Editing Sviatopolk I of Kiev

{{Short description|Grand Prince of Kiev from 1015 to 1019}}
{{family name hatnote|Vladimirovich||lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Sviatopolk the Accursed
| succession   = [[Grand Prince of Kiev]]
| image        = Sviatopolk I of Kiev.jpg
| caption      = Sviatopolk the Accursed by V. Sheremetiev, 1867
| reign        = 1015–1019
| predecessor  = [[Vladimir the Great]]
| successor    = [[Yaroslav the Wise]]
| coronation   = 
| succession1  = [[Prince of Turov]]
| reign1       = 988–1019
| full name    = Sviatopolk Vladimirovich
| spouse       = daughter of [[Bolesław I the Brave]]
| house        = [[Rurik dynasty|Rurik]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [[Yaropolk I]] or [[Vladimir the Great]]
| mother       = [[Irina, Grand Princess of Kiev]]
| birth_date   = ~980
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 1019 (aged ~39)
| death_place  = 
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = 
| signature_type = Sign
| signature    = Alex K Sviatopolk I.svg
}}
'''Sviatopolk I Vladimirovich''' (also called ''Sviatopolk the Accursed'' or the ''Accursed Prince''; {{langx|orv|Свѧтоплъкъ|translit=Svętoplŭkŭ}};{{efn|{{langx|ru|Святополк Окаянный}}; {{langx|uk|Святополк Окаянний}}}} {{circa|980}} – 1019) was [[Prince of Turov]] from 988 to 1015 and [[Grand Prince of Kiev]] from 1015 to 1019. He earned his sobriquet after allegedly murdering his brothers during his bid to take the throne. His actual responsibility is disputed by historians.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The [[Svyatopolk-Mirsky]] family of [[Rurik dynasty|Rurikid]] origin attribute their descent from Sviatopolk. Tsar [[Peter the Great ]] recognized their descent during his reign.

==Early life==

Sviatopolk's mother was a Greek nun captured by [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav I]] in [[Bulgaria]] and married to his lawful heir [[Yaropolk I]], who became the prince in 972. In 980, Yaropolk's brother [[Vladimir the Great|Vladimir]] had him murdered, and the new sovereign married his predecessor's wife, who gave birth to a child. Thus, Sviatopolk may have been the eldest of Vladimir's sons, although [[Family life and children of Vladimir I|his parentage has been questioned]].

When Sviatopolk was eight years old, Vladimir put him in charge of Turov and later arranged his marriage with the daughter of [[Bolesław I the Brave|Bolesław I the Brave of Poland]]. The young princess came to Turov together with [[Reinbern]], the [[Bishop]] of Kolberg (now [[Kołobrzeg]]). Dissatisfied with Vladimir and encouraged by his own wife and Reinbern, Sviatopolk began preparations for war against Vladimir, probably counting on support from his father-in-law. Vladimir soon discovered Sviatopolk's intentions, however, and threw him, his wife and Reinbern in prison, where Reinbern died.

==Biography according to domestic sources==
[[File:Boleslaw Chrobry with Swietopelk near The Golden Gate in Kyiv MNK ND 11610.jpg|thumb|297x297px|Jan Matejko, Sviatopolk (in red) with [[Bolesław the Brave]] at the Golden Gate in Kiev]]
Not long before Vladimir's death, Sviatopolk was freed from prison. In 1015, Sviatopolk's retinue concealed Vladimir's death from him to prevent him from claiming the Kievan throne. When Sviatopolk learned of Vladimir's demise, he seized power in Kiev almost immediately.

The citizens of Kiev did not show much sympathy for Sviatopolk and, therefore, he decided to distribute presents in order to win them over. Then, he decided to rid himself of three of Vladimir's sons, [[Boris and Gleb|Boris, Gleb]], and Sviatoslav, whose claims for the Kievan throne threatened his power. Boris presented the most danger to him because he had been in charge of Vladimir's [[druzhina]] (personal guards) and army, and enjoyed the support of the citizens.

He sent the [[boyar]]s of Vyshgorod to execute Boris. Boris and his manservant were stabbed to death when sleeping in a tent. The prince was discovered still breathing when his body was being transported in a bag to Kiev, but the [[Varangians]] put him out of his misery with the thrust of a lance.

Sviatopolk's cold-blooded reprisal earned him the nickname of the Accursed. The news of this triple murder reached another son of Vladimir, [[Yaroslav I the Wise|Yaroslav]], Prince of [[Novgorod]], who decided to go to war against Sviatopolk with the support from the citizens of Novgorod and the [[Varangian]]s. The battle took place in 1016 not far from [[Lubech]], near the [[Dnieper river]]. Sviatopolk was defeated and fled to [[Poland]].

In 1018, he returned to [[Kievan Rus'|Rus']], defeated Yaroslav [[Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis, 1018|with help from his father-in-law]] and seized Kiev. [[Bolesław I the Brave|Bolesław of Poland]] and his army [[Kiev Expedition (1018)|remained in Rus' for several months]], but later returned to Poland, seizing some [[Red Ruthenia|Cherven towns]] on the way.

Meanwhile, the [[posadnik]] [[Konstantin Dobrynich]] and other citizens of Novgorod persuaded Yaroslav to go to war against Kiev once again. Sviatopolk was defeated and fled to the [[steppe]]s. Soon he returned with the [[Pecheneg]] army and attacked Yaroslav on the [[Alta River]], but was once again defeated and fled to Poland, dying on his way there in July 1019. Sviatopolk may have been murdered by a descendant of [[Valuk (duke)|Valuk Conqueror]] (Wallux dux Winedorum)<ref>Słownik starożytności słowiańskich. T. 2. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1965, s. 382.</ref> who in 1018 helped him and his father-in-law Bolesław I in expedition against Yaroslav.

<gallery>
File:Sviatopolk silver srebrenik.jpg|Sviatopolk's silver [[Money of Kievan Rus'#Srebrenik|srebrenik]]
File:Владимир царь Киев Праздничная минея 1619.JPG|A miniature of Vladimir the Great from a 17th-century ''[[Menaion]]''
File:YaroslavWiseSeal.jpg|The seal of [[Yaroslav the Wise]]
</gallery>

==Biography according to foreign sources==
[[File:Zaślubiny Świętopełka.JPG|thumb|''Wedding of Sviatopolk'' (1892) by Jan Matejko]]
During the last century, the traditional account of Sviatopolk's career has been somewhat modified. It has been argued that it was Boris who succeeded Vladimir in Kiev, while Sviatopolk was still in prison. One [[Norse saga]] called ''[[Eymund's saga]]'' (a part of ''[[Yngvars saga víðförla]]''), with remarkable details, puts on Yaroslav the blame of his brother Burizlaf's murder. This Burizlaf, however, may be Sviatopolk{{clarify|date=January 2024}} (whose troops were commanded by the Polish duke Bolesław; the latter name is also rendered as Burizlaf in some sagas) as well as Boris.

Therefore, it has been suggested that Sviatopolk ascended the throne after Boris's assassination and tried to fend off Yaroslav's attacks as well as to punish his agents guilty of Boris's murder. The chronicle of [[Thietmar of Merseburg]], who died in 1018, could have been regarded as the only contemporary and unbiased account of events, save that Thietmar's data may have been supplied by Sviatopolk himself during his brief exile at the Polish court. Unfortunately it can be interpreted ambiguously as far as the question of Sviatopolk's guilt is concerned. One place in his chronicle can be interpreted as Sviatopolk escaping from Kiev to Poland ''immediately'' after his father's death.

But Thietmar states that Bolesław supported his son-in-law against Yaroslav in 1017, which is the date, according to the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', of Sviatopolk's first defeat by Yaroslav. Preparing a campaign against Kiev, Bolesław abruptly stopped a successful war against the German Emperor [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]]. So, it is unlikely that Sviatopolk had been present at his court since 1015, which is often supposed by the historians who consider Sviatopolk guilty of Boris and Gleb's murders.

==Archeological record==
The I-S2077 subclade of [[Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of Europe|Y-DNA]] haplogroup [[Haplogroup I-Z63|I-Z63]] was sampled on an elite warrior buried in [[Bodzia Cemetery]] in a rich burial from ca. 1010-1020 AD. All artefacts there indicate a strong relation to the [[Kievan Rus']] ruling elite, so this man who probably succumbed to combat wounds, was closely related to Sviatopolk. The cemetery in Bodzia is exceptional in terms of Scandinavian and Kievan Rus' links. The Bodzia man (sample VK157, or burial E864/I) was not a simple warrior from the princely retinue, but he belonged to the princely family himself.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duczko|first=Wladyslaw|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEawXSP4AVwC|title=Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe|date=2004-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-13874-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sample from Homo sapiens - BioSample - NCBI|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/?term=SAMEA6799933&fbclid=IwAR2ffDWsGEtbJVHFuyAY7WXIv75lMJ4sLW9YlBItsjhUJ4mJjvEjGM071xI|access-date=2020-09-26|website=www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Margaryan|first1=Ashot|last2=Lawson|first2=Daniel J.|last3=Sikora|first3=Martin|last4=Racimo|first4=Fernando|last5=Rasmussen|first5=Simon|last6=Moltke|first6=Ida|last7=Cassidy|first7=Lara M.|last8=Jørsboe|first8=Emil|last9=Ingason|first9=Andrés|last10=Pedersen|first10=Mikkel W.|last11=Korneliussen|first11=Thorfinn|date=September 2020|title=Population genomics of the Viking world|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2688-8|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=585|issue=7825|pages=390–396|doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8|pmid=32939067|bibcode=2020Natur.585..390M|issn=1476-4687|hdl=10852/83989|s2cid=221769227|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

His burial is the richest one in the whole cemetery, and strontium analysis of his tooth enamel shows he was not local. It is assumed that he came to Poland with Sviatopolk, and met a violent death in combat. This corresponds to the events of 1018 AD when Sviatopolk disappeared after having retreated from Kiev to Poland. It cannot be excluded that the Bodzia man was Sviatopolk.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duczko|first=Wladyslaw|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEawXSP4AVwC|title=Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe|date=2004-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-13874-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sample from Homo sapiens - BioSample - NCBI|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/?term=SAMEA6799933&fbclid=IwAR2ffDWsGEtbJVHFuyAY7WXIv75lMJ4sLW9YlBItsjhUJ4mJjvEjGM071xI|access-date=2020-09-26|website=www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Margaryan|first1=Ashot|last2=Lawson|first2=Daniel J.|last3=Sikora|first3=Martin|last4=Racimo|first4=Fernando|last5=Rasmussen|first5=Simon|last6=Moltke|first6=Ida|last7=Cassidy|first7=Lara M.|last8=Jørsboe|first8=Emil|last9=Ingason|first9=Andrés|last10=Pedersen|first10=Mikkel W.|last11=Korneliussen|first11=Thorfinn|date=September 2020|title=Population genomics of the Viking world|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2688-8|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=585|issue=7825|pages=390–396|doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8|pmid=32939067|bibcode=2020Natur.585..390M|issn=1476-4687|hdl=10852/83989|s2cid=221769227|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Rurikids|Rurik]]||979||1019||name=Sviatopolk I of Kiev|Sviatopolk I Vladimirich}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=established}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prince of Turov]]|years=987–1019}}
{{s-aft|after=annexed}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Vladimir the Great|Vladimir I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Rulers of Kievan Rus|Grand Prince of Kiev]]|years=1015–1019}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Yaroslav I the Wise|Yaroslav I]]}}

{{s-pre}}
{{s-bef|before=Vysheslav Vladimirovich}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Grand Prince of Kiev]]|years=1010–1015}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Yaroslav the Wise]]}}

{{s-bef|before=title established}}
{{s-ttl|title=2nd in line [[Grand Prince of Kiev]]|years=1000–1010}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Yaroslav the Wise]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sviatopolk 01 Of Kiev}}
[[Category:980s births]]
[[Category:1019 deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century princes from Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Grand princes of Kiev]]
[[Category:Princes of Turov]]
[[Category:Children of Vladimir the Great]]
[[Category:Kievan succession crisis of 1015–1019]]