After this began ceaseless troubles, not in Galitch, Kief, and Chernigoff, where there was never an end to trouble, but in Vladimir, where for thirty-seven years peace and quiet had flourished. Deprived of seniority, Constantine did not accept the decision of his father, but warred against Yuri and Yaroslav, who stood firmly together. Vladimir and Sviatoslav wavered, joining now one, now the other side. Vladimir, the youngest brother, wished Moscow as his part, but expelled from Moscow by Yuri, he obtained his father’s inheritance in the South,—Gorodok and Pereyaslavl. Yuri offered Constantine peace, and even Vladimir, but asked Rostoff for himself. Constantine would not yield; he would give Suzdal, and take Vladimir, only if Rostoff were given him also.
Yuri freed the Ryazan and Murom princes imprisoned by his father. Strengthened by them, he could war against his brother more successfully. Constantine, leaving for a time his attempt on Vladimir, continued hostile action in northern places. He seized Saligalsk, and burned Kostroma. The whole principality was in conflict from Vologda to Moscow. A second and a third year after the death of Big Nest this struggle continued.
Finally, Mystislav the Gallant, their now all-powerful neighbor in Novgorod, the main decider of wars and disputes in Russia at that time, interfered. He had made two campaigns against the Fins near the Baltic, and inflicted sharp punishment, but he was eager for weighty deeds and great actions, not on distant borders, but in Russia. His cousins, the grandsons of the “monk loving” [[184]]Rostislav, turned to him for succor, and protection. Chermny, now prince in Kief, was driving them from Dnieper regions. “The Kief prince will not give us a part in the Russian land,” complained they. “Come thou and help us.”
Mystislav summoned the assembly and bowed down before Novgorod, saying: “I am going to Kief to rescue my relatives. Will ye aid me?” “If thou go, we will follow,” was the answer. The men chosen set out under Tverdislav, but at Smolensk the Novgorod men had a quarrel and killed a Smolensk man; they refused thereupon to go farther, saying: “We promised to conduct the prince hither, but to Kief we will not go.”
Mystislav embraced the posadnik, kissed all the officers, then he bowed to the Novgorod men, bidding Godspeed to them, and moved forward with only his personal following and Smolensk warriors.
The Novgorod men were not pleased with themselves, and they halted. “Lord brothers,” said Tverdislav, “what ye decide will be done at all hazards. The question is ought we to abandon our prince at this juncture. In their day our fathers and grandfathers marched to suffer at Kief when their prince commanded. It is clear that we should act in the old way.” Pleased with this speech, they turned, and with hurried marches overtook Mystislav.
Chermny’s fate was decided at Vyshgorod. His allies were crushed, and he fled. Two of his cousins were captured. Ingvar of Volynia, who accompanied Mystislav, refused the Kief throne, and Roman, son of Mystislav of Smolensk, obtained it. Vladimir, son of Rurik, received Smolensk in addition to districts near Kief inherited from his father. So Chermny was unable to keep his promise to avenge Igor’s sons and expel all descendants of Monomach from Dnieper regions. Mystislav the Gallant now besieged Chermny in Chernigoff, and imposed peace on him. Chermny died soon after, leaving as heir his son Michael, who later on ruled in Kief and Novgorod. His name is still known and revered among Russians, not because he ruled, but because he died a martyr’s death among Mongols. [[185]]