Vseslav of Polotsk

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Vseslav the Seer
Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk
Issue
more...		Gleb Vseslavich
Names
Vseslav Bryachislavich
DynastyRurik
FatherBryachislav of Polotsk

Vseslav Bryachislavich

Rostislav Vladimirovich and voivode Vyshata, they created a coalition against the Yaroslaviches' triumvirate. Polotsk's Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, completed in the mid-11th century, is one of the most enduring monuments from his reign and the oldest stone building in Belarus.[3]

Biography

Vselav was the son of

Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. He was born in c. 1029–1030 in Polotsk
(with Vasilii as his baptismal name) and married around 1060.

He took the throne of Polotsk in 1044 upon his father's death, and although since 1093 he was the senior member of the

Yaroslav, he was, according to Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, "an outsider from within"[4]

Unable to secure the

battle on the Nemiga River on March 3, 1067[6] Vseslav fled but was treacherously captured during the peace talks in June, when Iziaslav violated his oath.[7]
He was then imprisoned in Kiev.

Grand Prince of Kiev

During the

Vladimir Monomakh
.

Vseslav died April 24, 1101, the Wednesday before Good Friday according to the Russian Primary Chronicle—indeed the chronicles strangely link the two events, as if the sorcerer had died as a result of the crucifixion and resurrection. He was buried in the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk.[9]

Family

Vseslav had six sons:

  1. Roman (?-1114/1116), Prince of ? (probably of
    Saint Sophia Cathedral
    , where she opened her charity. They had no children.
  2. Gleb Vseslavich, Prince of Minsk;
  3. Rogvolod-Boris, Prince of Drutsk; There has been some discussion whether Vseslav had six or rather seven sons. Some historians (L.Alekseev and Vasily Tatishchev
    ) believe that Boris was the baptizm name of Rogvolod, and thus they were one and the same person.
  4. Davyd, Prince of Polotsk,
  5. Sviatoslav, Prince of Vitebsk;
  6. Rostislav, possibly Prince of Lukoml. In 1129, he was sent to Byzantium by Vladimir II Monomakh, with the rest of Vseslaviches. It is uncertain who his wife or his descendants were.

St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk is sometimes said to be Vseslav's daughter, although her date of birth is given as 1120, two decades after Vseslav's death and thus she could not be his child; other sources, however, say she was the daughter of Sviatoslav Vseslavich, and thus a granddaughter of Vseslav. She founded a number of monasteries in Polotsk and the surrounding region, and is considered one of the patron saints of Belarus.

Vseslav in literature and legend

Volga Sviatoslavich, alias Volkh Vseslavich, the bogatyr based on Vseslav of Polotsk; a drawing by the Russian artist Ivan Bilibin.

Vseslav in chronicles

Vseslav had a great reputation for

sorcery. The Russian Primary Chronicle states that he was conceived by sorcery and was born with a caul (a veil of birth membrane) on his head, and that the sorcerers told his mother that this should be bound to his head for the rest of his life as it was a sign of good luck.[10] In modern Belarusian
he is known as Usiasłaŭ the Sorcerer; in Russian he is Vselav Charadei or Vseslav Veshchii, Vseslav the Sorcerer or Vseslav the Seer.

Vseslav in The Tale of Igor's Campaign

Vseslav also appears in the 12th-century epic

defeat at the Nemiga River
is shown to illustrate that inter-princely strife is weakening the Russian land. Vseslav is also said to be able to hear the church bells (stolen from Novgorod) of his cathedral at Polotsk all the way from Kiev:

"In the seventh age of Troyán Vséslav cast his lots for the Maiden dear to him."

"He with wiles at the last tore himself free: and galloped to the city of Kíev; with his weapon took hold of the golden throne of Kíev; galloped from them like a wild beast at midnight from Bĕ́lgorod, swathed himself in a blue mist, rent asunder his bonds into three parts, opened wide the gates of Nóvgorod, shattered the Glory of Yarosláv [the First]; galloped like a wolf from Dudútki to the Nemíga."

"On the Nemíga the sheaves are laid out with heads; men thresh with flails in hedgerows; on the barn-floor they spread out life; they winnow the soul from the body."

"On the blood-stained Nemíga the banks were sown with bane,—sown with the bones of the sons of Russia."

"Prince Vséslav was a judge to his subjects, he appointed cities for the princes: but he himself at night raced like a wolf from Kiev to the Idol [or, (accepting the reading of the text unaltered)—to the Lord] of Tmutarakáń, raced, like a wolf across the path of the great Khors."

"To him at Polotsk they rang the bells early for matins at Saint Sophia; and he at Kíev heard the sound."[11]

Volkh Vseslavich/Volga Sviatoslavich and Vseslav of Polotsk

Vseslav may also be the basis for the

Gleb Sviatoslavovich. Volkh appears in a number of drawings by the late-19th and early 20th-century Russian artist Ivan Bilibin
, who was heavily influenced by Russian folklore.

Notes

  1. ^ Russian: Всеслав Брячиславич; Belarusian: Усяслаў Брачыславіч

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-317-87224-5
    .
  2. ISBN 9780198604730
    .
  3. ^ "Музей истории архитектуры Софийского собора". Музей истории архитектуры Софийского собора (in Russian). 20 January 2010.
  4. ^ Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, The Emergence of Rus 750–1200 (London and New York: Longman, 1996), 251.
  5. ^ Lavrentevskaia Letopis (PSRL I), 166; Ipatevskaia Letopis (PSRL 2), 155; A. N. Nasonov, Novgorodskaia Pervaia Letopis: Starshego i mladshego izvodov (Moscow and Leningrad: ANSSR, 1950), 17, 186; Novgorodskaia Tretaia Letopis (PSRL 3), 212; Novgorodskaia chetvertaia letopis (PSRL 4), 123
  6. ^ Franklin and Shepard, The Emergence of Rus, 252.
  7. ^ Lavrentevskaia Letopis (PSRL 1), 166–7; Franklin and Shepard, The Emergence of Rus, 252.
  8. ^ Lavrentevskaia letopis (PSRL 1), 171–2.
  9. ^ The Novgorodian First Chronicle as well as the Lavrentian and Hypatian Chronicles mention his death but not the place of burial. NPL, 17, 202; Lavrentevskaia Letopis (PSRL 1), 275; Ipatevskaia Letopis (PSRL 2), 250.
  10. ^ Lavrentevskaia Letopis (PSRL 1), 155.
  11. ^ Leonard Magus, "Tale of the Armament of Igor", Part II, Sacred Texts.com
  12. ^ Roman Jakobson and 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, p. 83; available online at Volkh Vseslav'evich Bylina: A Poem of Vseslav the Sorcerer Archived 2005-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. Jack V. Haney, The Complete Russian Folktale (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999), 7; Dianne E. Farrell, "Shamanic Elements in Some Early Eighteenth Century Russian Woodcuts," Slavic Review 52, No. 4 (Winter 1993): 725–744; Felix J. Oinas, "The Problem of the Aristocratic Origin of Russian Byliny," Slavic Review Vol. 30, No. 3 (Sept. 1971): 513–522.
Vseslav of Polotsk
Born: 1039 Died: 1101
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Prince of Kiev

1068–1069 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prince of Polotsk
1044–1101 		Succeeded by
Davyd Vseslavich
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