Vsevolod I of Kiev

Kievan court in the times of Vsevolod I

Vsevolod I Yaroslavich (1030 – 13 April 1093) ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev from 1076 until his death. 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 made him marry a daughter of the then Emperor Constantine IX and the couple later had a son, the future Vladimir Monomakh.

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 and compiled the first East Slavic law code. In 1067 Vsevolod's Greek wife died and he soon married a Kypchak princess. 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.

Upon Sviatoslav's death in 1077 he inherited the Kievan throne, but ceded it to the banished Iziaslav in return for his patrimony of Chernigov. Izyaslav died next year and was succeeded by Vsevolod. He was versed in Greek learning and spoke 5 languages. Last years of his reign were clouded by grave illness, and his eldest son Vladimir Monomakh actually presided over the government.