Saint Vladimir of Novgorod

Vladimir Yaroslavich (Russian: Владимир Ярославич; Old Norse: Valdamarr Jarizleifsson; 1020 – October 4, 1052) was Prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death in 1052. He was the eldest son of Yaroslav I the Wise by Ingegerd Olofsdotter, a daughter of Olof Skötkonung, the king of Sweden. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast being on 4 October. In state affairs, he was assisted by the voivode Vyshata and the bishop Luka Zhidiata. In 1042, Vladimir may have been in conflict with Finns, according to some interpretations even making a military campaign in Finland. In the next year he led the Russian armies against the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX. He predeceased his father by two years and was buried by him in St Sophia Cathedral he had built in Novgorod. His sarcophagus is in a niche on the south side of the main body of the cathedral overlooking the Martirievskii Porch. He is depicted in an early twentieth-century fresco above the sarcophagus and on a new effigial icon on top of the sarcophagus. The details of his death is unknown, however his son Rostislav and his descendants were in unfriendly relationship with the descendants of the Yaroslaviches triumvirate (Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod). Three of Vladimir's younger brothers Izyaslav I, Svyatoslav II and Vsevolod I all reigned in Kiev, while other two (Igor and Vyacheslav) died in their early twenties after which their lands were split between the Yaroslaviches triumvirate. Coincidentally, Vyshata of Novgorod pledged his support to Rostislav in the struggle against the triumvirate. Vladimir's only son, Rostislav Vladimirovich, was a landless prince who usurped power in Tmutarakan. His descendants were dispossessed by their uncles and were proclaimed as izgoi (outcast), but gradually managed to establish themselves in Halychyna, ruling the land until 1199, when their line became extinct.