Yaroslav played a big role in the history of our country. His reign was marked by both positive and negative points. 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 start, the main dates associated with the name of Yaroslav. He was born in 1191, on February 8. From 1212 to 1238 - 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 Kiev from 1236 to 1238. From 1238 to 1246 the reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in Vladimir.
Vsevolod Yurievich died in 1212. He left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky Yaroslav. Between the sons of Vsevolod, Yuri and Konstantin, the feuds immediately began. On the side of Yuri, Yaroslav spoke. He twice went to the aid of him with his Pereyaslavlites, in 1213 and 1214, but the matter did not come to a battle.
Arrival of Yaroslav in Novgorod, refusal of reign
The Novgorodians in 1215 invited Yaroslav to their reign. Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy, who had just left this city, left many of his supporters in Novgorod. Having barely appeared, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ordered the imprisonment of two boyars. Then he gathered a veche against Yakun Namnezhich. The people began to rob his yard, and the boyar Ovstrat, along with his son, was killed by the inhabitants of Prussia Street. Yaroslav did not like such willfulness. He did not want to stay in Novgorod anymore 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 finally subordinate it to its will: in the fall, frost broke all the bread in the Novgorod volost, only in Torzhok the harvest was preserved. Yaroslav ordered not to let a single cart of bread out of the Lower Earth to help the starving. The Novgorodians in such a need 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 leaf, pine bark, moss. They gave their children to eternal servility. The corpses of the dead lay everywhere - across the field, along the streets, through bargaining. They did not have time to eat the dogs. Most of the inhabitants simply starved to death, others went in search of a better life in foreign countries.
The exhausted Novgorodians decided to send the posadnik Yuri Ivanovich with noble people to Yaroslav. They again tried to call the prince to him, but he ordered the detention of them. Yaroslav sent to Novgorod instead of the answer of two of his boyars in order to take his wife out of there. Residents of the city addressed the prince with the last speech. He detained the ambassadors and all the Novgorod guests. The chronicler testifies that in Novgorod there was a cry and sadness. But Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not heed the cries of the inhabitants. In the photo below is a copy of his helmet. He was lost in 1216 at the Battle of Lipitsky and was found in 1808.
Arrival of Mstislav in Novgorod
Yaroslav’s calculation turned out to be true: the city was not easy to resist in such difficult circumstances. However, Russia was still strong by Mstislav. Mstislav II Udaloy, learning about what was happening in Novgorod, arrived there in 1216. He grabbed Hot Grigorievich, Yaroslav the posadnik, reforged his nobles and promised not to part with the Novgorodians.
War with Mstislav
Learning about all this, the father of Alexander Nevsky Yaroslav Vsevolodovich began to prepare for war. He ordered serifs on the way to the river. Tverts. The prince sent 100 people from seemingly loyal residents to Novgorod with the order to rebel against Mstislav and expel him from 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 the prince peace if he let people go. Yaroslav did not like this offer. He released the priest sent to him without an answer, and he called all the Novgorodians (more than two thousand) detained in Torzhok outside the city on the field, ordered them to be shackled and sent to their cities. And he gave the horses and property to the squad.
However, this trick turned against the prince himself. The Novgorodians who remained in the city, on March 1, 1216, opposed Yaroslav along with Mstislav. Mstislav on the river Vazuse connected with Vladimir Rurikovich Smolensky, his cousin. Despite this, he again sent people to Yaroslav with a proposal for peace, but he again refused. Then Vladimir and Mstislav moved to Tver. They began to burn and capture the village. Yaroslav, learning about this, left Torzhok and headed to Tver. Mstislav did not stop there and began to ruin the Pereyaslav volost. He proposed to conclude an alliance with him Konstantin Rostovsky, who immediately connected with him. Brothers Vladimir, Svyatoslav and Yuri came to the aid of Yaroslav, and with them the whole strength of the land of Suzdal. They called everyone, both the villagers and the townspeople, and if they did not have a horse, then they walked on foot. The chronicler says that the sons went to the fathers, brother to brother, fathers to children, gentlemen to slaves, and slaves to the lord. Vsevolodovichi settled on the river. Kze. Mstislav sent people to Yaroslav, offering to release the Novorotzha and Novgorod residents, to return the Novgorod volosts captured by him, and make peace with them. However, Yaroslav even refused.
Flight of Yaroslav
Confident in their own strength, Vsevolodovichi won. Mstislav had to retreat to the river. Lipice. On April 21, there was a great battle. With great force, Novgorodians hit the shelves of Yaroslav. Pereyaslavlians fled, and after some time the whole army also fled. Yaroslav on the fifth horse ran to Pereyaslavl (he drove four) and shut himself up in this city.
The reprisal of the prince over Smolensk and Novgorod
The chronicler notes that the first evil was not enough for him, he was not saturated with human blood. In Pereyaslavl, Nevsky's father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ordered to seize all the Smolensk and Novgorodians who came to trade in his land and throw some into a cottage, others into a cellar where they all died (about 150 people in total).
Reconciliation with Mstislav and Vladimir
Yuri, meanwhile, surrendered 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 shut himself up in Pereyaslavl, believing that he would stay here. Nevertheless, when Konstantin and Mstislav went to 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 at home. Konstantin reconciled him with Mstislav on the road. When the princes arrived in Pereyaslavl, Yaroslav endowed them with rich gifts and the governor. Taking the gifts, Mstislav sent for his daughter, the wife of Yaroslav, to the city. Yaroslav many times asked him to return his wife, but Mstislav was adamant.
Yaroslav returns to Novgorod
Mstislav in 1218 left Novgorod and went to Galich. Again, among the Novgorodians, unrest began. To stop them, I again had to ask Yaroslav from Yuri Vsevolodovich. The prince was again sent to them in 1221. Novgorodians rejoiced over him, according to the chronicler. When the prince went to 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. 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 before Christ with a model of the Church of the Savior.
Fighting Lithuanians
Lithuanians numbering 7 thousand in 1225 devastated villages located near Torzhok. They did not reach the city itself only three miles. Lithuanians killed many merchants and subjugated the entire Toropetskaya volost. Near Usvyata they were caught up by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. He defeated the Lithuanians, killed 2 thousand people and took away the loot they had plundered. In 1228, Yaroslavl left for Pereyaslavl, leaving his sons in Novgorod. Residents of the city in 1230 again sent for him. The prince arrived immediately, vowed to fulfill all the promised, but still was not always in Novgorod. His place was occupied by sons Alexander and Fedor.
The conquest of the Germans
Yaroslav in 1234 opposed the Germans with the Novgorodians and their regiments. He went under Yuryev, located near the city. He let his people go to war in the surrounding areas and collect food in them. Some Germans made a sortie from Odenpe, another from Yuryev, but the Russians beat them. Some Germans fell in the battle, but mostly they died in the river when the ice broke off under them. Taking advantage of the victory, the Russians devastated the land. They exterminated German bread, and these people had to submit. Yaroslav made peace with the Germans on terms favorable to himself.
The reign of Yaroslav in Kiev, new battles
Upon learning that Mikhail Vsevolodovich was at war with the Galician princes Vasilk and Daniil Romanovich, in 1236 Yaroslav left his son Alexander in Novgorod and went on a campaign. He took with him noble Novgorodians, a hundred Novotorzhans, Rostov and Pereyaslav regiments, and moved south. Yaroslav ravaged the Chernihiv volost and began to reign in Kiev.
His rule 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, having abandoned Kiev, hastened to the north, but did not arrive in time. Yuri Vsevolodovich was defeated in the City. He died in battle. Yaroslav, learning of his death, went to reign in Vladimir. He cleared the corpses of the church, gathered the remaining people and began to manage the volosts.
Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich spoke in 1239 against the Lithuanians who fought near Smolensk. He defeated them, captured their prince, and then imprisoned the Smolensk Prince Vsevolod, who was the son of Mstislav Romanovich. After that, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich returned with honor and great booty home.
Relationship with Batu
But the most important thing of this prince - the settlement of Russian relations with the Tatars - was yet to come. Batu soon after the invasion sent one Saracen to Baskak to Russia. This man captured all unmarried women and men, beggars, from each family that had 3 sons, he took one for himself. He imposed the rest of the inhabitants a tribute, which should be paid to the fur of every man. If a person could not pay, he was taken into slavery.
Batu threw his camp on the banks of the Volga. Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich went here. According to the chronicler, Batu honorably received Yaroslav and released him, punishing him to be the eldest between the Russian princes. That is, he received together with Vladimir from the hands of Batu and Kiev, however, this only had symbolic meaning after the Tatars ruined the capital of Russia.
The last years of life and the death of Yaroslav
Konstantin returned in 1245 and said that Ogedey was demanding Yaroslav to himself. He hit the road and arrived in Mongolia in August 1246. Here, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky witnessed the accession of the son of Ugedeev Kayuk. In the same year, Yaroslav died. He was called to the mother of the khan, who gave him a drink and eat from her hands, allegedly showing honor. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Prince of Vladimir, was poisoned and died after 7 days. 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.