Rogvolod

Rogvolod (Russian: Рогволод, romanized: Rogvolod; Belarusian: Рагвалод, romanized: Rahvalod;[1] c. 920 – 978) was the first chronicled prince of Polotsk until 978. He and his two sons were killed by Vladimir the Great, then the prince of Novgorod, who took his daughter Rogneda as a wife.[2]

Rogvolod
Prince of Polotsk
Rogvolod in a 1993 Belarusian stamp
Bornc. 920
Died978
Polotsk
IssueRogneda

Name

In the Primary Chronicle, he is known as Рогъволодъ, probably a slavicized version of the Old Norse name Ragnvald. The name has also been connected with the Russian words рог and володеть, from which the formation of the name may have come.[3]

Life

He was a Varangian and was established at Polotsk in the mid-10th century, most likely having come from overseas (i.e., from Scandinavia or the Southern Baltic).[3][4] According to the Primary Chronicle, Vladimir, the prince of Novgorod, sought an alliance with him by marrying his daughter Rogneda, but she refused, insulting his parentage, and married his brother, Yaropolk. In revenge, Vladimir attacked Rogvolod and his family, killing him and his sons, after which he forcibly took her as his bride before launching an attack on his brother Yaropolk in 978.[4][5]

References
  1. Ioffe, Grigory; Jr, Vitali Silitski (15 August 2018). Historical Dictionary of Belarus. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-5381-1706-4.
  2. Bartlett, Robert (9 July 2020). Blood Royal: Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-108-49067-2.
  3. Алексеев, Л. В. (1966). Полоцкая земля в IX—XIII вв. : Очерки истории Северной Белоруссии. Москва: Наука. p. 238.
  4. Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980-1584 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 1.
  5. Franklin, Simon; Shepard, Jonathan (6 June 2014). The Emergence of Russia 750-1200. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-317-87224-5.


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