Council of Uvetichi

The Council of Uvetichi consisted of two meetings of the senior generation of Russian princes. It took place in August 1100, and it had a twofold purpose: to bring about a reconciliation among the princes and to pass judgment on Prince Davyd Igorevich. The venue of the conference was the town of Uvetichi, which is on the right bank of the Dnieper not far from Kiev. It is now the village of Vytachiv in the Kiev Oblast.

The Russian Primary Chronicle ("The Tale of Bygone Years", the Povest' vremennykh let) is the primary source of information for the meetings, and the information is presented twice in the chronicle: first in detail under the year 1097, and then sequentially under the years 1098-1100.

The council was preceded by severe conflict involving the Volhynian and Galician regions. It began in November 1097 when, violating the agreements reached at the earlier meeting of princes at the Council of Lyubech, Volhynian Prince Davyd Igorevich and Prince Svyatopolk II Izyaslavich of Kiev had captured and blinded Terebovl Prince Vasilko Rostislavich, whom Svyatopolk has tricked into coming to Kiev. The princes' reasons for convening included their suspicion of an alliance between Vasilko and Vladimir Vsevolodovich with the goal of installing Vladimir in Kiev, and Vasilko in all the western regions, and also Prince Davyd's concern for his own fate.

Davyd had initiated a campaign to take possession of Vasilko's holdings, but he was opposed by Vasilko's older brother Volodar, who besieged Davyd at Buzhsk and succeeded in securing the release of his brother. In the spring of the following year, 1098, Vasilko and Volodar besieged Davyd in the town of Vladimir. In the end they made peace, after the boyars responsible for the blinding of Vasilko were turned over to them for adjudication.

In 1098 there was a meeting in Gorodets of Svyatopolk's cousins, Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd Svyatoslavich, and Oleg Svyatoslavich. Threatening military action, they demanded that Svyatopolk expel Davyd Igorevich. Then Svyatopolk deprived Davyd Igorevich of his throne in Vladimir, causing him to flee to Poland, and Svyatopolk installed his son Mstislav in Vladimir.

Subsequently, Sviatopolk went to war with Vasilko and Volodar, asserting that according to dynastic law, the lands which they held belonged to him. Svyatopolk was defeated Rozhne Pole. King Koloman the Learned of Hungary joined the conflict on the side of Svyatopolk. The exiled Davyd Igorevich took the side of Vasilko and Volodar, and he brought in the Cumans and defeated the Hungarians at the Vyagro River.

Davyd then besieged Mstislav in Vladimir and captured the town. Svyatopolk's son was killed by an arrow during the siege on June 12, 1099. On August 5, the town of Vladimir was recaptured by Putyata, a Kievan military commander, but then David with the help of the Cumans once again took possession of Vladimir and Lutsk as well, driving out Svyatopolk's ally, Svyatoslav Davidovich.

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