The last military conflict between Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire ended in Rus' defeat but was resolved by a dynastic marriage linking the two powers.
Key Facts
- Year of raid
- 1043
- Rus' commander
- Vladimir of Novgorod, son of Yaroslav the Wise
- Byzantine pursuit squadron
- 14 ships
- Ruthenian land contingent captured
- 6,000 men under Vyshata
- Prisoners blinded
- 800
- Peace settlement duration
- 3 years after battle
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The precise reasons for the war remain disputed among historians, but Yaroslav the Wise instigated the campaign against Constantinople in 1043, dispatching his eldest son Vladimir of Novgorod to lead the naval expedition. The conflict appears to have arisen from a breakdown in Rus'–Byzantine relations, the details of which are not fully resolved in surviving sources.
A Kievan Rus' fleet attacked Constantinople but was repulsed, with the fleet destroyed either by Greek fire from a Byzantine squadron of 14 ships, according to Michael Psellus, or by a storm according to Slavonic chronicles. A 6,000-strong land contingent under Vyshata was captured, and 800 prisoners were blinded. The Ruthenian admiral Ivan Tvorimich sank the Byzantine pursuers and rescued Prince Vladimir.
Vyshata was released to Kiev three years later under a peace treaty. The settlement included a dynastic marriage between Yaroslav's son Vsevolod I and a daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomachus; their son took his grandfather's name and became Vladimir Monomakh, a significant figure in later Rus' history.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Vladimir of Novgorod, Vyshata, Ivan Tvorimich.
Side B
1 belligerent