Andrey left Vyshgorod in 1155 and moved to Vladimir,[7] a little town on the river Klyazma founded in 1108.[6] In doing so, he removed the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God from Vyshgorod to Vladimir (thereafter known as the "Virgin of Vladimir"), an action condemned as theft by the Kievan Chronicle, while the Suzdalian Chronicle made no judgement on it.[7] After his father's death in 1157, Andrey ousted his younger brothers Mikhail "Mikhalko" Yurievich and Vsevolod "the Big Nest" from Rostov and Suzdal in 1162, thus uniting his father's patrimony in Vladimir-Suzdal under his sole rule (samovlastets).[8] He expelled his four brothers to the Byzantine Empire together with their mother, Yuri's second wife.[8]
He commenced the construction of fortifications around the town of Vladimir in 1158[9] (completed in 1164[3]), as well as the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir.[6][10] In 1162 or 1164, Andrey sent an embassy to Constantinople, lobbying for a separate metropolitan see in Vladimir,[11] but he was overruled by the patriarch of Constantinople.[12] Fortifications around Vladimir were completed in 1164.[3] The same year Andrey attacked the Volga Bolgars;[3] he won a victory, but a son was killed in battle, to whose memory he ordered the construction of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl in 1165.[13][14]
Sack of Kiev and brief overlordship (1169–1171)
In March 1169 Andrey's troops sacked Kiev, devastating it as never before.[4][15] Andrey did not take part in the attack; he stayed in Vladimir-Suzdal while his troops sacked the capital.[16] After plundering the city,[17] stealing much religious artwork, many books and valuables and devastating houses and religious buildings alike,[18] Andrey had his brother Gleb appointed as prince of Kiev, in an attempt to create a position of overlordship for himself.[19] This overlordship lasted for less than two years,[20] ending with Gleb's death on 20 January 1171.[19][21]
Andrey's attempts to control other parts of Kievan Rus' were barely successful either; his Siege of Novgorod (1170) was a failure, and the Suzdalians were defeated.[22] Although he managed to later blackmail the Novgorodians by imposing a blockade on the trade hub, securing the princehood for his son Yury Bogolyubsky in 1171,[21] the Novgorodians immediately expelled him upon Andrey's death in June 1174.[23][24]
1171–1173 Kievan succession crisis
Gleb's death in 1171 caused another Kievan succession crisis, and Andrey became embroiled in a two-year war to regain control over Kiev.[25][26][21] When the Rostislavichi of Smolensk and Iziaslavichi of Volhynia jointly secured the throne of Kiev, Andrey assembled another coalition and marched on Vyshhorod in 1173, where the Yurievichi–Olgovichi forces of Suzdalia and Chernigov were utterly defeated.[25][26][21]
Death
The defeat of Andrey's second coalition at Vyshgorod, the expansion of his princely authority, and his conflicts with the upper nobility, the boyars, gave rise to a conspiracy that resulted in Bogolyubsky's death on the night of 28–29 June 1174, when twenty of them burst into his chambers and slew him in his bed.[29]
According to the story of Andrey Bogolyubsky's death as recorded in the Kievan Chronicle of the Hypatian Codex (Ipatiev),[28] and the Radziwiłł Chronicle,[27] his "right hand" was cut off[28][27] by an assailant called "Peter" (Петръ):
Kievan Chroniclesub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Church Slavonic: Петръ же ѿтѧ ему руку десную. кнѧзь же вьзрѣвъ. на н҃бо. и реч̑ Гс̑и в руцѣ твои предаю тобѣ дх҃ъ мои. и тако оуспе оубьенъ же быс̑ в суботу на нощь.[30], romanized: Petrŭ zhe ōtya emu ruku desnuju. knyazĭ zhe vĭzrěvŭ na nebo, i rech: Gospodi v rutsě tvoi predaju tobě dukhŭ moi. i tako ouspe oubĭenŭ zhe bys̑ v subotu na noshchĭ., lit. 'And Peter took from him his right hand. The prince looked upon heaven and said: 'Lord, into your hands I commit my spirit.' And so was he taken away on Saturday night.'
Radziwiłł Chroniclesub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Church Slavonic: Петръ ему же от(ъ)тя руку десную. И убьенъ ж(е) быс(ть) в суб(оту) на ноч(ь)., romanized: Petrŭ emu zhe ot(ŭ)tya ruku desnuju. I ubĭenŭ zh(e) bys(tĭ) v sub(otu) na noch(ĭ)., lit. 'And Peter took his right hand from him. And he was killed on Saturday night.'[31]
However, the Radziwiłł Chronicle's adjoining miniature depicts his assailants cutting off his left arm.[27] Moreover, when Dmitry Gerasimovich Rokhlin [ru] examined the exhumed body of Andrey Bogolyubsky in 1965, he "found a lot of cut marks on the left humerus and forearm bones".[28] A 2009 special historical study by Russian historian A.V. Artcikhovsky (2009) would later confirm Rokhlin's observations.[28]
In the Suzdalian Chronicle, columns 367–369 contain the Short eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky.[32]
In the Kievan Chronicle, columns 580–595 contain the Long eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky,[32] also known as the Tale About the Slaying of Andrej Bogoljubskij (Povĕst' ob ubienii Andreja [Bogoljubskogo]).[33]
The ancient icon, Theotokos of Bogolyubovo, was painted in the 12th century at the request of Andrey Bogolyubsky.[34]
Andrey had the castle, Bogolyubovo, built near Vladimir, and it would become his favorite residence[9]
^Brumfield, William Craft (2013). Landmarks of Russian Architecture. Routledge. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9781317973256.
^Plokhy, Serhii (2021). The Gates of Europe : A History of Ukraine. New York: Basic Books. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-465-05091-8.
^Martin 2007, p. 111.
^Martin 2007, p. 94.
^Shvidkovskiĭ, Dmitriĭ Olegovich (2007). Russian Architecture and the West. Yale University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780300109122.
^Martin, Janet (2004) [1986]. Treasure of the Land of Darkness: The Fur Trade and Its Significance for Medieval Russia. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780521548113.
^Raffensperger & Ostrowski 2023, p. 83.
^"Russian Rulers: Andrey Yurievich Bogolyubsky", Russia the Great, retrieved August 7, 2007
^Martin 2007, pp. 124–125.
^ a bPelenski 1988, pp. 775–776.
^Pelenski 1988, p. 769.
^ a b c dMartin 2007, pp. 127–128.
^Martin 2007, p. 127.
^Martin 2007, p. 128.
^Raffensperger & Ostrowski 2023, p. 85.
^ a bPelenski 1988, p. 776.
^ a bRaffensperger & Ostrowski 2023, p. 84.
^ a b c d e"Отсечение левой руки (!) и убийство Андрея Юрьевича Боголюбского заговорщиками-боярами при активном участии злокозненной жены князя". Runivers. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
^ a b c d e fMarquez-Grant & Fibiger 2011, p. 495.
^Martin 2007, pp. 112, 127–128.
^Shakhmatov 1908, p. 589.
^Iroshnikov, Kukushkina & Lurie 1989, p. 138.
^ a bPelenski 1987, p. 314.
^Pelenski 1988, p. 779.
^""Bogolyubov" Icon of the Mother of God". Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Shakhmatov, Aleksey Aleksandrovich, ed. (1908). Ipat'evskaya letopis' Ипатьевская лѣтопись [The Hypatian Codex]. Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (PSRL) (in Church Slavic and Russian). Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). Saint Petersburg: Typography of M. A. Aleksandrov / Izbornyk. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
Iroshnikov, M. P.; Kukushkina, M. V.; Lurie, Y. S. (1989). Том Тридцать Восьмой: Радзивиловская Летопись [Volume Thirty-Eight: Radziwiłł Chronicle]. Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (PSRL). M. D. Priselkov, O. P. Likhacheva, R. M. Mavrodina, E. K. Piotrovskaya. Leningrad (Saint Petersburg): Nauka. p. 179.
Literature
Martin, Janet (1995). Medieval Russia: 980-1584. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521368322.
Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-36800-4.
Marquez-Grant, Nicholas; Fibiger, Linda (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation: An international guide to laws and practice in the excavation and treatment of archaeological human remains. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 800. ISBN 9781136879555. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
Paszkiewicz. H. (1954). The Origin of Russia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Review: Vernadsky, George (1955). "Reviewed work: The Origin of Russia, Henryk Paszkiewicz". Speculum. 30 (2): 293–301. doi:10.2307/2848497. JSTOR 2848497.
Review: Jakobson, Roman (1955). "Reviewed work: The Origin of Russia, Henryk Paszkiewicz". The American Historical Review. 61 (1): 106–108. doi:10.2307/1845345. JSTOR 1845345.
Pelenski, Jaroslaw (1987). "The Sack of Kiev of 1169: Its Significance for the Succession to Kievan Rus'". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 11 (3). Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: 303–316. JSTOR 41036277. Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.
Pelenski, Jaroslaw (1988). "The Contest for the "Kievan Succession" (1155–1175): The Religious-Ecclesiastical Dimension". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 12/13: 776. JSTOR 41036344.
Plokhy, Serhii (2006), The Origins of the Slavic Nations (PDF), Cambridge University Press, p. 42, ISBN 9780521864039, archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2017
Raffensperger, Christian; Ostrowski, Donald (2023). The Ruling Families of Rus: Clan, Family and Kingdom. London: Reaktion Books. p. 309. ISBN 978-1-78914-745-2. (e-book)
External links
Burial of St Andrew the Prince Orthodox icon and synaxarion