Igor Svyatoslavich

Prince Igor Sviatoslavich the Brave, also spelt Ihor Sviatoslavych (Old East Slavic: Игорь Святъславичь, Igorĭ Svjatŭslavičĭ; , Igor Svyatoslavich; , Ihor Svyatoslavych; Old Norse: Ingvar Sveinaldsson) (Novhorod-Siverskyi, April 3/10, 1151 – the spring of 1201/December 29, 1202) was an Olgovichi prince. His baptismal name was Yury. Igor was prince of Putivl (1164–1180), of Novgorod-Seversk (1180–1198), and of Chernigov (1198–1201/1202). Chronicle evidence reveals that he had an enviably successful military career; he led many campaigns against the Cumans from among which the chronicles report only one defeat. But it was his defeat at the river Kayala (the exact location of which has never been definitively established) that has become immortalized through its literary rendering in “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”, the most celebrated epic of Rus’. During his reign Novhorod-Siverskyi enjoyed the status of the second most powerful town in the Chernigov land. Basing their observations on archaeological evidence, a number of investigators proposed that Igor built the Cathedral of the Holy Savior in the Monastery of the Transfiguration outside of the town. It has also been suggested that he founded the stone church in Putivl. To judge from circumstantial evidence, Igor's reign in Chernigov was uneventful. He continued the family chronicle that his father and brother had commissioned.