Sviatoslav II of Kiev

Yaroslav, to back up an armistice signed with Constantinople in 1046, had married his fourth and favorite son by Ingigerd Olafsdottir, Vsevolod, to the Greek Anastasia (d. 1067), who tradition holds was a daughter of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos by his second wife (he gained the Imperial throne through his third marriage), but no reliable source has ever been found to confirm this.

However, the couple's son Vladimir Monomakh bears the family name of that emperor, giving the story credence.

Upon his father's death in 1054, Vsevolod receives in appanage the towns of Pereyaslav, …

…Rostov, …

…Suzdal, and …

…the township of Beloozero, which will remain in possession of his descendants until the end of the Middle Ages.

Together with his elder brothers Iziaslav and Sviatoslav, he forms a sort of princely triumvirate that will jointly wage war on the steppe nomads, the Cumans, who the Rus' call Polovtsy.

Vesevolod will compile the first East Slavic law code.

Yaroslav, during his long reign as Grand Prince, has consolidated the power of Kievan Rus', codified laws, encouraged the spread of Christianity, and beautified Kiev with new edifices, including the Cathedral of Saint Sophia at Kiev.

Yaroslav had In 1019 married Ingegerd Olofsdotter, daughter of the king of Sweden, and had given her Ladoga as a marriage gift.

The Saint Sophia Cathedral houses a fresco representing the whole family: Yaroslav, Irene (as Ingegerd is known in Rus), their five daughters and five sons.

Yaroslav has had three of his daughters married to foreign princes who lived in exile at his court: Elizabeth of Kiev to Harald III of Norway (who attained her hand by his military exploits on behalf of Constantinople; Anastasia of Kiev to the future Andrew I of Hungary; Anne of Kiev to Henry I of France; she was the regent of France during their son's minority; (possibly) Agatha, to Edward the Exile, of the royal family of England; she is the mother of Edgar Ætheling and St. Margaret of Scotland.

Yaroslav has one son from the first marriage (his Christian name was Ilya (?-1020)), and six sons from his second marriage.

The eldest of these, Vladimir of Novgorod, best remembered for building the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, has predeceased his father.

Apprehending the danger that could ensue from divisions between brothers, he exhorted them to live in peace with each other.

Following his death in 1054, the three older sons—Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod—will reign in Kiev one after another.

The youngest children of Yaroslav are Igor (1036–1060) of Volyn and Vyacheslav (1036–1057) of Smolensk.

About the last there is almost no information.

Vselav, the son of Bryachislav Izyaslavich, Prince of Polotsk and Vitebsk, and thus the great-grandson of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk, was born between about 1030 to 1039 in Polotsk (with Vasilii as his baptismal name) and had married around 1060.

He had taken the throne of Polotsk in 1044 upon his father's death, and although he is the senior member of the Rurik Dynasty for his generation, since his father had not been prince in Kiev, Vseslav is excluded (izgoi) from the grand princely succession.

He is the only major prince in Rus not descended from Yaroslav.

Unable to secure the capital, which is held by Yaroslav's three sons, Vseslav starts pillaging the northern areas of Kievan Rus.

Vseslav lays siege to Pskov in 1065, but is thrown back.

The Yaroslavichi join forces and march north, coming upon Vseslav's army in the deep snow on the Niamiha River on March 3 and defeating him.

The precise course of battle is unknown, though it has become legendary as a bloodbath; The Tale of Igor's Campaign referred to "the bloody banks of the Nemiga" being sown not with blessings but with bones.

Vseslav flees back Polotsk and the Yaroslav princes do not pursue him.

However, in June, after the battle, the Yaroslav princes call for negotiations, “kiss the cross” (take an oath) and make promises of future safety; Vseslav is invited to Iziaslav's camp to celebrate the peace and is promptly arrested together with two of his sons and taken to prison in Kiev.

Vseslav pillages and burns Great Novgorod in the winter of 1066–1067, removing the bell and other religious objects from the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom and bringing them to decorate his own cathedral of the same name in Polotsk.

His attack threatens to cut off the sons of Yaroslav in the Middle Dnieper region from Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and the far north, important sources of men, trade, and income (in furs for example) for the Rus princes in the Middle Dnieper.

The attack also forces the young Mstislav, then enthroned in Novgorod, to flee back to his father, Iziaslav, in Kiev, and is thus an affront to the Kievan grand prince.

The Cumans defeat the armies of the three sons of Yaroslav the Wise—Iziaslav Yaroslavych, Sviatoslav II Yaroslavych, and Vsevolod Yaroslavych—in 1068 at the Alta River.

After the Cuman victory, they will repeatedly invade Ukraine, devastating the land and taking captives, who had become either enslaved to the Cumans or are sold at markets in the south.

The most vulnerable regions are the principalities of Pereiasla, …