Rostislav I of Kiev

Rostislav Mstislavich, in baptism Mikhail, was prince of Smolensk and grand prince of Kiev in the twelfth century, the founder of the Smolensk branch of the Rostislavichi. Russian tradition counts him among the right-⁠believing princes. He passed from this life on 14 March 1167.

He was born around 1107-1110, the son of Grand Prince Mstislav the Great and Christina, daughter of King Inge the Elder of Sweden, and the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh. From youth he ruled Smolensk as his father's deputy (from 1125-1127) and remained at its head until his death. By temperament he was drawn more to peaceful organising than to war. He enlarged the land, bound his officials to the people and did not curtail the rights of the town community, but relied on it; after 1137 he founded the town of Rostislavl, today Roslavl, on the land of the Radimichi. He asked Metropolitan Nikita to place a bishop (Manuel) at Smolensk and gave in 1150 a charter to the diocese. He took care that books and manuscripts were collected and copied, and in his time libraries of secular and church writings appeared in Smolensk and other towns. His power grew so much that in 1147 the prince of Ryazan voluntarily recognised his overlordship.

He was a faithful ally of his elder brother Iziaslav Mstislavich, with whom he fought against Yuri Dolgoruky, especially in 1147-1151. In 1154, after the death of Iziaslav, the old Vyacheslav called him to Kiev to share the rule; Novgorod received him for a time, but soon quarrel arose with Iziaslav Davidovich and, at the approach of Yuri, Rostislav left Kiev. After Yuri's death, in 1157, he formed an alliance against Iziaslav Davidovich and in April 1159 took his seat on the throne of Kiev, which he held, with a brief interruption in 1161, until his death. He was, according to the chronicles, a peaceful prince, steadfast in the faith. He had four sons, among them Roman, David and Rurik, all princes, and two daughters, Elena and Agrafena.