to take Constantinople if his demand was refused. He was too powerful to be denied, and the lady was sent to him. Vladimir received his instructions, and was baptized with the name of Basil on the day of his marriage to the princess, in 988. Returning to Kief, he destroyed the wooden gods, and built churches and towns. His nature was changed, and he became gentle and humane. He established seminaries of learning, labored to extend Christianity in his dominions, and is now enrolled among the Russian saints. At Moscow, if you go there, you will see the remarkable cathedral of St. Basil. In history he is called Vladimir the Great. "This powerful prince divided his empire among his twelve sons, who, as usual in such cases, went to war, and Sviatopolk I., after murdering three of his brothers, obtained the throne. In 1019, Yaroslaf, the brother who had received Novgorod as his portion, procuring the assistance of Henry II. of Germany and of the King of Poland, after a battle on the Alma which lasted three days, wrested the crown from Sviatopolk, who died while fleeing into Poland. Another brother compelled Yaroslaf to divide the empire with him; but at the death of the former it was united again, in 1036. He was a powerful prince, and greatly enlarged his territory. He built many churches, encouraged learning, and caused the first code of Russian laws to be compiled. At his death he gave the empire to his four sons, requiring the three younger to be subject to the eldest; but his will was disregarded, and Russia became a confederacy, instead of an empire, with four rulers. The division and anarchy in the country enabled the Poles, Lithuanians, Danes, and others to wrest large territories in the west from the Russians. The progress in civilization which had continued during the two preceding reigns was barred; famine and pestilence raged in the land, and Genghis Khan, with vast hordes of Asiatics, invaded and conquered the country. From the year 1054, when the civil wars commenced, to 1462, when the Tartar power and influence were finally broken, Russia was torn with dissensions, overrun by her powerful neighbors, often visited by famine and pestilence; yet within this period are recorded many great events. Moscow was founded in 1147; Alexander, Grand Prince of Novgorod, won a great victory over the Swedes and others on the Neva, which gives him the name of Alexander Nevski.