he had
robbed the exiled monarch, and Ysiaslaf, hiring an army of Polish
mercenaries, returned a second time in triumph to his capital. It does
not appear that he subsequently paid any regard to the interposition
of the pope.
We have now but a long succession of conspiracies, insurrections and
battles. In one of these civil conflicts, Ysiaslaf, at the head of a
formidable force, met another powerful army, but a few leagues from
Kief. In the hottest hour of the battle a reckless cavalier, in the
hostile ranks, perceiving Ysiaslaf in the midst of his infantry,
precipitated himself on him, pierced him with his lance and threw him
dead upon the ground. His body was conveyed in a canoe to Kief, and
buried with much funeral pomp in the church of Notre Dame, by the side
of the beautiful monument which had been erected to the memory of
Vlademer.
Ysiaslaf expunged from the Russian code of laws the death penalty, and
substituted, in its stead, heavy fines. The Russian historians,
however, record that it is impossible to decide whether this measure
was the dictate of humanity, or if he wished in this way to replenish
his treasury.
Vsevolod succeeded to the throne of his brother Ysiaslaf in the year
1078. The children of Ysiaslaf had provinces assigned them in
appanage. Vsevolod was a lover of peace, and yet devastation and
carnage were spread everywhere before his eyes. Every province in the
empire was torn by civil strife. Hundreds of nobles and princes were
inflamed with the ambition for supremacy, and with the sword alone
could the path be cut to renown. The wages offered the soldiers, on
all sides, was pillage. Cities were everywhere sacked and burned, and
the realm was crimsoned with blood. Civil war is necessarily followed
by the woes of famine, which woes are ever followed by the pestilence.
The plague swept the kingdom with terrific violence, and whole
provinces were depopulated. In the city of Kief alone, seven thousand
perished in the course of ten weeks. Universal terror, and
superstitious fear spread through the nation. An earthquake indicated
that the world itself was trembling in alarm; an enormous serpent was
reported to have been seen falling from heaven; invisible and
malignant spirits were riding by day and by night through the streets
of the cities, wounding the citizens with blows which, though unseen,
were heavy and murderous, and by which blows many were slain. All
hearts sank in gloom and fear. Barb
|