Vladimir Monomakh: biography. Characteristics of Vladimir Monomakh, activities

Prince Vladimir Monomakh became the only ruler in Russian history who voluntarily renounced the great power. He was born in the year one thousand fifty-two. His life principle was the preservation of the honor of his ancestors. And the time of his reign was the best for Kievan Rus.

The work of Vladimir Monomakh was of great importance for Russia, and to find something similar in history is very difficult. He tries to do the best, shed less blood of his fellow men and save the lives of Christians. It protects its land and at the same time is ready to conclude contracts, if it becomes possible.

The famous majestic headdress

Great Vladimir Monomakh! His biography is not familiar to everyone, but every schoolboy knows the name. And in many ways thanks to a very well-known subject. Fur-trimmed gold crown, decorated with rubies and emeralds, the most famous of all the royal regalia is Monomakh's cap.

According to legend, this rich crown emperor Constantine Monomakh sent his grandson Vladimir to show the continuity of the power of Russian rulers. And any portrait of Vladimir Monomakh always represented him in this famous headdress. But how wrong artists were! After all, he never even held a royal crown, and the Russian princes put him on his head only four centuries later.

Mysterious Byzantine amulet

Another famous thing that belonged to the prince was a mysterious medallion coil. On one side is the image of Archangel Michael, and on the other - the head, surrounded by snakes. Nobody knows how the prince found this strange medallion, but Vladimir never parted with him.

The scientists paid special attention to the inscriptions that the unknown master left on this amulet. One of them is prayer, but the other put historians at a dead end. This is a Greek ancient spell that played a role. In what cases did Monomakh help a strange spell on the Byzantine medallion? No doubt, Byzantium played a huge role in the life of the prince

The ancestors of the great ruler

On the maternal line, his native grandfather was the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh. It is this nickname, which in the translation means "monotheist", in the future will be the main political mission of the great Russian prince, who will characterize the activities of Vladimir Monomakh. He took the name of his grandfather and carried it all his life. This led to the fact that the aura of Byzantine education, the way of thinking, traditions and so on - all this was part of his biography.

Questions of blood played a huge role in the fate of the prince. His grandfather on the part of his mother was Constantine, endowed, according to the ancient chronicler, with the gift of conquering the hearts of his subjects. This gift, by the way, was owned by Prince Vladimir Monomakh himself. He enjoyed sincere national love. According to his father, his grandfather was Yaroslav the Wise himself. It seemed that all the best qualities of this branch of the family - the desire for knowledge, the analytical mind and the persistent desire to observe the law - were concentrated in the character of the young prince.

Father of the young Prince Vladimir

We can say that Europe and Asia shared the best with Monomakh. But his father, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich, had no less influence on him. He knew five foreign languages and was one of the most educated people of his time. Since the age of seven, the father has tempered the young prince in long campaigns and battles.

Vladimir Monomakh was diligent in learning courage and patience. The biography of the prince informs the facts that from the age of thirteen he was in charge of the squad and even his own fiefdom - Rostov. Then there were Smolensk, Chernigov and dozens of other small towns.

Monomakh used to resignedly resent inconvenience and deprivation. But a really skillful warrior made it a hunt. Driving along the steppes, as the legend says, he used to catch wild horses in dozens and bind them with his bare hands. There was then no better way to develop courage, agility, strength and quickness of reaction.

The beginning of an adult career in difficult times

It was the tactic worked out in the young years on hunting, when the prince drove the beast on its territory, later becomes Monomakh's main weapon against the more dangerous enemy. Vladimir Monomakh, whose board had a very difficult period, began his adult career, when the onslaught of the nomads was continually on their way.

And originally each raid was accompanied by the ruin of Rus and the defeat of the Russian princes. There were, of course, separate successes, but in general, they could not stop this onslaught. And the nature of Vladimir was forged during this period. The war with the Polovtsi, who occupied a vast steppe area from the Danube to the Irtysh River, young Vladimir Vsevolodovich considered his main task.

The seizure of Jerusalem, or the experience of European relatives

By this time, the first Crusade had already taken place in Europe, which ended with the seizure of Jerusalem and the creation of a Christian state in the Middle East. In this campaign participated cousin Vladimir - Count Hugo Vermandua. And Vladimir decided to adopt the experience of European relatives.

He was immensely inspired by the exploits of the Crusaders. And the main characteristic of Vladimir Monomakh says that his whole life passed under the sign of struggle. He prepared for every fight, but one desire was not enough. It was here that the tactics that the young prince used during the horse hunt came in handy. It is necessary to drive the enemy, like an animal, on its territory.

Vladimir Monomakh. Biography

Monomakh was the first who at the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth passed to a different tactic of warfare-an attack on the steppe. And in this was the fundamental difference between the previous battles and confrontations, which Vladimir demonstrated: to go to the steppe, along nomadic lines, to take the cities and nomads of the nomads with battle, where to finish them on the spot.

It is this new strategy that is characteristic of Vladimir Monomakh, which shows his enormous military gift. He, being only the prince of Pereyaslav, gathered under his banners squads from all over Russia. His authority at this decisive moment was much higher than that of the Kiev ruler himself. Opponents converged on March 27, one thousand one hundred and eleventh year on the Solnica River, the tributary of the Don.

The devastating defeat of the nomads

Such an unconditional defeat from the Russian armies the steppe still did not know. About ten thousand Polovtsians fell on the battlefield. The news of the victorious campaign on the steppe spread all over the world. Vladimir Monomakh succeeds almost impossible.

While all the lands have already become fragmented, Kievan Rus has ceased to exist, and the Old Russian state has disintegrated, it unites all these forces together and largely controls the situation almost throughout the territory of Kievan Rus.

Brother Oleg, or the murder of his son

The nomads will not soon be expelled from the Russian land, but Vladimir made a huge step towards this victory. What was he, this greatest Russian commander? The story of Vladimir Monomakh did not preserve reliable descriptions of his appearance. Every historian imagines his Monomakh. One thing is known: he was an ascetic, a Stoic, a wise and courageous ruler.

But the prince, according to the law, could not occupy the most important throne of Kiev. After all, power in the state, according to the rules of inheritance, described by his grandfather Yaroslav the Wise, was not transferred from father to son, but from the elder in the family. And the law for Monomakh was above all. That is why Vladimir Monomakh rule in Chernigov is inferior to the lawful owner, although he reigns there for sixteen years.

He hands over the board to his cousin Oleg. And the wife and children of Vladimir Monomakh, of course, along with the prince himself, leave their native fiefdom. Subsequently, Oleg attacked Moore and killed his son Vladimir. Refusal of the fratricidal war was more important than the personal grief experienced by Vladimir Monomakh. His biography says that he fought all his life only with external enemies, and considered the killing of relatives as a crime. That's how he understood the law.

The death of Prince Vsevolod

Monomakh never changed his principles. He did not get involved in internecine war under any circumstances. On April thirteenth, one thousand and ninety-third year, the father of Vladimir, the Kiev prince Vsevolod, died , and it seemed to him that he had a chance to take over the first throne of Russia. He enjoyed popularity among the people, respect for the princes - after all, the people of Kiev themselves offered to take his father's place. But he again refused, because he was sure that the throne should be passed by law. And the ruler was the one to whom it was due according to seniority - cousin Svyatopolk.

History knows only a few rulers who voluntarily abandoned power. This is the Roman emperor Diocletian and Lucius Cincinnatus. But Vladimir Monomakh was the only one who gave up power only because he considered himself an illegal ruler. And on this rested his authority in the princely family and among all the Old Russian nobility. Vladimir never broke anything. He always adhered to the rules, even to the detriment of himself.

Finally on the throne

But Prince Monomakh, who, it seemed, was never destined to be on the throne of Kiev, finally takes him. During the reign, he takes a number of legislative acts that have reduced the intensity of social passions. This is one of his greatest merits. Having occupied the main throne of Russia, Vladimir did not abandon his military campaigns. In one thousand one hundred and sixteenth year the prince began a war against Byzantium. Together with a huge army, he went to the Danube, and the opposing side hurried to settle the relationship with the world.

Russia under Monomakh became very strong, and this had to be considered the whole world. An embassy with rich gifts was sent to Kiev. Among them were objects of ceremonial clothes, and it was then that a legend appeared about Monomakh's famous hat. Russia has found in Vladimir its defender and savior. He is the one who has proved that for protection it is necessary to stop all internal strife and unite. And thanks to his military policy the Polovtsian tribes moved farther from the Russian borders.