h they ruled as dukes. Novgorod and Pskof were republics
on the northwest frontier, and usually had the same duke. Smolensk was
an important dukedom, because it contained the sources of the Volga,
the Dnieper, and the Dwina, and embraced the ancient forest of Okof.
Not far from it was the dukedom of Toropetz. On the Upper Oka was
Tchernigof--a rival of Kief; further to the south was Novgorod-Swerki,
and east of the Upper Don, extending as far as the Oka, were (p. 047)
Riazan and Mourom. The dukedom of Souzdal, inhabited by a mixture of
Finns and Slavs, was in the north, the soil still covered by forests.
Southeast Russia embraced Red Russia, that is Volhynia and Gallicia
Proper.

The introduction of the Greek Church caused important changes. The
Greek Priests could not comprehend the relation between the people and
its defenders. To them the duke was not a _dux_ (leader), but a Caesar,
Kaiser, or Czar, ruling, not with the consent of the governed, but by
the grace of God, as did the emperors at Constantinople. This idea
gradually penetrated into the minds of the several dukes, until it was
accepted and enforced by them.

Another very important change was effected by the Greek religion. We
have seen that according to the old Slav customs, it was not the son
who succeeded as the head of the family, but its eldest member. It
appears that the same custom prevailed among the Norsemen, as we have
seen that it was Rurik's brother, and not his son who succeeded him.
In the Byzantine Empire, the oldest son was the heir, and the priests
tried to introduce this as a law.

As the descendants of Rurik increased in number, it was not always
easy to determine who was entitled to the succession. Hence there were
often several claimants, and as a result, civil wars followed. These
wars, strange as it may appear, served to bind the dukedoms together,
because most of them were waged for the purpose of establishing the
claim of a duke upon the possession of Kief.

Iaroslaf died in 1054, and was buried in the church of St. Sophia (p. 048)
at Kief. In his will we see the effect of the Greek Church, for he
specially appointed his eldest son Isiaslaf as his successor. A
younger brother, Sviatoslaf, took up arms, and expelled him in 1073.
Upon his death in 1076, Isiaslaf returned to Kief, where he lived two
years. He died in 1078, and was succeeded by his brother Vsevolod, who
was grand duke until 1093, when he was succeeded by Sviat