The Council of Liubech, 1097

The Council of Liubech

In 1097 six princes, grandsons and great-grandsons of Yaroslav, met at Liubech on the Dnieper to end their feuds in the face of Cuman raids and swore on the cross that ‘each shall hold his patrimony’: Kyiv went to Sviatopolk, the lands of Vsevolod to Vladimir Monomakh, those of Sviatoslav to his sons. Historians see in it a step towards the division of Rus’ into hereditary principalities.

Date

1097year known

Place

Liubechtoday: Liubech, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine · Eastern Europe

Participants

Kievan Rus’, Sviatopolk II of Kyiv, Vladimir II Monomakh, Oleg I of Chernigov

Threads

Rus (11th–12th c.)

Also known as

Liubech Council; Congress of Liubech; Lyubech Congress; Council of Lyubech; Любечский съезд; Съезд в Любече; Ослепление Василька

The 1090s were years of war among the princes and of heavy Cuman raids. Oleg Sviatoslavich, fighting to regain his father’s Chernihiv, allied himself with the Cumans in 1094, and the nomads repeatedly devastated the land. In 1097, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, the princes met at Liubech: Sviatopolk Iziaslavich of Kyiv, Vladimir, David Igorevich, Vasilko Rostislavich and the brothers David and Oleg Sviatoslavich. ‘Why do we ruin the Rus’ land by feuding among ourselves?’ the chronicle has them say. ‘The Cumans tear our land apart and rejoice that there are wars among us.’

They agreed that ‘each shall hold his patrimony’: Sviatopolk the patrimony of Iziaslav, Vladimir that of Vsevolod, David, Oleg and Yaroslav that of Sviatoslav, while the towns granted by Vsevolod were confirmed to their holders — Volodymyr to David Igorevich, Peremyshl to Volodar and Terebovl to Vasilko. All kissed the cross and swore to act together against anyone who broke the agreement.

The peace did not last. On 5 November 1097, at David Igorevich’s instigation and with Sviatopolk’s consent, Vasilko was seized in Kyiv and then blinded, and a new war began, settled only by another congress, at Uvetichi (Vitichev), in 1100. The Liubech principle tied lands to branches of the dynasty instead of to seniority: some historians see in it the beginning of the feudal division of Rus’, others the basis of a federation of princes.

Connections

Related events

Reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv1019 – 20 February 1054 · Eastern EuropeYaroslav had divided the towns among his sons and bidden them obey the eldest; at Liubech his descendants agreed that each should hold his father’s patrimony

The Cumans reach the Black Sea steppes and the borders of Rus’between 1054 and 1055 – between 1061 and 1062 · Eastern Europethe princes declared that the Cumans were tearing the land apart while they fought one another

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Sources