Of Vladimir’s twelve sons, only three were now living, Yaroslav, Mystislav, and Sudislav. There was also a nephew, Bryacheslav. The throne of Kief came to Yaroslav without a rival, for since Bryacheslav’s father had never sat on the throne, his son could not hold it. Mystislav and Sudislav were younger brothers and were excluded till Yaroslav’s death, unless he should give place to them. Younger brothers, however, claimed equal shares in the common inheritance, but these were held back by Yaroslav. He kept for himself the shares of his brothers who were dead, and gave nothing to the survivors. The youngest, Sudislav, took no action, but Mystislav came promptly from Tmutarakan with an army to ask for the share that belonged, as he thought, to him. While Yaroslav was absent in Novgorod, Mystislav appeared before Kief, but the people there closed the gates firmly against him. He went then to Chernigoff and took it. Yaroslav hired warriors immediately, and with them and those he already had set out to find and punish Mystislav. The two brothers met at Listven, somewhat west of Chernigoff, where Mystislav made an attack. He forced the battle at night during a terrible thunder-storm, and, knowing his ground well, defeated Yaroslav, who fled to Novgorod. Though Mystislav had won, he sought only that which he held to be his own, and which he had demanded at first; he would not take Kief from an elder brother. He sent this message to Yaroslav: “Remain in thy Kief. Give me what is east of the Dnieper.” On that basis they settled, and the following year Yaroslav entered Kief with a large army. Mystislav of Chernigoff had one son, who died in 1032. He himself died in 1035, while out hunting. Sudislav, Yaroslav’s youngest brother, ruled in Pskoff and did nothing to win more dominion. But in 1035, Yaroslav put him in prison and kept him there. The chronicler states that men calumniated Sudislav, asserting that he was dissatisfied at not receiving a share in the lands of his dead brothers. The nephew, Bryacheslav of Polotsk, was more fortunate; he made himself unendurable, nay, dangerous, and, in view of this, Yaroslav added to Polotsk the two cities of Vitebsk and Usvyat. While ruling in Novgorod, Yaroslav had struggled against tribute to Kief. Now, as Grand Prince, he gave that city a charter of freedom from tribute, and sent there as prince Vladimir, his eldest son. When Vladimir died, some two years later, he sent Izyaslav, another son. Because of these sons, Yaroslav quarreled with Kosnyatin, his grand-uncle, son of Dobrinya. We have seen how Dobrinya, the uncle of Vladimir, had made this son of Malusha, his sister, prince in Novgorod, and somewhat later Grand Prince of Russia.