Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny - a brilliant commander of the period of fragmentation in Russia. He acted as a defender of antiquity, traditions and fair relations between representatives of princely houses.

N.I. Kostomarov about Mstislav Udatny:
"This person can rightly be called a model of character, which could only be developed by the conditions of life of the pre-Tatar specific-veche period. This prince acquired a celebrity not by what other advanced personalities of that time did. He did not pursue new goals, did not give a new turn to the course of events, did not created a new prototype social order. It was, on the contrary, the defender of antiquity, the guardian of the existing, the fighter for the truth, which the image had already taken shape before. His motives and aspirations were as uncertain as the aspirations that ruled his age. His virtues and shortcomings bear the imprint of everything that the specific life has worked out in the aggregate. This was best person of his time, but did not cross the line that the spirit of previous centuries assigned to itself.

Mstislav Udatny (from the Smolensk branch of the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh) was the youngest son of Mstislav Rostislavich the Brave, who was the grandson of Mstislav the Great and great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh. In chronicle sources, Mstislav the Brave appears as a noble ruler, a champion of justice. He successfully fought against the powerful Vladimir-Suzdal Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. According to the chroniclers, "he always strove for great things. And there was no land in Russia that would not want to have him and did not love him." The qualities of the father were transferred to the son. Mstislav Udatny chronicles are also depicted as a champion of established traditions and foundations, who spoke out in defense of the existing liberties and orders. So, he fought against the princes of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, who tried to subjugate Novgorod in 1210, 1216, liberated the Galician land from the Hungarian invaders (1219), defeated the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Chermny, who took the Kiev land from the descendants of Monomakh in 1212 or 1214 .

Being a junior representative of the Smolensk princely house, Mstislav could not count on a large and significant inheritance and became a prince in Toropets, on the border of Smolensk and Novgorod lands. In 1210, taking advantage of the conflict between the Novgorodians and the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest, he supported the former, showing himself to be a defender of Novgorodian liberties and an opponent of princely autocracy. The Novgorod boyars in the same year called on Mstislav to reign.

In 1212 (1214), Mstislav intervened in South Russian affairs: after the death of his uncle, the Kiev prince Rurik Rostislavich, the Chernigov princes, headed by Vsevolod Chermny, took possession of Kiev and expelled Mstislav's relatives (from the Smolensk Monomakhoviches). With the Novgorod and Smolensk troops, Mstislav invaded the southern Russian lands, captured Vyshgorod, forced Vsevolod Chermnoy to flee from Kyiv, and planted his cousin Mstislav Romanovich (Old) in Kyiv.

On April 21, 1216, the most famous battle in the military career of Mstislav took place on the Lipitsa River near the city of Yuryev-Polsky. Again he spoke out against the Vladimir-Suzdal princes, who were trying to autocratically rule Novgorod. This time, Mstislav Mstislavich's opponent was his son-in-law Yaroslav Vsevolodich Pereyaslavsky, invited by the Novgorodians to reign in 1215, when Mstislav, leaving the Novgorod table, departed for Southern Russia. The harsh rule of Yaroslav, whose residence was the city of Torzhok, turned into famine and discontent in the Novgorod land. Mstislav returned to Novgorod and opposed his son-in-law. Yaroslav was supported by his older brother, Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodich. Mstislav's allies were the princes of Pskov and Smolensk - his relatives, as well as the elder brother of Yuri and Yaroslav Konstantin Rostovsky, who claimed the grand prince's table. Despite the superiority of the Vladimir-Suzdal army, Mstislav attacked: with a decisive blow, the Novgorodians, Smolensk and Rostovites overturned the Suzdal regiments and defeated them. Thanks to the victory of Mstislav in the Battle of Lipitsa, Konstantin Vsevolodich of Rostov ascended the throne in Vladimir.

In 1219, leaving Novgorod forever, Mstislav went to the south-west of Russia. Having expelled the Hungarians and Poles from the Galician land, he himself sat on the Galician table, having given his daughter to Daniel Romanovich, the son and heir of Roman Mstislavich of Galicia.

In 1223, Mstislav Udatny advocated for the campaign of the South Russian princes against the Mongols who invaded the Polovtsian steppes. He decided to help the Polovtsy because the most famous of the Polovtsian khans who turned to the Russian princes was Kotyan, Mstislav's father-in-law.
On May 31, 1223, on the Kalka River, the allied army, which consisted of the squads of most of the princes of Kiev, Chernigov-Seversk and Galicia-Volyn lands, as well as the Polovtsy, was defeated. Mstislav Udatny and his son-in-law Daniel moved in the forefront and were the first to take the blow of the Mongol regiments. Nevertheless, both princes remained alive and were able to return to their possessions.

IN last years Mstislav's life, apparently tired of the intrigues of the powerful Galician boyars and yielding to his pressure, transferred control of Galich to his third son-in-law, the Hungarian prince Andrei (András) and retired to the border with the Polovtsian steppe in the city of Torchesk. According to the chronicles, the boyars quarreled between Mstislav and Daniel, so he did not make him his heir, but later Mstislav repented of this and wanted to give Galich to Daniel. But he did not have time: in 1228, on the way to Kyiv, Mstislav suddenly fell ill and died. He was buried in one of the Kiev churches that have not survived to this day.

XI. ANDREY BOGOLYUBSKY. VSEVOLOD BOLSHOE NEST AND HIS SONS

(continuation)

The dispute between Konstantin and Yuri. – Participation of Mstislav Udaly.

The precautions taken by the Grand Duke to strengthen his last orders were in vain. His innovation was too contrary to ingrained customs and therefore was not slow to become a source of unrest and internecine strife, which in turn long time shook the political power of Suzdal Rus. Konstantin of Rostov, according to the chronicle, "raised his eyebrows in anger at his brethren, and even more so at Yuri." North-Eastern Russia after the death of Vsevolod III was mainly divided between these two brothers. The eldest of them did not even think of giving up his rights. In the fight that came from here younger brothers also divided between rivals: Yaroslav, prince of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and Svyatoslav, ruler of Yuryev, united with George; and Vladimir of Moscow with Konstantin. But George removed Vladimir, giving him Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, where he was soon captured by the Polovtsy.

The feud between the two brothers and the renewed rivalry between the cities of Rostov and Vladimir led to a division not only political, but also ecclesiastical or actually diocesan. In the previous era, although the bishops bore the title of Rostov, they lived mainly near the Grand Duke, that is, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, of course, to the considerable chagrin of the Rostovites. The latter took advantage of the circumstances to obtain their special lord. When Bishop John left the bishopric and retired to the Bogolyubov Monastery (1214), Constantine sent his confessor Pachomius, abbot of the Petrovsky Monastery, to Kyiv to the Metropolitan with a request to consecrate him to the Rostov See. Metropolitan Matthew fulfilled the request. And George sent Simon, hegumen of the Nativity Monastery, who was his mother's confessor, to be ordained to Kyiv, Grand Duchess Mary, and he was consecrated as a bishop to Vladimir and Suzdal. It is remarkable that Pakhomiy and Simon began their spiritual career as the Chernorizians of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, which then served as a nursery for pastors of the Russian Church. Simon is also known for his book activities (one of the writers of Paterik Pechersky). Pachomius died two years later; the northern chronicler praises him for the fact that he was not a hoarder of wealth, but, on the contrary, was distinguished by his generosity to the poor and widows, "a true shepherd, not a mercenary." His successor in Rostov is Cyril, a monk Suzdal monastery St. Demetrius.

The enmity of the two brothers for seniority took a decisive turn when Novgorod relations contacted her.

After the voluntary departure of Mstislav the Udaly from Novgorod the Great (in 1215), the Suzdal party rose up there, won the veche and convinced Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to be called to reign. The latter, in addition to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, owned Tver, therefore, was a neighbor of Novgorod. Probably, the veche agreed to this vocation all the more willingly because the Pereyaslav prince was married to the daughter of Mstislav the Udaly. But it soon became clear how far he did not resemble his father-in-law in character. Yaroslav-Theodore was in a hurry to take advantage of the predominance of the Suzdal party and began his reign by ordering the capture and chaining of two boyars belonging to a party hostile to him. Such violence created an uproar. The inhabitants of Prusskaya Street, in their turn, killed two noble adherents of Yaroslav and threw their bodies into the city moat. In view of the beginning of the rebellion, Yaroslav considered his stay in Novgorod unsafe and, leaving Khot Grigorovich as his governor here, he himself with many adherents retired to the devoted Novgorod suburb of Torzhok, on the border of his Suzdal possessions. And then he gave full rein to his vindictive, power-hungry disposition. In the Novgorod volost that year there was a crop failure, and the prince began to delay the carts with bread, coming from the Volga, or Lower lands. Then terrible high prices set in Novgorod, and then famine; poor people ate pine bark, lime leaves, moss, etc. Fathers began to sell their children. The famine caused such a pestilence that the skudelnitsa (common pit) dug for this occasion was soon filled to the top; and uncleaned corpses lay in the squares, streets, fields and served as food for dogs. Oppressed by the disaster, the Novgorodians vainly sent embassy after embassy to Yaroslav with a request to return to Novgorod and start carts with bread. Yaroslav did not answer anything and detained the ambassadors; also intercepted Novgorod guests. Fierce sadness and groaning reigned in Novgorod. In such an extreme case, the citizens turned to their favorite and intercessor, Mstislav the Udaly, and this latter immediately came to their call. He ordered to seize the governor of Yaroslav and forge his nobles on Gorodische. Mstislav and the citizens mutually swore allegiance. “Either I will turn over the men of Novgorod and the volosts, or I will lay my head for Novgorod,” he said at the veche.

Upon learning of the arrival of Mstislav, Yaroslav began to fortify Torzhok and make notches on the roads leading from Novgorod; blocked the river Tvertsa. Relying on his party, he sent a hundred more Novgorod men to reinforce it in order to mutiny against Mstislav. But general mood in Novgorod it was already so hostile to him that even these hundred men joined the majority. Mstislav first tried to persuade Yaroslav to acquiesce by persuasion and sent George, a priest from the church of John at Torgovishche, to him as an ambassador. But Yaroslav not only did not release the detained Novgorodians, but ordered them to be reforged and sent to their cities; He distributed their goods and horses to his people. The number of those captured, according to the chronicle, stretched to 2000 people. Then Mstislav again convened a veche and announced a campaign: “Let’s go look for our husbands, your brethren, and our volosts,” he said. “Torzhka cannot be higher than Novgorod, but where St. Sophia is, there is Novgorod. God and Truth."

Preparing for a decisive struggle, both father-in-law and son-in-law were looking for allies. The side of Yaroslav was taken by his elder brother Grand Duke Vladimirsky George and younger brother Svyatoslav Yuryevsky. Mstislav called to his aid his brother Vladimir Mstislavich with the Pskovites and cousin Vladimir Rurikovich with the Smolensk people. In addition, he entered into an alliance with Konstantin Vsevolodovich of Rostov, promising, of course, to restore his legitimate seniority in the Suzdal land. March 1, therefore, at the very New Year(1217), Mstislav went on a campaign from Novgorod. Two days later, some Novgorod boyars (Vladislav Zavidich, Tavrilo Igorevich, Yuri Aleksinich, Gavrilets Milyatinich, etc.), with their wives and children, went to Yaroslav: they were perjurers, because together with others they swore to stand against him all for one; but, obviously, the Suzdal party in Novgorod was very significant, Mstislav and Vladimir Pskov went along the Seliger path. Following the upper Volga along the outskirts of Smolensk land, he touched his own Toropetsk volost; moreover, he allowed the Novgorodians to collect supplies for themselves and their horses; but forbade taking full. He liberated his Volga city of Rzhev, besieged by Yaroslav's brother, Svyatoslav Yuryevsky; then took Zubtsov and went to Suzdal land, together with the Smolensk people, who were brought by Vladimir Rurikovich. They fought the Tver volost and took Kosnyatin. Here they left the banks of the Volga and headed for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky itself. On the way, Konstantin Vsevolodovich joined them with his Rostov regiments. Yaroslav hastened from Torzhok to protect his own inheritance. To help him came the Grand Duke Yuri with his regiments, as well as the younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir; The Murom princes and some wanderers, probably hired freemen, were also called.

MSTISLAV MSTISLAVICH TOROPETSKY

Mstislav Mstislavich, named Udatny (Remote) (? -1228) should be ranked among the outstanding military leaders of the new specific time, when not only foreigners, but also the closest relatives of the Rurik princes, descendants of the same grandfathers and fathers, who ruled in neighboring lands, became irreconcilable enemies. Internecine wars ended either in victory or defeat of one of the parties, then peace came, but it was most often perceived as a short respite - yesterday's allies quarreled, old enemies united against the winner. Under these conditions, even the most experienced and successful warriors had to be on the alert, wary of an unknown strike from any direction. The era of fratricidal wars has grown completely special people ready to fight the most incredible enemy. A prime example such a commander was Mstislav Udatnoy, Prince of Toropetsk (since 1206), Novgorod (since 1210) and Galician (since 1219). For many years he determined the policy of many principalities and lands of Russia. The year of his birth is unknown. Mstislav's father was the Smolensk prince Mstislav Rostislavich the Brave, who was at enmity with his cousin Andrei Bogolyubsky, to the delight of the Chernigov Olgovichi. Year after year, the struggle between the princes flared up, turning into an irreconcilable confrontation. In the frequent battles and campaigns of that time, Mstislav Rostislavich deserved Special attention chronicler, who noted that this warrior "did not fear anyone but God alone." He became the first of the princes to be buried in the Novgorod Hagia Sophia.
His son Mstislav was first mentioned in the annals in 1193, when he became the prince of Tripoli, from 1203 he reigned in Torchesk, and from 1209 he sat down to reign in Toropets. Repeatedly, the Novgorod boyars invited him to rule Veliky Novgorod. Because of the reign of Novgorod, Mstislav Mstislavich entered into a long conflict with the Grand Duke Vladimir Vsevolod The Big Nest and liberated the city of Torzhok, captured by him from the Novgorodians. Then he went on a campaign against the Chud and conquered the entire Chud land up to the Varangian (Baltic) Sea.
After the death of Vsevolod, Mstislav reconciled with his sons, giving his daughter Rostislava to one of them, Yaroslav. Two years later, having quarreled with the princes of Suzdal, he took her from her son-in-law, but then, after the Battle of Lipitsa, he nevertheless returned his daughter to his lawful spouse. Thanks to this circumstance, one of the greatest Russian commanders, Alexander Nevsky, was born - the son of Yaroslav Vsevolodich and Rostislava Mstislavna, the grandson of Mstislav the Udaly.
In 1215, with the help of the Novgorod regiments, Mstislav Mstislavich expelled Vsevolod Svyatoslavich / Chermnoy / from Kyiv and installed his cousin Mstislav Romanovich to reign there. However, he had to leave Novgorod, yielding the reign to Yaroslav Vsevolodich, his son-in-law. He himself, having knocked out the Hungarian governor Benedict from Galich, sat down on the Galician table. However, he soon learned that Yaroslav, having strengthened himself in Novgorod, began to oppress the people and supporters of Mstislav Mstislavich and planned to make Torzhok the main city of the Novgorod land. Then, leaving the Galician reign, the prince returned to Novgorod on February 11, 1216. Speaking at a veche that gathered at Yaroslav's Court, he declared: "Either I will return the Novgorod husbands and Novgorod volosts, or I will lay my head for Veliky Novgorod!" This program was enthusiastically received by the people of Novgorod. "We are ready for life and death with you!" they answered the prince
Almost immediately, he began a war with Prince Yaroslav of Pereyaslavl and the Great Vladimir Prince Yuri, who supported his brother. The conflict was aggravated by family strife among the sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest. Mstislav firmly took the side of the elder Vsevolodich, Prince Konstantin, who was at enmity with the brothers.
Having entered the Suzdal land, the army of Mstislav on April 21, 1216 defeated the regiments of Yuri and Yaroslav in the battle on the Lipitsa River and achieved the transfer of the Vladimir table to his ally Konstantin Vsevolodich.
Nevertheless, speaking of Mstislav Udal, it should be noted to the honor of this prince that he, being actor almost all civil strife of his time, more than once participated in all-Russian campaigns against the Polovtsy and other enemies of the Russian land.
Having defeated all the enemies of Novgorod, Mstislav missed Southern Russia and gathered veche at Yaroslav's Court. As it turned out, to say goodbye to the people of Novgorod. Turning to them, the prince said: "I bow to Hagia Sophia, to the tomb of my father and to you; I want to look for Galich, but I will not forget you; God grant me to lie down near my father at Hagia Sophia." Novgorodians tried to dissuade Mstislav, but to no avail. Mstislav Mstislavich went to return Galich, where the Hungarians again fortified. In 1218, with the help of the father-in-law of the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, in a fierce battle near the walls of this city, he managed to defeat the army of the Hungarian governor Filney. Following this Russian army approached Galich, where Prince Koloman shut himself up. During the siege, Mstislav's soldiers managed to dig a tunnel, through which a small detachment entered the city, opening the gates. Russian squads entered Galich. The Hungarians were killed, and the king's son Koloman was captured. So Mstislav Udaloy regained the Galician reign, which he owned until 1227. He also had to fight with the Poles, having entered into an alliance with the Vladimir-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich, to whom Mstislav married his daughter Anna. Yaroslav Vsevolodich married another daughter of Mstislav Mstislavich Rostislav, as noted above, back in 1214.
In the battle with the Mongol-Tatar troops on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223, Mstislav was one of the few Russian princes who broke through with the remnants of his squad through enemy barriers back to the Dnieper. The bitterness of this defeat burned the prince until the end of his days. Moreover, a significant share of the blame for the catastrophe that occurred on the banks of the Kalka lay precisely on Mstislav. It was he who started the battle, without waiting for other princes, it was his people, having reached the Dnieper, that cut down the remaining boats, which doomed other retreating soldiers to death. Mstislav lost interest in political struggle and in 1227, having quarreled with Daniil Romanovich by that time, he gave his other daughter Maria in marriage to the Hungarian prince Andrew. Having handed over to him power over the Galician land, Mstislav Mstislavich went to reign in the city of his youth, the border city of Torchesk, where he ended his earthly days the following year.

Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (Udaloy)

nyaz Trypilsky (1193-1194),

Prince Torchesky (1203-1207, 1227-1228),

Prince Toropetsky (1206-1213),

prince of Novgorod (1210-1215, 1216-1218),

Prince of Galicia (1215, 1219-1227)

Son of Prince Mstislav Rostislavich of Smolensk and Novgorod.

Mstislav reigned in Tripoli from 1193, and then in Torchesk, and although he was married to the daughter of the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, he repeatedly went to the Polovtsians. In 1206, for the successful defense of Torchesk, he received from his uncle, Rurik Rostislavich Smolensky, a Toropetsky destiny. True to next year he lost Torchesk, losing it after a long defense to the Olgoviches.

In 1209, Mstislav seized the governors of the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in Torzhok and offered himself to the Novgorodians as a prince. They took Svyatoslav into custody and, after Mstislav entered the city, they sent former prince to the father.

Sitting in Novgorod, Mstislav in 1210 went to the Chud and took tribute from the inhabitants. In 1214, Mstislav, with the Novgorodians and Smolensk princes, went to Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny, drove him out of Kyiv, which he gave to Mstislav Romanovich, and then, after a short stay in Novgorod, retired to southern Russia.

In 1215, the Hungarian king Andras II and the Polish king Leszek the White quarreled in the Galician land. Mstislav came to the aid of his friend Leshek and expelled the Hungarians from Galich.

Upon learning that the Novgorod prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich began to oppress his subjects, he returned to Novgorod and, in alliance with Konstantin Vsevolodovich, in 1216 defeated Yaroslav and his ally, Yuri Vsevolodovich, in the Battle of Lipitsk, put Konstantin Vsevolodovich on the Vladimir table and again returned to southern Russia.

In 1217-1218, the Poles again invited Mstislav to fight the Hungarians for Galich. Having mastered it, Yaroslav, unexpectedly for the Poles, made peace with the Russian pretender to the Galician table, Daniil Romanovich. This caused an alliance of the Poles with the Hungarians against Mstislav, as a result of which he lost Galich, but he managed to stop the enemy’s movement to Volhynia with the help of the Russian princes and Polovtsy. In 1221 Mstislav managed to regain Galich as well.

In 1223, at the Kiev Congress of Russian princes, Mstislav Udatny supported the request of his son-in-law, the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, for help against the Tatar-Mongols. Before the battle on Kalka, he quarreled with the princes and began hostilities without warning them, and with his haste violated the plans of the Russian princes. The Polovtsy, who fled from the battlefield, crushed the Russian regiments, and they also fled. Mstislav Udatny himself was the first to reach the Dnieper, but instead of organizing the crossing of the retreating Russian regiments, he ordered the remaining boats to be broken up, which made it difficult to save the rest.

Mstislav spent the following years in Galich, constantly at odds with the local boyars, Hungarians and Poles. In 1227, having given his daughter Helena in marriage to the Hungarian prince Andras, son of Andras II, Mstislav handed over the administration of Galich to him, and he returned to Torchesk, where he died a year later, accepting the schema before his death.

After his death, his son Yuri remained, who reigned in Pskov (c.1232-1240). Youngest daughter Mstislava, Rostislava (in baptism - Feodosia) was the wife of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. One of their sons, Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, became one of the great historical figures in our ancient history.

Mstislav Mstislavich became famous throughout Russia for his military prowess and luck, for which he received the nickname Udatny or Udaloy. He liked to talk about justice and thought that he was serving it, but in essence he loved power more than anything.