Vladimir
Born c. 956/957, St. Vladimir was the son of Syataslav of Kiev and a concubine. Vladimir was raised a pagan and became prince of Novgorod in 970. When his father died two years later, he travelled to Scandinavia to seek the aid of an uncle in fighting his brother Yaropolk, who had become Grand Duke of Kiev and wanted to rule Novgorod as well. After Yaropolk's defeat and death, Vladimir ruled both city-states. He fought against raiding Lithuanians and encroaching Bulgars; he also kept the Greeks from taking the Crimea. In 980, he consolidated the Russian state from Ukraine to the Baltic. He hoped to foster the union of conquered city-states through the adoption of a single religion. He is said to have sent envoys to centers of each major religion and to have chosen Christianity because his ambassadors to Byzantium could not tell if they were on earth or in heaven during the liturgy. Scholars believe that a need for military aid prompted negotiations with Emperor Basil, which ended in an agreement that the Byzantine leader would provide military assistance in exchange for Vladimir's conversion and marriage to Anna, Basil's sister. Vladimir ordered the conversion of the Russian people and began to establish Christian churches, as he had once founded pagan temples. He outlawed capital punishment and gave more alms. After Anna's death in 1011, Vladimir married a German princess related to the emperor Otto I, from whom his grandmother Olga had requested missionaries when she hoped to Christianize Russia. Vladimir died in 1015 while fighting the son of one of his ex-wives.
Karen Rae Keck
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