city withstood a siege by the nomadic Pechenegs. In 988, by order of Grand Prince Volodymyr I (St. Volodymyr), the city residents accepted baptism en-masse in the Dnipro river, an event which symbolized the Baptism of Kievan Rus to Orthodox Christianity. The city reached the height of its position – its political and cultural Golden Age – in the middle of the 11th century under Volodymyr's son Yaroslav the Wise (Grand Prince from 1019 to 1054). In 1051, prince Yaroslav assembled the bishops at St. Sophia Cathedral and appointed Hilarion as the first native-born metropolitan bishop of Rus'. In spite of the East–West Schism in Christianity, the Kievan church maintained good relations with Rome (note for example prince Iziaslav I's request to Pope Gregory VII to extend to Kievan Rus "the patronage of St. Peter", which the Pope fulfilled by sending Iziaslav a crown from Rome in 1075). Following the fragmentation of Kievan Rus' polity, the Principality of Kiev emerged. Subsequent years saw rivalries of the competing princes of the dynasty and the weakening of Kyiv's political influence, although the city temporarily prevailed after the defeat of Polotsk at the Battle on the river Nemiga (1067) that also led to the burning of Minsk. In 1146 the next Ruthenian bishop, Kliment Smoliatich of Smolensk, was appointed to serve as the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'. In 1169 Andrei of Suzdal (Bogolyubsky) sent an army against Mstislav II Izyaslavich and Kyiv. Led by one of his sons, it consisted of the forces of eleven other princes, representing three of the main branches of the Rurikid dynasty against the fourth, the Iziaslavichi of Volynia. The allies were victorious, and sacked the city for three days. They left the old town and the prince's hall in ruins, and took many pieces of religious artwork - including the Theotokos of Vladimir icon – from nearby Vyshhorod. Bogolyubsky established a new capital at Vladimir. He lost Kiev five years later. In 1203, Prince Rurik Rostislavich captured and burned Kyiv. In the 1230s different Rus' princes besieged and ravaged the city several times. Then Mongol-Tatar forces led by Batu Khan besieged and then completely destroyed the city on 6 December 1240. The Mongols had originally planned to take the city unharmed, but upon their arrival, the garrison threw down the bodies of the Mongol diplomats sent to urge them to surrender. In revenge the Mongols