Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Damned. History of Ancient Rus: rulers, princes

The history of Russia knows many cases of fratricide. The same Vladimir, the father (and according to some sources - the uncle) Svyatopolk, killed his brother Yaropolk, and even at the time when his wife was on the demolitions, and the nickname was Krasnoy Solnyshko. Sviatopolk his prefix to the name - Cursed - probably got because of the number of killed brothers. There were three of them: Boris, Gleb and Svyatoslav.

The first rulers of Russia

Prince Svyatopolk, according to some reports, was Vladimir I was not his son, but his nephew, since Krasno Solnyshko immediately married the widow of the murdered Yaropolk, the Greek woman of Julia, and she was already carrying another brother-killer. Actually, Svyatopolk had all the rights to the Kiev throne and as Vladimirovich, because he was the eldest son after Vysheslav's death, and as Yaropolkovich, because he was the legitimate son of the legitimate Kiev ruler. All of the above Grand Dukes were the first Russian rulers, from which the history of Russia began. Svyatopolk was the great-grandson of Rurik, the great-grandson of Igor and Olga, the grandson of Svyatoslav, the son or nephew of Vladimir. With them, Russia became, was baptized, with them faith grew and lands multiplied.

Deserved prefix to the name

Of course, not all of them were fratricides. Judging by chronicles and historical sources, Boris and Gleb have bright memories of their contemporaries. Given the innocent death and high spiritual qualities, the brothers-martyrs were canonized, and they became the first Russian saints. Their blood stopped sedition in Russia. Why they were killed by Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Damned? Why did they call him that? Why is it that Svyatoslav is not included in the saints, who also fell at the hands of the Damned?

The term "cursed" in Ancient Rus has the following synonyms: wicked and sinful, rejected by the church and damned. That is, if Svyatopolk was given such a nickname, and he "became famous" with him for centuries, then his crimes overflowed the cup of human patience. Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Damned did not live for 40 years (born in 979, died in 1019), Kievan Rus ruled about a year and remained in the memory of people as a murderer of brothers.

The Stranger

He was brought up by Vladimir as his own son and received a reign in Turov, the capital of the Turov principality, located on the territory of present-day Belarus. Later Krasno Solnyshko gave him the hold of the Drevlyansky lands and Pinsk, that is, as we see, did not offend him at all. Prince Turovsky Svyatopolk on this throne was the first representative of the Rurikovich family and reigned there since 988. Svyatopolk himself called himself the son of Yaropolk. The origin of it is reflected in the name. All the other sons of Vladimir the Baptist have in their names the root "Slav" in honor of Svyatoslav's grandfather: Izyaslav and Vysheslav, Yaroslav and Mstislav. And in the name of Svyatopolk, the first syllable indicates that the grandfather was really Svyatoslav Igorevich, and his father Yaropolk. Absolutely accurate data are not available, and the mother is not always indicated by the Greek (sometimes they speak of the Czech who was Vladimir's first wife). In "The Tale of Bygone Years," he is written about as the son of two fathers and is called "the evil fruit."

Catholic Wife

One way or another, but all the actions of the hero of our narrative indicate that he did not like Vladimir, brothers or sisters. So, in 1018 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Okayanny took hostage sisters and stepmother, that is, another wife of Vladimir, and his brother Yaroslav, later called the Wise. In addition, he married a Polish princess, the daughter of Boleslaw I the Brave, in 1015. The young lady had a spiritual mentor - the Kolberg Bishop Reinburn, and all of them together dreamed of reassigning Rus to Catholic Rome. For this purpose, it was necessary to overthrow Vladimir, who also killed Svyatopolk's father. But the plot was discovered by the Greek priest Anastas Korsunyan, who during the baptism of Rus was the de facto leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Achieving the desired goal

Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Damned with his wife and her mentor were thrown into prison. You can imagine how evil he came out after the death of Vladimir, which happened on July 15, 1015. None of the brothers in Kiev was not, Svyatopolk unrestrictedly occupies the throne and becomes the Grand Duke of Kiev. He did not recognize all his relatives, but his father's favorite - Boris - hated fiercely. The Kievites supported him. As the Wicked dreamed of power, one can judge from the fact that, sitting on the throne only a year, he managed to issue his own currency - srebreniki with a circular inscription around the portrait: "Svyatopolk on the table."

The Cynical Killer

During the same year, he kills three brothers (counting them not as relatives, but as summary) - the Rostov prince Boris, the favorite of the army and people, the Murom prince Gleb and the Drevlyansky Svyatoslav. Boris and Gleb differed in piety and simple human decency. They did not listen to the persuasions of a close circle and responded to Svyatopolk's deceitful call for reconciliation. Gleb, who did not know about his father's death, Svyatopolk generally called in the name of Vladimir. Moreover, both Boris and Gleb recognized the power of the new Prince of Kiev unconditionally and promised to honor him as they honored his father. Boris Cursed killed with particular cruelty. Svyatoslav wanted to flee to Hungary, but his killers overtook him there. Perhaps, because he resisted and did not swear allegiance to Svyatopolk, the church did not rank him among the saints.

The accursed villain

Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Damned, without a second thought, would have killed Yaroslav, but at the first meeting near Lyubech on the Dnieper he was defeated by his troops, and Yaroslav occupied Kiev.

But Cursed, who escaped to the father-in-law, returned with him and the Polish troops, who, under the leadership of Boleslaw I the Brave, defeated the Novgorodians on the Bug. Svyatopolk again took the throne of Kiev. But in this man, obviously, there were no positive qualities, including an elementary gratitude: he expelled from Kiev the Polish troops, so as not to put them on allowance.

Evil is punished

Returning with the Varangians, Yaroslav finally defeated all the allies of Svyatopolk (this time they were Pechenegs) on the river Alta, near the place where Svyatopolk Vladimirovich Okayanny killed his brother Gleb. A brief biography of him contains facts of conspiracies, betrayals, murders and ... nothing that would have been done, as his father Vladimir the Baptist and brother Yaroslav the Wise, to the glory of the Russian land. Precise information about when, where and how he died, no. There are legends that during the flight from the battlefield the fratricide went mad and died somewhere in a deserted place on the border of Poland and the Czech Republic.

Unconfirmed options

There are some versions that say that Svyatopolk was stipulated, and that he has nothing to do with the murder of the brothers Boris and Gleb, they say, this is the work of Yaroslav, who openly protested against his father. Before his death, Vladimir was preparing to march on Novgorod to pacify the disobedient son, whom he did not even have to dream about-with the presence of older brothers-about the Kyiv throne. And Yaroslav was very ambitious. In addition, the name of this heifers of the hell of Svyatopolk continued to be called princely children, while there was a clear set of ancestral princely names, from which the "bad" were excluded. By the way, in the Scandinavian "Saga of Edmund" it is Yaroslav who is described as the murderer of Boris. It is difficult, however, to imagine that Yaroslav was on the shoulder in those days, in the absence of the media, to commit the murder of three brothers and so successfully blame Svyatopolk, who for several hundred years has been considered the culprit killer of Boris and Gleb, who died after death Defenders of the Fatherland.