arian hordes ravaged both banks of
the Dnieper, committing towns and villages to the flames, and killing
such of the inhabitants as they did not wish to carry away as
captives.

Vsevolod, an amiable man of but very little force of character, was
crushed by the calamities which were overwhelming his country. Not an
hour of tranquillity could he enjoy. It was the ambition of his
nephews, ambitious, energetic, unprincipled princes, struggling for
the supremacy, which was mainly the cause of all these disasters.

CHAPTER IV.

YEARS OF WAR AND WOE.
From 1092 to 1167.

Character of Vsevolod.--Succession of Sviatopolk.--His
Discomfiture.--Deplorable Condition of Russia.--Death of
Sviatopolk.--His Character.--Accession of Monomaque.--Curious Festival
at Kief.--Energy of Monomaque.--Alarm of the Emperor at
Constantinople.--Horrors of War.--Death of Monomaque.--His Remarkable
Character.--Pious Letter to his Children.--Accession of Mstislaf.--His
Short but Stormy Reign.--Struggles for the Throne.--Final Victory of
Ysiaslaf.--Moscow in the Province of Souzdal.--Death of
Ysiaslaf.--Wonderful Career of Rostislaf.--Rising Power of
Moscow.--Georgievitch, Prince of Moscow.

Vsevolod has the reputation of having been a man of piety. But he was
quite destitute of that force of character which one required to hold
the helm in such stormy times. He was a man of great humanity and of
unblemished morals. The woes which desolated his realms, and which he
was utterly unable to avert, crushed his spirit and hastened his
death. Perceiving that his dying hour was at hand, he sent for his two
sons, Vlademer and Rostislaf, and the sorrowing old man breathed his
last in their arms.

Vsevolod was the favorite son of Yaroslaf the Great, and his father,
with his dying breath, had expressed the wish that Vsevolod, when
death should come to him, might be placed in the tomb by his side.
These affectionate wishes of the dying father were gratified, and the
remains of Vsevolod were deposited, with the most imposing ceremonies
of those days, in the church of Saint Sophia, by the side of those of
his father. The people, forgetting his weakness and remembering only
his amiability, wept at his burial.

Vlademer, the eldest son of Vsevolod, with great magnanimity
surrendered the crown to his cousin Sviatopolk, saying,

"His father was older than mine, and reigned at Kief before my father.
I wish to avoid dissension and the horrors of civil war