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{{Short description|Prince of Koknese (d. 1224)}}{{Infobox monarch
| name = Vyachko
| title = {{plainlist|Prince of [[Principality of Koknese|Koknese]]
* ''Prince of [[Tartu|Yuryev]]''
}}
| image = Vyachko.jpg
| caption = Monument to Vyachko (right) in [[Tartu]], [[Republic of Estonia|Estonia]]
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date = 15 August 1224
| death_place = [[Tartu|Yuryev]]
| father =
| occupation =
| reign1 = Until 1224
}}
'''Vyachko'''<ref>{{cite book |title=The Uses of the Bible in Crusader Sources |date=22 May 2017 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-34121-0 |page=377 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9YkDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Foreword to the Past |last=Bojtár |first=Endre |year=1999 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9116-42-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aoId7nA4bsC&pg=PA125 }}</ref> ({{lang-ru|Вячко}}; died 1224; also ''Vyacheslav''),<ref name="Selart">{{cite book |last1=Selart |first1=Anti |title=Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century |date=31 March 2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-28475-3 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHu9BwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> also known as '''Vetseke''',<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia |last=Brundage |first=James |year=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-12888-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtRs1QecqIsC&pg=PA68 |page=52 }}</ref> was the prince of [[Principality of Koknese|Koknese]] (Kuikenos).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Curtin |first1=Jeremiah |title=The Mongols in Russia |date=1908 |publisher=Little Brown |page=214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7kNAAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He later became the prince of [[Tartu|Yuryev]] (now [[Tartu]]) while in the service of [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]],<ref name="Selart"/> which was the last Russian stronghold in Estonia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Alan V. |title=The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier |date=5 December 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-89260-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IKOoDQAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> He died during the [[Siege of Tartu (1224)|defense of the city]] against the [[Livonian Brothers of the Sword]] in 1224.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=Clifford J. |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533403-6 |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC |language=en}}</ref>
==Origins==
Another interpretation, based on evidence from the ''[[Chronicle of Henry of Livonia]]'', is that Vetseke was a local élite, perhaps a [[Livonian people|Livonian]], who converted to [[Orthodox Christianity]] and became a vassal of Polotsk, whereupon he changed his name to the East Slavic ''Vyachko''. This interpreation is supported by the fact that ''Chronicle'' says the population of Koknese included Balts ([[Latgallians]] and [[Selonians]]), and even a German colony, in addition to the East Slavic element.<ref>{{cite book |title=Latvijas vēsture 1180–1290: Krustakari |last=Šterns |first=Indriķis |authorlink= |year=2002 |publisher=Latvijas vēstures institūta apgāds |language=Latvian |location=Riga |isbn=9984-601-88-9 |oclc=53125658 |page=182 }} On the Baltic population of Koknese, cf. Brundage, ''op. cit.'', p. 78f.</ref>▼
Vetseke may have been the equivalent to the Russian Vyachko (a shortened form of [[Vyacheslav]]).<ref name="Murray">{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Alan V. |title=The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier |date=2009 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6483-3 |page=235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kv599Lb04UC |language=en}}</ref><!--his father is supposed to have been a [[Rurikid]] prince of [[Drutsk]]. Unreferenced Citation needed|date=October 2008--> Evidence from the ''[[Chronicle of Henry of Livonia]]'' indicates the possibility that he came from a local élite, perhaps a [[Livonian people|Livonian]], who converted to [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] and became a vassal of the [[Principality of Polotsk]]. Despite this, he was still perceived as a Russian prince.<ref name="Murray"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Selart |first1=Anti |title=Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century |date=31 March 2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-28475-3 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHu9BwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>
▲
==Early relations with the Crusaders==
At
Although his principality is believed to have been subject to Polotsk, this did nothing to help him withstand either the Knights’ nor the Lithuanians’ pressure. According to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, it was indeed in return for protection against the Lithuanians that Vetseke offered half of his land and the fort to Albert in 1205 (''...offerens sibi terre et castri sui medietatem''). Albert accepted the offer and promised to send Vetseke weapons and men.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 70. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref>
In 1208, Koknese was captured by the [[Livonian people|Livonians]] of [[Lielvārde]] in retaliation of Vetseke’s raids. Vetseke and all his wealth were captured and the king himself cast in chains. However, Daniel, the knight of Lielvārde (Danielus de Lenewarde), upon hearing the news of Vetseke’s capture immediately notified bishop Albert. <ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 80. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref> The bishop then “ordered the fort to be restored to the king and all his wealth to be given back to him”. He then summoned Vetseke to Riga where he honored him with gifts of many horses and suits of precious garments. The bishop then sent Vetseke back along with “twenty strong men with arms, knights with their mounts, ballistarii, and masons to strengthen the fort and hold it against the Lithuanians”, just as he had promised three years earlier<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia |last=Brundage |first=James |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location= |isbn=978-0-231-12888-9 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UtRs1QecqIsC&pg=PA68 |page=76 }} </ref>▼
▲In 1208, Koknese was captured by the
After sending Vetseke back to Koknese bishop Albert prepared to leave on a customary annual trip to Germany in order to recruit new crusaders to replace the ones whose pilgrimage was completed. Knowing that only a few defenders had remained in Riga, Vetseke had the support troops and artisans sent by Albert murdered and then "sent the best German horses, ballistas, coats of mail, and similar things" to Grand Prince Vladimir of Polotsk, "with an urgent request that he call together an army and come as quickly as possible to take Riga, in which he said few men remained, the best having been killed by him and the others having gone away with the bishop".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia |last=Brundage |first=James |year=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-12888-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtRs1QecqIsC&pg=PA68 |page=77 }}</ref> Vladimir, whom the chronicler describes as an "excessively credulous king", responded by gathering an army in anticipation of the expedition.
==Vetseke and the defense of Tartu==▼
Meanwhile the leaving crusader army had been detained in [[Dünamünde]] by a contrary wind. After receiving word of Vetseke's treachery and the massacre at Koknese from the few survivors who had reached Riga, the flotilla turned back and returned to the city. Upon hearing that a grand army of crusaders and native Livonians has gathered in Riga, the Russians became afraid, "divided the arms and horses of the Germans among themselves, set fire to the fort of Koknese and fled, each one on his own way". Vetseke, however, "since he had acted evilly, departed for Russia, never to return thenceforth to his kingdom".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia |last=Brundage |first=James |year=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-12888-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtRs1QecqIsC&pg=PA68 |page=78 }}</ref>
By 1224, Tartu remained the last center of the anti-Christian resistance in South-Estonia. In addition to the local population from [[Ugandi]], many diehard freedom fighters had gathered there from [[Sakala]] and other neighboring provinces (''vicinas omnes provincias''). The crusaders laid siege to Tartu after Easter in 1224 but were forced to leave after only five days of fighting. Then the bishops sent a delegation to Vetseke and asked him to give up the “heathen rebels” in the fortress and leave them, but he chose to stay because the “Novgorodians and Russian princes had promised him the fortress and the surrounding lands” if he could conquer them for himself.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 246. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref> On August 15, 1224, the crusader army, reinforced with a large number of Christian Latvian and Livonian troops, returned with all its might to Tarbatu. The second siege of Tartu of 1224 lasted many days and nights. Vetseke and his 200 Christian Russians were again offered free passage through the crusader camp, but Vetseke, expecting a relief army from Novgorod, refused. All the defenders of Tarbatu, including women, were killed in the final onslaught by the Knights when the fortress finally fell. According to the ''[[Chronicle of Henry of Livonia]]'', Vetseke along with his Russians tried to put up a separate resistance in one of the fortifications, but were all dragged out and killed. Of all the defenders of Tarbatu, only one Russian from [[Suzdal]] was left alive. He was given clothes and a good horse and sent back to Novgorod. The relief troops from Novgorod had already reached [[Pskov]] when they received the news from Tartu whereupon they decided to cancel the expedition and make peace with the Germans.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 248-254. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref>▼
The crusaders, being deprived of the opportunity to gather loot in Koknese, took revenge on the local Latvian population by killing many Latgallians and Selonians who had fled to the woods.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 84. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref> By 1209, Koknese had been taken over by the Order and the formal sovereignty of Polotsk was finally revoked in 1215.
In 1223, there was a general anti-crusader uprising in all of mainland Estonia. After the German garrisons had been killed the Estonians took over all the fortresses. In order to secure their initial military success, mercenary troops were invited from Novgorod and Pskov and stationed in several key fortresses such as [[Viljandi]] and [[Tartu]].<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 234. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref>
[[File:The death of Vyachko.jpg|left|thumb|The death of Vyachko]]
Vetseke, who had lost his earlier dominions to the crusaders and Livonians, was given money and two hundred men by the Novgorod Republic so that he could establish himself in ''Tarbatu'' (present-day Tartu) or any other place ''"that he could conquer for himself"''.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 242. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref> In Russian historiography this payment for military help has been interpreted as the Estonians subjugating themselves to Vetseke and paying him tax. [[Soviet historiography]] claimed that the "Russian-Estonian cooperation" in the defense of Tartu "against common enemy – the German colonizers" – was a sign of "friendship between the two brotherly nations".
By 1224, Tartu remained the last centre of anti-crusader resistance in south Estonia. In addition to the local [[Ugandi]], many fighters from [[Sakala County|Sakala]] and other neighboring provinces had gathered there (''"vicinas omnes provincias"''). After Easter the crusaders laid siege to Tartu but were forced to leave after only five days of fighting. The bishops sent a delegation to Vetseke and asked him to give up the "heathen rebels" in the fortress and leave, but he chose to stay because "the Novgorodians and Russian princes had promised him the fortress and the surrounding lands" if he could conquer them for himself.<ref>Tarvel, Enn (ed.). 1982. ''Henriku Liivimaa kroonika. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae.'' p. 246. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat.</ref>
▲
==See also==
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[[Category:1224 deaths]]
[[Category:Russian military leaders]]
[[Category:Christians of the Livonian Crusade]]
[[Category:
[[Category:History of Estonia]]▼
[[Category:Military personnel killed in action]]
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