Kievan succession crisis of 1015–1019
| Kievan succession crisis of 1015–1019 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battle of the Alta River (1019). Miniature in the Radziwiłł Chronicle (15th century). | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Kievan Rus' loyal to Svyatopolk I Duchy of Poland (1018) | Kievan Rus' loyal to Yaroslav I | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Bolesław I (1018) | Yaroslav I | ||||||||
The Kievan succession crisis of 1015–1019, also known as the Feud of the Volodimerovichi or the Internecine war in Rus', was a war of succession in Kievan Rus' caused by the death of Volodimer I of Kiev in 1015. Several of his sons claimed the throne, and began fighting and killing each other, until eventually Yaroslav emerged victorious in 1019.
The events of the dynastic crisis are reflected in Rus' sources (chronicles and works of the Boris and Gleb cycle; see The Tale of Boris and Gleb in the Primary Chronicle), and in the chronicles of the Polish Gallus Anonymus and German Thietmar of Merseburg. The later Old Norse saga of Eymundar þáttr hrings also retains echoes of these events. An analysis of all available sources shows a rather contradictory picture, and there is no consensus among researchers on the course of the events of the war.