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- Vladimir II Monomakh (Christian name Vasiliy, or Basileios) (1053 - May 19, 1125) was a famous "Velikiy Kniaz" (Grand Prince) of Kievan Russia. He was the son of Vsevolod I (married in 1046) and princess Anastasia of Byzantium (d. 1067), daughter of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, from whom he takes his nickname of Monomakh (Greek: "One who fights alone"). Through his maternal grandmother's family, Vladimir was apparently a descendant of the Argyros and Skleros families of the Byzantine Empire, and thus could have traced his bloodline to several other emperors such as Romanus I and Leo V. These Greek connections played an important role in his foreign affairs. Eupraxia of Kiev, a sister of Vladimir, became notorious all over Europe for her divorce from the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV on the grounds that he had attempted a black mass on her naked body.
In his famous Instruction to his own children, Monomakh mentions that he conducted 83 military campaigns and 19 times made peace with the Polovtsi. At first he waged war against the steppe jointly with his cousin Oleg, but after Vladimir was sent by his father to rule Chernigov and Oleg made peace with the Polovtsi to retake that city from him, they parted company. Since that time, Vladimir and Oleg were bitter enemies who would often engage in internecine wars. The enmity continued among their children and more distant posterity.
From 1094, his chief patrimony was the southern town of Pereyaslav, although he also controlled Rostov, Suzdal, and other northern provinces. In these lands he founded several towns, notably his namesake, Vladimir, the future capital of Rus. In order to unite the princes of Rus in their struggle against the Great Steppe, Vladimir initiated three princely congresses, the most important being held at Lyubech in 1097 and Dolobsk in 1103. When Sviatopolk II died in 1113, the Kievan populace revolted and summoned Vladimir to the capital. The same year he entered Kiev to the great delight of the crowd and reigned there until his death in 1125. As may be seen from his Instruction, he promulgated a number of reforms in order to allay the social tensions in the capital. These years saw the last flowering of Ancient Rus, which was torn apart 10 years after his death.
Vladimir Monomakh is buried in the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. Succeeding generations often referred to his reign as the golden age of that city. Numerous legends are connected with Monomakh's name, including the transfer from Constantinople to Rus of such precious relics as the Theotokos of Vladimir and the Vladimir/Muscovite crown called Monomakh's Cap.
Vladimir was married three times. His first wife was Gytha of Wessex, one of several daughters of Ealdgyth Swan-neck by Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. According to Saxo Grammaticus, two of Harold's sons and a daughter escaped to the court of their uncle, king Sweyn Estridsson of Denmark. They were treated by Sweyn with hospitality, while their sister was married to Waldemar, king of Ruthenia, i.e. Vladimir II Monomakh, one of the most famous rulers of Kievan Rus. Gytha was the mother of Mstislav the Great, the last ruler of united Kievan Rus. In the Norse sagas, Mstislav is called Harald after his grandfather. The pateric of St Pantaleon Cloister in Cologne says that "Gytha the Queen" died as a nun on 10 March. It is assumed that she followed Godfrey of Bouillon in the first Crusade and died in Palestine, most likely in 1098, as a year later Vladimir Monomakh married another woman. The second wife is considered to have been a Byzantine noblewoman. The Primary Chronicle records her date of death on 7 May 1107. However the Chronicle does not mention her name. They had at least six children.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 21 July 2015.
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1053 - 1125 (72 år)
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