Yaroslav the Wise appears in Norse sagas as Jarisleif the Lame
Scandinavian sagas remembered the Grand Prince of Kiev as Jarisleif the Lame. When scientists examined Yaroslav's skeleton in the 1930s, they confirmed he really had walked with a limp, probably from an arrow wound. The same ruler founded the city of Yaroslavl and issued the first written law code of the East Slavs.
Yaroslav, baptised George, was born around 978 as one of many sons of Vladimir the Great. His mother is traditionally named as Rogneda of Polotsk, but his age as judged from his bones places him among Vladimir's youngest children, and some historians argue he was actually the son of the Byzantine princess Anna, which would explain his later meddling in Byzantine affairs. As a young man he governed Rostov, then from 1010 Novgorod, founding Yaroslavl on the Volga.
Relations with his father soured, especially when Vladimir favoured a younger son, Boris, as heir. In 1014 Yaroslav stopped paying tribute to Kiev and hired Varangian warriors from overseas; only Vladimir's death the following year prevented open war. Then came four years of brutal struggle with his half-brother Sviatopolk, who was backed by his father-in-law, the Polish duke Bolesław. Several brothers were killed along the way. Yaroslav won in 1016, lost Kiev in 1018 when Sviatopolk returned with Polish troops, and finally secured the city in 1019.
He rewarded the Novgorodians who had stood by him with sweeping freedoms, laying foundations for the later Novgorod Republic, and the princely residence by their market became known as Yaroslav's Court. His law code, the Russkaya Pravda, probably dates from this period. As grand prince he allied with Scandinavian kingdoms, pushed back Byzantine influence, founded the fort of Yuryev near what is now Tartu in Estonia, and built a chain of forts against the nomadic Pechenegs.
He sponsored Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1037 and the earliest surviving Old East Slavic literary work, by Hilarion of Kiev. In 1019 he married the Swedish princess Ingegerd; several daughters married into foreign royal houses, and his sons ruled different parts of Rus. He urged his children to live in peace with one another. He died in 1054, and his remains, once kept in a sarcophagus in Saint Sophia, were later lost or stolen.
Source: Yaroslav the Wise
