Early Middle Ages and Crusades
Looting of the Jewish quarter during the riot following the death of Sviatopolk II
1113·Kiev
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
The death of Grand Prince Sviatopolk II opened several days of rioting in Kiev. The crowd turned first against the officials of the deceased prince, accused of having speculated on salt, and then against the Jewish quarter, whose inhabitants were believed to have benefited from his commercial favors; the houses were pillaged.
The Chronicle of Bygone Years records the episode and the installation of Vladimir Monomakh, hastily recalled to restore order. A later tradition attributes to him an expulsion of the Jews from Rus', which no contemporary source confirms; what is attested is the vulnerability of a community whose fate depended on the personal protection of the prince.
- Period :
- Early Middle Ages and Crusades
- Type :
- Pogrom
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Ukraine
*Povest' vremennykh let* (Chronique des temps passés) ; Simon Doubnov, *Histoire moderne du peuple juif*.