Sviatopolk I of Kiev - Biography According To Foreign Sources

Biography According To Foreign Sources

During the last century, the traditional account of Svyatopolk's career has been somewhat modified. It has been argued that it was Boris who succeeded Vladimir in Kiev, while Svyatopolk was still in prison. One Norse saga called Eymund's saga (a part of Yngvars saga víðförla), with remarkable details, puts on Yaroslav the blame of his brother Burizlaf's murder. This Burizlaf, however, may be Svyatopolk (whose troops were commanded by the Polish king Boleslaus I; the latter name is also rendered as Burizlaf in some sagas) as well as Boris. Therefore it has been suggested that Svyatopolk ascended the throne after Boris's assassination and tried to fence off Yaroslav's attacks as well as to punish his agents guilty of Boris's murder.

The chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, who died in 1018, could have been regarded as the only contemporary and unbiased account of events, if it were not for the fact that Thietmar's data could have been supplied by Svyatopolk himself during his brief exile at the Polish court. Unfortunately it can be interpreted ambiguously as far as the question of Svyatopolk's guilt is concerned. One place in his chronicle can be understood (although this is not necessary) as telling that Svyatopolk escaped from Kiev to Poland immediately after his father's death. But Thietmar states that Boleslaus I of Poland firstly supported his son-in-law against Yaroslav in 1017, which is the date, according to the Russian Primary Chronicle, of Svyatopolk's first defeat by Yaroslav. Preparing a campaign against Kiev, Boleslaus abruptly stopped a successful war against the German Emperor Henry II. So, it is unlikely that Svyatopolk had been present at his court since 1015, which is often supposed by the historians that consider Yaroslav guilty of Boris and Gleb's murders.