When Constantine was summoned by his father to the war in Ryazan, a large force from Novgorod marched with him under command of Dmitri, who was greatly distinguished at the taking of Pronsk. He was wounded severely and Big Nest detained him to be healed in Vladimir, but he died. After his death the people in Novgorod seized all his family property, plundered his house and the house of his father and burned them. They sold the country places of the son and the father, and also their servants; they took possession of their effects and divided them. The debts due the family were left to the prince. Still the people were not satisfied; they insisted on punishment, and when Dmitri’s body was brought from Vladimir, they wished to hurl it into the river. Mitrophan, the archbishop, was barely able to stop them. When Big Nest sent his son, Sviatoslav, to the city, the people kissed the cross in assembly not to admit any son of Dmitri to Novgorod, and they gave his family to the prince for imprisonment. But, though Sviatoslav received the sums due Dmitri, and through them got much wealth, he did not obey Novgorod in this affair. Some of the family he sent under guard to Vladimir; a few he permitted to stay unobserved in the city. As this uprising was directed against all adherents of Big Nest, the Novgorod people did not escape punishment. Again he arrested Novgorod merchants and their goods throughout the lands of Vladimir. Great inconvenience was felt by Novgorod people, and Oleksa’s avengers spread complaints wherever they could against Big Nest, who, being then at the height of his power and influence, had no effective opponents. It seemed as though no man could refuse him obedience. But at this juncture a prince of the smallest region in Russia, Mystislav of Toropets, son of Mystislav the Brave, had courage to challenge the greatness of Big Nest. On hearing how Novgorod was treated, he offered himself to the city, a thing unheard of till that day in Russia. In the first years of this reign, during troubles in Novgorod, Mystislav the Brave had inflicted defeat upon Big Nest, and now, in 1210, a more unexpected rebuff was delivered by the son of that same prince, Mystislav the Gallant, who had grown up and strengthened in this interval, and whose fame began with this challenge. Thus far this young prince had appeared only in small actions, in the quarrels of Rurik, his uncle, and in two or three raids on the Polovtsi, but on coming to Novgorod he began a brilliant career as a hero and defender of justice, a protector of the weak and offended, and he so towered above other princes that he soon had no equal. Later on, he reminded the world of his father, for he made a triumphant campaign against the Chuds, and brought them all to obedience from border to border of that country.