Volodar Glebovich of Minsk was a
prince of
Minsk belonging to the so-called Polotsk dynasty (or the Polotski) after the
Belarusian the city and the principality
Polotsk, from where it originated. He was the son of
Gleb Vseslavich
Gleb Vseslavich ( be, Глеб Усяславіч, russian: Глеб Всеславич) (died September 13, 1119) was the prince of Minsk between 1101 and 1119. During his reign Minsk was at war with Kiev and Polatsk. He started the Minsk branch ...
of Minsk (death 1119) and Anastasia, a daughter of
Yaropolk Izyaslavich. Volodar died after 1167, possibly 1176.
Volodar's family had long been in conflict with the Grand Prince of
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Vladimir Monomach, who in 1113 (according to some information 1119) conquered Minsk from Volodar's father. Later, the remaining possessions of the Polotsk dynasty had been conquered by Vladimir's son
Mstislav I of Kiev and its members were forced into exile to, inter alia,
Constantinople. However, after Mstislav's death in 1132, the Kiev Empire slowly collapsed and the Polotsk dynasty could return to the Russian political scene.
Volodar was married June 5, 1135 (probably while in exile in
Poland) with
Richeza of Poland, Queen of Sweden, daughter of
Bolesław III Wrymouth and widow of the Danish prince and short-lived king
Magnus I of Sweden, who the year before fell in the
Battle of Fotevik. Volodar and Rikissa had the daughter
Sofia of Minsk, who later married
Valdemar the Great of Denmark.
The marriage of Volodar and Rikis was a political move by her father directed against the then alliance between
Erik Emune of Denmark and the descendants of Monomach. Since several central actors in this conflict died and the position of the Monomies in Russia greatly weakened, the foundation of the marriage also fell, which was dissolved in divorce, after which Rikissa married
Sverker I of Sweden.
Misconception
In ancient history research, Volodar was usually confused (among others by Nikolaj von Baumgarten) with the half-mythical prince Vladimir Vsevolodic of
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
.
References
* John Lind "The Russian Marriages. Dynamic and Political Coalitions During the Danish Civil War of the 1130s" in (Danish) '' Historical Journal '' No. 2 1992.
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1176 deaths
Rurik dynasty
Belarusian rulers