Kyiv Uprising of 1113

Kyiv Uprising of 1113. An uprising of the commoners of Kyiv, and possibly of the rural populace of the Kyiv region, which erupted upon the death of Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych as a response to the corruption and injustices of his rule. The insurgents attacked and plundered Sviatopolk's officials and the local merchants and usurers, many of them Jews. Afraid that the unrest would grow and that the monasteries and they themselves would be the next victims, the intimidated boyars of Kyiv offered the throne to the popular Prince Volodymyr Monomakh of Pereiaslav, who quelled the uprising by granting legal concessions to the people (see Volodymyr Monomakh's Statute).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]