Mediators in the Politics of Medieval Rus’

The article examines the status and functions of peace mediators in conflicts of the pre‑Mongol Rus’ based on materials of three chronicles: the Primary Chronicle, the Kievan Chronicle (according to the Hypatian and similar manuscripts) and the First Novgorodian Chronicle. Among mediators of this period, two main groups can be distinguished: (1) the closest younger relatives of one of the competitors; these juniors could be both the initiators of a truce agreement and intermediate persons whom a defeated enemy applied to; and (2) peacemakers, who, on the contrary, were maximally distanced from the conflict and who had no personal interest in it, but had a very high status of a ruler or similar. Often, such a mediator could be a foreign ruler, usually of a neighboring land. The political practices used to end conflicts in medieval Rus’ demonstrate a wide range of people involved, including young princes, widowed princesses, clergy: metropolitans, bishops and abbots of famous monasteries. The negotiation process itself could take place in several stages with more than one element in the peacekeeping chain.