Rostislav of Tmutarakan

Rostislav Vladimirovich (Russian: Ростислав Владимирович) (d. 1066) was a landless prince ("izgoi") from the Rurikid dynasty of Kievan Rus’.

During his minority, Rostislav ruled Rostov in the land of the Merya. His father Vladimir of Novgorod was the eldest son of Yaroslav I of Kiev. If Vladimir had not predeceased his father, he would have succeeded to the Kievan throne. Under the East Slavic house law, the early death of Rostislav's father made his descendants forfeit all claims to Kiev.

For five years after his father's death, Rostislav had no source of income. Finally, his uncles gave him Volhynia, where he stayed from 1057 and 1064. According to Vasily Tatischev, it was there that he married a daughter of the King of Hungary. Rostislav did not like the distant and meagre land and, in 1064, assisted by his father's friend Vyshata, seized rich Tmutarakan on the Black Sea littoral, previously controlled by the House of Chernigov.

His predecessor, Gleb Svyatoslavich, escaped to his father, Svyatoslav II of Chernigov. The latter approached Tmutarakan with his army and Rostislav was forced to leave the city. Once Svyatoslav returned to Chernigov, Rostislav expelled Gleb from Tmutarakan and entered the city in triumph. During his brief rule, he subdued the Circassians and other indigenous tribes. His success provoked the rivalry of Greek Chersonesos, whose envoy poisoned him on 3 February, 1066.