Yaroslav played a big role in the history of our country. His reign was marked by both positive and negative aspects. We will talk about all this in this article. We also note that the son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Alexander Nevsky (his icon is presented below), became famous throughout the country as a 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 start our story. To begin with, the main dates associated with the name of Yaroslav. He was born in 1191, on February 8th. From 1212 to 1238 - the years of the reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. At various times he also reigned in Novgorod (1215, from 1221 to 1223, from 1224 to 1228, from 1230 to 1236). Having captured Torzhok, he ruled in it from 1215 to 1216. Yaroslav was the Grand Duke of Kyiv from 1236 to 1238. From 1238 to 1246 ruled by YaroslavVsevolodovich in Vladimir.
Vsevolod Yurievich died in 1212. He left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to Yaroslav. Between the sons of Vsevolod, Yuri and Konstantin, strife immediately began. Yaroslav spoke on the side of Yuri. He twice went to help him with his Pereyaslavites, in 1213 and 1214, but it never came to a battle.
Arrival of Yaroslav in Novgorod, refusal to reign
Novgorodians in 1215 invited Yaroslav to reign. Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy, who had just left this city, left many of his supporters in Novgorod. Barely appearing, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ordered to imprison two boyars. He then held a veche against Yakun Namnezic. The people began to plunder his yard, and the boyar Ovstrat, together with his son, was killed by the inhabitants 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 uncle, who left Rostov and established themselves in new cities.
How Yaroslav conquered Novgorod
Soon the opportunity presented itself to constrain Novgorod and finally subjugate it to its will: in the fall, frost beat all the bread in the Novgorod volost, only in Torzhok the harvest was preserved. Yaroslav ordered not to let a single cartload of bread out of the Lower Land to help the starving. Novgorodians in such need sent three boyars to Yaroslav in order to return the prince to Novgorod. Yaroslav delayed the arrivals. Meanwhile, hunger increased, people had tothere is a linden leaf, pine bark, moss. They gave their children to eternal slavery. The corpses of the dead lay everywhere - across the field, along the streets, along the market. The dogs couldn't eat them. Most of the inhabitants simply died of hunger, others went in search of a better life in foreign countries.
Exhausted Novgorodians decided to send posadnik Yuri Ivanovich with noble people to Yaroslav. They again tried to call the prince to him, but he ordered to detain them too. Instead of answering, Yaroslav sent two of his boyars to Novgorod in order to take his wife out of there. The inhabitants of the city turned to the prince with the last speech. He detained the ambassadors and all the Novgorod guests. The chronicler testifies that there was a cry and sadness in Novgorod. But Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not heed the pleas of the inhabitants. The photo below is a copy of his helmet. It was lost in 1216 in 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 resist under such difficult circumstances. However, Russia was still strong with Mstislav. Mstislav II Udaloy, having learned about what was happening in Novgorod, arrived there in 1216. He seized Khot Grigoryevich, Yaroslav's mayor, reforged his nobles and promised not to part with the Novgorodians.
War with Mstislav
Having learned about all this, the father of Alexander Nevsky Yaroslav Vsevolodovich began to prepare for war. He ordered to make notches on the way to the river. Tvertsa. The prince sent 100 people from the inhabitants who seemed loyal to him to Novgorod with a missionrebel against Mstislav and drive him out of the city. But these 100 people, as soon as they arrived in Novgorod, immediately went over to the side of Mstislav. Mstislav Udaloy sent a priest to Torzhok to promise peace to the prince if he let the people go. Yaroslav did not like this proposal. He released the priest sent to him without an answer, and called all the Novgorodians detained in Torzhok (more than two thousand) out of town on the field, ordered them to be put in chains and sent to their cities. And he gave 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. Vazuse joined 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 seize villages. Yaroslav, learning about this, left Torzhok and headed for Tver. Mstislav did not stop there and began to ruin the already Pereyaslav volost. He offered to conclude an alliance with him Konstantin of Rostov, who immediately connected with him. The brothers Vladimir, Svyatoslav and Yuri came to the aid of Yaroslav, and with them all the power of the land of Suzdal. They called everyone, both villagers and townspeople, and if they did not have a horse, then they went on foot. The chronicler says that sons went to fathers, brother to brother, fathers to children, masters to slaves, and slaves to master. Vsevolodovichi settled on the river. Kze. Mstislav sent people to Yaroslav, offering to let goNovotorzhets and Novgorodians, return the Novgorod volosts captured by him, and make peace with them. However, Yaroslav refused here as well.
Yaroslav's escape
Vsevolodovichi, confident in their own strength, won. Mstislav had to retreat to the river. Lipice. On April 21, a great battle took place here. With great force, the Novgorodians hit Yaroslav's regiments. Pereyaslavtsy fled, and after a while the whole army turned to flight. Yaroslav on the fifth horse ran to Pereyaslavl (he drove four) and shut himself up in this city.
Prince's massacre of Smolensk 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 Novgorodians who entered his land to trade, and throw some into a cramped hut, others into the cellar, where they all died (about 150 people in total).
Reconciliation with Mstislav and Vladimir
Yuri, meanwhile, surrendered to Vladimir Mstislavich. Konstantin, his brother, remained 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. Nevertheless, 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 take him in. Konstantin on the road reconciled him with Mstislav. When the princes arrived in Pereyaslavl, Yaroslav bestowed rich gifts on them and the governor. Taking the gifts, Mstislav sentfor his daughter, Yaroslav's wife, to the city. Yaroslav asked him many times to return his wife, but Mstislav was 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. Novgorodians rejoiced at him, according to the chronicler. When the prince left for his parish in 1223, they bowed to him and begged him to stay. However, Yaroslav did not listen to them and left for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Novgorodians in 1224 managed to invite him to their place for the third time. Yaroslav came 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.
Fighting Lithuanians
Lithuanians numbering 7 thousand in 1225 devastated the villages near Torzhok. They did not reach the city itself, only three versts. The Lithuanians killed many merchants and subjugated the entire Toropets volost. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich overtook them near Usvyat. He defeated the Lithuanians, killed 2 thousand people and took away the booty they had stolen. In 1228, Yaroslavl went to Pereyaslavl, leaving his sons in Novgorod. The inhabitants of the city in 1230 again sent for him. The prince immediately arrived, swore to fulfill all the promises, however, as before, he was 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 Novgorodians and his regiments. He went under Yuriev, settled down not far from the city. He released his people to fight in the surrounding areas and collect food supplies in them. Some of the Germans made a sortie from Odenpe, the other from Yuryev, but the Russians beat them. Some Germans fell in the battle, but mostly they died in the river when the ice broke under them. Taking advantage of the victory, the Russians devastated the land. They destroyed German bread, 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 at war 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 Novotorzhan, Rostov and Pereyaslav regiments and moved south. Yaroslav ruined the Chernihiv 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 land of Vladimir-Suzdal. The prince, leaving Kyiv, hastened to the north, but did not arrive in time. Yuri Vsevolodovich was defeated on the City. He died in battle. Yaroslav, having learned about his death, went to reign in Vladimir. He cleared the churches of the corpses, gathered the remaining people and began to dispose of the parishes.
PrinceYaroslav Vsevolodovich spoke out in 1239 against the Lithuanians who fought near Smolensk. He defeated them, took their prince prisoner, and then imprisoned the Smolensk people as Prince Vsevolod, who was the son of Mstislav Romanovich. After that, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich returned home with honor and great booty.
Settlement of relations with Batu
But the most important business of this prince - settling relations between the Russians and the Tatars - was yet to come. Soon after the invasion, Batu sent a Baskak to Russia one Saracen. This man captured all unmarried women and men, beggars, from each family that had 3 sons, took one for himself. He imposed a tribute on the rest of the inhabitants, which had to be paid in fur to every man. If a person could not pay, he was taken into slavery.
Batu has spread 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, together with Vladimir, he received from the hands of Batu and Kyiv, but this had only a symbolic meaning after the devastation of the capital of Russia by the Tatars.
The last years of life and the death of Yaroslav
Konstantin returned in 1245 and said that Ogedei demands Yaroslav to himself. He set off and arrived in August 1246 in Mongolia. Here Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky witnessed the accession of the son of Ogedeev Kayuk. In the same year, Yaroslav died. He was called to the Khan's mother, who gave him food and drink from her own hands, supposedly showing honor. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Prince of Vladimir, 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 Russia and buried in the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir.
