Vladimir the Great (956–1015)
Born 956 CE, died 1015 CE.
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, romanized: Volodiměr Svętoslavič; Christian name: Basil; c. 958 – 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church both canonised him as Saint Vladimir. Vladimir's father was Sviatoslav I of the Rurik dynasty. After the death of his father in 972, Vladimir, who was then the prince of Novgorod, was forced to flee abroad after his brother Yaropolk murdered his other brother Oleg in 977 to become the sole ruler of Rus'. Vladimir assembled a Varangian army and returned to depose Yaropolk in 978. By 980, Vladimir had consolidated his realm to the Baltic Sea and solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarians, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988, and Christianized the Kievan Rus.
Text from the Wikipedia article Vladimir_the_Great, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.