The Mongols in Russia

by Jeremiah Curtin

The vanquished Rurik and Oleg’s descendants, who had been humiliated, could not forgive the Kief people their treason, and [[157]]prepared to take vengeance. A crime was committed then that has not its like in Kief history. Though many evils had come upon the mother city they were slight in comparison with this one. Rurik with his people and Chermny with his troops, in January, 1204, brought to Kief countless legions of Polovtsi, promising those savage warriors and wild men of the steppes the plunder of the capital. It was said that “the whole land of the Polovtsi” was present. Kief was taken by storm; not only did the Polovtsi sack all the lower town, but they rushed to the upper part; they plundered the monasteries, Sophia cathedral, and the Tithe church; they stripped the holy images, and carried away the consecrated vessels and crosses. “The wild ones” seized the precious robes of ancient princes, of Saint Vladimir and his son, Yaroslav the Lawgiver, and other robes which had been kept in the churches and revered as sacred relics. The city was blazing. Along the streets captive people were driven in multitudes. Foreign merchants defended themselves in the stone churches so manfully that the Polovtsi bargained with them, taking a part of their merchandise as ransom.

In general, the Polovtsi spared neither the great nor the insignificant, the rich nor the indigent. A multitude of old monks and nuns, and also the parish clergy, were slain with lances or cut down with swords, as were the lame, the blind, and all useless people. The healthy and young were taken captive. Not a house was left unplundered. In the churches not one sacred vessel was spared, or one holy image with its ornaments. When they had sated themselves with plunder and withdrawn from the city, Kief was a smoking ruin; only the groans of the dying broke the silence. The streets, stained with blood, were covered with corpses.

People afterward called to mind many prophecies and omens given during that year: one night, for example, the heavens suddenly appeared as if dyed with blood; on the streets and in the houses each object seemed blood-covered. Men saw how stars torn from the sky fell to the earth. This phenomenon terrified all who witnessed it. People thought that the end of life was approaching. It seemed now that the destruction of Kief had been foretold by those heavenly wonders. “It might have been so, for what could be more awful than the ruin of Kief by its own princes. Had such a crime ever been heard of in the world till that day?” [[158]]But the words describing its terrors had not ceased to sound among people, when they were drowned by an outcry still more terrible.

A tale came from afar giving an account of a new and dreadful woe to all people of the Orthodox world. Tsargrad had been taken by the Latins. The Western Crusaders had seized the capital of the Emperors, had plundered it to the last object, and had robbed and slaughtered people too numerous for reckoning. They had entered Holy Sophia, had torn off the door, and cut in pieces the ambo covered with silver; they had stripped the wonderful altar, had taken all the precious stones and candlesticks, the Gospels bound in gold and silver, the holy crosses and the priceless images. Other churches without number in the city and outside the city and the monasteries they had stripped naked. “The number of these and their beauty could not be recounted or described by any man.” Thus had fallen the God-preserved city of Tsargrad, the capital of the empire and of the land of the Greeks.

These two deeds, the capture of Kief by Rurik and the Polovtsi, and the capture of Tsargrad by the Latins, happened in the same year, 1204. Rurik, chief destroyer of Kief, not daring to set foot in the capital, went back to Ovrutch. Ingvar buried himself for the rest of his life in Volynia.

Roman, not believing his ears when he learned of the terrible destruction of Kief, wished to hear from Rurik himself the explanation, and went from Galitch directly to Ovrutch. We know not what Rurik told Roman, who for his own selfish purposes greatly desired to detach Rurik from the princes of Chernigoff and from the Polovtsi. Rurik was willing to desert them, or at least to promise to do so, if Kief might be his again. Whatever the result was, both parties were dissatisfied. Apparently Roman did not wish, in view of detaching Rurik from Chernigoff and the Polovtsi, to refuse him the Kief throne. Being friendly with Big Nest, and knowing his dislike for the Kief prince, since he had contributed to Rurik’s disgrace, and the establishment of Ingvar, Roman arranged in this way: he declared to Rurik that to confirm a prince in Kief did not depend on him, the Prince of Galitch, and advised Rurik to turn with his request to Big Nest, promising to write himself to the Prince of Vladimir touching the matter. He made this promise, believing that Big Nest would reject the proposal. But, in this case, Big Nest did not justify Roman’s expectation. [[159]]The Grand Prince of Vladimir, to the utter amazement of all persons, gave his consent to the return of Rurik, and no one, save Roman, could explain the act, otherwise than as due to the marvelous good nature of Big Nest. “This merciful prince,” said the people, “does not remember Rurik’s crimes, or even the offense which he himself has endured from him.” But Roman apparently explained this unexpected act differently, and, not wishing Rurik’s return, took his own course.

In 1205, the following year, when Rurik was prince in Kief again, Roman strengthened his earlier friendship with Chernigoff, and with Yaroslav, son of Big Nest, ruling at that time in Pereyaslavl on the Alta. Then he went to Rurik with regiments from Volynia and Galitch, and announced a campaign against the Polovtsi. No matter how Rurik might favor the Polovtsi, he could not refuse to fight against the enemies of his country. The sacred cry raised all Southern Russia. A general arming took place, and under Roman a successful campaign was made. The Polovtsi were beaten, as they had not been beaten for a long time. Many captives were rescued, and much of the wealth seized in Kief at the sacking of the city was restored. Roman won immense honor, and the gratitude shown him was general.

But to conquer the Polovtsi was not the only, or perhaps the chief reason for this expedition. On their return, Rurik was removed from the Kief throne. We know not how this was effected; we know only that Roman did it indirectly. This is shown by the fact that he took home with him to Galitch Rurik’s two sons, Vladimir and Rostislav, the former a son-in-law of Big Nest. Rurik himself became a monk, while his daughters and wife were forced to enter a convent. No one doubted that Rurik took the habit through compulsion from Roman. When Big Nest heard of these acts, he was angry, but only because the husband of his favorite daughter was, as he thought, a captive in Galitch. He demanded the instant liberation of both brothers. To this Roman answered, not merely with perfect compliance, but he made an addition: Rostislav was not only set free, he was placed on the Kief throne.

Roman proposed now a meeting in Kief of all the ruling princes to discuss and establish new rules which he intended to lay before the assembly. These rules were in substance as follows: To prevent [[160]]local princes from becoming insignificant, they must be stopped from dividing their lands, and made to give rule to the eldest son only. At the death of the Grand Prince, the other ruling princes were to choose from among them the man most deserving of primacy. The princes did not like this proposal, but not wishing, or perhaps not daring to anger Roman, they promised to assemble and examine his project. Later on, in one way and another, they avoided the meeting. Big Nest refused to consider the question at all, and answered: “I have no wish to violate customs. Let matters rest as they were in the days of our fathers.”

Involved more and more with his Polish relations, Roman did not cease to help Leshko in the war which he waged against Mechislav, his uncle. He took part in a later war, also, against Mechislav’s son, surnamed Cane Legs (Laska Nogi). Meanwhile, regiments of Volynia and Galitch occupied the ancient Russian region of Lublin. But Leshko and Cane Legs made peace with each other, and asked Roman to lead home his warriors. Roman, in answer, laid siege to Lublin and demanded either a return in money for all his campaign, or that they should yield up to him this ancient Russian region so long in dispute between Poles and Russians.