But their position was impossible. The boyars, who had insulted Vladimir and forced those two princes upon the country, were the real masters. Their friend, Glaib of Ryazan, did what seemed good to him; his troops sacked villages in every direction and burned them. Rostoff boyars got what they wanted; they and their friends took all the offices of value. The importance of Vladimir was leaving it daily. The cathedral was plundered, the holy images taken, and the chief one, that of the Mother of God, was given to Glaib. He got also the sword of Boris, inherited from Monomach, as well as silver and gems from the churches. He got much for he had helped much, and might help still more in the future. Soon the position became unendurable. The plan of the boyars was evident. They were undoing the work of Andrei, reducing and robbing Vladimir, and enslaving common people. Seeing this clearly, the Vladimir men were enraged to the utmost, and sent at once for Mihalko and Vsevolod. The brothers set out from Chernigoff immediately, but at the Oká Mihalko fell ill and was carried on a litter to Moscow, where envoys from Vladimir were waiting. The boyars prepared now for a life and death struggle. Yaropolk was sent with forces toward Moscow to cut off Andrei’s brothers from Vladimir. But they were well on their way, and Yaropolk missed them in the deep forests of that time. On learning this, he sent a swift courier with warning to Mystislav, who hastened at once to cut off Mihalko and Vsevolod. He met them near Vladimir, and rushed at them “as if to devour them,” says the chronicler. But as his chief forces were militia without marks to distinguish them from other men, they became mixed and confused with the men of Vladimir, and had to cease fighting. That at least was the tale told when they were reproached by the boyars. The truth was, as it seems, that the common men of Rostoff and Suzdal would not fight against those of Vladimir, and whatever struggle there was, was sustained by the personal following of the boyars. Mihalko and Vsevolod, in after years called “Big Nest” because of his many children, were installed June 15, 1176, a great and memorable day for Vladimir. The people praised the Lord and His Holy Mother for their ready assistance. “Oh,” said they, of the Ryazan and Suzdal boyars, “they did not care for God’s truth; they boasted that they would do what they liked with us. Well, God did not let them offend us.” The defeated princes vanished; Mystislav fled to Novgorod, and Yaropolk sought refuge in Ryazan.