Battle of Lipitsa

The Battle of Lipitsa (Russian: Липицкая битва) was the decisive battle in the succession struggle over the Grand Princely throne of Vladimir-Suzdal following the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest. In the battle, fought on April 22, 1216, the forces of Mstislav the Daring and Konstantin Vsevolodovich defeated those of Konstantin's younger brothers Yuri Vsevolodovich and Yaroslav. Konstantin took the throne of Vladimir and reigned as grand prince until his death two years later.

The large-scale battle typifies fratricidal strife that sapped the strength of the successor states to Kievan Rus before the Mongol invasion. The detailed account first appeared in the older redaction of the Novgorodian First Chronicle and later in the Novgorodian Fourth Chronicle the Sofia First Chronicle and elsewhere.

The Novgorodian First Chronicle relates that Mstislav the Bold launched his campaign against his son-in-law, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich on March 1, 1216, leading a Novgorodian army into his own districts around Lake Seliger at the head of the Volga, where they were told "Go out foraging but take no heads." Sviatoslav Vsevolodovich, the fourth son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, invested Rzhevka with 10,000 men, but Mstislav and Vladimir of Pskov broke the siege with, according to the chronicle, a mere 500 men and Sviatoslav fled.

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