In state affairs, he was assisted by the
voivode Vyshata and the
bishop Luka Zhidiata. In 1042, Vladimir may have been
in conflict with Finns, according to some interpretations even making a military campaign in Finland. In the next year he led the Russian armies
against the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX. He predeceased his father by two years and was buried by him in
St Sophia Cathedral he had built in
Novgorod. His sarcophagus is in a niche on the south side of the main body of the cathedral overlooking the Martirievskii Porch. He is depicted in an early twentieth-century fresco above the sarcophagus and on a new effigial icon on top of the sarcophagus. The details of his death is unknown, however his son Rostislav and his descendants were in unfriendly relationship with the descendants of the Yaroslaviches triumvirate (Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod). Three of Vladimir's younger brothers
Izyaslav I,
Svyatoslav II and
Vsevolod I all reigned in Kiev, while other two (Igor and Vyacheslav) died in their early twenties after which their lands were split between the Yaroslaviches triumvirate. Coincidentally, Vyshata of Novgorod pledged his support to Rostislav in the struggle against the triumvirate. Vladimir's only son,
Rostislav Vladimirovich, was a landless prince who usurped power in
Tmutarakan. His descendants were dispossessed by their uncles and were proclaimed as
izgoi (outcast), but gradually managed to establish themselves in
Halychyna, ruling the land until 1199, when their line became extinct. In order to downplay their claims to Kiev, the records of Vladimir's military campaigns seem to have been obliterated from Kievan chronicles. As a result, medieval historians often confuse him with two more famous namesakes —
Vladimir the Great and
Vladimir Monomakh. The name of Vladimir's
consort is also uncertain: According to Nikolai Baumgarten, Vladimir was married to
Ode, the daughter of count Leopold of Staden, whereas others (including
Aleksandr Nazarenko) disregard that assumption or claim a different person. Vladimir's memory was better preserved in foreign sources. In
Norse sagas he frequently figures as Valdemar Holti (that is, "the Nimble").
George Cedrenus noticed Vladimir's arrogance in dealing with the Byzantines. == Veneration ==