Descendant of the Byzantine kings
Little is known about the mother of Vsevolod Yuryevich, since in 1161 Andrei Bogolyubsky, who came to power, expelled his stepmother and her children from the principality. It is believed that she could come from the ancient royal Byzantine family of Komnenos, who ruled at that time. It was believed that she could simply be a relative of the Byzantine emperor, but Yuri Dolgoruky would have chosen a wife only equal to himself. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that Princess Olga, as she is usually called, was a Byzantine princess. After the exile, she went to Constantinople to the emperor Manuel. Only at the age of 15 Vsevolod returned to Russia and reconciled with his brother.
Birth of Prince Vsevolod, son of Yuri Dolgoruky. Front Chronicle
big nest
Vsevolod received his nickname for his fertility. From his first wife, Maria Shvarnovna, he had 12 children - 8 sons and 4 daughters. The children were named Sbyslava, Verkhuslav (she became the wife of her second cousin Rostislav), Konstantin (Prince of Novgorod), Vseslav, Boris, Gleb, Yuri (Prince of Vladimir), Elena, Yaroslav (Prince of Pereyaslav), Vladimir, Svyatoslav (Prince of Vladimir and Novgorod) and Ivan (Starodubsky Prince). After the birth of her youngest son, Mary fell ill and vowed to build a monastery. In 1200, the Assumption Monastery was founded in Vladimir, which began to be called Knyaginin. 18 days before her death, she took the tonsure, and Vsevolod and her children escorted her to the monastery. “Preparing to die, she called on her sons and conjured them to live in love, reminding them of the wise words of the Great Yaroslav that civil strife destroys the Princes and the fatherland, glorified by the labors of their ancestors; advised children to be pious, sober, generally friendly, and especially to respect the elders. After her death, Vsevolod married Lyubava, the daughter of the Vitebsk prince Vasilko, but they had no joint children.
Don slammed to scoop
The reign of Vsevolod was marked by the rise and strength of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. The power of the prince and his troops is mentioned in the "Word of Igor's Campaign": "You can splash the Volga with oars, and scoop out the Don with helmets." In his reign, he relied on new cities such as Vladimir and Pereslavl-Zalessky, which had a weak boyars, and on nobles. He even reigned for five weeks in Kyiv, where his elder brother Mikhail planted him and Yaropolk Rostislavich in 1173. However, soon the Smolensk princes captured the city, and Vsevolod was captured. Mikhail Yurievich had to redeem his brother.
Mstislav is preparing an army for the battle with Suzdal
After the death of Andrei, Vsevolod entered into a struggle for power in the Vladimir-Suzdal land with his nephews Mstislav and Yaropolk. With the support of Mikhail and the Chernigov prince, he managed to defeat his opponents. In 1176, he defeated Mstislav near the Lipitsa River, and soon defeated Gleb of Ryazan and the Rostislavichs. In addition, Vsevolod had interests in the south of the state, which led to a new internecine war. He achieved recognition as the eldest in the Manomakhovich family and demanded for himself the land of his son-in-law Rurik in the Kiev region. True, after the conclusion of peace with the Olgovichi, Vsevolod lost these lands, but in 1201 he managed to plant Ingvar Yaroslavich, who pleased himself, in Kyiv. In 1205, a new war broke out due to the fact that the son of Vsevolod wanted to occupy Galich and quarreled with the Olgovichi over this. During the civil strife, Vsevolod went to the Ryazan principality, planted his son there, and in response to the uprising burned Ryazan. Soon the Olgovichi offered peace to Vsevolod, divided the principalities, and, as a sign of the strength of the union, gave the Chernigov princess to Yuri Vsevolodovich.
Greedy son
Vsevolod always aspired to have his sons rule in the lands and follow the precepts of their parent. Sending the eldest son Konstantin to Novgorod, he said: "My son, Konstantin, God has placed eldership on you in all your brothers, and Novgorod the Great has eldership in all the Russian land." But when in 1211 the question of succession to the throne arose, the eldest son, blinded by greed, demanded for himself both senior cities - Vladimir and Rostov, and offered Yuri to give Suzdal. Then Vsevolod called for help from boyars, priests, merchants, nobles and people from his other lands to help judge. At the council, the prince's decision to deprive Constantine of the right to a great reign in favor of Yuri was confirmed.
Grand Duke Vsevolod appoints his second son Yuri as heir, 1212. Lithography based on drawings by B. A. Chorikov
Yuri became Prince of Vladimir, while Konstantin, despite his seniority, got Rostov. After the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, a new feud broke out because of this. The sons will not be able to preserve the integrity and power of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, it will fall apart into specific principalities, and the Vladimir princes will never again have influence on southern Russian affairs.
