Mstyslavych Iziaslav

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Iziaslav-Panteleimon Mstyslavych (Panteleimon– baptismal name; ca 1097–13.11.1154) – the second son of Novgorodian (later Kyivan) Prince Mstyslav Volodymyrovych and Swedish Princess Christina, grandson of Prince Volodymyr Monomakh, statesman, political figure, Prince of Kursk (1127–1130), Polotsk (1130–1132), Minsk (1132), Pereyaslav (1132–1139), Volyn (1135–1142, 1149–1152), Grand Prince of Kyiv (1146–1154, with intermissions).

The second son of Novgorodian (later Kyivan) Prince Mstyslav Volodymyrovych and Swedish Princess Christina, grandson of Prince Volodymyr Monomakh. Brought up and educated in Novgorod. Reigned in Kursk, Polotsk, Minsk, Pereyaslav, Volodymyr (now Volodymyr-Volynsky). Became the Grand Prince of Kyiv as a result of the Kyiv uprising in 1146. Took an active part in internecine wars, including the strife for the throne of the Grand Prince of Kyiv, as a representative of the Monomakh dynasty. Became famous as an intrepid commander, wise ruler and diplomat who worked for the unification of all lands of Kyivan Rus fragmented into separate principalities.

In 1149 Prince Yuri Dolgoruky of Suzdal banished Iziaslav Mstyslavych from Kyiv but in 1151 Iziaslav again became the Grand Prince of Kyiv after his bloodless victory over the army of Yuri Dolgoruky and reigned together with his uncle Vyacheslav Volodymyrovych to the end of his life. In 1147 Prince Iziaslav severed church ties with Constantinople and appointed Klyment Smoliatych (a Rus) the Metropolitan of Kyiv. The problem of strengthening the independence of the Rus Orthodox Church was focal in his internal policy. In foreign policy, Iziaslav Mstyslavych directed his attention to European countries – Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland and consolidated union with their rulers by dynastic marriages. His life is described in a chronicle made by the boyar Petro Boryslavych, which partly survived in the Hypatian codex.

Portrait (imaginary) of Iziaslav Mstyslavych