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Vsevolod Ol′govič, ruling in Kyiv, arranged two marriages in 1144 with daughters of the recently deceased ruler of Hrodna, Vsevolodko Davydič, and his wife Agafia Volodimerovna. [7] . The Vsevolodkovni married Jurij Jaroslavič, and Volodimer Davydič, and Vsevolod’s arrangement of the marriages demonstrates the power that the ruler of Kyiv wielded amongst the Volodimeroviči family in this period. Though the Hypatian Chronicle unequivocally records that it was he who arranged the marriages, the benefit of the marriages may be difficult to apply to his personal or familial politics.
Though the brides were sisters, their respective grooms were from different generations of Volodimeroviči and thus the two marriages are in separate generations here in part 1. The first of the marriages to discuss is that with Jurij Jaroslavič. [8] Jurij was the son of Jaroslav Svjatopolčič and the last remaining male member of the once–powerful Izjaslaviči family. Despite this, he does not appear in the chronicle record after 1144 until 1158 when he is expelled from Turov, though he regains it two years later. [9] In 1144, there is no record of where he is, or what he is doing. Thus there is virtually no information to allow us to suggest a possible reason for the arrangement of this marriage, perhaps apart from an attempt by Vsevolod Ol′govič to mend fences with the last of the Izjaslaviči with whom the Svjatoslaviči broadly, and Ol′goviči specifically, were once at such odds.
Despite this inability to discuss motive, the existence of the marriage is clearly stated in the Hypatian chronicle, and Vsevolod’s arrangement of the marriage provides interesting information about the ruler of Kyiv’s ability to arrange marriages for the broader Volodimeroviči family, of which he was the titular head.