Iziaslav of Polotsk
son of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk
Iziaslav Vladimirovich (978–1001) was the son of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. He was the progenitor of the Polotsk branch of Rurikid princes known as the Iziaslavichi.
Biography
When his father converted to Christianity in 988, he had to divorce all his previous wives, including Rogneda. She and her son Iziaslav were exiled back to the lands of Polotsk – first to Iziaslav, and later to Polotsk.
Following Norse tradition, Iziaslav was sent with his mother to rule her homeland. There is also a legend that Rogneda tried to get Iziaslav to slay his father.
Despite possibly going against the will of his father, Iziaslav was able to continue his rule in Polotsk. He was first to make Polotsk autonomous from the grand prince of Kiev, passing his title to his descendants after his death. His principality carried a wide degree of autonomy that later was passed on to his descendants. His glory was commemorated after an established city that was named after him.
“Iziaslav of Polotsk” enters the record as son of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Iziaslav, Polotsk and Vladimir can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2357762. VIAF identifies the subject as 35306967. The Library of Congress control number is n96080752. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Iziaslav of Polotsk” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.