Andrey Bogolyubsky

Andrey Bogolyubsky (died 28 June 1174; Андрей Ю́рьевич Боголюбский, lit. Andrey Yuryevich of Bogolyubovo), was Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal from 1157 until his death. During repeated internecine wars between the princely clans, Andrey accompanied his father Yuri Dolgorukiy during a brief capture of Kiev in 1149. 20 years later, his son led the Sack of Kiev (1169). He made efforts to elevate Vladimir on the Klyazma as the new centre of Kievan Rus'. He was canonized as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1702.

Biography
Andrey Bogolyubsky was born ca. 1111, to a daughter of Ayyub Khan, the Kipchak leader, and to Yuri I Vladimirovich (Юрий Владимирович), commonly known as Yuri Dolgoruki (Юрий Долгорукий). Yuri was a son of Volodimer II Monomakh, progenitor of the Monomakhovichi. Yuri proclaimed Andrey a prince in Vyshgorod (near Kiev).

Andrey left Vyshgorod in 1155 and moved to Vladimir, a little town on the river Klyazma founded in 1108. After his father's death in 1157, he became Knyaz (prince) of Vladimir, Rostov and Suzdal.

Construction works
He commenced the construction of fortifications around the town of Vladimir in 1158 (completed in 1164), as well as the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir. In 1162, Andrey sent an embassy to Constantinople, lobbying for a separate metropolitan see in Vladimir. Fortifications around Vladimir were completed in 1164. The same year Andrey attacked the Volga Bolgars; he won a victory, but a son was killed in battle, to whose memory he ordered the construction of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl in 1165.

Military activities
Andrey established for himself the right to receive tribute from the populations of the Northern Dvina lands.

In 1169 Andrey's troops sacked Kiev, devastating it as never before. After plundering the city, stealing much religious artwork, which included the Byzantine "Mother of God" icon. Andrey appointed his brother Gleb as prince of Kiev, in an attempt to unify his lands with Kiev.

Following his brother's death in 1171, Andrey became embroiled in a two-year war to maintain control over Kiev, which ended in his defeat at the Siege of Vyshgorod.

Death
After the 1169 capture of Kiev, the Yurievichi clan headed by Andrey temporarily dominated Kievan Rus' until his brother Gleb died in 1171, causing yet another succession crisis. When the Rostislavichi of Smolensk and Iziaslavichi of Volhynia jointly secured the throne of Kiev, Andrey assembled another coalition and marched on Vyshhorod in 1173, where the Yurievichi–Olgovichi forces of Suzdalia and Chernigov were utterly defeated. This defeat, the expansion of his princely authority, and his conflicts with the upper nobility, the boyars, gave rise to a conspiracy that resulted in Bogolyubsky's death on the night of 28–29 June 1174, when twenty of them burst into his chambers and slew him in his bed.

According to the story of Andrey Bogolyubsky's death as recorded in the Kievan Chronicle of the Hypatian Codex (Ipatiev), and the Radziwiłł Chronicle, his "right hand" was cut off by an assailant called "Peter" (Петръ):
 * Kievan Chronicle sub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Петръ же ѿтѧ ему руку десную. кнѧзь же вьзрѣвъ. на н҃бо. и реч̑ Гс̑и в руцѣ твои предаю тобѣ дх҃ъ мои. и тако оуспе оубьенъ же быс̑ в суботу на нощь.
 * Radziwiłł Chronicle sub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Петръ ему же от(ъ)тя руку десную. И убьенъ ж(е) быс(ть) в суб(оту) на ноч(ь).

However, the Radziwiłł Chronicle's adjoining miniature depicts his assailants cutting off his left arm. Moreover, when Dmitry Gerasimovich Rokhlin examined the exhumed body of Andrey Bogolyubsky in 1965, he "found a lot of cut marks on the left humerus and forearm bones". A 2009 special historical study by Russian historian A.V. Artcikhovsky (2009) would later confirm Rokhlin's observations.

Descendants
With his wife, Andrey Bogolyubsky had one son, Yury Bogolyubsky, who became the husband of Queen Tamar of Georgia.

Legacy

 * In the Suzdalian Chronicle, columns 367–369 contain the Short eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky.
 * In the Kievan Chronicle, columns 580–595 contain the Long eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky, also known as the Tale About the Slaying of Andrej Bogoljubskij (Povĕst' ob ubienii Andreja [Bogoljubskogo]).
 * The ancient icon, Theotokos of Bogolyubovo, was painted in the 12th century at the request of Andrey Bogolyubsky.
 * Andrey had the castle, Bogolyubovo, built near Vladimir, and it would become his favorite residence
 * His victory over the Bulgars is remembered yearly during the Honey Feast of the Saviour.

Literature

 * Paszkiewicz. H. (1954). The Origin of Russia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
 * Review:
 * Review:
 * Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.
 * Review:
 * Review:
 * Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.