The prompt coming of Alexander pleased the aged Batu, who did not force him to bow down to the sun or to fire. Moreover, he praised him before his own favorites. Still Alexander and his brother, Andrei, were commanded to go and bow down to the Grand Khan in Asia.
The two brothers, with dismal forebodings, set out on the journey which had caused the death of their father; they were more fortunate, however, than he, for they returned to their country uninjured. Each brought with him different impressions. Whether going or coming, Andrei did not cease to exhibit his hatred of Mongols and his anger at the general obedience given to that people. “Is it possible that we are to be forever friendly with pagans, and serve them? Better leave all and escape to other countries.” So thought Andrei. That this was his mind was shown by his deeds performed later. Alexander, at every step through the great destructive land of the Mongols, became sterner and more and more thoughtful, as if he were beholding the sufferings of his father as he passed through those same deserts and sand plains.
After an absence of less than two years, Alexander returned, in 1249, with a face of stern thoughtfulness and an expression which had changed altogether the youthful appearance of him who had conquered at the Neva and the Raven Stone.
Where each prince was to reign was a difficult question in Russia at that time. The will of the Khan, if not the only law, was at least the supreme law for princes. The old rules were both observed and rejected. The man who found in those rules [[273]]his own profit sought to make others observe them, but if they obstructed his way, he tried to ride over them. The Khan could appoint whomsoever he pleased to hold any place; all knew that very clearly, hence enterprising young princes worked against their seniors. At the Horde appointments were given not unfrequently through respect for the ancient Russian law, to which princes appealed in petitions. But if a petitioner was unable to retain the place given him, the Khan might or might not assist him.
In a word, confusion was common during the early years of Mongol dominion. Nevski had no direct reason to strive for the throne of Vladimir. He, like all the sons of Yaroslav, was second to his uncles, the brothers of his father. Sviatoslav, the eldest of these, to whom Yaroslav had given Suzdal, was confirmed by Batu as Prince of Vladimir. But, as if to prove that in this gloomy time every right was confounded, Sviatoslav had barely assumed power when there appeared among his nephews an unprincipled, ambitious prince who dispossessed his uncle of the throne and seated himself there immediately. That was Prince Michael, Nevski’s youngest brother. For his boldness they called him “Plucky Michael.” But his rule was short, for he was soon killed in battle by Lithuanians. Being the youngest of Yaroslav’s sons, Michael had not received a large portion,—he got only Moscow. While guarding this little province he met Lithuanians near the Kaluga, frontier on the Potva; from that small river his corpse was brought back and buried in Vladimir.
This quarrel between uncle and nephew occurred while Nevski and his brother Andrei were journeying to Mongolia.
But the death of Prince Michael did not restore rule to Sviatoslav, his uncle, who, freed from one rival, met another straightway. Nevski would not oppose his uncle, though he might have done so with some show of justice, for his father, when Grand Prince, had given Suzdal to Sviatoslav as an inheritance.
The Vladimir principality came to Nevski as Yaroslav’s eldest son. Though Sviatoslav had taken Vladimir as against his brother’s children, and had been confirmed in this by Batu, the “Plucky” had not been slow in ejecting his uncle. Now, after Michael’s death, Vladimir was princeless. Nevski did not care, as it seems, for Vladimir at that time, and would not contend for it. Andrei [[274]]had a different view of the question; he would not yield to his uncle, and strove at the Horde to supplant him. Batu for some reason found it unjust to return the principality to Sviatoslav; so he gave it to Andrei. But he remembered that Nevski was older, and Andrei did not deny the fact, hence the Khan made this decision: let Nevski be Grand Prince of Kief and at the head of all princes; let Andrei be Prince of Vladimir. Thus, because of the title given Nevski at the Horde and by his seniority, there were two so-called Grand Princes in Russia in 1250, but the Prince of Vladimir was the real Grand Prince, since his was the Grand Principality.
That such a position was impossible became clear very quickly even to Mongols. But for the time Nevski was silent, and ruled not in Kief, but in Pereyaslavl, when not in Novgorod. His heart was too heavy and his soul too greatly tortured to fight about places with his uncle or his brothers. He would not contend at the Horde with other princes. He had an important object of his own, though at that time he thought it not attainable.
To Novgorod, where Alexander lived mainly, came an embassy from Rome like that which had once gone to Daniel of Galitch. The envoys were two cardinals of distinction. The Pope informed Nevski that these men were skilled in speech and fitted to teach the law of God perfectly. They brought a letter from “His Holiness,” which mentioned the Livonian Knights and Rome’s ceaseless care in protecting Christian lands from savage races, and stated that the Pope wished to incline Prince Alexander to receive the teachings of the Latin Church, and show obedience to the See held by God’s vicegerent. “The greatest ruler,” wrote the Pope, “is not lessened, but exalted through obedience. Hence we persuade thee, O prince, to recognize the Roman Church as thy mother, obey her first priest, and bring all thy subjects to join us. Know if thou take advantage of our disposition we will exalt thee among other princes to the very pinnacle of glory.” To convince him the more, the Pope assured Nevski that Yaroslav, his father, had died in the Latin communion. “From Plano Karpini, our envoy sent to the Mongols,” wrote the Pope, “we received news that thy father gave obedience to the Church. This would have been known to the world had not sudden death seized him. In view of that happy death it is clear that he is in communion [[275]]with the blessed, a happiness which we wish thee to share with him finally.”