All men in Kief were enraged at Izyaslav. Some demanded arms, and
others a prince who would lead them successfully against the Polovtsi.
They rushed to the prison, freed Vseslav the wizard, and made him Grand
Prince immediately. Izyaslav, to save his life, hastened westward to
Poland. The Polovtsi advanced to Chernigoff, where Sviatoslav met the
plundering host and crushed it.
Seven months after his flight, Izyaslav appeared before Kief with a
numerous army commanded by Boleslav the Bold, King of Poland. Vseslav
went forth to meet him, and it is told of him that, since he could hope
for no favor from Vsevolod or Sviatoslav against Izyaslav, their
brother, the wizard became a gray wolf in the night-time and vanished.
In fact he fled. The army, deserted by its leader, returned to Kief and
sent the following message to Sviatoslav and Vsevolod: “Unless ye save
Kief from the Poles, we will burn it and go to the land of the Greeks.”
“We will warn our brother,” replied Sviatoslav, “we will not permit him
to enter the city with large forces.”
Izyaslav, warned by his brothers, came with only a part of the army,
was received and took his place as of old in the capital. As soon as he
left the Kief army, Vseslav hurried off to Polotsk and took possession
of that city.
Once well reinstated in Kief, Izyaslav attacked Vseslav, expelled him
from Polotsk, and placed there Mystislav, his own son. When that son
died he sent another one, Sviatopolk. Vseslav, meanwhile, went to the
Chuds (Fins), assembled a large force among them, and attacked
Novgorod, but he was again unsuccessful. Fresh warriors, however,
flocked to the wizard, who drove Sviatopolk from Polotsk, which he held
now successfully, and with firmness.
Izyaslav, having failed to subdue the wizard, decided to act alone, and
negotiate with him. He asked no aid from his brothers; he could not
well do so, for Sviatoslav the Strong was unfriendly, was in reality
plotting against Izyaslav, working to make himself master of Kief at
the earliest moment. Dissatisfied Kief men, and victims of Izyaslav’s
anger, found refuge with Sviatoslav, who turned now to Vsevolod, his
brother, and said: “Izyaslav is plotting with the wizard against us.
Unless we expel him from Kief at once, he will drive us both from our
places.” The two brothers took action and Izyaslav was forced to leave
Kief for the second time.
Sviatoslav became Grand Prince and gave Chernigoff to Vsevolod.
Izyaslav now went to Poland. He gave immense presents to Boleslav the
Bold and to magnates, who did naught to assist him, but in the end told
him that he would better go elsewhere. He journeyed then to Mainz and
asked aid of Henry IV, the same Emperor who went to Canossa. He gave
presents to Henry and begged help against Sviatoslav and Vsevolod.
Henry, pleased by this recognition of his power by a Grand Prince of
Russia, sent an embassy straightway to Kief to demand reinstatement for
Izyaslav.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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