Until his baptism, Vladimir I of Kiev (c.958–1015) was described by Thietmar of Merseburg as a great profligate (Latin: fornicator maximus). He had a few hundred concubines in Kiev and in the country residence of Berestovo. He also had official pagan wives.
Rogneda of Polotsk is the best known of Vladimir's pagan wives, although her ancestry has fuelled the drollest speculations.[1]
The Primary Chronicle mentions three of Rogneda's sons - Izyaslav of Polotsk (+1001), Vsevolod of Volhynia (+ca 995), and Yaroslav the Wise. Following an old Yngling tradition, Izyaslav inherited the lands of his maternal grandfather, i.e., Polotsk. According to the Kievan succession law, his progeny forfeited their rights to the Kievan throne, because their forefather had never ruled in Kiev supreme. They, however, retained the principality of Polotsk and formed a dynasty of local rulers, of which Vseslav the Sorcerer was the most notable.
