The reasons and circumstances of the forcible tonsure of Rurik Rostislavich

The article deals with the final stage of conflict between the Kievan Prince Rurik Rostislavich and the Galician Prince Roman Mstislavich at the turn of the XIII century, causing debate among historians, namely with the forcible tonsure of Rurik Rostislavich, his wife and daughter in Kiev in 1204. The author tried to reconstruct the reasons, circumstances and meaning of the tonsure, and also to understand the attitude of the princely family to this event. According to the author, the reason for the tonsure was Roman’s desire to strike the ex-father-in-law from political life, to deprive him of any claims to his possession, as well as to disrupt the Galician Prince’s plans to attain sole domination in the South of Russia. Equally important reasons were the old family conflicts and the need to get rid of the former first wife, finally legitimize the second marriage and sons born from it. The act of tonsure itself should be seen as a complex phenomenon, where political and family reasons are difficult to separate from each other. Despite the forcible nature, the monastic status of Rurik was obvious to the princely brotherhood and caused irreparable political damage. A vivid illustration of Rurik’s tonsure is a miniature from the Radziwill chronicle.