Battle on the Nemiga River

Battle on the Nemiga River
	Niamiha River
Result	Kievan victory

Belligerents Principality of Polotsk

Principality of Pereiaslavl'

Commanders and leaders Vseslav of Polotsk

Izyaslav of Kiev
Svyatoslav of Chernigov
Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl'

The Battle on the Nemiga River (

Niamiha River. The description of the battle is the first reference to Minsk

in the chronicles of Belarusian history.

Background

At the end of the tenth century, Prince

Izyaslav, in Polotsk. Iziaslav's son, Bryachislav of Polotsk

, succeeded his father in 1001.

By 1021, Bryacheslav set his sights on

Novgorod

again. The seizure of Novgorod not only was a personal insult to the grand prince, whose son fled back to Kiev, but it threatened the Middle Dnieper princes' ties to the north – to Scandinavia, the Baltic, and tribute from the north. It also threatened the political power of the Yaroslavichi, the sons of Yaroslav the Wise, who had to that point been preeminent.

Progress of the battle

The three sons of Yaroslav – Iziaslav, Vsevolod, and Sviatoslav – joined forces and marched north through the winter of 1067. They burned Minsk, then held by Polotsk,

Niamiha River on March 3 and defeated him.^[6] The precise course of battle is unknown, though it has become legendary as a bloodbath; The Tale of Igor's Campaign referred to "the bloody banks of the Nemiga" being sown not with blessings but with bones.^[7]

Aftermath

Vseslav fled back and Polotsk and the Yaroslav princes did not pursue him. However, in June, after the battle, the Yaroslav princes called for negotiations, “kissed the cross” (took an oath) and made promises of future safety; Vseslav was invited to Iziaslav's camp to celebrate the peace and was promptly arrested together with two of his sons and taken to prison in Kiev.[8]

References

^ Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shephard, The Emergence of Rus 750-1200 (London and New York: Longman, 1996), p. 153.
^ Franklin and Shephard, The Emergence of Rus, pp. 152–153.
^ Lavrentevskaia letopis, Vol. 1 of Polnoe Sobranie Russkikh Letopisei (St. Petersburg: E. Pratsa, 1908), col. 133
^ Roman Jakobson, Marc Szeftel, "The Vseslav Epos," in Roman Jakobson and Ernest J. Simmons, eds., Russian Epic Studies. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 42 (Philadelphia: American Folklore Society, 1949 available online at Volkh Vseslav'evich Bylina: A Poem of Vseslav the Sorcerer Archived 2005-11-22 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Ipatevskaia letopis (PSRL 2), col. 156.
^ Ipat. (PSRL 2), col. 156.
^ Povest Literatury Drevnei rusi, vol. 12, p. 382.
^ Ipat. (PSRL 2), col. 157)

[1] Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shephard, The Emergence of Rus 750-1200 (London and New York: Longman, 1996), p. 153.

[2] Franklin and Shephard, The Emergence of Rus, pp. 152–153.

[3] Lavrentevskaia letopis, Vol. 1 of Polnoe Sobranie Russkikh Letopisei (St. Petersburg: E. Pratsa, 1908), col. 133

[4] Roman Jakobson, Marc Szeftel, "The Vseslav Epos," in Roman Jakobson and Ernest J. Simmons, eds., Russian Epic Studies. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 42 (Philadelphia: American Folklore Society, 1949 available online at Volkh Vseslav'evich Bylina: A Poem of Vseslav the Sorcerer Archived 2005-11-22 at the Wayback Machine.

[5] Ipatevskaia letopis (PSRL 2), col. 156.

[6] Ipat. (PSRL 2), col. 156.

[7] Povest Literatury Drevnei rusi, vol. 12, p. 382.

[8] Ipat. (PSRL 2), col. 157)

[6]

[7]