Michael of Chernigov - Prince of Chernigov and Novgorod

Prince of Chernigov and Novgorod

Mikhail was probably among the first survivors who returned to Chernihiv. The chronicles do not tell us that Mikhail replaced Mstislav II Svyatoslavich as prince of Chernigov, but later evidence reveals that after his uncle’s demise he sat on the throne of his father and grandfather in the Holy Saviour Cathedral. The ceremony probably took place around June 16. Because princes of his generation predeceased him and had no heirs, Mikhail, in his capacity as senior prince, assumed control over a number of their domains. This accumulation of territories made him the largest landowner in the land.

At that time, the Novgorodians acknowledged grand prince Yuri II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir as their overlord, but they frequently challenged his appointment of princes. In 1224, his son, Vsevolod Yuryevich had to flee from Novgorod. It appears that Mikhail was already in Vladimir on the Klyazma when Yuri Vsevolodovich learnt of his son’s flight. Yuri Vsevolodovich threatened the Novgorodians to attack; in response, they confirmed their loyalty to him but made a pact to die in the defense of the Cathedral of St. Sofia. Yuri Vsevolodovich, therefore, proposed that they accept Mikhail as prince. The Novgorodians agreed and, in March 1225, Mikhail occupied Novgorod. Nevertheless, Yuri Vsevolodovich demanded the sum of 7,000 novuyu as a fine from the citizens and confiscated their goods.

Mikhail went to Novgorod, where he acted as Yuri Vsevolodovich’s appointee and not as an autonomous ruler, with the intention of returning to Chernihiv. One of his most important tasks was to recover the Novgorodians’ wares that Yuri Vsevolodovich had confiscated at Torzhok and in his own domain. Before departing from Novgorod, Mikhail invited the townsmen to send merchants to Chernihiv and declared that their lands and his would be as one. After he departed from Novgorod, the veche sent its request for a prince to Yuri Vsevolodovich’s brother, prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Pereyaslavl Zalesskiy.

About a year after Mikhail returned to Chernihiv, it appears he became involved in a dynastic dispute: Oleg Svyatoslavich of Kursk prepared to wage war on him. The available evidence suggests that the bone of contention was Novhorod-Siverskyi. It is noteworthy that the chroniclers accuse neither Mikhail nor Oleg of wrongdoing which suggests that each had a just cause. During the winter of 1227, Yuri Vsevolodovich, and his nephews (prince Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov and prince Vsevolod Konstantinovich of Pereyaslavl) came to help Mikhail against Oleg Svyatoslavich; in addition to them, Metropolitan Kirill I of Kiev also helped to reconcile Mikhail with Oleg who evidently became the prince of Novgorod Seversk.

In 1228, grand prince Vladimir III Rurikovich of Kiev summoned Mikhail and attacked the latter’s brother-in-law, prince Daniil Romanovich of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, who had seized the towns of Lutsk and Chertoryysk, in Kamenets. However, they failed to take Kamenets whose ability to withstand the siege is all the more impressive because Vladimir III Rurikovich allegedly attacked with all his allies.

In December of 1228, the common people of Novgorod rose up in arms against tysyatskiy Vyacheslav and appointed Boris Negochevich in his place, and invited Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to return according to a new agreement. They insisted that he abide by all their terms and by all the laws of Yaroslav the Wise; he also had to cancel the zaboshnitse (a special tax levied on churches which also served as warehouses), and to stop appointing his judges in the Novgorodian lands. On February 20, 1229, therefore, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich’s sons (Fedor Yaroslavich and Aleksandr Yaroslavich) fled to their father. The Novgorodians got word to Mikhail, and he set out for Novgorod upon receiving the invitation; he arrived in Novgorod around the beginning of May.

Mikhail and the townsmen introduced measures to waken Yaroslav Vsevolodovich’s power: the veche appointed Vnezd Vodovik as the new posadnik and also removed his other administrators. After levying heavy fines on Yaroslav Vsevolodovich’s supporters, the Novgorodians used the money for the benefit of the entire community by paying for the construction of a new bridge.

Mikhail’s pro-Novgorod legislation included granting the town officials some of the prince’s power: he permitted the boyars to appoint their own judges. He also abrogated the zabozhnitse, placed a moratorium on the payment of tribute for five years on those peasants who had fled to other lands and agreed to return to their Novgorodian homes, and lessened the tax burden of the common people. After spending some three months in Novgorod, Mikhail returned home. When he departed from Novgorod, he designated his son Rostislav Mikhailovich to remain as his lieutenant, and on returning to Chernihiv he took with him prominent Novgorodians.

In May 1230, he returned to Novgorod where he installed his son on the throne. Before departing, he promised the Novgorodians to return with troops by September 14. On December 8, the Novgorodians forced Rostislav Mikhailovich to flee to his father on just the feeble pretext that Mikhail had promised to bring troops by September 14, but it was already December and he had not come. In this way Yaroslav Vsevolodovich’s supporters evicted the Olgovichi from Novgorod, as it turned out, for the last time. They summoned Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and he came on December 30. Meanwhile, a core of dissenters found refuge with Mikhail; to secure his hegemony over Novgorod, therefore, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich had to stop Mikhail from giving them support.