Where each prince was to reign was a difficult question in Russia at that time. The will of the Khan, if not the only law, was at least the supreme law for princes. The old rules were both observed and rejected. The man who found in those rules his own profit sought to make others observe them, but if they obstructed his way, he tried to ride over them. The Khan could appoint whomsoever he pleased to hold any place; all knew that very clearly, hence enterprising young princes worked against their seniors. At the Horde appointments were given not unfrequently through respect for the ancient Russian law, to which princes appealed in petitions. But if a petitioner was unable to retain the place given him, the Khan might or might not assist him. In a word, confusion was common during the early years of Mongol dominion. Nevski had no direct reason to strive for the throne of Vladimir. He, like all the sons of Yaroslav, was second to his uncles, the brothers of his father. Sviatoslav, the eldest of these, to whom Yaroslav had given Suzdal, was confirmed by Batu as Prince of Vladimir. But, as if to prove that in this gloomy time every right was confounded, Sviatoslav had barely assumed power when there appeared among his nephews an unprincipled, ambitious prince who dispossessed his uncle of the throne and seated himself there immediately. That was Prince Michael, Nevski’s youngest brother. For his boldness they called him “Plucky Michael.” But his rule was short, for he was soon killed in battle by Lithuanians. Being the youngest of Yaroslav’s sons, Michael had not received a large portion,—he got only Moscow. While guarding this little province he met Lithuanians near the Kaluga, frontier on the Potva; from that small river his corpse was brought back and buried in Vladimir. This quarrel between uncle and nephew occurred while Nevski and his brother Andrei were journeying to Mongolia. But the death of Prince Michael did not restore rule to Sviatoslav, his uncle, who, freed from one rival, met another straightway. Nevski would not oppose his uncle, though he might have done so with some show of justice, for his father, when Grand Prince, had given Suzdal to Sviatoslav as an inheritance.