On assuming power in Kief, Vsevolod gave Chernigoff to his son
Monomach, and to Yaropolk, son of Izyaslav, he gave Volynia. He gave
nothing to any of the dissatisfied princes. This conduct roused Oleg,
whose father had been Grand Prince in Kief with the aid and consent of
Vsevolod, given either by constraint or freely. So in 1079 Oleg sent
his brother, Roman, with an army of Polovtsi to war against Vsevolod,
who met him, but made peace with the Polovtsi by giving value in hand
without fighting. As Roman had nothing to give them, save a promise of
plunder for which they must fight, the Polovtsi dropped Roman’s cause
and killed him. Then they went home, seized Oleg and gave him to the
Greeks of the Chersonese, who sent him in fetters to Rhodes in the
Archipelago. Ratibor was sent by Vsevolod as posadnik to Tmutarakan,
and he ruled there till David, son of Igor, with Vassilko and Volodar,
sons of Rostislav, came the following year, drove him out of Tmutarakan
and governed in their own way. Oleg, who had fled from his exile,
appeared a year later, confined the three princes, and put those
Polovtsi to death who slew Roman. Later on he freed the princes, who
had now to seek for lands in other places.
In 1084 Rostislav’s son’s, Vassilko and Volodar, disappeared from
Volynia, where they had been living with Yaropolk. Disappeared, but
returned with an army and drove away Yaropolk. Monomach now, at command
of his father, marched against those two princes, expelled them and
reinstated Yaropolk after much fighting and effort.
David, son of Igor, used means of another sort. He remained for a time
in Tmutarakan, then he went with warriors to the mouth of the Dnieper,
stopped all merchants trading with Tsargrad and took their wares from
them. This put an end to commerce with the Byzantine Empire. Vsevolod’s
treasury suffered immediately and he was obliged to come to terms. He
gave David a part of Volynia, and commerce with Tsargrad was free
again.
Yaropolk, deeply offended by this gift to David, which decreased his
own lands, began to enlist men and make ready for warfare. Vsevolod,
upon learning of this, sent his son, Vladimir Monomach, to attack
Yaropolk, but that prince had fled to Poland, leaving wife, mother and
treasures in Lutsk. An attack was made upon Lutsk, which surrendered to
Monomach, who captured Yaropolk’s family with attendants and treasures
and established David, son of Igor, as ruler of all Volynia.
At this time Galitch was won, as it seems, by the sons of Rostislav.
They seized it from the Polish king, who was friendly with Yaropolk.
The following year, 1086, Yaropolk came back from Poland, made peace
with Monomach and was again seated in Volynia. Still his lands could
not have been of great use to him, since soon after his coming he set
out for Zvenigorod. He was slain on the road by a man named Neradets,
who escaped and took refuge with Rurik, son of Rostislav, in Galitch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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