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- BIOGRAPHY
Jaroslav was born on 8 February 1191, the fourth son of Wsewolod III, Grand Duke of Wladimir, and Marija von Osseten (Maria Shvarnovna). In 1200 he was sent by his father to rule the town of Perejaslavl near the Kypchak steppes. Sis years later he was summoned by Halychian boyars to rule their city, but he could not claim the throne effectively. Thereupon he was sent to take Rjasan, but the stubborn opposition of the inhabitants led to the city being burnt.
Jaroslav married his first wife about 1205. She was a daughter of Yuri Kondakovich, khan of the Cumans. Her people belonged to the Kipchaks, a confederation of pastoralist and warriors of Turkic origin. No progeny is recorded from this marriage.
In 1209 Wsevolod sent Jaroslav to oppose Mstislav 'the Bold' in Novgorod. After several battles the two princes made peace, and in 1214 Jaroslav married Mstislav's daughter Rostislava Mstislave. They were divorced in 1216.
On his death bed, Wsevolof bequeathed Perejaslavl-Zalessky to Jaroslav. In the conflict between his elder brothers Konstantin and Yuri, Jaroslav supported the latter. In 1215 he accepted the offer of the Novgorodians to become their prince but, desiring revenge for their former treachery, he captured Torzhol and blocked its supplies of grain to Novgorod. Several months later, he was defeated by his then father-in-law Mstislav 'the Bold' on the Lipitsa River and had to retreat of Perejaslavl; a helmet that he lost during the battle would be retrieved by archaeologists in 1808.
In 1218 Jaroslav married his third wife Fjodosiija Igorjevna of Rjasan, the daughter of Igor Glebovitch, prince of Rjasan, and Agrafena Rostislavna of Smolensk. They had at least twelve children of whom four sons would have progeny.
In 1222 Jaroslav, finally enthroned in Novgorod, overran all of Estonia and besieged its capital Kolyvan. Four years later he devastated Finland and baptised Karelia. His next ambition was to subjugate Pskov, but the Novgorodians refused to make war against their neighbour. Jaroslav departed in anger and seized the Novgorodian enclave of Volokolamsk. In 1234 he returned to Novgorod and several years later defeated its chief enemies the Lithuanians and Teutonic Knights. In 1236 he followed the advice of Daniil Romanowitsch, king of Halicz, and moved from Novgorod to Kiev, leaving his son Alexander Nevski as his representative in the north.
In 1238, when the Mongols first invaded Russia and his elder brother Yuri was killed in battle, Jaroslav left Kiev for Vladimir, where he was crowned grand prince. Jaroslav attempted to restore the cities of Vladimir-Suzdal after the Mongol ravages and fires. In 1243 he was summoned by Batu Khan to his capital Sarai. After a lengthy conference he returned to Vladimir with honours. Two years later he was again summoned to the east, this time by Güyük Khan in Karakorum. There he was poisoned by the Great Khan's mother Toregene and died on 30 September 1246, a week after he had been allowed to return home.
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