Mstislav Mstislavich

Mstislav Mstislavich the Bold was one of the most popular and active princes of Kievan Rus’ in the decades preceding Mongol invasion of Rus.

He was the son of Mstislav the Brave of Smolensk by a princess of Ryazan. In 1193 and 1203, his bravery in the Kypchak wars brought him fame all over Kievan Rus'. At that time, he married a daughter of Kypchak khan Kotian. In 1209 he was mentioned as a ruler of Toropets. A year later, he was invited by the Novgorodians to become their prince.

On his way to Novgorod, Mstislav delivered the key town of Torzhok from a siege laid to it by Vsevolod III of Vladimir. He led two successful Novgorodian campaigns against the Chudes in 1212 and 1214. In 1215, he expelled Vsevolod IV from Kiev and elevated his uncle Mstislav Romanovich to the throne.

In 1216, Mstislav mustered a large coalition of princes of Rus’ which defeated Vladimir-Suzdal on the Lipitsa River. After that he installed his ally Konstantin of Rostov as Grand Prince of Vladimir and married his own daughter to Yaroslav of Vladimir, who had fortified himself in Torzhok. In the meantime, his other enemies had him deposed in Novgorod, and Mstislav had to abandon Northern Rus for Halych. In 1219 he concluded peace with his chief rival, Danylo of Halych, who thereupon married Mstislav's daughter Anna.

In 1223, seeking to secure his authority among other princes, he gathered another coalition which attacked an advance-guard of Genghis Khan at the Kalka River. He was one of the few to survive the ill-fated battle. To facilitate his escape, he destroyed ferry boats on the Dnieper, thereby leaving his fellow princes to the mercy of Mongols.

Mstislav reigned in Halych until 1227, when boyar intrigues constrained him to leave the city to his son-in-law, Andrew of Hungary. Thereupon he retired to Torchesk, where he died in 1228.