Віслыя пячаткі князя Яраполка (Пятра) Ізяславіча 1069–1086 гадоў

Yaropolk (Christian name – Peter) Izyaslavich (1043/47–1086) was the prince of Volhynia, Vyshgorod, and Turaŭ, the son of Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich of Kyiv and Gertrude of Poland, and the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. In 1075, he was crowned by the Pope as King of Rus.

Spectacular sphragistic monuments have remained from Yaropolk Izyaslavich’s reign. Until 2002, only one seal type of this prince was known—a bulla featuring a waist-length image of St. Peter on the obverse and a waist-length image of Our Lady of the Sign on the reverse. In 2002, Kyiv researcher Valeri V. Nechytaylo first published and attributed three new types of seals to Yaropolk. In 2013, the same researcher published additional seal types attributed to him, though without justification.

Igor A. Zhukov, the author of this article, critically examines these previous attributions and identifies more seal types belonging to Yaropolk. The placement of St. Boris and St. Gleb’s images on the back of Yaropolk’s seals and those of his eldest son was likely connected to significant events: in 1071, Boris and Gleb were canonized as saints, and in 1072, their relics were solemnly transferred to the new cathedral in Vyshgorod, the prince’s future fief. The depictions of St. Boris and St. Gleb on Yaropolk’s bullae are the earliest known to date and were undoubtedly copied by skilled craftsmen from icons of that time.