Yaroslav Vsevolodovych

Yaroslav Vsevolodovych [Jaroslav Vsevolodovyč], b 1139, d 1198. Kyivan Rus’ prince; son of Vsevolod Olhovych. He ruled in Starodub after the death of his father. He is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle under the year 1159 as the ruler of Ropesk, which was in the Snov River basin in Chernihiv lands. He was granted the rule of Chernihiv principality ca 1177–9 by his brother, Sviatoslav Vsevolodovych. Yaroslav Vsevolodovych threatened the unity of Kyivan Rus’ by refusing to participate in joint campaigns against the Cumans in 1184 and 1185, and he even caused one to be scuttled in 1187. After the death of Sviatoslav Vsevolodovych Yaroslav upported Riuryk (Vasylii) Rostyslavych in his campaign to take the throne of Kyiv.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]