17 Facts About Yuri Dolgorukiy

Yuri Dolgorukiy was the progenitor of the Yurievichi, a branch of the Monomakhovichi.

Yuri Dolgorukiy spent much of his life in internecine strife with the other Rus' princes for suzerainty over the Kievan Rus, which had been held by his father and his elder brother before him.

Yuri Dolgorukiy's rule marked the effective end of the Rus' as a unified entity until the Mongol invasions, with powerful provincial territories like Vladimir-Suzdal and Galicia-Volhynia now competing for the throne of Kiev.

In 1108 Vladimir Monomakh sent his young son Yuri Dolgorukiy to govern in his name the vast Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the north-east of Kievan Rus'.

In 1121 Yuri Dolgorukiy quarreled with the boyars of Rostov and moved the capital of his lands from that city to Suzdal.

Yuri Dolgorukiy established the towns of Ksniatin, Pereslavl-Zalesski and Yuriev-Polski, and Dmitrov.

In 1147 Yuri Dolgorukiy had a meeting with Sviatoslav Olgovich in a place called Moscow.

In 1156 Yuri Dolgorukiy fortified Moscow with wooden walls and a moat.

Yuri Dolgorukiy instantaneously declared war on the princes of Chernigov, the reigning Grand Prince and his brother Yaropolk II of Kiev, enthroned his son in Novgorod, and captured his father's hereditary principality at Pereyaslav of the South.

The Novgorodians betrayed him, and Yuri Dolgorukiy avenged by seizing their key eastern fortress, Torzhok.

In 1147, Yuri Dolgorukiy resumed his struggle for Kiev and in 1149 he captured it, but in 1151 he was driven from the capital of Rus by his nephew Iziaslav.

Yuri Dolgorukiy Dolgoruki was interred at the Saviour Church in Berestovo, Kiev, but his tomb is empty.

Yuri Dolgorukiy's first wife was a daughter of Ayyub Khan, Khan of the Cumans.

Yuri Dolgorukiy's people belonged to the Cumans, a confederation of pastoralists and warriors of Turkic origin.

Yuri Dolgorukiy's paternity is not known for certain, but Nikolay Karamzin was the first to theorise that Helena was returning to her native city.

Yuri Dolgorukiy has since been theorised to be a member of the Komnenos dynasty which ruled the Byzantine Empire throughout the life of Yuri.

Yuri Dolgorukiy's memory is cherished as the legendary founder of Moscow.