dynasty death_date birth_date reign father death_place title image_size coronation image name caption predecessor birth_place issue successor mother religion article_title
rurik dynasty march 972 -lsb- aged ~ 30 -rsb- 942 ? 945 -- 972 igor the island of khortytsa dnieper grand prince of kiev 250 px 964 Святослав Ігоревич -- монета.jpg sviatoslav the brave sviatoslav i on ukrainian coin igor kyiv '' '' with malusha : '' vladimir the great with unknown woman : '' yaropolk i oleg yaropolk i saint olga -lrb- regent 945-964 -rrb- paganism sviatoslav i of kiev

sviatoslav i of kiev

his decade-long reign over the kievan rus ' was marked by rapid expansion into the volga river valley , the pontic steppe , and the balkans .
by the end of his short life , sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in europe , eventually moving his capital in 969 from kiev -lrb- modern-day ukraine -rrb- to pereyaslavets -lrb- modern-day romania -rrb- on the danube .
in contrast with his mother 's conversion to christianity , sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life .
due to his abrupt death in ambush , his conquests , for the most part , were not consolidated into a functioning empire , while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his sons , resulting in two of his three sons being killed .
