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{{short description|12th-century prince of Kievan Rus’}}{{refimprove|date=December 2007}}{{family name hatnote|Yuryevich||lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}{{use British English|date=May 2023}}

factoids

File:Vladimir StDemetriusCathedral 6875.jpg|thumb|220px|Vsevolod’s Christian name was Dmitry and so he dedicated his palace church to Saint DemetriusSaint DemetriusVsevolod III Yuryevich, or Vsevolod the Big Nest (; 1154–1212), was Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1176 to 1212. During his long reign, the city reached the zenith of its glory.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Family

Vsevolod was the tenth or eleventh son of Yuri Dolgoruky (c. 1099 – 1157), who founded the town Dmitrov to commemorate the site of Vsevolod’s birth. Nikolai Karamzin (1766 – 1826) initiated the speculation identifying Vsevolod’s mother Helene as a Greek princess, because after her husband’s death she took Vsevolod with her to Constantinople.{{cn|date=May 2023}}Vsevolod spent his youth at the chivalric court of the Komnenoi. On his return from the Byzantine Empire to Rus’ in 1170, Vsevolod supposedly visited Tbilisi, as a local chronicle records that that year the Georgian king entertained his nephew from Constantinople and married him to his relative, an Ossetian princess.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Reign

In 1173 two Smolensk princes captured Kiev (Kyiv), captured Vsevolod and briefly installed him on the throne. Ransomed a year later, Vsevolod took his brother Mikhalko’s side in his struggle against the powerful boyars of Rostov and Suzdal. Upon Mikhalko’s death in 1176, Vsevolod succeeded him in Vladimir. He promptly subjugated the boyars and systematically raided the Volga peoples, notably Volga Bulgaria. He installed puppet rulers on the throne of Novgorod and married his daughters to princes of Chernigov and Kiev.{{cn|date=May 2023}}(File:Saint Demetrios de Thessalonique.jpg|thumb|Vsevolod’s icon shows his patron saint, St Demetrius, drawing a sword from a scabbard)Vsevolod showed little mercy to those who disobeyed his commands. In 1180 and 1187 he punished the princes of Ryazan by ousting them from their lands. In 1207 he burned to the ground both Ryazan and Belgorod. His military fame spread quickly. The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, thought to be written during Vsevolod’s reign, addresses him thus: “Great prince Vsevolod! Don’t you think of flying here from afar to safeguard the paternal golden throne of Kiev? For you can with your oars scatter in drops the Volga, and with your helmets scoop dry the Don.”{{cn|date=May 2023}}But Kievan matters concerned Vsevolod little in the latter part of his reign. He concentrated on building up his own capital, Vladimir. His Ossetian wife, Maria Shvarnovna, who devoted herself to works of piety and founded several convents, was glorified by the Russian church as a saint. By her Vsevolod had no fewer than fourteen children, thus earning for himself the sobriquet Big Nest.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Death and succession

Before his death, grand prince Vsevolod divided his territories between his sons, with the second-oldest Yuri receiving the largest share. Four of them, Konstantin, George, Yaroslav and Sviatoslav, succeeded him as Grand Dukes of Vladimir.{{cn|date=May 2023}} Vsevolod died on 12 April 1212 and was buried at the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir.{{cn|date=May 2023}}Immediately after Vsevolod’s death, the Vladimir-Suzdal war of succession (1212–1216) broke out between his sons, who each sought a larger share of his inheritance for themselves.THESIS, Alef, Gustave, 1956, A history of the Muscovite civil war: the reign of Vasili II (1425–1462),www.proquest.com/openview/f50611a6b6a9d631d6d1e8b9d49edad1/, PhD, 7 May 2023, ProQuest, 11, When Vsevolod the Big Nest, Vsevold died in 1212 he divided his territories among his sons, the largest portion going to the second oldest, Yuri II of Vladimir, Iuri. Immediately the sons began to war amongst themselves, each striving to achieve a more favorable position and lands which contributed to the decline of the Vladimir-Suzdal, Suzdal-Vladimir principality.,

Marriage and children

Vsevolod married first Maria, whose origins are disputed. She has been variously identified as Ossetian, Alan and Moravian. They had at least fourteen children:{{cn|date=May 2023}}

• Sbyslava (Pelagia) Vsevolodovna (born 26 October 1178).
• Vseslava Vsevolodovna. Married Rostislav Yaroslavich, Prince of Snovsk. He was a son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, Prince of Chernigov. His paternal grandfather was Vsevolod II of Kiev.
• Verchoslava Vsevolodovna. Married Rostislav II of Kiev.
• Konstantin of Rostov (18 May 1186 – 2 February 1218).
• Boris Vsevolodovich. (c. 1187–1238).
• Gleb Vsevolodovich (d. 29 September 1189).
• Yuri II of Vladimir (1189 – 4 March 1238).
• Yaroslav II of Vladimir (8 February 1191 – 30 September 1246).
• Helena Vsevolodovna (d. 1204).
• Vladimir Vsevolodovich, Prince of Yuryev-Polsky (25 October 1192 – 6 January 1227).
• Sviatoslav III of Vladimir (27 March 1196 – 3 February 1252).
• Ioann Vsevolodovich, Prince of Starodub (28 November 1197 – after 1247).
• Anna Vsevolodovna. Married Vladimir, Prince of Belgorod (d. 1239).

Maria died in 1205 or 1206. Vsevolod married Liubov Vasilkovna in 1209. She was a daughter of Vasilko Bryacheslavich, Prince of Vitebsk. They had no known children. {{cn|date=May 2023}}

References

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External links

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