On the death of his guardian, in 913, Igor took pos session of the throne at the age of forty. Endowed with the same warlike spirit as Oleg, after having quieted different rebellions, and vanquished the Drev lians, the Uglitchis, and the Petchenegues, Igor plan ned a second expedition against Constantinople, and, according to the Russian annals, which are no doubt extravagant, equipped an army of 400,000 warriors. In the year 941, he set sail with this great army for Constantinople without having made any declaration of war, and without any ostensible motive for infring ing the treaty of peace which had been entered into by Oleg and Leo. For this conduct he was severely punished. Ile was met by the Grecian forces, under able generals; attacked both on land and in his ships; and completely defeated. Scarcely a third of the army returned with him to his own country. Notwith standing his bad fortune, with an undaunted spirit, and with new forces, he set out a second time for Greece; but before he had advanced beyond the Tau ridan Chersonnesus, he was met by deputies from the Emperor Romanus, who offered to pay the same tri bute to him as to his predecessor. Igor then retired with his army, and was afterwards put to death by the Drevlians, against whom he waged war, because they had refused to pay an augmentation of yearly tri bute. Igor left one son by his spouse Olga, a princess of a bold and daring spirit. As Sviatoslaf was very young, Olga assumed the reins of Government, and in revenge for the death of Igor, took possession of the capital (Ikorest, or Koristen,) of the Drevlians, and committed the most barbarous outrages and cruel ties upon the people. But in the opinion of her pane gyrists, Olga attempted to introduce the Christian religion into the Russian territories. She undertook a journey to Constantinople, about the middle of the tenth century, when she was baptized, the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus himself having conduct ed her to the baptismal font; and in the character of her sponsor, having given her the name of Helen. After she had ceased to rule, she persuaded her son to embrace the Christian religion, but he disregarded her solicitations. Nevertheless, a few proselytes were made among the people.
Olga appears to have been a woman of considerable talents, and to have infused useful instruction into her sex. She has long occupied a distinguished place among the Russian saints.
Sviatoslaf, who had been in possession of the go vernment long before his mother's death, was quite a military character. He passed his life in the camp, inured himself to every kind of privation and hardship, and in fact denied himself every accommodation ex cept what he could enjoy in common with his soldiers. By this conduct, he ingratiated himself with his troops, and then carried them against the Khosars, whom he completely defeated. The emperor Nicepho rus Phocas, being harassed by the Ungrians, who were assisted by his treacherous allies the Bulgarians, applied to Sviatoslaf for assistance. A treaty having been entered into, Sviatoslaf advanced with a numer ous army, and made himself master of most of the Bulgarian towns along the Danube. He was obliged, however, to retrace his steps, in consequence of the in vasion of his territories by the Petchenegues, whom he afterwards completely defeated. He now resumed a former design of establishing himself upon the banks of the Danube, and divided his hereditary dominions among his children. He gave Kief to Yaropolk, the territory of the Drevlians to Oleg, and the govern ment of Novgorod to Vladimir, a natural son born to him by one of the attendants of Olga. After a de feat, he was ultimately successful over the Bulgarians, but he was overcome by the Grecian army, which was sent against him in consequence of his having acted like a master, and not like an ally. Subsequently he suffered another defeat from the Petchenegues, and was killed. Varopolk vanquished his brother Oleg, and afterwards he himself was slain, when Vladimir, prince of northern Russia, acquired the undivided possession of all his father's territories, which he widely extended, and became one of the most distin guished monarchs of the age. He carried on a suc
cessful war with Poland. By his victories, he ex tended and enriched his empire, and established the Christian religion, which had hitherto made little pro gress in his dominions. He himself was baptized by the name of Basilius, and was married to the sister (or the niece) of the Grecian emperors Basilius and Constantine. If we can credit history, alter his con version he became quite another man, and led an ex emplary life of virtue and religion. The establish ment of Christianity, and with it of arts and sciences, commerce, and schools, forms the most memorable event in the life of Vladimir, (and one of the most im portant in the history of Russia,) who, considering the time in which he lived, has with considerable jus tice been called Vladimir the Great. In his old age, he marched against a rebellious son, on whom he had betsowed the government of Novgorod; but he died of grief upon the road after a long and glorious reign of thirty-five years.
Before his death, Vladimir had divided his exten sive dominions among his twelve sons, whom he had had by four wives, reserving to himself and his imme diate heir the grand principality of Kief. The conse quences of this ill-judged distribution were dreadful. Disunion, contention, and almost perpetual warfare existed among his descendants. Sviatopolk ordered his brother Boris, who had a right to the throne, to he assassinated in 1015, as also his cousins Gleb and Sviatoslaf. In 1016, being deprived of the throne by Yaroslaf, he had recourse to Boleslaus, king of Poland, and his father-in-law for assistance. He ravaged Kief and its neighbourhood in the year 1018, and reascend ed the throne. But soon afterwards he was obliged to fly, when Yaroslaf again took his place. In 1026, the principality of Tmutarakan (ancient Phanagoria, and now Taman) was joined to Russia. Different wars were maintained with the Greeks. Yaroslaf formed the first code of laws in his country, known under the appellation of " Russian Code." In the year 1037, he ordered Ilarin to be consecrated metro politan of Kief, without the consent of the patriarch of Constantinople; and in 1053, the Greek church se parated itself from the Roman Catholic church. In 1054 Yaroslaf joined together the two most powerful principalities, those of Kief and Novgorod, and soon afterwards he died, as is supposed, after a reign of thirty-five years. Like his father, he also divided his territories among his five sons, and the same conse quences followed. Isyaslaf, his eldest son, and great duke of Kief, was once expelled from his dominions, but received them again, and reigned till the year 1078. From the death of Yaroslaf to the beginning of the thirteenth century, the history of Russia com prises little else than a series of intestine commotions and petty warfares with the neighbouring states. The system of dismemberment of the dominions was im prudently continued by the princes at their death, and was attended with the same melancholy results. Dur ing this period, there were not fewer than seventeen independent principalities, which were afterwards reduced to seven, viz. those of Kief, Novgorod, Smo lensk, Vladimir, Tver, Galitch and Moscow. Of these Kief and Novgorod long continued to be the most powerful, though they could not always maintain their superiority over the other principalities. Vladimir also became a grand principality and as powerful as Kief and Novgorod. The names of the various princes who were in power during the above period, especially as there were one, two, and three of the same name, make a long catalogue. Among them occur Isyaslaf, Vseslaf, Vsevolode, Sviatopolk, Vladimir, sirnamed Monomach, Mstislaf, Igor, Gcorgii, Rostislaf, Andrei Bogholyubskii, who made Vladimir his capital, Mi chail, Constantine, &c.