son of Yaroslav II (first time)
Rurik RostislavichRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–121512031206jointly (fourth time)
Roman II the GreatIziaslavichi (Monomakh)1160–1205son of Mstislav II, jointly (1203–05)
Rostislav IIRostislavichi (Monomakh)1173–1214son of Rurik Rostislavich, jointly (1204–06)
Vsevolod IV the RedSvyatoslavichi (Olgovichi)?–121212061207son of Sviatoslav III (first time)
Rurik RostislavichRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–121512071210(fifth time)
Vsevolod IV the RedSvyatoslavichi (Olgovichi)?–121212101212(second time)
Igor IIIIziaslavichi (Monomakh)?–?12121214(second time)
Mstislav IIIRostislavichi (Monomakh)?–122312141223son of Roman I
Vladimir IV RurikovichRostislavichi (Monomakh)1187–123912231235brother of Rostislav II
Iziaslav IV VladimirovichSiveria (Olgovichi) or
Rostislavichi (Monomakh)
1186–?12351236son of Vladimir Igorevich or Mstislav
Yaroslav IIIYurievichi (Monomakh)1191–124612361238son of Vsevolod the Big Nest (first time)
Michael IISvyatoslavichi (Olgovichi)1185–124612381239son of Vsevolod IV (first time)

Princes of Kiev after the Mongol invasion

Due to the Mongol invasion of 1240, Michael of Chernigov left Kiev to seek military assistance from King Béla IV of Hungary. During that time, Prince Rostislav of Smolensk occupied Kiev, but was captured the same year by Daniel of Galicia who placed his voivode Dmytro to guard Kiev while the grand prince was away. Being unsuccessful in Hungary, Michael visited Konrad I of Masovia. Receiving no results in Poland, he eventually asked Daniel of Galicia for asylum due to the Mongol invasion. Since the 14th century, the principality of Kiev started to fall under the influence of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1299, the Metropolitan of Kiev Maximus moved his metropolitan see from Kiev to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. In 1321, after the battle on the Irpin River, Gediminas installed Mindgaugas, one of his subjects from the house of Olshanski, a descendant of the family of Vseslav of Polotsk that was exiled to the Byzantine Empire. In 1331, Kiev was once again taken by a member of the Siverski house (Olgovichi branch), the prince of Putivl. After Grand Duke Algirdas defeated the Golden Horde at the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, he incorporated Kiev and its surrounding areas into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Name House Lifespan Ruled from Ruled until Notes
Rostislav MikhailovichSmolensk (Rostislavichi)1210–126212391239son of Michael II
Voivode Dmytro12391240appointed by Daniel of Galicia
Michael IISvyatoslavichi (Olgovichi)1185–124612411243(second time)
Yaroslav IIIYurievichi (Monomakh)1191–124612431246(second time)
Alexander NevskyVladimirsky (Monomakh)1220–126312461263son of Yaroslav III
Yaroslav IVVladimirsky (Monomakh)1230–127112631271brother of Alexander
LevGalicia (Monomakh)1228–130112711301son of Daniel
Iziaslav IV VladimirovichSiverski (Olgovichi)?–?1301?
Stanislav IvanovichSiverski (Olgovichi)1228–1301?1321
Mindaugas Holshanski Alšėniškiai  ?–? 1321 1324 son of Holsha Romanovich
Algimantas-Michael Alšėniškiai  ?–? 1324 1331[41]son of Mindaugas
Fyodor (Teodoras)Siverski (Olgovichi)?–?13311362son of Ivan
Vladimir V Algirdaitis Gediminids  ?–? 1362 1394 son of Algirdas
Skirgaila Gediminids 1354–1397 1395 1397 son of Algirdas
Ivan Olshansky Alšėniškiai  ?–? 1397 c. 1402 son of Algimantas (in 1404–11 Jurgis Gedgaudas as voivode)
Andrew Alšėniškiai  ?–? c. 1412 c. 1422 son of Ivan
Michael IV Alšėniškiai  ?–1433 c. 1422 c. 1432 son of Ivan
Michael V Boloban Alšėniškiai  ?–1435 c. 1433 c. 1435 son of Simonas
Boleslav (Švitrigaila) Gediminids 1370–1452 1432 1440 son of Algirdas
Alexander-Olelko Olelkovich  ?–1454 1443 1454 son of Vladimir
Simeon Olelkovich Olelkovich 1418–1470 1454 1470 son of Alexander

See also

Notes

  1. Christian Raffensperger (2012, 2017), Ostrowski (2018), Halperin (2022).[9][10]
  2. Including Hrushevsky (1904), Vernadsky (1943), Riasanovsky (1947), Paszkiewicz (1954), Franklin and Shepard (1996).[16]
  3. The Old Slavonic is Свѧтопълкъ in the Cyrillic alphabet, the modern Ukrainian is Святополк, Polish is Świętopełk, Czech is Svatopluk, and Slovak is Svätopluk. Reconstructed, his name is Sventopluk. More commonly, his name is given in its Latin and Frankish equivalents: Suentopolcus, Suatopluk, Zventopluk, Zwentibald, Zwentibold, Zuentibold, or Zuentibald.

References

  1. Dimnik 2004, p. 259.
  2. Dimnik 2004, p. 264–265, 306.
  3. Dimnik 2004, p. 253.
  4. Dimnik 2004, p. 253–254.
  5. Cross & Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1930, p. 54–55.
  6. "An Introduction to the History of Khazaria". www.khazaria.com.
  7. Pritsak, Omeljan (1981). The origin of Rus. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
  8. Zuckerman, Constantine (2007). The Khazars and Byzantium – The First Encounter. In The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives – Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium, eds. Peter Benjamin Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas, pp. 399–432. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  9. Halperin 2022, p. viii.
  10. Ostrowski 2018, p. 47.
  11. Ostrowski 2018, p. 32.
  12. Cross & Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1930, p. 60.
  13. Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. ISBN 90-04-13874-9
  14. Noonan, Thomas (2001). The Khazar Qaghanate and Its Impact on the Early Rus' State: The translatio imperii from Itil to Kiev. Nomads in the Sedentary World, Anatoly Mikhailovich Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds. p. 76-102. Richmond, England: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1370-0
  15. Golden, Peter Benjamin (1982). The Question of the Rus' Qaganate. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. pp. 77–92
  16. Ostrowski 2018, p. 30–31, 39.
  17. Dimnik 2004, p. 259–260.
  18. Dimnik 2004, p. 260.
  19. Dimnik 2004, p. 260–261.
  20. Dimnik 2004, p. 261.
  21. Dimnik 2004, p. 262.
  22. Dimnik 2004, p. 262–263.
  23. Dimnik 2004, p. 263–264.
  24. Dimnik 2004, p. 264.
  25. Dimnik 2004, p. 264–265.
  26. Dimnik 2004, p. 306.
  27. Dimnik 2004, p. 306–307.
  28. Dimnik 2004, p. 307.
  29. Dimnik 2004, p. 307–308.
  30. Dimnik 2004, p. 308.
  31. Ostrowski 2018, p. 42–44.
  32. Ostrowski 2018, p. 44.
  33. Ostrowski 2018, p. 42–43.
  34. Leszek Moczulski (2007). Narodziny Międzymorza. Bellona. p. 475.
  35. Ярополк is modern Ukrainian, Jaropełk is Polish, Jaropluk is Czech, Jaropelkas is Lithuanian, Iaropelkos is Greek, Jaropolk is German and Swedish.
  36. Dimnik 2004, p. 261–264.
  37. Martin 2004, p. 32.
  38. Martin 2004, p. 102.
  39. Martin 2004, p. xvii, 102.
  40. Martin 2004, p. xvii.
  41. "Розділ 4.1. Леонтій Войтович. Князівські династії Східної Європи". izbornyk.org.ua. Retrieved 12 April 2018.

Bibliography

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