After Yuri’s death on the Siti, in 1238, the Vladimir throne of Dolgoruki and Big Nest was taken by his eldest brother, Yaroslav. Yaroslav thought of his birthplace in that splendid time when his father’s power covered Russia, and his capital, with its magnificent edifices, was considered as the chief of all cities. In his youth he had shared with Yuri, his brother, in the deeds and humiliation of that time when the first place among princes was won by Mystislav the Gallant, who took the Vladimir throne and gave it to their eldest brother, Constantine, after that prince had been deprived of seniority by Big Nest, because of disobedience. In manhood Yaroslav had worked with Yuri at one time, at another against him, in Chernigoff and Novgorod. He had ruled in Pereyaslavl; he had ruled in Novgorod many times in succession, and in Kief more than once.
Yaroslav’s previous life had passed, not merely without fruitful action, but even in action which dimmed his reputation. It had passed in barren wars, which were for the greater part the mere wanton, fighting amusement of princes. Only in riper years, when, in time of bitter slavery, he held the throne of Vladimir under Mongols, and when he had passed through the woe of the Russian land in common with all people, did he redeem his past errors and receive that respect which made his name memorable and won for him that love which he could not obtain earlier.
When Yaroslav returned to Vladimir the people met him with grateful tears and a touching delight, with prayers to the Almighty and with thankfulness. All saw in him now a prince who had suffered with the people, and a still greater merit was this,—that he was ready to suffer with them in future. Everything that had happened before the Mongol tempest seemed now very distant, [[261]]a past gone forever, but a past with its terrible relics. What Yaroslav had seen while returning to Vladimir was ghastly to look at and remember. He had passed through places worse than a desert. Vladimir was one half destroyed, one half charred and blackened. There were dead bodies everywhere,—in the streets, in the houses, in the churches. Yaroslav’s first task was to cleanse, to clear out and purify, to bury the dead; clear away the ruins; summon the people from forests and dens of concealment; to struggle with hunger, which threatened to increase, and with pestilence, which follows closely on hunger; to restore order; and begin anew to establish that which had been created by generations of labor and had been lost in that one Mongol horror.
Novgorod, which had survived, owing to the fact that the Mongols considered it a part of Vladimir, now by necessity became more nearly connected with the capital; besides the destruction and ruin of Southern Russia had greatly affected Novgorod by barring the road to princes from Kief or Chernigoff. Above all, by a marvelous provision, Alexander, son of Yaroslav, rose now among princes, and his immense work in those days of anguish strengthened Northern Russia and saved it. When Yaroslav in 1237 undertook to reign in Kief, he seated in Novgorod his son, Alexander, who later on was famous for his victory on the Neva, which gave him his second name, Nevski. Though Alexander became Novgorod’s favorite, that city could never live long in peace even with the best of its princes, and Alexander thought more than once of leaving the place. In 1240 he went away with his mother, the daughter of Mystislav the Gallant, his wife, and his court to Pereyaslavl Beyond the Forest. Then when at the city’s request Yaroslav sent his second son, Novgorod wanted Alexander back. At that time the Mongols attacked anew, wasting Murom and towns on the Klyazma. There was terror again in every place, so that no man knew how to save himself. Then envoys from Batu came to Yaroslav, demanding his presence with the tribute of Vladimir. Yaroslav, doing all things demanded, went to the Horde with Constantine, his son, and some boyars, taking with him the tribute. Batu received his declaration of obedience with courtesy and commanded that he call himself Prince of Kief. “Be the head of all,” said Batu, and Constantine Batu sent to bow down before the Grand Khan in Mongolia. [[262]]
Constantine spent more than a year and a half on his journey. After Yaroslav had submitted to Batu, the other princes followed his example. The Khan confirmed those subordinates and the Mongol yoke was established, with all its burdens increasing in weight as each year came.
The tribute was not appointed at first with precision, but the Khan declared that he would send men to arrange all things, and describe the Russian land. It would be evident then what the income would be for each principality.
When in 1245 Constantine returned from Mongolia, where he had found favor with the Grand Khan, Batu summoned Yaroslav a second time. Ogotai, the Grand Khan, was now dead, and in his place Kuyuk, a son of Ogotai, was reigning. To his enthronement went many vassals, all subject rulers, also Khans, relatives of Jinghis. Batu sent his brothers to this assembly, but did not go himself. Being sovereign in the Horde, one part of which was found in Asia, while the other extended deeply into Europe, he thought himself next to Jinghis, even when that mighty conqueror was living, and now, after the death of Ogotai, he felt nearer to the Grand Khan than ever. To increase the splendor of the festival, he sent his vassals to represent him, selecting from all those who ruled under him only the great ones. Hence he commanded Prince Yaroslav to visit Mongolia.
Yaroslav, crushed more by misfortune than by his fifty-five years, found it difficult to endure this long, torturing journey, but he went without murmuring, understanding well that safety for Russia was to be purchased only by unconditional obedience to the will of the conqueror.
Beyond the Caspian were monotonous sand plains. In reaching Central Asia he had to cross stretches of dry and parched land, waterless regions without inhabitants, where many of his men died while struggling with drought and great spaces. In the Kwarezmian kingdom they met ruins of cities; plains covered with skulls, bones and skeletons, monuments of Jinghis Khan’s terrible slaughters. On these endless expanses, Yaroslav met legions of many tongued people, all of whom, in common with Russians, were under the Mongol yoke. Beyond Kwarezm stretched boundless deserts and steppes. Again new trials and a road unspeakably difficult and exhausting, along which were [[263]]still other traces of Jinghis Khan’s triumphs. And again and again Yaroslav was met by the ever present conquerors, commanding subject tribes.
But all that he suffered on the road seemed as nothing compared with what he had to see and endure at the Mongol capital. Kuyuk had assembled all subject sovereigns, so that of rulers and the highest persons near them four thousand were present. The gifts which those persons brought with them formed whole camps filled with treasure. Of silver and gold alone there were five hundred wagon-loads. During the time of festivities, Yaroslav was not merely a witness of feasts, he took part in them. Among guests they gave him the first place, and distinguished him by a goblet of honor. But that special “honor” shown Yaroslav was of the kind given when a victor honors the chief among many captives, and from this honor he died somewhat later.