Michael of Chernigov - His Last Years

His Last Years

Some time in the spring of 1241, he considered it safe to go home. He stopped at the devastated town of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, rode northeast to Pinsk, and then traveled down the river Pripyat to Kiev. Unable to return to his court on the citadel because Batu Khan’s official had presumably occupied it, he took up residence on an island near the podol’. Significantly, Batu Khan’s man did not challenge his arrival thereby indicating that the Mongols were willing to let refugee princes return to their ravaged towns without obstruction.

On learning that Béla IV had given his daughter in marriage to his son, Rostislav Mikhailovich (who had fled to the Hungarians) in 1242, Mikhail believed that his efforts to form an alliance with the Árpád dynasty had finally been realized. He therefore rode to Hungary expecting to negotiate the agreements that normally accompanied such and alliance. However, his hopes were dashed: the king and his son rebuffed him when he came to the king’s court. Mikhail, greatly angered by his son, returned empty-handed to Chernihiv.

Meanwhile, Batu Khan commanded all the princes to visit Saray and pay him homage. Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Suzdalia was the first to respond to the summons: at the beginning of 1243, he traveled to Saray, where Batu Khan appointed him senior prince in Rus’. After returning to Suzdalia, he sent his commander to rule Kiev. Accordingly, some time during the second part of that year, Mikhail abandoned his court on the island below Kiev and returned to Chernihiv. But even there his authority was insecure: like all the other princes of Rus’, he had to obtain Batu Khan’s patent (yarlik) to rule his patrimony.