Yuri Dolgorukiy | |||||
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Grand Prince of Kiev | |||||
Reign | 1149–1151 | ||||
Born | 1099 | ||||
Died | May 15, 1157 (aged 57 or 58) | ||||
Burial | Church of the Saviour at Berestove | ||||
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Dynasty | Rurik Dynasty | ||||
Father | Vladimir II Monomakh |
Full name | |
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Yuri Dolgorukiy |
Yuri I Vladimirovich (Russian: Юрий Владимирович), known under his soubriquet Yuri Dolgorukiy (Russian: Юрий Долгорукий, literally "Yuri the Long-Armed"; also known in various accounts as Gyurgi, Dyurgi, or George I of Rus), (c. 1099 – 15 May 1157) was a Rurikid prince and founder of the city of Moscow. He reigned as Velikiy Kniaz (Grand Prince) of Kiev from September 1149 to April 1151 and then again from March 1155 to May 1157. Yuri played a key role in the transition of political power from Kiev to Suzdal following the death of his elder brother Mstislav the Great in 1132.
According to Vasily Tatishchev, Yuri was born in 1090 which would make him a son of Vladimir Monomakh's first wife Gytha of Wessex, a daughter of Harold Godwinson. However, according to the "Testament of Vladimir Monomakh" Gyurgi's mother died on May 7, 1107, while Gytha died on March 10 and probably in 1098. Thus, Yuri Vladimirovich could have been a son of his father's second wife Yefimia and been born between 1095/97 and 1102.
Although his birth date is uncertain, some chronicles report that Yuri's elder brother, Viacheslav, said to him: "I am much older than you; I was already bearded when you were born." Since Viacheslav was born in 1083, this pushes Yuri's birth to c. 1099/1100.
There is also a version that has his son Andrei Bogolyubskiy being born around 1111. It is doubtful that Yuri was at that time younger than 16 or 17.
The question of Yuri's birthday remains open. The date can be approximated to sometime in the 1090s.