Yaroslav played a big role in the history of our country. His reign was noted both positive and negative points. We will talk about all this in this article. We also note that the son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, presented below), became famous throughout the country as great commander, and was also canonized by the church. But today we will not talk about him, but about his father, whose reign was eventful.

So, let's begin our story. To begin with, the main dates associated with the name of Yaroslav. He was born in 1191, from 1212 to 1238 - the years of the reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. IN different time he also reigned in Novgorod (1215, from 1221 to 1223, from 1224 to 1228, from 1230 to 1236). Having captured Torzhok, he ruled there from 1215 to 1216. Yaroslav was Kyiv from 1236 to 1238. From 1238 to 1246 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich reigned in Vladimir.

Vsevolod Yurievich died in 1212. He left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to Yaroslav. Strife immediately began between Vsevolod’s sons, Yuri and Konstantin. Yaroslav took Yuri’s side. He went to his aid twice with his Pereyaslavl people, in 1213 and 1214, but it never came to a battle.

Arrival of Yaroslav in Novgorod, renunciation of reign

In 1215, the Novgorodians invited Yaroslav to reign. Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy, who had just left this city, left many of his supporters in Novgorod. As soon as he appeared, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ordered the two boyars to be imprisoned. Then he convened a meeting against Yakun Namnezhich. The people began to plunder his yard, and the boyar Ovstrat and his son were killed by the residents of Prusskaya Street. Yaroslav did not like such self-will. He did not want to stay in Novgorod any longer and went to Torzhok. Here Yaroslav began to reign, and sent a governor to Novgorod. In this case, he followed the example of his father, grandfather and uncles, who left Rostov and established themselves in new cities.

How Yaroslav conquered Novgorod

Soon the opportunity presented itself to constrain Novgorod and completely subjugate it to its will: in the fall, frost destroyed all the grain in the Novgorod volost, only in Torzhok the harvest was preserved. Yaroslav ordered not a single cartload of bread to be allowed from the Lower Land to help the starving. In such need, the Novgorodians sent three boyars to Yaroslav in order to return the prince to Novgorod. Yaroslav detained the arrivals. Meanwhile, hunger intensified, people had to eat linden leaves, pine bark, and moss. They gave their children into eternal servitude. The corpses of the dead were strewn everywhere - in the field, in the streets, in the market place. The dogs did not have time to eat them. Most of the residents simply died of hunger, others went in search of better life to foreign countries.

Exhausted Novgorodians decided to send mayor Yuri Ivanovich with noble people to Yaroslav. They again tried to call the prince to them, but he ordered them to be detained as well. Instead of answering, Yaroslav sent two of his boyars to Novgorod in order to take his wife out of there. Residents of the city turned to the prince with last speech. He detained the ambassadors and all the Novgorod guests. The chronicler testifies that there was crying and sadness in Novgorod. But Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not heed the pleas of the residents. The photo below is a copy of his helmet. It was lost in 1216 at the Battle of Lipitsa and found in 1808.

Arrival of Mstislav in Novgorod

Yaroslav's calculation turned out to be correct: it was not easy for the city to survive under such difficult circumstances. However, Rus' was still strong under Mstislav. Mstislav II the Udaloy, having learned about what was happening in Novgorod, arrived there in 1216. He captured Khot Grigorievich, Yaroslav's mayor, reforged his nobles and promised not to part with the Novgorodians.

War with Mstislav

Having learned about all this, Alexander Nevsky's father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich began to prepare for war. He ordered to make ambushes along the road to the river. Tvertse. The prince sent 100 people from the residents who seemed loyal to him to Novgorod with instructions to rebel against Mstislav and drive him out of the city. But these 100 people, as soon as they arrived in Novgorod, immediately went over to Mstislav’s side. Mstislav Udaloy sent a priest to Torzhok to promise peace to the prince if he released the people. Yaroslav did not like this proposal. He released the priest sent to him without answer, and called all the Novgorodians detained in Torzhok (more than two thousand) outside the city to the field, ordered them to be put in chains and sent to their cities. And he distributed the horses and property to the squad.

However, this trick turned against the prince himself. The Novgorodians who remained in the city marched together with Mstislav against Yaroslav on March 1, 1216. Mstislav on the river Vazuze united with Vladimir Rurikovich Smolensky, his cousin. Despite this, he again sent people to Yaroslav with an offer of peace, but he again refused. Then Vladimir and Mstislav moved towards Tver. They began to burn and capture villages. Yaroslav, having learned about this, left Torzhok and headed to Tver. Mstislav did not stop there and began to ruin the Pereyaslavl volost. He proposed to enter into an alliance with him to Konstantin Rostovsky, who immediately united with him. The brothers Vladimir, Svyatoslav and Yuri came to the aid of Yaroslav, and with them the whole of Suzdal. They called everyone, both villagers and townspeople, and if they did not have a horse, they walked. The chronicler says that sons went against fathers, brother against brother, fathers against children, masters against slaves, and slaves against masters. The Vsevolodovichs settled on the river. Kze. Mstislav sent people to Yaroslav, offering to release the Novgorod and Novgorod residents, return the Novgorod volosts captured by him, and make peace with them. However, Yaroslav refused here too.

Yaroslav's flight

The Vsevolodovichs, confident in their own strength, won. Mstislav had to retreat to the river. Lipice. April 21 happened here great battle. WITH great strength The Novgorodians attacked Yaroslav's regiments. The Pereyaslavl residents fled, and after a while the entire army took flight. Yaroslav ran to Pereyaslavl on his fifth horse (he drove four) and shut himself up in this city.

The prince's reprisal against Smolyans and Novgorodians

The chronicler notes that the first evil was not enough for him; he was not satisfied with human blood. In Pereyaslavl, Nevsky’s father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ordered to seize all the Smolensk and Novgorod residents who entered his land to trade, and throw some into a cramped hut, others into a cellar, where they all died (about 150 people in total).

Reconciliation with Mstislav and Vladimir

Yuri, meanwhile, handed over Vladimir to the Mstislavichs. Konstantin, his brother, stayed here. Yuri went to Radilov, located on the Volga. However, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not want to submit. He decided to lock himself in Pereyaslavl, believing that he would sit out here. However, when Konstantin and Mstislav headed towards the city, he got scared and began to ask them for peace, and then he himself came to his brother Konstantin, asking him not to extradite Vladimir and Mstislav and to shelter him. Konstantin reconciled him with Mstislav on the road. When the princes arrived in Pereyaslavl, Yaroslav and the governor presented them with rich gifts. Having taken the gifts, Mstislav sent for his daughter, Yaroslav’s wife, to the city. Yaroslav asked him many times to return his wife, but Mstislav turned out to be adamant.

Yaroslav returns to Novgorod

Mstislav left Novgorod in 1218 and went to Galich. Troubles began again among the Novgorodians. To stop them, I had to ask Yaroslav again from Yuri Vsevolodovich. The prince was again sent to them in 1221. The Novgorodians were delighted with him, according to the chronicler. When the prince went to his volost in 1223, they bowed to him and begged him to stay. However, Yaroslav did not listen to them and left for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. In 1224, the Novgorodians managed to invite him to their place for the third time. Yaroslav appeared and stayed this time in Novgorod for about three years, defending this volost from various enemies. In the photo below - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in front of Christ with a model of the Church of the Savior.

Fight against Lithuanians

Lithuanians numbering 7 thousand in 1225 devastated the villages located near Torzhok. They did not reach the city itself only three miles. The Lithuanians killed many merchants and subjugated the entire Toropetsk volost. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich caught up with them near Usvyat. He defeated the Lithuanians, killed 2 thousand people and took away the loot they had stolen. In 1228, Yaroslavl left for Pereyaslavl, leaving his sons in Novgorod. The inhabitants of the city again sent for him in 1230. The prince arrived immediately, vowed to fulfill everything he had promised, but was still not constantly in Novgorod. His place was taken by his sons Alexander and Fedor.

Conquest of the Germans

Yaroslav in 1234 opposed the Germans with the Novgorodians and his regiments. He went to Yuryev and settled down not far from the city. He sent his people to fight in the surrounding areas and collect food supplies from them. Some of the Germans made a sortie from Odenpe, others from Yuryev, but the Russians beat them. Some Germans fell in the battle, but most died in the river when the ice broke off beneath them. Taking advantage of the victory, the Russians devastated the land. They destroyed the German grain, and this people had to submit. Yaroslav made peace with the Germans on terms favorable to himself.

The reign of Yaroslav in Kyiv, new battles

Having learned that Mikhail Vsevolodovich was fighting with the Galician princes Vasilko and Daniil Romanovich, Yaroslav left his son Alexander in Novgorod in 1236 and went on a campaign. He took with him noble Novgorodians, a hundred Novorot residents, Rostov and Pereyaslavl regiments and moved south. Yaroslav ruined Chernigov volost and began to reign in Kyiv.

His reign lasted more than a year, but suddenly it became known about the invasion of the Tatars and the devastation of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The prince, abandoning Kyiv, hurried north, but did not arrive in time. Yuri Vsevolodovich was defeated at City. He died in battle. Yaroslav, having learned about his death, went to reign in Vladimir. He cleared the churches of corpses, gathered the remaining people and began to administer the volosts.

Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich spoke out in 1239 against the Lithuanians who fought near Smolensk. He defeated them, took their prince prisoner, and then imprisoned him with the Smolensk people, who was the son of Mstislav Romanovich. After this, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich returned home with honor and great booty.

Regulating relations with Batu

But the most important task of this prince - settling relations between the Russians and the Tatars - was still ahead. Soon after the invasion, Batu sent one Saracen to Rus' as a Baskak. This man captured all the unmarried women and men, the beggars, from each family that had 3 sons, he took one for himself. He imposed a tribute on the rest of the inhabitants, which had to be paid in fur to each man. If a person could not pay, he was taken into slavery.

Batu set up his camp on the banks of the Volga. Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich went here. According to the chronicler, Batu received Yaroslav with honor and released him, punishing him to be the eldest among the Russian princes. That is, he, along with Vladimir, received Kyiv from the hands of Batu, but this had only symbolic meaning after the destruction of the capital of Rus' by the Tatars.

The last years of life and death of Yaroslav

Constantine returned in 1245 and said that Ogedei demanded Yaroslav to join him. He set off and arrived in Mongolia in August 1246. Here Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky witnessed the accession of Ogedeev's son Kayuk. Yaroslav died in the same year. He was called to the khan's mother, who gave him something to drink and eat from her hands, supposedly showing him honor. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was poisoned and died 7 days later. Unfortunately, the reason why the Russian prince was treated this way is unknown. His body was brought to Rus' and buried in the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir.

Yaroslav (Theodore) Vsevolodovich, third son of Vsevolod Big Nest, born in Vladimir-on-Klyazma on February 8, 1190. His mother Maria was a princess of Iasi. Under the year 1194, in the chronicle we find a mention of the solemn "tonsure" of Prince Yaroslav on April 27 (after ancient custom Having received the boy from his mother’s hands, the father cut off a lock of his hair and put him in the saddle). "And there was great joy in Volodymeri." From now on, the child was entrusted to the “uncle” - this is how military education began. Attracts attention early dates"tonsure" - in in this case already in the fourth year: the princes of the Vladimir house were in a hurry to train assistants.
The childhood of the rulers then ended early. Yuri Dolgoruky arrived to reign in the Rostov land barely out of infancy. Vsevolod sent his ten-year-old son to distant Pereyaslavl, and in 1203 the young prince was already listed among the participants in the campaign against the Polovtsians of Roman Mstislavich of Kyiv.
In his youth, Yaroslav did not gain any noticeable military glory. However, it can be assumed that he did not lose his hereditary honor. In 1206, the inhabitants of the Carpathian Galich invited him to reign. Rurik Rostislavich of Kyiv opposed this. No longer valuing family relations with the powerful Zalessk matchmaker (Verkhuslav Vsevolodovich’s daughter-in-law followed his son Rostislav), he, together with his Chernigov allies, forced Yaroslav to go back. Soon the last one from Pereyaslavl was driven out by the troops of Vsevolod Chermny, Grand Duke of Chernigov.
Having gone to his father in Zalesye, Yaroslav two years later participated in the war with the Ryazan princes, after which he remained governor in the conquered Ryazan, where he was unable to cope with the uprising. It was necessary to resort to extreme measures, and as a result of a punitive raid by the Vladimir people, Ryazan was burned.
Soon after the army returned from the banks of the Oka, Vsevolod sent his sons on a campaign against Novgorod to prevent Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (Udaly) from becoming a prince there. The campaign ended with negotiations, and the Novgorodians achieved their goal - Prince Udat sat down on the Novgorod table.
After the death of his father, Yaroslav, who received Pereyaslavl Zalessky as an inheritance, supported Yuri in the strife against his older brother Konstantin. Fighting at first they were fought without much bitterness and were interspersed with truces, until an outbreak broke out near Rostov bloody battle, which somewhat sobered the Vsevolodovichs.
However, in the same year 1215, Mr. Velikiy Novgorod called Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to reign. The new prince (together with his brother Svyatoslav) began to rule with unusual authority and harshness, even cruelty, and in material (fiscal) terms he oppressed worse than his own subjects.
Unrest arose, which ended with the “head of the administration” - mayor Yakov Zubolomich - being arrested and, chained “in iron”, sent to Tver. Of course, Yaroslav would hardly have been able to sit in free Novgorod after this, and he, leaving the city, stood in Torzhok, blocking the supply of bread from the “Nizovsky land”.
Hunger began. Twice Novgorod dispatched for negotiations " best husbands, but they only added to the number of hostages sent to Pereyaslavl, where they were treated rather harshly. This continued until Mstislav Udatny came out on the side of the townspeople.
This conflict overlapped with the Vladimir strife. The illustrious commander, finding himself in Novgorod, entered into an alliance with Constantine and, having enlisted the support of warlike brothers from Pskov and Smolensk, convened the Novgorod militia, eager to settle accounts with Yaroslav. In response, the Vsevolodovichs gathered a huge army, which, in addition to squads and militias of the Upper Volga and Opolye, included detachments of Murom vassals, as well as steppe vagabonds of half-Turks - “wanderers”, that is, Cossacks1. In addition to collecting the rural militia, which had not been practiced in these relatively calm regions for a very long time, even slaves were put into service.
In March the vanguards clashed. Mstislav's governor Yarun (under Kalka he would also command the vanguard of his prince), having occupied the town of Rzhevka, fought off Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, after which Udatny occupied Zubtsov and from here sent people to Yaroslav in Torzhok, trying to negotiate peace. He rejected the negotiations in arrogant and defiant terms, and began setting up impassable abatis (“Ouchinisha Tver”) on the road to Novgorod and even along the Tvertsa River.
The Novgorodians offered the princes another route to Tver, where Yarun again distinguished himself by defeating Yaroslav’s “watchman” (combat guard). Then the Allies ravaged the entire upper Volga region with the cities of Ksnyatin, Dubna and Shosha. Having united with Konstantin, they came to Pereyaslavl, but Yaroslav was not in the city.
Finally, in mid-April 1216, countless armies concentrated on the hilly fields near Yuryev Polsky, on the Lipitsa River. The flower of the Russian army gathered here. As part of the squad, or, as they recently began to say, the “court” of Mstislav Udatny, there were “very brave men and great heroes, like lions and like bears, who could not bear wounds.” Among them stood out “two brave men, Dobrynya the Golden Belt and Alexander Popovich with his servant Torop, glorious heroes”2.
These were our first nobles - “court servants”. However, at the same time, in relation to the low-born part of the “court”, as opposed to the boyars, the ancient term “men” came into use again.
The Vladimir princes camped on Avdova Mountain, a steep slope facing the valley of the Tuneg stream. Beyond the stream, the gently sloping Yuryeva Mountain began. On it, regiments of Novgorodians, Rostovians, Smolensk and Pskovians lined up for battle.
The noble Mstislav, to whom Constantine ceded leadership in the coalition, tried to end the matter peacefully, but received an arrogant refusal. In the juicy ancient Russian ambassador it was stated: “They naturally went far and came out, like fish to dry land.” It is possible that these words belong to Yaroslav as the most lively among the brothers. Nevertheless, the Vsevolodovichs were not going to attack. They surrounded their camp along the edges of the cliff with fences and stakes and refused to leave it. Here the features of a specifically Russian (north-eastern) military art began to appear - a preference for defense in a fortified position over active attacking actions.
It is also felt that there was no strong-willed leader among the brothers. Yuri was not suitable for this role, and Yaroslav was not suitable for his age. This circumstance, however, did not prevent the Suzdal boyars from drunkenly boasting that they would “pelt their opponents with saddles.”
The cold, gloomy and rainy day of April 20 passed in small skirmishes, skirmishes and altercations. The coalition troops attacked sluggishly with small forces - rather, they carried out reconnaissance in force: Mstislav Mstislavich felt for weak points in the enemy’s defense, which subsequently allowed him to make effective decisions.
It was decided to deliver the main blow by detachments of Novgorodians with the support of Smolensk on the right flank of Vsevolodovichi, where the banners of Yaroslav’s consolidated regiment stood. It was also true psychologically - to pit the Novgorodians against him, who were burning with the desire to take revenge for the famine, the extortions, and the “insult” of the ambassadors. Mstislav brilliantly managed to turn the enemy's strength - the security of the position and superiority in numbers - into his weakness. By concentrating the troops along the edges of the horseshoe-shaped cliff and placing the convoy in the center, the Vsevolodovichs deprived themselves of the opportunity to maneuver. The Vladimir-Suzdal squads could now be beaten one by one, concentrating selected units in the chosen direction3.
The next morning, Mstislav, having “organized the regiments,” inspired them with a fiery speech. The Novgorodians, according to the custom of their grandfathers, preferred to go into battle on foot. The Smolensk people also dismounted. Having overcome the swampy valley of the stream overgrown with bushes, under a hail of arrows we climbed steep slope and attacked the Yaroslav warriors. They managed to somewhat push Yaroslav away from the edge of the mountain. One of his seventeen banners was cut down. However, the townspeople, Murom residents and Brodniks subordinate to Yaroslav continued to desperately resist. The noise of the battle carried far away - in Yuryev, several miles away, they heard “the cry of the living and the howling of the perforated.”
Mstislav sent the Smolensk cavalry of the governor Ivor Mikhailovich to help the Novgorodians. On rough terrain, the cavalry could not take advantage of its advantages; it only further pushed back Yaroslav’s regiment. Another of his banners fell. But this did not bring the desired turning point. The battle became protracted. Then Mstislav led the best forces - his “yard” - into the attack.
The “brave men” clad in steel, walking over the bodies of the Pereyaslav and Murom warriors, “reaped like ears of corn” from the militia farmers. Mstislav with an ax and Alexander Popovich with a sword made bloody clearings in their ranks and, colliding near the enemy’s carts, almost killed each other. In the end, Yaroslav’s regiment could not stand it and “flew away,” dooming the regiments of Yuri, Svyatoslav and Ivan Vsevolodovich, who continued to hold their positions, to extermination.
The battle turned into a beating. No prisoners were taken. Those running died under swords and arrows, and drowned wounded in rivers. Rus' lost more than nine thousand of its sons on that terrible day.
The Vsevolodovichs fled from the battlefield to different sides. Yuri a few hours later found himself under the walls of Vladimir. Yaroslav, having driven four horses, rushed to his Pereyaslavl on the fifth and, burning with revenge, ordered the Smolensk and Novgorod merchants to be seized. Many of them, thrown into a cramped prison, suffocated there.
The winners approached Vladimir and placed Konstantin on his father’s table (Yuri went to the Volga, to the small town of Radilov), after which they moved to Pereyaslavl, where Yaroslav tried to sit out, “still being in anger and breathing anger.” To save his estate from ruin, he had to go to meet his older brother and ask him for forgiveness and protection from Mstislav. Tents were pitched in front of the city; Yaroslav, treated and gave gifts" dear guests"Mstislav, having accepted the gifts, sent people to the city, freed the surviving Novgorodians and Smolyans and took Yaroslav's princess - his daughter. Yaroslav repented many times ("in truth, the cross killed me"), begged to let at least the princess go - in vain. About three years Mstislav did not return her to her husband, forcing Vsevolodovich to humble his pride with humiliation.Pereyaslavl remained untouched mainly thanks to the intercession of Konstantin.
Meanwhile, Novgorod surrendered one position after another in Estonia, which was once subject to it, especially after the departure of Mstislav Udatny from there. To fight the Order4 alone own strength was not enough, and in 1221 Yaroslav again became Novgorod prince. He was, undoubtedly, a different person who had experienced a lot and changed his mind. A new stage begins in his military and political career. Fate entrusted Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to lead the defense of the northwestern borders of the country against the expansion of Catholicism. Soon after arriving in Novgorod, he set out on a campaign with an army of twenty thousand and besieged Wenden, the residence of the Master of the Order. It was not possible to take the stone castle - there was no necessary experience for this. I had to return - albeit with a lot of booty.
The following year, a powerful anti-Catholic uprising broke out throughout Estonia. Messengers were sent to Novgorod asking for help. Help was hastily collected and sent, but it turned out to be insufficient. The entire first half of 1223 was spent in battles. The brother knights pushed back the Baltic pagans and their Orthodox allies. Only towards the end of August did the grand ducal regiments finally arrive in Novgorod, who had probably gone on a campaign against Kalka before, but were late and therefore survived. The united army under the command of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich entered Estonia.
Yaroslav strengthened the garrison of Yuryev and took Odenpe, the most important Estonian fortress, which had already been captured by the Order by that time. Initially, it was planned to go to Riga - the residence of the bishop and the center of German influence in the Baltic states, but the Ezelian ambassadors persuaded the Novgorodians to first take Revel and put an end to the Danes. Four weeks Russian army, suffering significant losses from stone throwers, besieged Revel, but to no avail. The Novgorodians retreated: Yaroslav was too preoccupied with the situation that had developed in Rus' after the Battle of Kalka, and he hurried home, abandoning his allies. Soon after his return, he left Novgorod.
In the winter of 1225, a new disaster struck Rus', which had just survived the Kalka catastrophe. The power that had long been accumulating in the Neman forests and had been troubling the most far-sighted Russian princes for decades finally spilled out. “The army is very great, but it has not been from the beginning of the world,” the Novgorod chronicler commented on the invasion of the Lithuanian horde into the very center of Rus': horsemen in animal skins on small skates raced along deserted watersheds, quickly covering vast distances. Having flooded the entire region from Polotsk to Novgorod and Toropets, they were already intercepting merchants on the roads near Smolensk!
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich hastened from Pereyaslavl to help the Smolensk people. He was joined by Torop residents, Novotorzh residents and part of the Novgorod residents. The Lithuanians were overtaken near Usvyat. They lined up in battle formation on the ice of the lake and put up fierce resistance. Having cut into the Lithuanian ranks, the first to fall were Vasily, the sword-bearer of Yaroslav, and the Toropets prince Davyd, the nephew of Mstislav Udatny. But the enemy was defeated. Lithuanian losses amounted to two thousand killed and captured. Their princes were captured.
This victory, of course, greatly increased the authority of the Pereyaslav prince. The Novgorodians again began to invite him to their table. Returning in 1226, Yaroslav immediately conceived a campaign against Riga with the aim of destroying Catholic influence in the Baltic states. However, he failed to implement this plan. The march to Riga, which had already become a prominent intermediary center of Baltic trade, was not supported either in Novgorod or Pskov. The trade interests of not only the boyar groups, but also the broad merchant and artisan strata, who sought peace at any cost, had long suffered from wars.
Instead of Riga, in the winter of 1227, Yaroslav led the Novgorodians to em - to the “land of darkness.” Hikes to the land of Emi were occasionally made before, but not in winter, through Finnish forests covered with a meter-thick layer of snow, where “it was not possible for the Russian princes to visit and the whole land was captured by them.” The Russians got rich booty, and the threat to Karelia from Sweden was eliminated. The chronicler was especially pleased that “everyone returned healthy.”
The following year, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich quarreled with the Novgorodians. Now - because of his desire to subjugate Pskov. Having left the city, he left two sons here - Fyodor and Alexander, and soon he himself took part in Yuri Vsevolodovich’s campaign against the Mordovians, after which he captured Volok and, as in his youth, began to threaten the free city with famine, throwing the arriving ambassadors into prison.
Meanwhile, the state of affairs in the Baltic states forced the Novgorodians to once again turn to the Pereyaslavl prince for military assistance as the most powerful ruler and experienced commander. There was practically no choice: inviting another candidate threatened an inevitable war not only with Yaroslav, but also with the entire Vladimir “brotherhood” and their vassals from Ryazan and Murom. In addition, the Chernigov princes were mired deeper and deeper in the southern Russian political “mouse race” around Galicia and the completely decrepit Kyiv, and Smolensk established such close trade ties with Riga that it became doubtful as an ally against the Germans. In addition, Lithuania, which was growing stronger every day and had almost completely crushed the exhausted Polotsk, took away all the attention and strength of the local princes. Lithuania also ravaged the Novgorod volosts (in 1229 - Lobnya, Moreva, Seliger). Yaroslav turned out to be simply irreplaceable as the guarantor of the most powerful - Vladimir support in the fight against the Order and the young raging people.
So in 1230, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich again returned to the “city of his dreams.”
The war of the Novgorodians against the Order resumed in 1233. The German knights, having captured Yuriev in 1224, and with it eastern Estonia, were not going to stop there - they captured Izborsk and staged a raid on Tesovo near Novgorod. The prisoners were put in prison, and a ransom was demanded for them. The Pskovites returned Izborsk and were now eager to get even.
A year later, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich brought his regiments from Pereyaslavl to Novgorod and, “having joined forces,” entered the Peipus land. His son Alexander, the future Nevsky, most likely also took part in this campaign. Yaroslav's army encountered German patrols and stopped before reaching Yuryev. Information soon received about the approaching enemy forced the Russians to come forward to meet them.
The battle took place on the ice of the Embakh River - “on Omyvzha”, under the walls of Yuryev-Dorpt. The "Great Pig" - a column of heavy cavalry, crowded in front of the Russian formation, "broke off" under the ice "and trampled a lot of them." The surviving Teutons fled to the city and locked themselves in it. Yaroslav did not starve the knights, they were not the main danger at that moment, and therefore the prince made peace with them “in all his truth,” forcing Yuriev and the region to henceforth pay an annual tribute, which symbolized the supreme power of Novgorod over Eastern Estonia.
In 1234, the Lithuanians attacked Rusa and captured the settlement, but were repulsed by the local feudal militia (“Gridba”, “Ognishchane”) and armed merchants. Having robbed a nearby monastery, the raiders retreated. Prince Yaroslav with the mounted Novgorodians caught up with them “at Dubrovna”, in the Toropetsk volost, and scattered them, losing ten people.
In 1236, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, at the request of Daniil of Galitsky and his brother Yuri, took the Kiev table and nominally became the Grand Duke, without making absolutely any effort. But it seems that he did not show himself in any way in the south. Obviously, all his interests and passions remained connected with Novgorod, where his son Alexander reigned for him.
WITH a large share With confidence, although without direct indications in the sources, we can assume that in February-March of the fateful year 1237, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was in Novgorod and organized its defense in the Vladimir direction. Why didn’t he respond to his brother’s call and help Yuri out either in the City or earlier? Apparently, before the Ryazan tragedy, Vladimir Grand Duke He relied on his own strength, and after the fall of Vladimir, the Novgorodians did not allow Yaroslav to dispose of the zemstvo militia. Having assessed the scale of the invasion and realizing that the time to unite forces had been lost, in Novgorod they decided to defend their land, having been spotted on the Seliger road. Going to the rescue of Torzhok further meant putting the fate of one’s fatherland on the line. One can imagine how eager the Pereyaslav warriors were to defend their homes (let us add to this that Tver was defended by one of Yaroslav’s sons, whose name is unknown, who died during the capture of the city in February), but the appearance of Novgorod forces in the “Nizovskaya land” in conditions when the best its troops had already died near Kolomna and in Vladimir, it would hardly have changed anything. As a result, cruel expediency won.
Why didn’t the Novgorod prince come to the rescue in December-January? Didn't have time to return to Novgorod from Kyiv? “Cleaned up” and edited more than once over the years Tatar-Mongol yoke the chronicles do not tell us anything about the actions of Yaroslav - probably for fear of compromising him in the eyes of the winner and overlord. One thing is indisputable: any personal motives could not be decisive in this case. The relationship between Yaroslav and Yuri Vsevolodovich, although it worsened in the thirties (it came to open strife in 1232, however, without bloodshed), was not enough to prevent the Novgorod prince from coming to the aid of his fatherland in a time of terrible trouble.
In the spring, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich returned to the ashes of the capital city. The ruins of Vladimir were still littered with thousands of corpses, and the first concern was to collect and bury them. Residents hiding in the forests began to return for the prince. Axes clattered on new buildings.
The respite did not last long. The following year, the Lithuanians attacked again, ravaging most of the principality and threatening Smolensk. Yaroslav rushed there with all his available forces and unblocked the city, but at that time Murom blazed behind the forests with a huge fire - there was no one to repel the Tatar raid. From the Oka, the Tatars moved to Nizhnyaya Klyazma, swept through the surviving volosts east of Vladimir with fire and sword and took Gorokhovets. The population fled in horror, not thinking about resistance.
In 1243, Batu demanded Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to his new capital on the Volga. He arrived in Sarai, and his son Constantine had to be sent to Karakorum. The new ruler of the Russian Land met his vassal with honor and mercifully released him, issuing a label for the reign of Vladimir.
In 1245, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was forced to go to the Horde a second time. Now he himself had to leave Sarai for Far East. He experienced “a lot of languor” there. There was an intrigue against the old prince with the participation of his close boyar Fyodor Yarunovich. At the feast before leaving, the prince accepted a cup of poison from the hands of the khansha and set off on the return journey, already sick. On September 30, 1246, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich died on the road, “lay down his soul for his friends and for the Russian land.” His body was brought to Vladimir and buried in the Assumption Cathedral.
This is how the father and forerunner of Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky lived and died.

1. “Cossack” in Turkic means not only “rider”, “light cavalry warrior”, but also “tramp”.
Considering the habit of our chroniclers to write foreign terms in Russian, it can be assumed that the Brodniks called themselves in Kipchak - “Cossacks”.
There is a well-founded hypothesis: the wanderers lived on the Danube, and their very name means a person leading an aquatic lifestyle. But in this case, it is difficult to imagine that the inhabitants of the extreme South-West would get so far - to the opposite edge of Rus'. These were probably residents of the Middle Don region - the so-called Chervleny Yar.
2. Tver collection. Source of the 15th century. PSRL. T.7. P.70. Here on p. 72 Dobrynya is named Ryazanich, and another outstanding warrior is mentioned with him - Savely Dikun.
3. The so-called "Epaminondas principle": "uneven distribution of forces along the front", otherwise - "massage of forces in the direction of the main attack."
4. Order of the Sword. From 1188 to 1237 it was called the "Brotherhood" Soldiers of Christ"("Fratris milites Dei"). In the spring of 1237, united with the Prussian Order of the Virgin Mary under the name Teutonic. Since the 16th century - the Livonian Order.

Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1191-1246) - Prince of Vladimir, Prince of Pereyaslav-Zalessky, Prince of Pereyaslav, Prince of Novgorod, Prince of Vladimir, Grand Duke of Kiev; son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, father of Alexander Nevsky.

He took part in civil strife between princes and waged an active struggle for power with numerous relatives.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was the first of the Russian princes during the Tatar-Mongol invasion to receive from the Tatar Khan a label to reign in the new capital Ancient Rus'- the city of Vladimir.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. short biography

Prince Yaroslav was born in 1191 and was one of the many offspring of Vsevolod the Big Nest. In 1212, after the death of his father, Yaroslav became prince in the city of Pereyaslavl Zalessky, but was soon forced to leave it in order to take part in the struggle for power between his two brothers - Yuri (Yaroslav acted on his side) and Konstantin - in 1213 and 1214.

After the civil strife between the brothers, he took an active part in the struggle for Novgorod, which lasted with varying success from 1215 to 1236 (during this period, Yaroslav acquired and lost the title of Prince of Novgorod several times). In 1236 he became the Prince of Vladimir, appearing to bow in Golden Horde and received a label for reign there.

Death overtook Yaroslav during his second trip to the Golden Horde, when he was called to bow to the khan’s mother, where he accepted a treat from her hands. A week later, Yaroslav died. The exact cause of death is unknown, but it is believed that the prince could have been poisoned.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich's struggle for power

In domestic policy Particularly noteworthy is Yaroslav’s long-term struggle for the right to reign in Novgorod. He was first called upon by the Novgorodians in 1215, when Mstislav Mstislavich left the city. Yaroslav arrived in the city, but was dissatisfied with the unrest that happened there because of his arrival, so he soon left to reign in Torzhok, however, accepting the title of Prince of Novgorod. Yaroslav's governor remained in Novgorod. Some time later, Yaroslav, by cunning and force, tried to win power in Novgorod during the famine that overtook the city, refusing help and sending messengers from Novgorod back. ABOUT difficult situation Mstislav found out in the city and immediately offered Yaroslav to release all the captured Novgorodians, but he refused. Thus began a long-term struggle.

On March 1, 1216, Mstislav, dissatisfied with Yaroslav’s behavior and worried about the Novgorodians, gathered the townspeople and moved to Torzhok with a proposal for a truce. Yaroslav rejected the offer, and Mstislav's army moved towards Tver, destroying all the cities along the way. Soon Mstislav was joined by Yaroslav's brother Konstantin (against whom Yaroslav had fought at one time), Yuri, Svyatoslav and Vladimir sided with Yaroslav. An internecine conflict ensued.

On April 21, 1216, the famous battle took place on the Lipitsa River between the troops of Mstislav and Yaroslav, as a result of which Yaroslav was defeated and was forced to give the title of Prince of Novgorod back to Mstislav.

However, the struggle for Novgorod did not end there. Yaroslav became the Prince of Novgorod several more times: in 1218 he was sent there by his fathers, in 1221 and 1224 he was called to reign by the townspeople themselves. Only after his calling in 1224 did Yaroslav finally remain in Novgorod for a long time with the title of prince and began to rule the city.

Already, together with the Novgorodians, Yaroslav made several successful military campaigns. In 1225, he opposed the Lithuanians, driving them from Russian lands back to the Principality of Lithuania; in 1227, a campaign against Finnish tribes took place on Yam, and in 1228, Yaroslav successfully repelled a retaliatory attack from the Finns.

In 1226, Yaroslav was again forced to prove his right to rule in Novgorod. This time, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov opposed him, but the struggle was not successful for Mikhail. Moreover, in 1231 Yaroslav, together with his brother Yuri, gathered an army and invaded Chernigov.

In 1234 Yaroslav opposed German troops near the city of Yuryev, the result of the battle was the defeat of the enemy troops and peace beneficial for Rus'.

In 1236, Yaroslav received the title of Grand Duke of Kyiv and went to Kyiv, leaving his son in Novgorod.

In 1238, Yaroslav returned to Vladimir and began reigning there. After several years of successful reign, during which Vladimir finally becomes the capital of Rus', Yaroslav receives an order to appear from Khan Batu. From a trip to the Golden Horde, Yaroslav returns with a label for the Great Reign in Vladimir. During this period, Kyiv finally lost its status as the capital of Ancient Rus'.

Results of the reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich

During the years of Yaroslav's reign, Vladimir officially became the new capital of Rus', Kyiv lost its power, political and economic. Also, thanks to the activities of Yaroslav, Rus' was able to recover from the attack of the Western crusaders, while maintaining its statehood and not breaking up into separate territories.

In foreign policy Yaroslav tried to regulate relations with the Golden Horde, as well as to protect the country, which was already in a difficult situation, from attack by the Germans and Lithuanians.

All rulers of Russia Mikhail Ivanovich Vostryshev

GRAND DUKE OF VLADIMIR YAROSLAV II VSEVOLODOVICH (1190–1246)

GRAND DUKE OF VLADIMIR

YAROSLAV II VSEVOLODOVICH

Great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, fourth son of the Grand Duke Vladimirsky Vsevolod Big Nest. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was born on February 8, 1190 in the city of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. At the age of seven, his father appointed him prince of this city. In 1212, Vsevolod the Big Nest died, appointing his eldest son Constantine as his successor.

In 1214, the Novgorodians, who did not have a prince at that time (Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy, of his own free will, left Novgorod for southern Rus'), asked Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to reign. The next year he came to Novgorod, but did not reign there for long. In 1222, he was again in Novgorod, and together with its inhabitants went to fight in the Peipus land, took a large full and a lot of gold.

In the winter of 1226, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich went to the southern part of Finland - Em, where, according to the chronicler, “the whole land was captured by them.” He had to return with such a huge load that he was forced to release many prisoners and kill others.

Often quarreling with the Novgorodians, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich also quarreled with his older brother Yuri, against whom he managed to turn his nephews, the Konstantinovichs, against him. Finally, having gathered in Suzdal on September 7, 1229, they all made peace, kissed the cross the next day, on Christmas Day Holy Mother of God, had fun with Bishop Mitrofan.

In 1233, the Germans began to disturb the Novgorod and Pskov volosts. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich set out on a campaign, near Yuryev (Derpt) he defeated them, and they reconciled with the prince. In the same year, the Lithuanians attacked Rusa, but were repulsed and began to retreat. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich overtook them in the Toropetsk volost, took away five hundred horses and all the goods. The Lithuanians, throwing away their weapons and shields, fled into the forest.

On the banks of the City River on March 4, 1238, a battle took place between the troops of the Grand Duke Vladimirsky Yuri Vsevolodovich with the Tatars, in which the Grand Duke was killed. By seniority, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich took the Grand Duke's table. He hurried to Vladimir, which, after being devastated by the Tatars, was a pile of ruins and human corpses. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich took care of putting the capital in order and encouraging the remaining residents. The following year, he ordered the transfer of the body of his elder brother Yuri from Rostov to Vladimir, which was greeted by the clergy and people and, after a prayer service, was laid in the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral, where the ashes of their father lay.

In the same year, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich undertook a campaign against the Lithuanians who entered the Smolensk lands, defeated them, captured their prince, and imprisoned Vsevolod Mstislavich in Smolensk.

Khan Batu, meanwhile, devastated the southern Russian lands and the Carpathian region, from where he turned back with his hordes and chose the lower reaches of the Volga as his place of residence, founding the city of Sarai here. Now Russian princes were supposed to come here to bow to the formidable conqueror. In 1243, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich also went there. Batu accepted him with honor and gave him seniority in all of Rus'.

In 1246, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich again visited Sarai, from where he was forced to go to the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, located south of Lake Baikal. This trip was undertaken in connection with the accession to the throne of the Great Khan Guyuk, the son of Ogedei. On the way back, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich died, probably poisoned by Guyuk’s mother, Turukina-Khatun.

Kalka. Artist Pavel Ryzhenko

Chapter I GRAND DUKE YAROSLAV II VSEVOLODOVICH. G. 1238-1247 Yaroslav's vivacity. Properties of George. Liberation of Smolensk. Civil strife. Batu devastates southern Russia. The beauty of Kyiv. Generosity of citizens. Siege and capture of Kyiv. State of Russia. The reason for the success of the Batyevs. Properties and