Yaropolk I
c. 955 – 978 · 23 years · Kiev · Eastern Europe & Russia
Reign: 972 – 978 (Rus and Russia)
Eldest son of Sviatoslav. He began the first civil war in Rus, in which his brother Oleg died; he was then defeated by his brother Vladimir and killed on his orders.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 10th century
Portrait: Радзивилловская летопись · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Hugh Capet — founder of the Capetian dynasty, 15 years older
- Otto the Great — founder of the Holy Roman Empire who crushed the Magyars at the Lech, 43 years older
- Æthelred the Unready — king who paid off the Vikings with Danegeld, 11 years younger
- Otto II — emperor wed to the Byzantine Theophanu, defeated by the Arabs in Calabria, born the same year
- Edgar the Peaceful — king of a peaceful united England and patron of monastic reform, 12 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Vladimir the Great — Grand Prince of Kiev, 5 years younger
- Olga of Kiev — grand princess of Kiev, 35 years older
- Sviatoslav I — Grand Prince of Kiev, warrior, 13 years older
Middle East
- Ferdowsi — Persian poet, 15 years older
Asia
- Sei Shōnagon — writer and court lady, 11 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 960 Founding of the Song dynasty — aged 5, Asia
- 962 Coronation of Otto I — aged 7, Europe
- 966 Baptism of Poland — aged 11, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 969 Founding of Cairo — aged 14, Africa
- 972 Al-Azhar Mosque opens — aged 17, Africa