The service Novgorod men prized most in their princes was the defense of the city against pagans,—the Chud, who swept in from the side of the Baltic. Pskoff and Novgorod borders suffered greatly at first from wild men, who had an unknown, boundless country behind them. These men had at last been defeated and tribute imposed on them. Among the tributes established was the bearing of goods and boats over portages. All at once, just before Mystislav’s coming, these men sent to bear goods became robbers. When the prince assumed power, he called together the best men of Novgorod, and said: “Brothers, let us free this Novgorod land of offenders.” With one voice they answered: “If it please God and thee, we are ready.”
When the troops were assembled, and Mystislav drew them up in review, he found that they numbered twenty thousand. He went to the land of the pagans, and these twenty thousand men marched with him. He passed through that land from end to end, not stopping till he reached the seacoast. He seized men, cattle and property; when there was need to punish, he reduced all before him to ashes. In one word, he established obedience. Then he turned toward Pskoff.
According to old usage, the posadnik of Pskoff was appointed by Novgorod, but on this point there were endless disputes between the two cities. The Pskoff men wished independence and their own prince. During the winter of 1180 Mystislav planned a campaign for the springtime. He remembered the offenses of Prince Vseslav, the Plotsk wizard, who could turn, as the people declared, into a gray wolf and run in one night from the Caucasus to Novgorod. Vseslav, years before, had seized a part of Great Novgorod; he had carried off its assembly bell and borne away holy images and [[120]]church vessels. Mystislav resolved to bring all these back to the city. The prince in Polotsk at that time was Vseslav, a brother-in-law of Roman, son of Rostislav.
When spring came, Mystislav moved against Polotsk with his army. Roman sent an envoy to meet him with these words: “Thou hast not been offended by Vseslav, why go against him? If thou decide on attack, thou wilt meet me before others.” Mystislav, not wishing to offend his own elder brother, turned back from his enterprise. Barely had he reached Great Novgorod, when he fell ill. No man could tell what affected him. For a time he lay without memory. His wife stood at his bedside, as did his drujina and best friends. When his mind returned, he looked at those present, and tears came to his eyes. Only a few of the words which he uttered had meaning. Vladimir, his youngest son, he entrusted to a favorite boyar. Of the two sons left to his brothers, one was renowned much in later years as Mystislav the Gallant. “Forget not my children,” begged he of his brothers. He raised his hands, sighed from the depth of his heart, tears came to his eyes again, and his breath left him.
Roman, eldest son of Glaib, and once prisoner in Vladimir, had married a daughter of Sviatoslav, the Kief prince, and had thus become an ally of “the sister’s son.” In 1180 Roman’s brothers turned to Vsevolod of Vladimir, saying: “Thou art our lord and father; settle between us and Roman, who takes away our land at the advice of his brother-in-law, Sviatoslav.” Vsevolod moved against Roman, who met him at Kolomna. Sviatoslav sent his son Glaib from Kief to aid Roman. Vsevolod invited this son of Sviatoslav to meet him and negotiate. Glaib was unwilling to do so, but as Kolomna was occupied by Vsevolod, he had to accept the inevitable. Upon his arrival, Vsevolod ordered him put in chains and sent him to Vladimir, whither he sent all the men and property seized by Glaib’s warriors, commanding that both man and property should be kept under strong guard. Roman, leaving his two younger brothers in Ryazan to defend it, fled to steppe regions. When Vsevolod marched to Ryazan, the princes submitted, whereupon he made peace and apportioned the principality between them. All kissed the cross to Vsevolod, even Roman, who returned now and joined his brothers.
When he heard that his son had been captured, Sviatoslav was [[121]]tremendously indignant, and went at once to Chernigoff. In Chernigoff, at that time, ruled Yaroslav, brother of the Kief prince. Of the younger princes, there were present in the city Igor, son of Sviatoslav, and his brother, Vsevolod the “Rushing Bull,” as he is called by a Russian poet. With them were their sons just reaching maturity. All had taken to heart the offense which Sviatoslav had suffered. After they had counseled together and were agreed, Sviatoslav addressed them in these words: “As a father, I command you to act as follows: thou, Igor, will stay with Yaroslav, my brother, to guard Chernigoff, while I will go to Suzdal to free my son from Vsevolod. And let God judge between us.”
Sviatoslav left one half of his forces in Chernigoff, and led away the other half, taking with him a man who was his guest at that time, Yaropolk Bezoki. Sviatoslav’s son, Vladimir, who had become prince in Novgorod after the death of Mystislav, was to meet his father on the road. The allies from North and South assembled in lands within the Tver boundaries, and marched toward Pereyaslavl.
Beginning at the Tvertsa and on the Dubna, they laid everything in ashes, sparing nothing. “They emptied the whole Volga region,” says the chronicler. When forty versts from Pereyaslavl, they met Vsevolod on the Blena River, a branch of the Dubna. The Vladimir prince was in a wonderful position. The Blena had steep, rough, stony banks, broken into gullies. The place was chosen wisely, for it was remarkably defensive. The warriors had their positions on heights and in hollows. No enemy could reach them. During two weeks the armies faced each other. Vsevolod’s army was numerous, and, if compared with the forces of Sviatoslav, was enormous. As the Ryazan and Murom princes had to ride with their men at the stirrup of Vsevolod, they were now in his army. Against Vsevolod were the sons of the Kief prince, Oleg and Vladimir, the latter now Prince of Novgorod. These were the two princes who a short time before had conducted Vsevolod to Vladimir, and had cut down the Polovtsi in battling with Ryazan, which was now on the side of Vladimir. The personal following of the Vladimir prince was eager to engage the enemy; his warriors were praying to begin the battle, but Vsevolod would not permit them to advance. At first he sent out the warriors [[122]]of Ryazan and Murom, who burst into Sviatoslav’s camp and broke the regiments of Chernigoff, but “Rushing Bull” came to the rescue and drove back the assailants with much loss. After that, nothing was won on either side; every effort was fruitless. Sviatoslav tried now to negotiate, and, through two priests who had come with him, sent this message to Vsevolod: “My brother and my son, I have done thee much good and did not think to receive such a return from thee. Thou hast imprisoned my son, and harmed me greatly. Give now a road by which I can go to thee. If not, I will give thee a road to meet me, and let God judge between us.”
Vsevolod sent the two priests as prisoners to Vladimir, and gave no answer to Sviatoslav, whose position then was not free of danger. Delay was impossible; Sviatoslav saw that warm weather was coming, that rivers would rise, and all roads would be impassable, that, in fact, if he did not withdraw he would be forced to surrender, hence he raised camp and departed. Vsevolod gave his men leave to attack Sviatoslav’s train, but forbade them to injure the Kief prince, or pursue him. Sviatoslav’s allies, avoiding places which they had plundered in coming, burned many towns, among others Dmitroff, the town in which Vsevolod was born. Sviatoslav permitted his son Oleg to withdraw, and also Rushing Bull, his cousin, and with Vladimir, another son, went to Novgorod, taking with him Yaropolk Besoki, and seating him in Nova-Torg.
In the South, after Sviatoslav had gone on this expedition against Vsevolod, Rurik, son of Rostislav, prepared again to seize Kief. He brought from Volynia Vsevolod, and also asked aid of Yaroslav “Eight Minds,” who sent a few men under Tudor, his boyar. David, Rurik’s brother, set out for Smolensk to get help from Roman, but Roman died before he arrived there. David then seized the vacant throne, and delayed in Smolensk. Yaroslav, who with Igor, his cousin, was left to take care of Chernigoff, did not wait for the enemy, but marched at once to strike Smolensk regions. With their own men those two princes took also Polovtsi, and hastened toward Vitebsk. One of the Polotsk princes, Glaib, had joined the Smolensk side, and, with the aid of Smolensk warriors, was fighting against the other Polotsk princes, who were defending their independence. They had brought in allies from Lithuania, and timely assistance came now from [[123]]Chernigoff. Because of this, the war assumed large proportions at once. The Chernigoff princes sent to Novgorod, then acting with Sviatoslav of Kief, and expected help from that city. In the camp of the Polotsk and Chernigoff allies appeared—a thing till then never witnessed—aid from Lithuania and Livona. And now was understood what “strength from the Baltic” meant.