See also: Agnatic seniority. The rota (or rotation) system or the lestvitsa system (from the Old Church Slavonic word for "ladder" or "staircase") is a historiographical concept introduced by historian Sergei Soloviev in 1960, attempting to describe a system of collateral succession practiced (though imperfectly) in Kievan Rus', later appanages, and early the Principality of Moscow. In this system, the throne passed not linearly from father to son (agnatic primogeniture), but laterally from brother to brother (usually to the fourth brother) and then to the eldest son of the eldest brother who had held the throne.
Scholars have debated the nature and existence of the rota system, with some claiming that no formal system of succession existed in the Kievan Rus'. No sources from the period describe such a system. Proponents of the rota system usually attribute its introduction or rationalisation to Yaroslav the Wise (died 1054), who assigned each of his sons a principality based on seniority. But the pattern of agnatic succession in Kievan Rus' predates his reign, and was also used among the Norse of Great Britain and Ireland.[1] Critics of the rota concept characterise the succession process as "chaotic", emphasising just how repetitive succession struggles and wars of succession were within Kievan Rus', particularly in the 12th and early 13th centuries; the strongest opponents have therefore concluded that it could not reasonably qualify as a "system". Proponents of the rota system have included Sergei Soloviev, Vasily Klyuchevsky, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov, and George Vernadsky. Opponents of the rota concept have included Alexander Presnyakov, A. D. Stokes, Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard.
Several attempts have been made to reconcile the positions of proponents and outright opponents. Some scholars have argued that a rota system did exist, but failed to function properly, with John Lister Illingworth Fennell theorising that as the princely clan grew larger and larger, an increasing number of junior princes was excluded from the right to succeed, and driven as they were by greed, they were the ones starting all the succession struggles. On the other hand, Nancy Shields Kollmann sought to demonstrate that dynastic growth rarely led to instability, as high rates of mortality and the exclusion of izgoi branches kept the number of eligible princes "manageable"; a hypothesis that Janet L. B. Martin seconded. Oleksiy Tolochko tried to reconcile both perspectives by arguing that the notion of "seniority" evolved over time: in the 11th century, it was determined by birth, but by the mid-12th century, it was determined by having military control over the throne of Kiev. Janet Martin suggested that the fact that some successions went smoothly and uncontested contradicts the argument that there was no system and always a "chaotic" transfer of power; the times where warfare decided succession disputes might thus have been violations of an otherwise well-established order, exceptions to the rules (whatever they were).
According to the rota system concept, when the grand prince died, the next most senior prince moved to Kiev and all others moved to the principality next up the ladder.[2] Only those princes whose fathers had held the throne were eligible for placement in the rota; if a man died before ascending to the throne, his sons were known as izgoi: they and their descendants were ineligible to reign.