Michael of Chernigov
Michael of Chernigov | |
---|---|
Olgovichi | |
Father | Vsevolod IV of Kiev |
Mother | Anastasia of Poland |
Mikhail Vsevolodovich
Archaeological evidence reveals that Chernigov towns enjoyed an unprecedented degree of prosperity during his period which suggests that promoting
During the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1237–1242), Mikhail was defeated and had to flee;[4] in 1246, he was executed by Batu Khan.[5]
Biography
Early life
He was the only known son of prince
When Mikhail was a child, he suffered from a
In the summer of 1206, his father seized Kiev, sent his posadniki to all the Kievan towns, and forced grand prince Rurik Rostislavich to withdraw to Vruchiy.[1] Vsevolod Svyatoslavich also evicted Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (son of grand prince Vsevolod Yuryevich of Vladimir) from Pereyaslavl, and gave the town to Mikhail.[1] However, Rurik Rostislavich was determined to regain control of Kiev, and expelled Vsevolod Svyatoslavich with relative ease.[1] Rurik Rostislavich also ordered Mikhail, who had only a small retinue at his disposal, to vacate Pereyaslavl, and thus he withdrew to his father in Chernigov.[1] Some time in the summer of 1207, his father occupied again Kiev, but in October, Rurik Rostislavich rode to Kiev, drove out Vsevolod Svyatoslavich for the second time and occupied the town; Mikhail accompanied his father from Kiev.[1]
No sources report Mikhail's marriage, but evidence suggests that he married Elena Romanovna (or Maria Romanovna), a daughter of prince Roman Mstislavich of Halych in 1210 or 1211.[1]
In June 1212, prince Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk, prince Mstislav Mstislavich the Bold of Novgorod and prince Ingvar Yaroslavich of Lutsk launched a major offensive against Vsevolod Svyatoslavich who confronted the attackers at Vyshgorod.[1] However, the Rostislavichi occupied Kiev.[1] Vsevolod Svyatoslavich fled from Kiev, probably accompanied by Mikhail, for the third time and sought safety in Chernigov where he died sometime in August 1212.[1] Mikhail probably inherited Bryn, Serensk, and Mosalsk from his father.[1]
When his uncle
In the spring of 1223,[1] a strong Mongol cavalry corps under the command of Jebe and Subutai which had been sent by Genghis Khan to reconnoiter the "western lands" entered the land of the Cumans.[6] Unable to withstand the onslaught, the Cumans fled to Rus' warning the princes that if they refused to send aid the same fate would befall them.[1] At the war council of the Rus' princes it was decided not to wait for the coming of the Tatars but to attack them deep in the Cuman steppes.[6] Mikhail also attended the meeting.[1] The united forces of the princes went down the river Dnieper, and the first skirmish took place on the banks of the river.[6] In this vanguard battle Mstislav Mstislavich the Bold succeeded in defeating a detachment of Mongol troops.[6]
Crossing the Dnieper, their armies marched through the steppes for 8 days before
Prince of Chernigov and Novgorod
Mikhail was probably among the first survivors who returned to Chernigov.
At that time, the Novgorodians acknowledged grand prince
Mikhail went to Novgorod, where he acted as Yuri Vsevolodovich's appointee and not as an autonomous ruler, with the intention of returning to Chernigov.[1] One of his most important tasks was to recover the Novgorodians' wares that Yuri Vsevolodovich had confiscated at Torzhok and in his own domain.[1] Before departing from Novgorod, Mikhail invited the townsmen to send merchants to Chernigov and declared that their lands and his would be as one.[1] After he departed from Novgorod, the veche sent its request for a prince to Yuri Vsevolodovich's brother, prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Pereyaslavl Zalesskiy.[1]
About a year after Mikhail returned to Chernigov, it appears he became involved in a dynastic dispute: Oleg Svyatoslavich of Kursk prepared to wage war on him.[1] The available evidence suggests that the bone of contention was Novhorod-Siverskyi.[1] It is noteworthy that the chroniclers accuse neither Mikhail nor Oleg of wrongdoing which suggests that each had a just cause.[1] During the winter of 1227, Yuri Vsevolodovich, and his nephews (prince Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov and prince Vsevolod Konstantinovich of Pereyaslavl) came to help Mikhail against Oleg Svyatoslavich; in addition to them, Metropolitan Kirill I of Kiev also helped to reconcile Mikhail with Oleg who evidently became the prince of Novgorod Seversk.[1]
In 1228, grand prince
In December 1228, the common people of Novgorod rose up in arms against
Mikhail and the townsmen introduced measures to weaken Yaroslav Vsevolodovich's power: the veche appointed Vnezd Vodovik as the new posadnik and also removed his other administrators.[1] After levying heavy fines on Yaroslav Vsevolodovich's supporters, the Novgorodians used the money for the benefit of the entire community by paying for the construction of a new bridge.[1]
Mikhail's pro-Novgorod legislation included granting the town officials some of the prince's power: he permitted the boyars to appoint their own judges.[1] He also abrogated the zabozhnitse, placed a moratorium on the payment of tribute for five years on those peasants who had fled to other lands and agreed to return to their Novgorodian homes, and lessened the tax burden of the common people.[1] After spending some three months in Novgorod, Mikhail returned home.[1] When he departed from Novgorod, he designated his son Rostislav Mikhailovich to remain as his lieutenant, and on returning to Chernigov he took with him prominent Novgorodians.[1]
In May 1230 he returned to Novgorod where he installed his son on the throne.[1] Before departing, he promised the Novgorodians to return with troops by 14 September.[1] On 8 December the Novgorodians forced Rostislav Mikhailovich to flee to his father on just the feeble pretext that Mikhail had promised to bring troops by 14 September, but it was already December and he had not come.[1] In this way Yaroslav Vsevolodovich's supporters evicted the Olgovichi from Novgorod, as it turned out, for the last time.[1] They summoned Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and he came on December 30.[1] Meanwhile, a core of dissenters found refuge with Mikhail; to secure his hegemony over Novgorod, therefore, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich had to stop Mikhail from giving them support.[1]
Prince of Chernigov and grand prince of Kiev
In the summer or autumn of 1231, Mikhail waged war against grand prince Vladimir III of Kiev who sent an appeal for help to Daniil Romanovich (Mikhail's brother-in-law).[1] We are told that Daniil Romanovich came and pacified the two princes.[1]
In the autumn of 1231, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich attacked the northwest district of the Vyatichi lands.[1] He set fire to Serensk (which was most likely the administrative center of Mikhail's patrimony), but when he besieged Mosalsk, he failed to take it.[1] Yaroslav, however, refused to conclude peace which signaled to Mikhail that he was prepared to pursue his objective until Mikhail expelled the Novgorodian fugitives from his lands.[1] Towards the end of 1231 Vnezd Vodovik died in Chernigov; Mikhail had been bound to support Vodovik owing to their mutual oaths, and Vodovik's death released him from that obligation.[1] Therefore, tysyatskiy Boris Negochevich and his band left Chernigov before Easter of 1232.[1]
In 1232, troops sent by Vladimir III pursued and captured the princes of
Mikhail waited until Iziaslav Vladimirovich brought the Cumans and then rode in pursuit.[1] The two sides clashed near Torchesk where Vladimir Rurikovich and Daniil Romanovich were defeated, and the former and many boyars were also taken captive.[1] Meanwhile, Mikhail's allies took Kiev where he evidently made the German merchants, who had come to Kiev via Novgorod, pay redemption-fees for their goods, and then appointed his puppet, Izyaslav Mstislavich (one of the Rostislavichi) to the throne.[1]
At an undisclosed date after Daniil Romanovich returned to Halych from his defeat at Torchesk, its boyars rebelled and forced him to flee to Hungary.[1] Towards the end of September, Mikhail occupied Halych, while his comrade-in-arms, Izyaslav Vladimirovich seized Kamenets.[1] In the spring of 1236, Mikhail attacked Daniil Romanovich in Volhynia.[1] In addition to his own retinue, he was probably accompanied by Galician boyars, the princes of Bolokhoveni, and troops from the Kievan land.[1] He also sent Izyaslav Vladimirovich to bring the Cumans; and finally, he summoned duke Konrad I of Masovia (his maternal uncle) who had broken off friendly ties with Daniil Romanovich.[1] The size of his attacking force suggests that he intended to capture his brother-in-law's capital of Volodymyr-Volynskyi.[1] However, the Cumans plundered the Galician lands forcing Mikhail to abandon his campaign.[1]
Meanwhile, king Béla IV of Hungary renewed his father's pact with Mikhail, and seemingly relinquished his claim to Halych and also agreed to give Mikhail military aid.[1] At the beginning of the summer of 1236, Daniil Romanovich and his brother Vasilko Romanovich rallied their troops to march against Mikhail.[1] However, he barricaded himself in Halych with his retinue, the local militia, and a contingent of Hungarians.[1] Dissuaded from taking Halych, they sought to assuage their frustration by seizing its northern outpost of Zvenigorod, but its citizens repelled the attack.[1] After the Hungarian troops had departed, Daniil Romanovich tried again; Mikhail attempted to placate his brother-in-law by giving him Przemyśl whose inhabitants had supported him in the past.[1]
Meanwhile, grand prince Yuri II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir and Daniil Romanovich formed a pact, forced Vladimir Ryurikovich, who had replaced Izyaslav Mstislavich, to vacate Kiev, and appointed Yury Vsevolodovich's brother Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to the town.[1] The latter arrived in Kiev around March 1236; but he failed to consolidate his rule and returned to Suzdalia.[1] After appointing his son to rule Halych, Mikhail came to Kiev where he entered uncontested.[1] Soon after occupying Kiev, he and his son attacked Przemyśl and took it back from Daniil Romanovich.[1] The people of Halych, however, summoned Daniil Romanovich around 1237, and installed him as prince; Mikhail's son fled to king Béla IV and all the boyars of Halych submitted to Mikhail's brother-in-law.[1][3]
Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'
In the winter of 1237,
In March 1238 the Mongols, who had routed Yuri II Vsevolodovich's troops and killed him, continued their march, and in the Vyatichi lands they came upon the town of Kozelsk, and they struggled 7 weeks to crush it.[1] Archaeological evidence reveals that Mikhail's domains of Mosalsk and Serensk suffered the same fate.[1]
The second phase of the
In the autumn of 1239, the Mongols, who had occupied Chernigov on October 18, sent messengers to Kiev proposing peace, but Mikhail refused to submit.[1] During the first half of 1240, we are told, Batu Khan sent Möngke to reconnoiter Kiev; when his messengers came to Mikhail for the second time seeking to coax him into submitting, he defied the khan by putting his envoys to deaths.[1] The forces in Rus' on whom Mikhail could still rely were his own druzhina and the Kievan militia, and therefore he fled to Hungary.[1]
In the chaos that preceded the invasion of the west bank of the river Dnieper, minor princelings and boyars took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves to seize power: Rostislav Mstislavich seized Kiev, but he was evicted by Daniil Romanovich.[1]
Meanwhile, Mikhail had arrived in Hungary where he attempted to arrange a marriage for his son Rostislav Mikhailovich with the king's daughter.
Towards the end of 1240, Batu Khan encircled Kiev with his troops, and the town fell on December 6.
Final years
Some time in the spring of 1241, he considered it safe to go home.
On learning that Béla IV had given his daughter in marriage to his son, Rostislav Mikhailovich (who had fled to the Hungarians) in 1242, Mikhail believed that his efforts to form an alliance with the Árpád dynasty had finally been realized.[1] He therefore rode to Hungary expecting to negotiate the agreements that normally accompanied such an alliance.[1] However, his hopes were dashed: the king and his son rebuffed him when he came to the king's court.[1] Mikhail, greatly angered by his son, returned empty-handed to Chernigov.[1]
Meanwhile, Batu Khan commanded all the princes to visit
By the end of 1245, only Mikhail from among the three senior princes had not yet kowtowed to the conqueror.[1][4] In the end, Mikhail went in time to pre-empt a Mongol punitive strike against his domain; his grandson Boris Vasilkovich of Rostov accompanied him.[1]
When they arrived at Saray, Batu Khan sent messengers to Mikhail's camp instructing him to worship according to
Legacy
Vita of Michael of Chernigov
A
Carpine account
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, an Italian papal legate who travelled through the lands of former Kievan Rus' in the late 1240s, wrote the following account of his death in the Ystoria Mongalorum:
(…) when Michael, one of the princes of Russia, came to submit to Bati, the Tartars first tried to make him pass between two fires. After this they said that he should bow south to Chingis Khan, but he replied that he would gladly bow to Bati and his servants but not to the image of a dead man because this is improper for a Christian. When he was repeatedly told through his son Yaroslav that he must bow, and yet he refused, Bati ordered Prince Michael killed if he would not bow. Prince Michael of Chernigov was passed between fires in accordance with ancient Turco-Mongol tradition. Batu Khan sent to stab him to death for his refusal to do obeisance to Chingis Khaan's shrine in the pagan ritual imposed by the conqueror. The prince replied that he "preferred to die rather than do what was wrong". Bati sent Michael to one of his followers who trampled on his chest with his boots until the prince died. Meanwhile the prince comforted one of his soldiers who stood near by him by saying: 'Be strong because your punishment will not last long and then at once eternal joy will follow.' After this his head was cut off quickly with a knife. The soldier, to tell the truth, also had his head cut off with a knife.[11]
Cult of martydom
The chronicle narrative accounts show that the people of Rus' acknowledged Mikhail and Fedor as martyrs immediately after their deaths.[
His wife survived him and promoted his cult.[1] His daughter Maria and her sons, Boris and Gleb Vasilkovich, inaugurated the Feast of the Miracle-Workers of Chernigov, on September 20, and built a church in their honor.[1] Her sister, Feodula who had become the nun Evfrosinia also advanced his cult to judge from a 17th-century account which reports the existence of a wooden chapel in Suzdal dedicated to them.[1]
The cult was approved in 1547.[
According to historian Martin Dimnik (2003), Michael of Chernigov was the last autonomous
Genealogy
Marriage and children
Michael married once and had several children.
- Elena Romanovna (or Maria Romanovna) (m. 1210 or 1211), a daughter of prince Roman Mstislavich of Halych and his wife, Predslava Rurikovna of Kiev[1]
- Feodula Mikhailovna (1212 – 1250); became a nun and adopted the religious name Evfrosinia;[1]
- Duke Rostislav Mikhailovich of Macsó (b. c. 1225 – 1262);[1]
- Maria Mikhailovna (? – 7 or 9 December 1271), wife of Prince Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov;[1]
- Prince Roman Mikhailovich of Chernigov and Bryansk (c. 1218 – after 1288/1305);[1]
- Prince Mstislav Mikhailovich of Karachev and Zvenigorod[1] (1220 – 1280);
- Prince Simeon Mikhailovich of Glukhov and Novosil;[1]
- Prince Yury Mikhailovich of Torusa and Bryansk.[1]
Ancestors
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Descendants
The later Upper Oka Principalities of the 14th and 15th centuries were reigned by the "upper princes", each of which descended from Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov.[12]
In the second half of the 19th century, many family branches stemming from Mikhail flourished: the Baryatinsky, the
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg eh ei ej ek el em en eo ep eq er es et eu ev ew ex ey ez fa fb fc fd fe Dimnik, Martin. The Dynasty of Chernigov - 1146-1246.[page needed]
- ^ a b c d e Halperin 1987, p. 174.
- ^ a b Martin 2007, p. 141.
- ^ a b c Martin 2007, p. 164.
- ^ Martin 2007, p. xviii.
- ^ a b c d e f g Vernadsky, George (1948). Kievan Russia.
- ^ a b Martin 2007, p. 164–165.
- ^ Martin 2007, p. 165.
- ^ Halperin 1987, p. 51, 174.
- ^ Halperin 1987, p. 51.
- ^ DiPlano Carpini, Giovanni. The Story of the Mongols whom We Call the Tartars.
- ISBN 966-00-0734-5. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Ystoria Mongalorum (1240s)
- Modern edition: DiPlano Carpini, Giovanni (Author) - Hildinger, Erik (Translator): The Story of the Mongols whom We Call the Tartars; Branden Publishing Company, Inc, 1996, Boston, MA; ISBN 0-8283-2017-9.
- Modern edition: DiPlano Carpini, Giovanni (Author) - Hildinger, Erik (Translator): The Story of the Mongols whom We Call the Tartars; Branden Publishing Company, Inc, 1996, Boston, MA;
- Galician–Volhynian Chronicle (1290s; oldest copy Hypatian Codex c. 1425)
- (in Ukrainian) Galician-Volhynian Chronicle (years 1245–1260). (interpreted by Leonid Makhnovets)
- Perfecky, George A. (1973). The Hypatian Codex Part Two: The Galician–Volynian Chronicle. An annotated translation by George A. Perfecky. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag. OCLC 902306. (pages 52–53 relate the death of Michael of Chernigov)
- Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle (1305; oldest copy Laurentian Codex 1377) (L. 165 sub anno 6754 (1246) relates the death of Michael of Chernigov)
Scholarly literature
- Dimnik, Martin, Mikhail, Prince of Chernigov and Grand Prince of Kiev, 1224–1246 (1981). pp. 215. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-0888440525.
- Dimnik, Martin, The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146–1246 (2003). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-03981-9.
- Halperin, Charles J. (1987). Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History. Indiana University. p. 222. ISBN 9781850430575. (e-book).
- Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-36800-4.
- Vernadsky, George, Kievan Russia; Yale University Press, 1948, New Haven and London; ISBN 0-300-01647-6.