Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev, lives in a relative peace with his other neighbors Boleslaw I of Poland and Stephen I of Hungary.
After the death of his second wife Anna Porphyrogeneta, he had married again, likely to a granddaughter of Otto the Great.
His son Yaroslav had stopped paying tribute in 1014.
The early years of Yaroslav's life are shrouded in mystery.
He was one of the numerous sons of Vladimir, presumably his second by Rogneda of Polotsk, although his actual age (as stated in the Primary Chronicle and corroborated by the examination of his skeleton in the 1930s) would place him among the youngest of Vladimir’s children It has been suggested that he was a child begotten out of wedlock after Vladimir’s divorce from Rogneda and marriage to Anna Porphyrogeneta, or even that he was a child of Anna Porphyrogeneta herself.
Yaroslav figures prominently in the Norse Sagas under the name of Jarisleif the Lame; his legendary lameness (probably resulting from an arrow wound) was corroborated by the scientists who examined his remains.
In his youth, Yaroslav had been sent by his father to rule the northern lands around Rostov but was transferred to Novgorod, as befitted a senior heir to the throne, in 1010.
While living there, he had founded the town of Yaroslavl (literally, "Yaroslav's") on the Volga.
His relations with his father are apparently strained, and had grows only worse on the news that Vladimir has bequeathed the Kievan throne to his younger son, Boris.
Deciding to chastise the insolence of his son, Vladimir begins gathering troops against Yaroslav.
However, Vladimir falls ill, most likely of old age, and dies on July 15, 1015, at Berestovo, near Kiev, leaving his empire divided among several heirs.
His nephew Sviatopolk becomes grand duke in Kiev; his youngest son, Yaroslav, is vice-regent in Novgorod.
