as
fought in which the Russians were crushed. Nearly all the dukes died
on the battlefield; Riazan was stormed, sacked, and burned, and the
other towns of that dukedom met the same fate.

It was now the turn of Souzdal. The army of the grand duke was
defeated on the Oka; Moscow was burned and Vladimir besieged. After an
heroic defense, the Tartars took the city by assault, and many
Russians were burned in the cathedral which was set on fire. Leaving
ruin in their wake, the Tartars went in search of the grand duke who
had taken a position on the Sit, near the frontiers of Novgorod. Here
another battle was fought ending in disaster for the Russians. The
headless corpse of the grand duke was found by the Bishop of Rostof.
On swept the Asiatic hoards, as if nothing would stop them. At Torjok,
"Russian heads fell beneath the sword of the Tartars as grass beneath
the scythe." Leaving Souzdal behind, they entered the territory of
Novgorod; but the dense forests and swollen rivers delayed them, and
when within fifty miles of the city, they turned southeast. The little
town of Kozelsk[6] did not surrender but inflicted such a loss upon
the invaders that they mentioned it as "the wicked city." When it (p. 067)
was captured, every man, woman, and child, was butchered.

[Footnote 6: Where Kalouga now stands.]

The years 1239 and 1240 were spent in ravaging southern Russia.
Pereiaslaf and Tchernigof, after a desperate defense, were burned, and
the Tartars under command of Genghis's grandson Mangou, marched upon
Kief. Mangou offered terms, but Kief, knowing the fate of other
cities, executed Mangou's envoys. The grand duke and his rival, Daniel
of Galitch, fled from the city, but the people fought for their lives.
Mangou was reenforced by Bati's army and the siege began. The walls
were knocked to pieces by battering rams. "The people of Kief, led by
the brave Dmitri, a Gallician boyard, defended the battered ramparts
till the end of the day, and then retreated to the Church of the Dime,
which they surrounded by a palisade. The last defenders of Kief were
grouped round the tomb of Iaroslaf. The next day they perished. Mangou
gave the boyard his life, but the Mother of Russian Cities was sacked.
This third pillage was the most terrible; even the tombs were not
respected. All that remains of the Church of the Dime is only a few
fragments of mosaic in the museum at Kief. Saint Sophia and the
Monastery of the Cataco