Ihor Olhovych

Ihor Olhovych [Ihor Ol’hovyč], b ?, d 1147. Prince of Novhorod-Siverskyi and, after the death of his brother Vsevolod Olhovych, grand prince of Kyiv from 1146. The son of Oleh (Mykhailo) Sviatoslavych, founder of the Olhovych house, he took part in the internecine princely struggles on the side of the rulers of Chernihiv. Only days after he inherited Kyiv the commoners, unhappy with the oppressive reign of the Olhovyches begun under Vsevolod, rebelled. The Kyivan boyars offered Kyiv to Iziaslav Mstyslavych of Pereiaslav, who came and defeated Ihor's army in battle. Ihor was imprisoned in Saint John's Monastery in Pereiaslav. Falling ill, he took monastic vows and was allowed to live in Saint Theodore's Monastery in Kyiv. He was beaten to death by a mob incited by news of Iziaslav's intentions to declare war on the Chernihiv princes. He was buried in Chernihiv and later canonized as a martyr.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]