Vsevolod I of Kiev


 * Vsevolod I redirects here. It can also refer to Vsevolod I Svyatoslavich (c. 1153–1196).

Vsevolod I Yaroslavich (Ukrainian and Russian: Всеволод I Ярославич, Old Norse: Vissivald), (1030 – 13 April 1093) ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev from 1078 until his death.

Early life
He was the fourth and favourite son of Yaroslav I the Wise by Ingigerd Olafsdottir.

To back up an armistice signed with the Byzantine Empire in 1046, his father married him to Byzantine Anastasia (d. 1067), who tradition holds was a daughter of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos by his second wife (he gained the Imperial throne through his third marriage), but no reliable source has ever been found to confirm this. However, the couple's son Vladimir Monomakh bore the family name of the Roman/Byzantine emperor, giving the story credence.

Upon his father's death in 1054, he received in appanage the towns of Pereyaslav, Rostov, Suzdal, and the township of Beloozero which would remain in possession of his descendants until the end of Middle Ages. Together with his elder brothers Iziaslav and Sviatoslav he formed a sort of princely triumvirate which jointly waged war on the steppe nomads, polovtsy, and compiled the first East Slavic law code. In 1067 Vsevolod's Greek wife died and he soon married a Kypchak princess, Anna. She brought him another son, who drowned after the Battle of the Stugna River, and two daughters, one becoming a nun and another, Eupraxia of Kiev, marrying Emperor Henry IV.



Reign
Upon Sviatoslav's death in 1076, Vsevolod inherited the Kievan throne, but ceded it to the banished Iziaslav in return for his patrimony of Chernigov. But Iziaslav died two years later, and Vsevolod took the Kievan throne yet again. Vsevolod was versed in Greek learning and spoke five languages. Since he lost most of his battles, his eldest son, Vladimir Monomakh, a grand and famous warrior, did most of the fighting for his father. The last years of his reign were clouded by grave illness, and Vladimir Monomakh presided over the government.

Children
Vsevolod and his first wife Anastasia (daughter of Constantine IX Monomachos) had only one known son:


 * Vladimir II Monomakh (1053 – 19 May 1125).
 * Anna Vsevolodovna (d. 3 November 1112). Abbess. Visited Constantinople in 1089.

Vsevolod and his second wife had five known children:


 * Rostislav Vsevolodovich (1070 – 26 May 1093). Drowned while retreating from the Battle of the Stugna River.
 * Eupraxia of Kiev (1071 – 20 July 1109). Married Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
 * Catherine Vsevolovna (d. 11 August 1108). A nun. Her date of death is recorded in the Primary Chronicle.
 * Maria Vsevolodovna (d. 1089).