Vsevolod I of Kiev

The final Rus'-Byzantine War is, in essence, an unsuccessful naval raid against Constantinople in 1043 instigated by Yaroslav I of Kiev and led by his eldest son, Vladimir of Novgorod.

The reasons for the war are disputed, as is its course.

Michael Psellos, an eyewitness of the battle, leaves a hyperbolic account detailing how the invading Kievan Rus' were annihilated by a superior imperial fleet with Greek fire off the Anatolian shore.

(According to the Slavonic chronicles, the Kievan fleet was destroyed by a tempest.)

The East Romans send a squadron of fiurteen ships to pursue the dispersed monoxylae of the Rus'.

They are sunk by the Kievan admiral Ivan Tvorimich, who also manages to rescue Prince Vladimir after the shipwreck.

A six thousand-strong Kievan contingent under the Novgorodan general Vyshata, which does not take part in naval action, is captured and deported to Constantinople.

Eight hundred of the Rus' prisoners are blinded.

Vyshata will be allowed to return to Kiev at the conclusion of the peace treaty three years later.

Under the terms of the peace settlement, Yaroslav's son Vsevolod I is to marry a daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomachus.

Their son will assume his maternal grandfather's name and become known as Vladimir Monomakh.

Yaroslav stages a naval raid against Constantinople in 1043, led by his son Vladimir of Novgorod and his general Vyshata.

Although the Rus' navy is defeated, Yaroslav manages to conclude the war with a favorable treaty and prestigious marriage of his son Vsevolod to the emperor's daughter.

George Maniakes transfers his troops into the Balkans and is about to defeat Constantine's army in battle, when he is wounded and dies on the field near Thessaloniki, ending the crisis in 1043.

Constantine's extravagant punishment of the surviving rebels is to parade them in the Hippodrome, seated backwards on donkeys.

With his death, the rebellion ceases.

Harald Hardrada has become extremely rich during his time in the east, and had secured the wealth collected in Constantinople by shipments to Kievan Rus' for safekeeping (with Yaroslav the Wise acting as safekeeper for his fortune).

The sagas note that aside from the significant spoils of battle he had retained, he had participated three times in polutasvarf (loosely translated as "palace-plunder"), a term which implies either the pillaging of the palace exchequer on the death of the emperor, or perhaps the disbursement of funds to the Varangians by the new emperor in order to ensure their loyalty.

It is likely that the money Harald made while serving in Constantinople allowed him to fund his claim for the crown of Norway, which he will pursue in 1046.

If he participated in polutasvarf three times, these occasions must have been the deaths of Romanos III, Michael IV, and Michael V, in which Harald would have had opportunities, beyond his legitimate revenues, to carry off immense wealth.

After Zoe had been restored to the throne in June 1042 together with Constantine IX, Harald had requested to be allowed to return to Norway.

Although Zoe had refused to allow this, Harald had managed to escape into the Bosporus with two ships and some loyal followers.

Although the second ship had been destroyed by Constantinople’s cross-strait iron chains, Harald's ship had sailed safely into the Black Sea after successfully maneuvering over the barrier.

Despite this, Kekaumenos lauds the "loyalty and love" Harald had for the empire, which he reportedly maintained even after he returned to Norway and became king.

Following his escape from Constantinople, Harald had arrived back in Kievan Rus' later in 1042.

During his second stay there, he marries Elisabeth (referred to in Scandinavian sources as Ellisif), daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and granddaughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung.

Shortly after Harald's arrival in Kiev,and immediately after Constantine’s victory over Maniakes, Yaroslav attacks Constantinople, and it is considered likely that Harald provided him with valuable information about the state of the empire.

The Rus' fleet is defeated with the help of Greek fire.

Constantine in 1046 marries his daughter Anastasia to the future Prince Vsevolod I of Kiev, the favorite son of his dangerous opponent Yaroslav I the Wise by Ingegerd Olofsdotter.

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.