Vsevolod IV Svyatoslavich the Red | |
---|---|
Spouse(s) | Anastasia of Poland |
Noble family | Rurik dynasty |
Father | Sviatoslav III of Kiev |
Mother | Maria Vasilkovna of Polotsk |
Died | August 1212 Chernigov |
Vsevolod IV Svyatoslavich the Red (Russian: Вcеволод Святославич Чермный) (died August 1212) was a Rus' prince (a member of the Rurik dynasty). His baptismal name was Daniil. He was grand prince of Kiev (1203, 1206, 1207, 1208–1212); he was also prince of Chernigov (1204–1206/1208) and of Belgorod (1205).
He was one of the most successful senior princes of the Olgovichi (the ruling dynasty of Chernigov): while he was senior prince, they for the first time established their rule over lands stretching from Halych through Kiev and Pereyaslavl to Chernigov. Architectural and circumstantial evidence suggest that he initiated building projects in Chernigov: he sent an artel’ (a team of builders) to the town where it built the Church of St. Paraskeva Pyatnisa between 1211 and 1214.
He was the third son of Sviatoslav Vsevolodovich (who later became the grand prince of Kiev) by his wife, Maria Vasilkovna of Polotsk. On 14 November 1179, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich brought a daughter of duke Casimir II of Poland (her name was Anastasia according to the Lyubetskiy sinodik) as wife for Vsevolod. Vsevolod’s patrimonial domain was located in the northwestern part of the Vyatichi lands.
When Khan Konchak with his Cumans pillaged the Pereyaslavl lands as far as Dimitrov in February 1184, Svyatoslav Vsevolodivich sent his sons (including Vsevolod) and his troops to prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod-Seversk ordering him to pursue the tribesmen. Igor Svyatoslavich pursued the raiders, found them at the river Khiriya (a tributary of the river Vorskla), and took many captive. Enemy bands frequently pillaged the Poros’e district (the Ros River basin) and the Chernigov lands after 1187.