That same year Vsevolod moved against Volodar and Vassilko, but in the end made peace with them. After that there was rest for a time in Volynia. But there was sharp trouble with Vseslav the wizard, who at Vsevolod’s accession had “scorched” Smolensk, that is burned it, all save the stronghold. Monomach hunted him swiftly with men doubly mounted, [6] but the wizard escaped. A second hunt followed, by men from Chernigoff and Polovtsi allies. On the way they took Minsk by surprise, and left not a man or beast in the city. CHAPTER II VLADIMIR MONOMACH In 1093 Vsevolod died at the age of sixty-four. His successor was Sviatopolk, son of Izyaslav, a weak and worthless man. Then came trouble and turmoil. “Those were days,” an old song says, “when strife was sown, when it grew as grain in the field grows, when men’s lives were shortened by princes’ struggles, when the cry of the earth-tiller was heard only rarely, but often the scream of the crows wrangling over corpses.” Monomach, the bravest and ablest of all the descendants of Yaroslav, might have taken the Kief throne had he wished, since the Kief people begged him to do so, but he feared civil war and refused, saying: “Sviatopolk’s father was older than my father; he reigned first in Kief.” Sviatopolk, greedy and cruel, showed his character quickly. Envoys from the Polovtsi came to sell peace to him. He cast them into prison. When the Polovtsi heard of this insult they made war with the utmost vigor. Sviatopolk then freed the envoys and asked for peace, but could not get it. He began at once to prepare for war on a small scale, but at last took advice and asked aid of Monomach, who came, bringing with him his brother. The three princes with their combined forces attacked the Polovtsi, though Monomach urged peace, since the enemy outnumbered them notably. The Russians were beaten in a savage encounter and Rostislav, Monomach’s brother, was drowned while crossing a river; Monomach himself had a narrow escape when struggling to save him. Elated with triumph, the Polovtsi hastened toward Kief, ravaging all before them. Sviatopolk, who had taken refuge in the capital, summoned fresh warriors and went out to meet the enemy a second time, but was again defeated and fled back to Kief with but two attendants. As Sviatopolk now wished greatly for peace, he gave what the Polovtsi asked, and took the Khan’s daughter in marriage. Oleg, son of Sviatoslav of Chernigoff, one of the most resolute and active men of the eleventh century, came also with peace to sell, leading in a new army of Polovtsi. The crushing defeats which his cousins had suffered prepared the way for him. He laid siege to Chernigoff, harried the surrounding country and burned churches and villages. For eight days his Polovtsi worked at the stronghold, then Monomach sent a message to Oleg declaring that to stop bloodshed and ruin he would march from the city. Peace was made on that basis, and Oleg became master of Chernigoff.