Simeon or Simon Olelkovich (1420–1470) was the last prince of Kiev from 1454 to 1470. He was also the prince of Slutsk from 1443 to 1455.

Life

A member of the

Olelkovich The House of Olelkovich was a princely family from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th and 16th centuries. Their main possession was the Duchy of Slutsk– Kapyl. They are sometimes known as Slutskys. They were descended from the Lithuanian ...

family, he descended from Ruthenianized

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

branch of the Gediminid dynasty, and was a great-grandson of

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

, the

grand duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

. After his father's death, he inherited the

Principality of Kiev The inner Principality of Kiev was a medieval principality centered on the city of Kiev. The principality was formed during the process of political fragmentation of the Kievan Rus' in the early 12th century. As a result of that process, the e ...

. He conducted an independent policy, fought with the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

, maintained close ties with the

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later auto ...

, the

Genoese colonies The Genoese colonies were a series of economic and trade posts in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and Black Seas. Some of them had been established directly under the patronage of the republican authorities to support the economy of the loca ...

and the

Principality of Theodoro The Principality of Theodoro (), also known as Gothia () or the Principality of Theodoro-Mangup, was a Greek principality in the southern part of Crimea, specifically on the foothills of the Crimean Mountains. It represented one of the final rump ...

in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. However soon after, the

was conquered by the emerging

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

. He married Maria (), daughter of Jonas Goštautas, by whom he had three children, (), Alexandra, wife of , and Sophia (), wife of Mikhail III of Tver, the last prince of

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

. After the death of Simon Olelkovich, the Principality of Kiev was transformed into the

Kiev Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship (; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471 until 1569 and of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1793, as part of Lesser Poland Province of ...

. His son received the Principality of Pinsk as compensation, but he died young and was succeeded first by his mother, Maria, and then by his brother-in-law, Fedor, after her death. None of his children had any issue.Tver (appanages and grand-princes) // Russian biographical dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.

Notes

References

Sources

F. Shabuldo. Simon Olelkovich // Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine, 2012. p 522.

* ttp://litopys.org.ua/ivakin/ivak03.htm Г. Івакін. Історичний розвиток Києва XIII — середина XVI ст. — К., 1996. — С. 42-108. * Długosz Jan. Dziejów polskich... — Tom V. — 1870 — S. 515 * Semkowicz W. Gasztołd Jan (Iwaszko) // Polski Słownik Biograficzny. — Kraków, 1948–1958. — t. VII. — S. 298. {{DEFAULTSORT:Simeon Olelkovich Olelkovich family Burials at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra People from Slutsk 1420 births 1470 deaths