HISTORIOGRAPHY

The history of the dynasty's first hundred years appeared in 1994 as The Dynasty of Chernigov 1054–1146. It began with the year in which Svyatoslav Yaroslavich became the autonomous prince of Chernigov and ended with the year in which his grandson Vsevolod Ol′govich died as prince of Kiev. The present volume continues with the succession of Vsevolod's brother Igor′ to Kiev and ends with the year 1246, when Vsevolod's great-grandson Mikhail Vsevolodovich died as the last autonomous senior prince of the dynasty. Although his career was investigated in the monograph Mikhail, Prince of Chernigov and Grand prince of Kiev, 1224–1246 (Toronto, 1981), it merits a re-examination because of the new studies that have appeared over the past twenty years. In this work Mikhail's career will also be looked at chronologically rather than thematically and his achievements will be evaluated in the light of those of his ancestors.

The reasons for writing a new history of the dynasty were discussed in the earlier study, but it will be useful to review them. As it was pointed out, the first written source of Rus′ to mention Chernigov is “The Tale of Bygone Years,” also known as the “Primary Chronicle.” It reports the origin of the dynasty under Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and tells of his activities and those of his sons up to 1117, the year in which it ends. After that a number of Svyatoslav's descendants kept chronicles at their courts, but none of them has survived.