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Sviatoslav Olgovich
Sviatoslav Olgovich
Prince of Chernigov
	March to Chernigov and Sviatoslav Olgovich on his deathbed, miniature from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (16th century)
Reign	1154–1164
Predecessor	Iziaslav Davydovich
Successor	Sviatoslav III of Kiev
Born	?
Died	14 February 1164; Chernigov
Spouse	Cuman princess Aepovna (m. 1108) Catherine of Chernigov (m. 1136)
House	Olgovichi
Father	Oleg I of Chernigov

Sviatoslav Olgovich^[a] (died February 14, 1164) was Prince of Novgorod (1136–1138); Novgorod-Seversk (1139); Belgorod (1141–1154); and Chernigov (1154–1164).

Biography

Early life

Sviatoslav was the son of Oleg Sviatoslavich, the prince of Chernigov, and an unnamed daughter of Aepa, a Cuman prince.^[1] In 1108, Sviatoslav married a Cuman princess, daughter of Aepa son of Girgen, with whom he had a daughter and a son, Oleg II Svyatoslavich.^{[citation needed]} In 1136 Svyatoslav married a second time, to the daughter of the posadnik of Novgorod, probably named Ekaterina or Catherine,^[2] who bore their son Igor Sviatoslavich, famous from the The Tale of Igor's Campaign.^{[citation needed]}

War with the Davidovichi

After the death of their older brother Vsevolod II in 1146, Sviatoslav and his brother Igor were driven out of Kiev by Iziaslav Mstislavich. Sviatoslav escaped, but Igor was captured and eventually killed in 1147. Sviatoslav fled to Chernigov but was ordered to relinquish his city, Novgorod-Seversk, to his cousins, Iziaslav Davidovich and Vladimir Davidovich. With the assistance of his ally, Yuri Dolgoruki, and his father-in-law, Aepa Khan, Sviatoslav began a war against his cousins, but was forced to flee to Karachev. There on January 16, 1147, Sviatoslav defeated the Davidovichi brothers.

Death and succession

Upon his death in 1164, his widow Catherine briefly ruled as princess regnant of Chernigov.^[3] The reign of Ekaterina or Catherine of Chernigov lasted for a few days, during which she kept her husband's death a secret while she summoned her (step-?)son Oleg to come to Chernigov quickly, and told the city's leading men not inform her brother-in-law Sviatoslav Vsevolodich, who was the rightful heir to the Chernigovian throne.^[2] Nevertheless, the bishop of Chernigov betrayed the trust of princess (kniaginia) Catherine immediately, and sent Sviatoslav Vsevolodich a letter, writing that "the kniaginia rules [sedit'] in cahoots with the children and she has many goods."^[2] Sviatoslav Vsevolodich soon arrived and made a deal with Oleg, by which the former became prince of Chernigov and the latter prince of Novgorod-Seversk.^[2] Princess Catherine is not heard of again until two years later, when she reportedly died on 12 April 1166.^[2]

Notes

^ Russian and Ukrainian: Святослав Ольгович.

References

^ Wieczynski, Joseph L. (1976). The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History. Academic International Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-87569-064-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Raffensperger 2024, pp. 93–95.
^ Raffensperger & Birnbaum 2021.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Kievan Chronicle (c. 1200)
- (Church Slavonic critical edition) Shakhmatov, Aleksey Aleksandrovich, ed. (1908). Ipat'evskaya letopis' Ипатьевская лѣтопись [The Hypatian Codex]. Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (PSRL) (in Church Slavic). Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). Saint Petersburg: Typography of M. A. Aleksandrov / Izbornyk. pp. 285–301. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- (modern English translation) Heinrich, Lisa Lynn (1977). The Kievan Chronicle: A Translation and Commentary (PhD diss.). Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University. p. 616. ProQuest 7812419

Literature

Dimnik, Martin. The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146-1246, 2000
Raffensperger, Christian; Birnbaum, David J. (2021). "N. N. Iaropolkovna. b. 1074 – d. 1158". Rusian genealogy at genealogy.obdurodon.org. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
Raffensperger, Christian (2024). Name Unknown: The Life of a Rusian Queen. Routledge. p. 232. doi:10.4324/9781003325185. ISBN 978-1-04-003014-1.