Encyclopedia of Russian History

Yaroslav also waged war against external enemies. In the early 1030s he recaptured the Cher-ven towns that Boleslaw I had seized. In the 1040s he strengthened his ties with Casimir I by forming marriage alliances with him and by sending him military aid. He was also the first prince of Kiev to form marriage ties with the Germans and the French. He was married to Ingigerd, the daughter of the King of Sweden. In the 1030s and 1040s he expanded Novgorod’s western and northern frontiers into the neighboring lands of the Lithuanians and the Chud, where he founded the outpost of Yurev (Tartu). To the south, Yaroslav encountered no serious aggression from the Pechenegs after 1036, when they failed to capture Kiev. In 1043, however, he organized an unsuccessful expedition against Constantinople. Historians do not concur on his motive for attacking the Greeks. Nevertheless, he restored good relations with them and concluded a marriage alliance with the imperial family three years later.

Yaroslav made Kiev his political and ecclesiastical capital and strove to make it the intellectual, cultural, and economic center in imitation of Constantinople. He founded monasteries and churches such as the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev, the metropolitan’s church. Around 1051, evidently in an unsuccessful attempt to assert the independence of the Church in Rus from Constantinople, he appointed Hilarion as the first native metropolitan of Kiev. Yaroslav promoted the writing and translation of religious and secular texts, assembled a library, and brought scribes and master builders from Byzantium. His secular building projects, such as the new court and the defensive rampart around Kiev, its Golden Gate adorned with a chapel, enhanced the capital’s prestige. Yaroslav issued a Church Statute and the first version of the first written code of civil law (Russkaya Pravda). He bequeathed to each of his sons a patrimonial domain. In an effort to ensure a peaceful transition of power in the future, and to keep the land unified, Yaroslav issued his so-called Testament. In it he outlined the

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order of succession to Kiev that his sons and their descendants were to follow. He designated Izyaslav, his eldest surviving son, as his immediate successor. Yaroslav died on February 20, 1054, and was buried in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. See also: CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, KIEV; GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; HILARION, METROPOLITAN; MSTISLAV; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; PECHENEGS; SVYATOPOLK I; VIKINGS; VLADIMIR, ST.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cross, Samuel Hazzard, and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P., eds. (1973). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Lau-rentian Text. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America. Dimnik, Martin. (1987). “The Testament’ of Iaroslav ‘The Wise’: A Re-examination.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 29(4):369-386. Dimnik, Martin. (1996). “Succession and Inheritance in Rus’ before 1054.” Mediaeval Studies 58:87-117. Franklin, Simon, and Shepard, Jonathan. (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Vernadsky, George. (1948). Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press.

MARTIN DIMNIK

YAROSLAV VSEVOLODOVICH

(d. 1246), grand prince of Vladimir and grand prince of Kiev.

Before dying in 1212, Yaroslav’s father Vsevolod Yurevich “Big Nest” gave Yaroslav the patrimony of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. In 1215 Yaroslav also occupied Novgorod, but lost control of it in 1216 when he joined Yuri against their senior brother Konstantin, who defeated them at the river Lipitsa. After the latter died in 1218, Yuri replaced him as grand prince of Vladimir. Although Yaroslav helped Yuri campaign against the Polovtsy and the Volga Bulgars, his main objective was to assert his rule over Novgorod. He helped the citizens by marching against the Lithuanians, the Chud, and other tribes. In his quest for more power over the town, he antagonized many Novgorodians to the point where, in 1224, they asked Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov for

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

YAVLINSKY, GRIGORY ALEXEYEVICH