Andrei Bogolyubsky’s coalition sacks Kyiv
In March 1169 an army sent by Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal under his son Mstislav, together with eleven allied princes, took Kyiv from Mstislav Iziaslavich and plundered it, sparing neither St Sophia nor the Tithe Church. Andrei stayed in the north and gave Kyiv to his younger brother Gleb — a sign, for many historians, that the centre of power in Rus’ had shifted to the north-east.
- Date
- between 8 March and 12 March 1169exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Grand Principality of Vladimir, Kievan Rus’, Igor Sviatoslavich
- Threads
- Rus (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Sack of Kiev (1169); Siege of Kiev (1169); Capture of Kiev (1169); Взятие Киева (1169); Разорение Киева в 1169 году
Andrei bore no love for Mstislav Iziaslavich, grand prince of Kyiv, and when Mstislav gave the Novgorodians his son Roman as their prince, the hostility of the other princes, says the Kyiv chronicle, grew and they swore an alliance against him. That winter Andrei sent his son Mstislav with the men of Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir and the voivode Boris Zhidislavich; with them went eleven princes, among them Andrei’s brothers Gleb of Pereiaslav and Vsevolod, the Rostislavichi Roman of Smolensk, Rurik and David, and the Chernihiv princes Oleg and Igor Sviatoslavich.
Gathering at Vyshgorod, the allies camped at Dorogozhichi by the monastery of St Cyril in the first week of Lent and in the second week surrounded Kyiv. Mstislav defended the city, but the Berendei and Torks in his service betrayed him, and after three days he fled towards Volodymyr, leaving his wife and son to be captured. The Kyiv chronicle dates the fall of the city to 8 March, a Wednesday in the second week of Lent; in 1169 that Wednesday fell on 12 March, the date many modern works adopt. For two days, says the Kyiv chronicler — three, according to the chronicle of Vladimir — the victors plundered the Podil and the Upper Town, the monasteries, St Sophia and the Tithe Church, carrying off icons, books, vestments and bells; even the Caves monastery was set on fire, though, the chronicler says, the prayers of the Mother of God saved it.
The Vladimir chronicler saw in the disaster a punishment for the sins of the Kyivans and for the ‘injustice’ of the metropolitan, who had forbidden Abbot Polikarp of the Caves to eat butter and milk on Wednesdays and Fridays that fell on feast days. Mstislav Andreevich installed his uncle Gleb in Kyiv and returned to his father. V. O. Klyuchevsky saw here the moment when Andrei ‘separated seniority from place’; modern historians such as P. P. Tolochko and M. F. Kotlyar stress that the southern princes played the main part in the campaign.
Connections
Related events
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europethe Tithe Church, the first stone church of Kyiv, was plundered too
- St Sophia of Kyiv is foundedbetween 1011 and 1037 · Eastern Europethe victors plundered St Sophia, the metropolitan cathedral of Kyiv
- The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is builtbetween 1158 and 1167 · Eastern EuropeAndrei Bogolyubsky, who built the church, sent the army that sacked Kyiv in 1169
- Igor Sviatoslavich’s campaign against the Cumans23 April – 12 May 1185 · Eastern Europesixteen years earlier Igor had taken part in the sack of Kyiv
Same participants
- The Kyiv uprising of 1113 and the reign of Vladimir Monomakh17 April 1113 – 19 May 1125 · Eastern Europevia Kievan Rus’
- Battle of Lipitsabetween 21 April and 22 April 1216 · Eastern Europevia Grand Principality of Vladimir
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv1019 – 20 February 1054 · Eastern Europe
- Hilarion, the first metropolitan of Kyiv from Rus’1051 … February 1052 · Eastern Europe
- The Tale of Bygone Years (Primary Chronicle) is compiled in Kyivbetween 1110 and 1118 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Manuel I Komnenos8 April 1143 – 24 September 1180
- Stefan Nemanja unites Serbiabetween 1166 and 1168 – 1196
Middle East and Egypt
- Nur ad-Din unites Muslim SyriaSeptember 1146 – 15 May 1174
Africa
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
South Asia
North America
- Drought and the end of the Chaco worldc. 1130 – c. 1180
Latin America
- Fall of Tulabetween 1140 and 1200
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Sack of Kiev (1169)
- Wikipedia (English): Andrey Bogolyubsky
- Wikipedia (Russian): Взятие Киева (1169)
- Полное собрание русских летописей. Т. 2: Ипатьевская летопись. — 2-е изд. — СПб., 1908.
- Полное собрание русских летописей. Т. 1: Лаврентьевская летопись. — 2-е изд. — Л., 1926–1928.
- Franklin S., Shepard J. The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. — London; New York: Longman, 1996.
- Wikidata: Q4110452