Meanwhile Igor sent for support to his cousins, the sons of David. They wished to sell that support at the highest price. Igor gave what they demanded and promised to give all that he could give when he reached power, if they would take the field for him. Still more important for Igor were his late brother’s warriors. He also strove to secure the chief boyars by promising to those men their old places, but he was late with the promise for the boyars, observing that the people had cast him aside, had deserted already in secret. Quick to abandon a lost cause, they sent this message to Izyaslav: “Hasten, Prince. The sons of David are coming to aid thy opponent.” Sviatoslav’s men were no more faithful than were those of his brother Igor. They, too, were prepared to desert at the critical moment. When Izyaslav appeared before Kief with his forces, the people were gathered at one side in a large body. Some distance away was the army of Igor. Izyaslav sent at once a chief and a banner to the people. A detachment fell upon Igor’s camp, and then came a fierce battle. The boyars, devoted to Izyaslav, went over immediately, and Igor’s cause was lost very quickly. His whole army fled. While fleeing, Igor’s horse stuck fast in a swampy place, and the prince, unable to move, had to stay there alone with the animal. Sviatoslav, Igor’s brother, fled to Chernigoff; Sviatoslav, his nephew, took refuge in Kief, where he was captured. Izyaslav entered the capital with honor, and sat on the throne of his father and grandfather. All boyars faithful to Igor were captured and held until ransomed. The Kief people plundered the houses of Igor’s adherents and those of the late Vsevolod’s officials, taking much property of all kinds. Igor himself was found in the swamp four days later, and brought to Izyaslav, who put him first in a monastery, and then in prison, whence he was freed some time later. Thus power returned to Monomach’s descendants. Passing two uncles, Vyacheslav and Yuri, it came to a nephew, because Izyaslav, through his personal qualities, satisfied the people, while the uncles did not please them. When Izyaslav first rose against Igor, he stated that it was to restore the Kief throne to his uncle, but when he was marching, the people declared: “Thou art our prince.” Hence when he took Kief, he kept it because the people wished him to keep it. Of course, he himself was quite willing. The people did not want Vyacheslav, though his right was undoubted, but the boyars, knowing they could rule through him, wanted the old man. Acting on their advice, he seized principalities, among others Volynia, but Izyaslav soon forced him to restore them, for the new prince held firm possession.