Kyiv Uprising of 1068–9

Kyiv Uprising of 1068–9. A popular uprising that took place in Kyiv after the defeat of the forces of Grand Prince Iziaslav Yaroslavych of Kyiv and his brothers Sviatoslav II Yaroslavych of Chernihiv and Vsevolod Yaroslavych of Pereiaslav by the Cumans at the Alta River in September 1068. When Kyiv's commoners asked Iziaslav Yaroslavych to give them horses and arms to repel the Cumans, he refused, fearing the consequences of arming the population. The incensed populace turned against Kyiv's patricians, freed the inmates of Kyiv's prisons, including Prince Vseslav Briacheslavych of Polatsk, whom Iziaslav Yaroslavych had imprisoned in 1067, and elected Vseslav as their ruler. Iziaslav Yaroslavych's palace was plundered and he was forced to flee to Poland. In April 1069 he returned with the forces of his nephew Prince Bolesław II the Bold of Cracow. Vseslav fled to Polatsk, and Iziaslav Yaroslavych and his son Mstyslav Iziaslavych brutally suppressed their opponents.