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Council of Liubech of Russian Princes took place
In the middle XI century after the death of the Kievan Prince Yaroslav I the Wise (1019-1054) the terrirory of Kievan Rus was divided between his sons into principalities. The older son, Iziaslav inherited Kiev, Velikiy Novgorod and Turov principality; Svyatoslav received Chernigov, lands of the Viatichi, Ryazan, Murom and Tmutarakan; Vsevolod was given Kievan Pereyaslavl, Rostov-Suzdal lands, Beloozero and Volga region; Igor received Vladimir-on-Volyn; Vyacheslav – Smolensk.
In Kievan Rus was observed a Rota system (lestvichesliy right) when the older son was the next in the line to the Kievan throne after the death of the Grand Prince. The next to ascend the throne were other brothers, after the death of the youngest brother the older in the next generation of princes became the heir to the throne. The Princes were not the permanent holders of the lands, inherited after the division: with each change in the Prince’s Family, the youngest princes who followed the dead princes were moving from one volost to another, they were “moving up the ladder”. The principle of the succession to the throne in the time of the prince’s family extension resulted into the gradual splitting up of the princes’ estates and the relations between the relatives turned more and more intricate. The arguments about the seniority and the order of ownership which aroused between the princes were resolved whether by the councils’ agreement or when this turned out to be a failure by the weapon.
On October, 19 1097 the council in the town of Liubech (on river Dnepr) gathered 6 princes: the Grand Kievan Prince Sviatopolk II Iziaslavovich, the Chernigov Princes Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavovich, the Prince of the Pereyaslavl Vladimir Monomakh, the Prince of Volyn Davyd Igorevich and the Prince of Trebovl Vasilko Rostislavovich. The Council was initiated by Vladimir Monomakh. The goal of the Princes’ Council was to assign votchina (the father’s heritage) to Princes and to present a unified front against Polovtsy. The Princes made peace and agreed to avoid the intestine wars. According to the Council’s decision each prince received the lands which owned his father. Thus, the Russian land stopped to be the single property of the whole Prince’s house and was divided into votchiny, the inherited estates of the Prince House’s branches.
The Liubech Council was not able to stop the intestine wars once and for all, however due to the council’s decisions the princes managed to change the situation in the struggle against Polovtsy. In 1103 the united armed force of Svyatopolk Kievan, Vladimir Monomakh and other princes in the battle by Sutjen’ defeated the hordes of the nomads. In 1111 in the upper Donets the army of Vladimir Monomakh with the allies inflicted a heavy defeat on the Polovtsy.
Lit.: Греков Б. Д. Киевская Русь. М., 1953; Рыбаков Б. А. Первые века русской истории. М., 1964.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Худяков И. А. Древняя Русь : [исторический очерк древнерусской жизни до Петра Великого]. СПб., 1867.