Dzinko: переводы

→Boleslaw Wrymouth

→Boleslaw the Brave:

→Mieszko

→Poland

→It was futile, bloody, and ruinous. While the southern princes fought the north was crumbling under the Mongol onslaught (see Chapter 6 for a full discussion). For now, it suffices to say that Daniil did finally secure Kiev, in 1240, less than six months before the Mongols swept down and obliterated the city.

→In the 1220s the South knew a general peace, marred only by the steady rise to power in Volinia and Galicia of Daniil, son of Roman. Daniil was ultimately successful in reuniting the two principalities, and for a while showed himself a steady ruler. But in 1235, seemingly for no reason at all, a general war broke out. The Rostislavichi and Olgavichi renewed their old feud over Kiev. Yaroslav of Novgorod marched down to struggle against Daniil of Volinia. Seven times Kiev was seized, sometimes by trickery, sometimes by force, and madly battling bands of warriors swept to and fro across Kiev, Chernigov, and Galicia.

→The Russian princes ignored Kalka. They had lost men, kin, and prestige, but since they had lost no territory it was easiest just to pretend nothing had happened.

→But there was no invasion. The Mongols were not in Russia for conquest — this time. Subatei had learned what he needed to know, that the Russians were weak. Now, urgent messages were summoning him to attend upon his master. Russia could wait.

→Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov both died at Kalka, as did seven other princes and of all their proud army not one man in eight returned to his home.

→Abruptly, the Cumans came stampeding back among the Russian ranks, screaming and bleeding. Arrows began to fall in the foremost Russian contingent. They milled in confusion, their ranks disordered by the fleeing Cumans. Suddenly, from out of the dust, a raging hoard of lancers swept down on them. The full might of the nomad army fell on the small portion of troops at the head of the column, driving them back on the unit behind. In this fashion the Mongols broke each unit in turn, never allowing their enemies time to regroup. The Mongols hunted the Russians back across the steppe to the banks of the Dnieper. Here the first troops to arrive, lead by Mstislav the Daring, burnt the boat bridge behind them, stranding over 10,000 men on the wrong side of the river. Lead by Mstislav, prince of Kiev, the Russians held out valiantly for 3 days before succumbing to their foes.

→Though they did not know it, the Russian princes were facing the first Mongol reconnaissance into Europe. Their enemy as they marched eastward was Genghis Khan’s brilliant general, Subatei Bahadur. He had devastated the Cumans over the preceding few months and was now intent on learning the capabilities of the Russians, who had considerable problems. There was no clear leader in the Russian army, and no clear object. They were chasing a large nomad force steadily east and felt confident that it was already beaten. But their efforts to bring the nomads to battle consistently failed, and the three great princes allowed their army to straggle out into a long, loose, winding column. After nine days of this pursuit the army approached the Kalka. The Cumans were in the lead.

→In 1223, a relatively peaceful year for Russia, something happened to break the Russian’s obsession with their internal feuds. A sudden scream of alarm was heard from the south-east. The Cuman Khan, Khotian, appeared in rags at the court of his son-in-law, Mstislav the Daring, ruler of Galicia. His people, he claimed, had been devastated by a new force from the east, a tribe of deadly warriors calling themselves Mongols. Mstislav was sufficiently impressed to rally his cousins, even the sulking Olgavichi, to a grand alliance. The principle allies included another great prince of the Rostislavichi, Mstislav of Kiev, and the ruler of Chernigov, the Olgavichi prince Mstislav Sviatoslavichi. Only Suzdalia and Novgorod were not represented; Grand Prince Yury cared little for squabbles far away on the steppe. Nonetheless a great army, some 60,000 strong, drew up on the far southern reaches of the Dnieper river, together with nearly 20,000 Cumans. They set off into the steppe with confidence, heading east toward a small river that ran down into the sea of Azov, the Kalka.

→This set off a new round of northern war. Contending for the throne of Novgorod were Mikhail of Chernigov and Yaroslav. Both princes and their sons chased each other in and out of the city, whipping up unstable support among the Boyars and citizens. The matter was not conclusively settled until 1230, when Yaroslav permanently exiled the sup-porters of his rival. Novgorod, at last, had a stable princely family to rule it; Yaroslav and his sons remained rulers of Novgorod for the rest of the century, even if their grip was not always firm.

→This was the beginning of a successful period for Suzdalia. In 1219 Mstislav the Daring left Novgorod to rule Galicia. His successors were not successful in governing the difficult Boyar factions. In 1221 the Novgorodians kicked them out and appealed to Yury for a prince, who sent them his brother Yaroslav.

→In 1216 the conclusive battle occurred. Konstantin had allied with the Rostislavichi and Novgorodians; Yury had allied with his brother Yaroslav, the men of the city of Murom, and a steppe tribe known as the Brodniki. The victory went to Konstantin and was complete. His brothers were exiled to distant, insignificant towns. Yury, however, did not have to wait long for his revenge. Konstantin died in 1218, and Yury immediately became Grand Prince.

→When Vsevolod died his sons (Konstantin, Yury, Yaroslav, Vladimir, and Sviatoslav) immediately began to battle. The principle fight was between Konstantin and Yury, while their younger brothers scrabbled on the fringes. For four years there was inconclusive squabbling, diplomacy, pursuit, alarms, and intrigue, but no major, armed clash.

→In Kiev the Rostislavichi were thorough, and this time genuinely successful in their campaign. The Olgavichi were driven out of their towns and confined to Chernigov territory. For the next twenty-three years the Rostislavichi held Kiev, and there was no-one strong enough to dispute their possession, for in 1212 Vsevolod III of Suzdalia also died.

→Vsevolod, however, did no better than Ryurik, and when the Rostislavichi princes made a major effort in 1212, both in Novgorod which they now held and, in the south, he was defeated, and died soon afterwards. Novgorod had been seized in 1208 by Mstislav Mstislavich, “the Daring.” His rule in the city lasted over ten years and was generally very successful. Vsevolod III could not dislodge Mstislav, and eventually acknowledged that Novgorod had temporarily been lost to his family.

→Vsevlold Chermnyy (“the Red”) of Chernigov, senior prince of the Olgavichi clan since 1204, made the first of many ruinous assaults on Kiev. This began a far worse period of warfare in the south. Ryurik and Vsevolod the Red chased each other in and out of the city repeatedly. The longest reign in this period was Ryurik’s last, from 1207-1210. He was finally ousted by a mixture of force and church diplomacy, and replaced by the triumphant Vsevolod the Red.

→Roman’s new wife, Anna (of Byzantium) fled with her young children to Volinia, while Galicia fell into the hands of scheming Boyars, greedy Hungarians, and the Olgavichi. In Kiev, however, the old conflict continued. War gradually built up between the Rostislavichi and the Olgavichi.