The Prince of Kiev (Williamson, David. Debrett's kings and queens of Europe. Topsfield, Mass. : Salem House Publishers, c1988, pg. 66). aka Jaroslaus, Grand Duke or Czar of Russia, 1015-1051 (Browning, Charles. Americans of royal descent, 7th ed. Baltimore : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1969, pg. 141).
By name Yaroslav the Wise, Russian Yaroslav Mudry (b. 980-d. Feb. 2, 1054), grand prince of Kiev from 1019 to 1054. A son of the grand prince Vladimir, he was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his father's death in 1015. Then his eldest surviving brother, Svyatopolk the Accursed, killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev. Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of the Varangian (Viking) mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the grand prince of Kiev in 1019.
Yaroslav began consolidating the Kievan state through both cultural and administrative improvements and through military campaigns. He promoted the spread of Christianity in the Kievan state, gathered a large collection of books, and employed many scribes to translate Greek religious texts into the Slavic language. He founded churches and monastaries and issued statutes regulating the legal position of the Christian Church and the rights of the clergy. With the help of Byzantine architects and craftsmen, Yaroslav fortified and beautified Kiev along Byzantine lines. He built the majestic Cathedral of St. Sophia and the famous Golden Gate of the Kievan fortress. Under Yaroslav the codification of legal customs and princely enactments was begun, and this work served as the basis for a law called the Russkaya Pravda ("Russian Justice").
Yaroslav pursued an active foreign policy, and his forces won several notable military victories. He regained Galicia from the Poles, decisively defeated the nomadic Pechenegs on the Kievan state's southern frontier, and expanded Kieven possessions in the Baltic region, suppressing the Lithuanians, Estonians, and Finnish tribes. His military campaign against Constantinople in 1043 was a failure, however.
Trade with the East and the West played an important role in Kieven Rus in the 11th century, and Yaroslav maintained diplomatic relations with the European states. His daughters Elizabeth, Anna, and Anastasia were married respectively to Harald III of Norway, Henry I of France, and Andrew I of Hungary.
In his testament, Yaroslav sought to prevent a power struggle among his five sons by dividing his empire among them and enjoining the younger four sons to obey the oldest, Izyaslav, who was to succeed his father as grand prince of Kiev. This advice had no lasting effect, and civil war ensued after Yaroslav's death (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition. Chicago : Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 1992, vol. 12., pg. 823).
Yaroslav's natural mother was apparently one of the numerous wives or women his father Vladimir I was associated with before his Christian marriage to Anne (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., 1992, Chicago : Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 12, pg. 411-412. Butler's lives of the saints. NY : P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 1956, pg. 110-111).
aka Jarosalaus (Browning, Charles H. Americans of royal descent. Baltimore : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1986, pg. 443)