As with many monarchs of the Middle Ages, when a father died and the kingdom became split amongst the sons, this always caused many problems. As each son died the rule was for the other sons to obtain their rulership of the part of the kingdom. This always led to fratriced, each vying to outlive the other and gain their share of the kingdom. Izyaslav was not a popular ruler because he was unable to protect the people from the Polovtsy, a powerful Turkish tribe that lived in the area of the Pechenegs (near the Black Sea). He was expelled by his subjects and his kingdom taken over by his brother, Vsevolod.