Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Yaropolk I of Kiev
Summary
Yaropolk I Sviatoslavich (Old East Slavic: Ꙗрополкъ Свѧтославичъ, transliterated as Iaropolk Svyatoslavich; Russian: Ярополк Святославич; Ukrainian: Ярополк I Святославич; 952 – 11 June 978) was a young and rather enigmatic ruler of Kiev between 972 and 980. He was the oldest son of Svyatoslav. His royal title is traditionally translated as "Prince".
Yaropolk was given Kiev by his father Sviatoslav I, who left on a military campaign against the Danube Bulgars. Soon after Svyatoslav's death, however, civil war began between Yaropolk and his brothers. According to one chronicle, Yaropolk's brother Oleg killed Lyut, the son of Yaropolk's chief adviser and military commander Sveneld. Alternatively, Sveneld is identical to Sviatoslav, as Sveinald/Sveneld is the Norse rendition of the Slavic name. In an act of revenge and at Sveneld's insistence, Yaropolk went to war against his brother and killed him. Yaropolk then sent his men to Novgorod, from which his other brother Vladimir had fled upon receiving news of Oleg's death. Yaropolk became the sole ruler of Rus'.
In 980, Vladimir returned with the Varangian mercenaries and attacked Yaropolk. On his way to Kiev, Vladimir seized Polotsk because Rogneda, daughter of the Polotsk prince Rogvolod, had chosen Yaropolk over him. Vladimir forced Rogneda to marry him. Then, Vladimir seized Kiev with assistance from a boyar, Blud, who had become Yaropolk's chief adviser upon the death of Sveneld. Blud betrayed Yaropolk by advising him to flee from Kiev to the town of Rodnya at the mouth of the Ros' River. Vladimir besieged Rodnya and starved Yaropolk into negotiations. Yaropolk trusted Blud's and his brother's promises of peace and left for Vladimir's headquarters, where he was killed in an ambush by two Varangians.
As for contemporary foreign sources, Lambert of Hersfeld records that, on the Easter of 973, the Holy Roman Emperor was visited by envoys from Rus' (legati gentium Ruscorum). In later centuries it was said that Yaropolk also exchanged ambassadors with the Pope.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.