Vsevolod III Yuryevich of Vladimir (1154-1212)

Vsevolod III Yuryevich, or Vsevolod the Big Nest (Все́волод III Ю́рьевич Большо́е Гнездо́) (1154–1212), was the Grand Prince of Vladimir during whose long reign (1177–1212) the city reached the zenith of its glory.

Family
Vsevolod was the tenth or eleventh son of Yuri Dolgoruky, who founded the town Dmitrov to commemorate the site of Vsevolod's birth. Historian Nikolai Karamzin (1766 - 1826) initiated the speculation identifying Vsevolod's mother Helene as a Greek princess, because after her husband's death she took Vsevolod with her to Constantinople.

Vsevolod spent his youth at the chivalric court of the Komnenoi. On his return from the Byzantine Empire to Rus' in 1170, Vsevolod supposedly visited Tbilisi, as a local chronicle records that on that year the Georgian king entertained his nephew from Constantinople and married him to his relative, an Ossetian princess.

Reign
In 1173, Vsevolod was briefly installed on the Kievan throne and taken prisoner by two Smolensk princes who captured the town. Ransomed a year later, he took his brother Mikhalko's side in his struggle against the powerful boyars of Rostov and Suzdal. Upon Mikhalko's death, Vsevolod succeeded him in Vladimir. He promptly subjugated the boyars and systematically raided the Volga peoples, notably Volga Bulgaria. He installed his puppets on the throne of Novgorod and married his daughters to princes of Chernigov and Kiev.

Vsevolod showed little mercy to those who disobeyed his word. In 1180 and 1187, he punished the princes of Ryazan by ousting them from their lands. In 1207, he burnt to the ground both Ryazan and Belgorod. His military fame spread quickly. The Tale of Igor's Campaign, thought to be written during Vsevolod's reign, addresses him thus: ''Great prince Vsevolod! Don't you think of flying here from afar to safeguard the paternal golden throne of Kiev? For you can with your oars scatter in drops the Volga, and with your helmets scoop dry the Don''.

But Kievan matters concerned Vsevolod little in the latter part of his reign. He concentrated on making his own capital, Vladimir. His Ossetian wife, Maria Shvarnovna, who devoted herself to the works of piety and founded several convents, was glorified by the Russian church as a saint. By her Vsevolod had fourteen children, thus earning for himself the sobriquet Big Nest. Four of them—Konstantin, Yuri, Yaroslav and Sviatoslav—succeeded him as Grand Dukes of Vladimir. He died on April 12, 1212 and was buried at the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir.

Marriage and children
Vsevolod married first Maria, whose origins are disputed. She has been variously identified as Ossetian, Alan and Moravian. They had at least fourteen children:


 * Sbislava Vsevolodovna (born 26 October 1178).
 * Vseslava Vsevolodovna Married Rostislav Yaroslavich, Prince of Snov. He was a son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, Prince of Chernigov. His paternal grandfather was Vsevolod II of Kiev.
 * Verchoslava Vsevolodovna . Married Rostislav II of Kiev.
 * Konstantin of Rostov (18 May 1186 – 2 February 1218).
 * Boris Vsevolodovich (c1187–1238).
 * Gleb Vsevolodovich (d. 29 September 1189).
 * Yuri II of Vladimir (1189-1238)|Yuri II of Vladimir (1189 – 4 March 1238).
 * Yaroslav II of Vladimir (8 February 1191 – 30 September 1246).
 * Helena Vsevolodovna (d. 1204).
 * Vladimir Vsevolodovich, Prince of Yuryev-Polsky (25 October 1194 – 6 January 1229).
 * Svyatoslav III Vsevolodovich of Vladimir (27 March 1196 – 3 February 1252).
 * Ivan Vsevolodovich, Prince of Starodub (28 November 1197 – after 1247).
 * Pelagea Vsevolodovna.
 * Anna Vsevolodna Married Vladimir, Prince of Belgorod (d. 1239).

Maria died in 1205 or 1206. Vsevolod married Liubov Vasilkovna Bryacheslavich in 1209. She was a daughter of Vasilko Bryacheslavich, Prince of Vitebsk. They had no known children.