Yuri finally agreed to peace. His nephew yielded Kief, and Yuri gave back the Novgorod tribute. Izyaslav visited his uncles, and all sides promised to return booty taken since the action near Pereyaslavl. After that Yuri went back to Kief, and wished to give it to Vyatcheslav, to whom it belonged by seniority, but the boyars dissuaded him. “Thy brother could not hold Kief,” said they. “It will be neither his nor thine, if thou yield it.” Yuri took his son from Vyshgorod, and gave the place to Vyatcheslav.
Meanwhile, 1150, Izyaslav sent to find herds and property seized before peace was concluded, but when his men had found what they were seeking, and asked for it, Yuri refused it, and they went back empty-handed. Thereupon Izyaslav sent a complaint and threat to his uncle: “Keep thy oath, for I cannot remain thus offended.” Yuri made no answer, and Izyaslav took arms again, urged, as was said, by Kief people.
At this time Yuri’s son Glaib was encamped not far from Izyaslav, who suddenly attacked him in the night. Glaib escaped with much difficulty, having lost everything he had. Next day he sent to his cousin this message: “Yuri is my father, so art thou, and I render thee homage. Thou and Yuri will settle all questions. But give thy oath that thou wilt permit me to visit my father. If thou do, I will come and bow down to thee.” Izyaslav gave the oath. Glaib went to Yuri, and Izyaslav hastened to the steppe to get aid from the Black Caps, who rejoiced with unbounded delight when they saw him.
Yuri, on hearing that his nephew had gone to the Black Caps, left Kief at once, crossed the Dnieper and hastened to Gorodok. As soon as Yuri withdrew from Kief, Vyatcheslav entered. The Kief people went out in great crowds to meet Izyaslav, who was not slow in coming. “Yuri has left us,” said they. “Vyatcheslav is in the palace, but we do not want him. Go to Holy Sophia, and then take the throne of thy fathers.” “I gave thee Kief,” said Izyaslav, in a message to his uncle, “but thou wouldst not take it. Now when thy brother has fled, thou art willing. Go to thy Vyshgorod.” “Even shouldst thou kill me for staying, I would not go,” answered Vyatcheslav.
Taking a few attendants, Izyaslav went to his uncle and bowed down before him. Vyatcheslav rose, kissed him and they sat down together. “Father,” said Izyaslav, “I give thee homage, [[78]]I cannot do what thou wishest, such is the power of the people. They are opposed to thee. Go to Vyshgorod; from there we two will manage.” “When thou didst invite me to Kief,” answered Vyatcheslav, “I had kissed the cross to Yuri. If Kief is thine now, I will go to Vyshgorod.” And he went.
Meanwhile Yuri called on the sons of David and Oleg for assistance, and Vladimirko was marching from the west. Izyaslav, greatly alarmed, prepared for defense very promptly and went with boyars to Vyatcheslav in Vyshgorod. “Take Kief,” said he to his uncle, “and with it what lands thou desirest; the rest leave to me.” Vyatcheslav was offended at first. “Why didst thou not give me Kief when thou wert forcing me out of it shamefully?” asked he. “Now when one army is moving against thee from Galitch and another from Chernigoff, thou givest me my inheritance.” “I offered thee Kief, declaring that I could live with thee, but not with Yuri,” said Izyaslav. “Thee I love as my father. And I say now again: Thou art my father, and Kief belongs to thee.” These words softened Vyatcheslav and he kissed the cross to consider Izyaslav as his son, and Izyaslav swore to regard him as a father. “I am going to Zvenigorod against Vladimirko,” said Izyaslav. “Be pleased thou to enter Kief and let me have thy warriors.” “I will send all of my warriors with thee,” replied Vyatcheslav.
Vladimirko was now in the field to help Yuri, and Izyaslav marched westward at once to hasten the struggle, but when he came near the enemy his men forsook him. “Vladimirko has a countless host,” cried they. “Do not destroy us and forfeit thy own life. Wait till another time.” “Better die here than suffer disgrace such as that!” exclaimed Izyaslav. Nevertheless all fled the field, and the Kief prince was left with only his personal following. He fell back on the capital safely, though he might have been captured. Vladimirko thought the whole movement a strategy, hence he followed on cautiously, looking for ambushes everywhere. Izyaslav found his uncle in Kief, waiting anxiously. They counseled awhile and then sat down to dinner. During dinner news came that Yuri was crossing the Dnieper, and with him the men of Chernigoff. “This is not our day!” exclaimed the two princes, and they fled from Kief, Vyatcheslav going to Vyshgorod, and Izyaslav back to Volynia. [[79]]
Next day Vladimirko and Yuri met outside Kief and greeted each other on horseback. The Galitch prince visited all the holy places in the city, and then bade farewell to his father-in-law in friendship. He took with him Yuri’s son, Mystislav, and installed that prince on the boundary of Volynia. Later on Yuri gave this whole region to his best son, Andrei.
Andrei fixed his camp in Peresopnitsa, and during the winter Izyaslav sent an envoy to him. “Reconcile me with thy father,” said he. “My inheritance is not in Hungary or Poland. Ask from thy father the return of my land on the Goryn.” He sent this request, but bade his envoy look sharply at all things. He was planning to fall on Andrei, as he had fallen on Glaib, Yuri’s other son, some time earlier.
The envoy found everything in excellent order, and a strong force of warriors in readiness. Andrei, unsuspicious, or feigning to be so, turned to Yuri in favor of Izyaslav, but Yuri would not yield a whit to his nephew. “My uncle,” declared Izyaslav, “would drive me to exile. Vladimirko of Galitch has taken my land at command of Yuri, and is now making ready to march on Vladimir, my capital.” So he sent Vladimir, his brother, to Hungary to ask aid of the king, who marched straightway with an army on Galitch. “I, thy brother, have started,” wrote the king. “Join me at once with thy forces. Vladimirko will see the men whom he has offended.”