There are almost no legends about the activities of the semi-fairytale Rurik (in Old Norse Hroerekr) in Novgorod. It was said that he originally lived not in Novgorod, but in Ladoga, at the mouth of the river. Volkhov, moved to Novgorod after the death of his brothers. His rule seemed to arouse displeasure and even caused a rebellion led by some Vadim the Brave; but Rurik killed Vadim and defeated the rebels. Dissatisfied with him, they fled to Kyiv, where the Varangian warriors Askold and Dir were already sitting, who left Rurik's squad and founded their principality in Kyiv. It is difficult, of course, to say how true all these legends are.

After the death of Rurik (879), his relative Oleg (in Old Norse Helgi) became the prince in Novgorod. He enjoyed power as the guardian of Rurik's young son Igor (in Old Norse Ingvarr). Oleg did not stay in Novgorod: together with Igor, he moved south, along the great path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", conquered Smolensk and Lyubech on the Dnieper and approached Kiev. By deception, he captured here and destroyed Askold and Dir on the grounds that they are “not princes and not princely family,” while he himself is a prince, and Igor is Ryurik prince. Having occupied Kyiv, Oleg settled in it and made it the capital of his principality, saying that Kyiv would be "the mother of Russian cities." So Oleg managed to unite in his hands all the main cities along the great waterway. This was his first goal. From Kyiv, he continued his unifying activity: he went to the Drevlyans, then to the northerners and subjugated them, then subjugated the Radimichi. Thus, all the main tribes of the Russian Slavs, except for the outlying ones, and all the most important Russian cities gathered under his hand. Kyiv became the center of a large state and freed the Russian tribes from Khazar dependence. Throwing off the Khazar yoke, Oleg tried to strengthen his country with fortresses from the eastern nomads (both Khazars and Pechenegs) and built cities along the border of the steppe.

But Oleg did not limit himself to the unification of the Slavs. Following the example of his Kyiv predecessors, Askold and Dir, who made raids on Byzantium, Oleg conceived a campaign against the Greeks. With a large army "on horses and on ships" he approached Constantinople (907), devastated its environs and laid siege to the city. The Greeks started negotiations, gave Oleg a “tribute”, that is, paid off the ruin, and concluded an agreement with Russia, reaffirmed in 912. Oleg’s luck made a deep impression on Rus': Oleg was sung in songs, and his exploits were adorned with fabulous features. From the songs, the chronicler entered into his chronicle the story of how Oleg put his ships on wheels and went on dry land on sails “through the fields” to Tsaryugrad. From the song, of course, the detail is taken into the annals that Oleg, “showing victory”, hung his shield at the gates of Constantinople. Oleg was given the nickname "prophetic" (wise, knowing what others are not allowed to know). Oleg's activities were indeed of exceptional importance: Oleg created a large state from disunited cities and tribes, brought the Slavs out of subordination to the Khazars and arranged through agreements the correct trade relations between Rus' and Byzantium; in a word, he was the creator of Russian-Slavic independence and strength.

Upon the death of Oleg (912) came to power Igor, apparently, who did not have the talent of a warrior and ruler. He made two raids into Greek possessions: in Asia Minor and in Constantinople. For the first time, he suffered a severe defeat in a naval battle, in which the Greeks used special ships with fire and let "fire on the Russian boats with trumpets." For the second time, Igor did not reach Tsaryagrad and made peace with the Greeks on the terms set forth in the treaty of 945. This treaty is considered less beneficial for Rus' than Oleg's treaties. Igor's campaign against the Greeks was attended by Pechenegs(§ 2), for the first time under Igor, they attacked the Russian land, and then reconciled with Igor. Igor ended his life sadly: he died in the country of the Drevlyans, from whom he wanted to collect a double tribute. His death, the courtship of the Drevlyan prince Mal, who wanted to take Igor's widow Olga for himself, and Olga's revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband are the subject of poetic tradition, described in detail in the annals.

Prince Igor's campaign against Constantinople in 941. Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle

Olga(in Old Norse and Greek Helga) remained after Igor with her young son Svyatoslav and took over the reign of the principality. According to ancient Slavic custom, widows enjoyed civil independence and full rights, and in general the position of a woman among the Slavs was better than among other European peoples. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Princess Olga became the ruler. The chronicler's attitude towards her is the most sympathetic: he considers her "the wisest of all people" and ascribes to her great concern for the organization of the earth. Going around her possessions, she established order everywhere and left a good memory everywhere. Her main business was the adoption of the Christian faith and a pious journey to Constantinople (957). According to the chronicle, Olga was baptized "by the tsar with the patriarch" in Tsaregrad, although it is more likely that she was baptized at home, in Rus', before her trip to Greece. Emperor Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, who honorably received Olga in his palace and described her reception (in his essay “On the Rites of the Byzantine Court”), narrates about the Russian princess with restraint and calmness. The tradition that has developed in Rus' about the journey of the princess tells that the emperor was so struck by the beauty and intelligence of Olga that he even wanted to marry her; however, Olga shied away from this honor. She behaved respectfully towards the patriarch, but quite independently towards the emperor. The chronicler is even sure that she managed to outwit the emperor twice: firstly, she deftly managed to refuse his courtship, and secondly, she refused him tribute or gifts, which he supposedly gullibly counted on. Such was the naive tradition that taught Olga exceptional wisdom and cunning. With the triumph of Christianity in Rus', the memory of Princess Olga, in the holy baptism of Elena, began to be revered Orthodox Church and Princess Olga was canonized as a saint.

Duchess Olga. Baptism. The first part of the trilogy "Holy Rus'" by S. Kirillov, 1993

Olga's son Svyatoslav already bore a Slavic name, but his temperament was a typical Varangian warrior and combatant. As soon as he had time to mature, he made himself a large and brave squad, and with it began to seek glory and prey for himself. He got out of his mother's influence early, "was angry with his mother" when she urged him to be baptized. “How can I change my faith alone? The squad will start laughing at me,” he said. He got along well with the squad, led a harsh camp life with her, and therefore moved unusually easily: “walking easily, like a pardus (leopard),” according to the chronicle.

Even during the life of his mother, leaving the Principality of Kiev in the care of Olga, Svyatoslav made his first brilliant campaigns. He went to the Oka and subjugated the Vyatichi, who then paid tribute to the Khazars; then he turned to the Khazars and defeated the Khazar kingdom, taking the main cities of the Khazars (Sarkel and Itil). At the same time, Svyatoslav defeated the tribes of Yases and Kasogs (Circassians) on the river. Kuban and took possession of the area at Sea of Azov under the name Tamatarkha (later Tmutarakan, and now Taman). Finally, Svyatoslav, having penetrated the Volga, devastated the land of the Kama Bulgarians and took their city of Bolgar. In a word, Svyatoslav defeated and ruined all the eastern neighbors of Rus', which were part of the Khazar state. Rus' now became the main force in the Black Sea region. But the fall of the Khazar state strengthened the nomadic Pechenegs. All the southern Russian steppes, formerly occupied by the Khazars, now fell at their disposal; and Rus' itself soon had to experience great troubles from these nomads.

Returning to Kyiv after his conquests in the east, Svyatoslav received an invitation from the Greeks to help Byzantium in its struggle against the Danube Bulgarians. Having gathered a large army, he conquered Bulgaria and stayed there to live in the city of Pereyaslavets on the Danube, since he considered Bulgaria his property. “I want to live in Pereyaslavets Danube,” he said, “there is the middle of my land, all sorts of benefits are collected there: from the Greeks gold, fabrics, wine and fruits, from Czechs and Ugrians - silver and horses, from Rus' - furs, wax and honey and slaves." But he had to return from Bulgaria to Kyiv for a while, because in his absence the Pechenegs attacked Rus' and laid siege to Kyiv. The people of Kiev with Princess Olga and the children of Svyatoslav barely sat out from the formidable enemy and sent to Svyatoslav with reproaches and with a request for help. Svyatoslav came and drove the Pechenegs into the steppe, but did not stay in Kyiv. The dying Olga asked him to wait in Rus' until her death. He granted her wish; but, having buried his mother, he immediately left for Bulgaria, leaving his sons as princes in Rus'. However, the Greeks did not want to allow Russian domination over the Bulgarians and demanded the removal of Svyatoslav back to Rus'. Svyatoslav refused to leave the banks of the Danube. The war began, and the Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes defeated Svyatoslav. After a series of hard efforts, he locked the Russians in the fortress of Doristol (now Silistria) and forced Svyatoslav to make peace and clear Bulgaria. The army of Svyatoslav, exhausted by the war, on the way home was captured by the Pechenegs in the Dnieper rapids and scattered, and Svyatoslav himself was killed (972). So the Pechenegs completed the defeat of the Russian prince, begun by the Greeks.

Monument to Prince Svyatoslav in Zaporozhye

After the death of Svyatoslav in Rus' between his sons (Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir) there were bloody civil strife, in which the brothers of Prince Vladimir died, and he remained an autocratic sovereign. Shaken by strife, the Kiev principality showed signs of internal decay, and Vladimir had to spend a lot of effort to pacify the Varangians who served him and subdue the deposited tribes (Vyatichi, Radimichi). Shaken after the failures of Svyatoslav and the external power of Rus'. Vladimir waged many wars with various neighbors for border volosts; also fought with the Volga Bulgarians. He was also drawn into the war with the Greeks, as a result of which he adopted Christianity according to the Greek rite. This major event The first period of power of the Varangian dynasty in Rus' ended.

summary of other presentations

"The period of formation of the Old Russian state" - Merchants. The meadows paid tribute to the Khazars. Trade. Formation of state centers. Territories of northerners and Radimichi. The emergence of princely power. Formation of the Old Russian state. Settlements. Kings. Tribes. Prerequisites for the creation of the Old Russian state. Great Kyiv prince. Calling Rurik. Formation of the Old Russian state. State. The power of the Kyiv prince. Invited princes. Noble warriors of Rurik.

"History of the formation of the Old Russian state" - Kyiv. Conditions. Polyudie. State. Formation of the Old Russian state. The calling of the Varangians. Prerequisites for the creation of the state. Historians. Unification of North and South. Can the Varangians be called the creators of the Old Russian state. Prerequisites. Kyiv prince. Management of the Old Russian state.

"Economic development of the Old Russian state" - Economic development ancient Russian state. trade routes Ancient Rus'. Votchina. family and neighborhood communities. Feudalization of the land. Taxes in Ancient Rus'. Trifield system. Kremlin. International trade. Ancient city. economy Kievan Rus. Money in Ancient Rus'. Craft. Novgorod hryvnia. Occupations of the ancient Slavs. Causes feudal fragmentation. Prince. The first Russian princes. Mongol-Tatar yoke.

"Rus 9-13 centuries" - The reasons for the formation of the state in Rus'. State. Rus' in the 9th - 13th centuries. Build a logical chain. Systematize. front poll. Historical workout. Yaroslav the Wise. A group of warriors. Independent work. Historical dictation. Characteristic historical personality. Problem definition. Get to know the historical figure.

"Old Russian State and Society" - Olga's Reform. Cathedral of Prince Vladimir. Old Russian state and society. The rural community is a "rope". Lesson goals. Prerequisites for the emergence of the state among the Slavs. Entrance to the Cathedral of Prince Vladimir. Polyudie. Oleg (879-912). Basic concepts. Igor was immoderate in his demands for conquered tribes. Beginning of Rus'. The main directions of internal and foreign policy. Vladimir (980-1015). Polyudie of Russian princes in the 10th century.

"Formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs" - Polyudie. The state of Slavic society. Formation of Kievan Rus. Signs of the state in Rus'. Formation of the state Eastern Slavs. What explains the rise of Kyiv. Varangians in Rus'. State. Improvement of tools. Slavic society by the 9th century.

The appearance of trading cities with suburbs drawn to them violated the former division of the Eastern Slavs into tribes. Trading cities arose where it was more convenient for merchants and industrialists: on a large river, close to the Dnieper, in an area where it was convenient to bring their booty to families and friends of various tribes. And this led to the fact that individual families of various tribes lagged behind their own, united with strangers and got used to such a connection.

By the 11th century, the old tribal names are almost forgotten - Drevlyans, Polyans, Krivichi, Severyans, and the Slavs begin to call themselves by the cities they go to trade: Kievans, Smolnyans, Novgorodians, Polochans ...
The whole country of the Eastern Slavs thus began to disintegrate not into tribal lands, but into urban areas, or volosts. At the head of each was a large city. Small towns located in the volost of a large one were called suburbs and in everything depended on the “great”, ancient cities, the richest and most powerful. Not all the lands of the Slavic tribes simultaneously formed urban volosts. Their emergence happened gradually; while in some parts of the country inhabited by the Slavs appeared big cities and formed volosts around themselves, gathering people with trade interest and profit, in other parts the Slavs continued to live, as before, divided into small communities, near their small towns, "plow their own fields." .
The emergence of cities and the formation of urban volosts in the country of the Slavs marked the beginning of the division of the Slavs into townspeople and villagers gili smerds, as farmers were then called. The main occupation of the first became trade, while the smerds were engaged in forestry and agriculture, delivering, so to speak, the material, the goods that the townspeople traded with foreigners.
It was, of course, very important for a large trading city that as many goods as possible be delivered to its market. Therefore, the inhabitants of cities have long sought to attract the population of their neighborhood with caress and arms, so that it would only bring to their city and bring the fruits of their labors for sale. Not content with the natural gravitation of the district population towards the city, as a place for the sale of goods obtained in the forest and on arable land, the townspeople begin to force the smerds to be forced, "torture" them to pay a certain tribute or dues to the city, as if in payment for the protection that gives them the city is in a moment of danger, hiding them behind its walls or fencing them with a sword, and for the benefit that the city provides to the smerds, giving them the opportunity to sell everything that they get in their forest lands.
In order to best protect the main occupation of the inhabitants - trade and crafts, the whole city was arranged as a fortified trading warehouse, and its inhabitants were the savers and defenders of this warehouse camp.
At the head big city, and, consequently, of its entire neighborhood, there was a veche, i.e. a gathering of all adult citizens who decided all matters of management. At the veche, they also elected the entire city foreman, “the elders of the city,” as the chronicle calls them. Trade, dividing people into rich and poor, gave the poor to the service of the wealthier or made them dependent on them for money. Therefore, those who were richer, the richest, used the most importance in the city and at the veche. They held the entire meeting in their hands, all the authorities of the city were chosen from among them, they turned around the city affairs as they wished. These were the "city elders", the elders of the city, the richest and most powerful citizens ..
Departing in a trade caravan to distant lands, the merchants of those times equipped themselves as on a military campaign, formed a whole military partnership-artel, or team, and went on a campaign under the command of a chosen leader, some experienced warrior-merchant., They willingly joined the trade caravan of Slavic merchants large and small parties of northern merchants - warriors of the Varangians, or Normans, who were heading to Byzantium. Military assistance and cooperation of the Varangians became especially important for the Slavic cities from the beginning of the 9th century, when the Khazars, unable to cope with the Ugrians, and then with the Pechenegs, had to let them through their possession to the Black Sea steppes. The steppe dwellers settled along trade routes: along the Dnieper below Kyiv, along the Black Sea coast from the Dnieper mouths to the Danube, and with their attacks made the path “to the Greeks” unsafe.

The Varangians were residents of the Scandinavian region, present-day Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The harsh land forced the Vikings early to look for means of living on the side. First of all, they turned to the sea and engaged in fishing and robbery of the Pomeranians. On light ships, accustomed from childhood to fighting storms and the hardships of naval life, the Varangians boldly flew into the coasts of the Baltic and German seas.
As early as the 6th century they plundered the shores of Gaul. Charlemagne could not cope with the brave pirates; under his weak descendants, the Normans kept all of Europe in fear and siege. Since the beginning of the 9th century, not a year has passed without Norman campaigns in Europe. On hundreds of ships, rivers flowing into the German Sea and Atlantic Ocean, - Elbe, Rhine, Seine, Loire, Garonne, - the Danes, as the Normans were also called in Europe, made their way into the depths of a particular country, devastating everything around, burned Cologne, Trier, Bordeaux, Paris more than once, penetrated into Burgundy and Auvergne ; they knew the way even in Switzerland, they plundered Andalusia, took possession of Sicily, devastated the coasts of Italy and the Peloponnese.
In 911, the Normans captured the northwestern part of France and forced french king recognize this region of his state as his possession, duchy; this part of France is still known as Normandy. In 1066 the Norman Duke William conquered England. Separate squads of the Normans took possession of Iceland, and from there penetrated even to the shores of North America.
On light sailing and rowing ships, they climbed into the mouths of large rivers and sailed up as long as possible. In different places they landed on land and brutally robbed the coastal inhabitants. On shallows, rifts, rapids, they pulled their ships ashore and dragged them on dry land until they passed the obstacle. From large rivers they invaded smaller ones and, moving from river to river, they climbed far into the interior of the country, everywhere bringing death, fires, and robbery with them. At the mouths of large rivers, they usually occupied islands and “fortified them. These were their winter apartments, they drove captives here, and all the stolen goods were demolished here. In such fortified places, they sometimes settled for many years and plundered the surrounding country, but more often, taking as much as they wanted from the vanquished, they went with fire and sword to another country, pouring blood and destroying everything in their path with fire. There are cases when one of the Norman gangs, who ruled along one river of France, undertook to the Frankish king, for a certain payment, to drive out or kill the compatriots who were robbing along another river, attacked them, robbed and exterminated, or united with them and went together to rob further . The Normans were very much feared in Western Europe, because they moved unusually fast and fought so bravely that it seemed impossible to resist their swift onslaughts. On their way, they spared nothing and no one. In all churches Western Europe Then one prayer went up to God: “Deliver us from the ferocity of the Normans, O Lord!”
Mostly the Normans, inhabitants of Denmark and Norway, went to the west. The Normans of Sweden attacked mainly on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Through the mouths of the Western Dvina and the Gulf of Finland, they penetrated into the country of the Eastern Slavs, they sailed through the Neva to Lake Ladoga and from there the Volkhov and Ilmen reached Novgorod, which they called Golmgard, that is, an island city, perhaps, according to the island that forms Volkhov at the exit from Ilmen-lake. From Novgorod, using the great waterway, the Normans made their way to Kyiv. They knew Polotsk and Ladoga well, and the names of these cities are found in their legends - sagas. Sagas are also mentioned about distant Perm, the Perm region. That the Normans often and in large detachments penetrated into the country of the Slavs is also said by tombstones found in the southeastern provinces of Sweden and belonging to the 10th and 11th centuries. On these monuments, in ancient Norman writing, runes, there are inscriptions stating that the deceased fell “in the battle in the East”, “in the country of Gardar”, or “in Golmgard”.
Getting to the upper Volga, the Normans went down the river, traded and fought with the Kama Bulgars and reached the Caspian Sea. Apa6cke writers first noted their appearance in the Caspian Sea in 880. In 913, the Normans appeared here in a whole fleet, as if in 500 ships, with a hundred soldiers on each.
According to the testimony of the Arabs, who called the Normans Russ, it was a people in the highest degree active, tireless and insanely brave: they rush in spite of dangers and obstacles to the distant countries of the East and are either peaceful merchants or bloodthirsty warriors, they attack by surprise, with the speed of lightning, rob, kill and take captives away.

Unlike other warlike tribes, the Russians never moved by land - but always by water in boats. They got to the Volga and from the Black or Azov seas, rising along the Don; near the present Kalach, they dragged their ships to the Volga and sailed along the Caspian. “The Russians raid the Slavs,” says the Arab writer Ibn-Dasta, “they drive up to their settlements in boats, land, take the Slavs prisoner and take the captives to the Khazars and Bulgarians and sell them there ... they don’t have arable land, but eat only that that are brought from the land of the Slavs. When a son is born to one of them, the father takes a naked sword, places it in front of the newborn and says: “I will not leave you any property as an inheritance, but you will have only what you yourself will get by this!”

Varangian boat

The Varangians are slender as palm trees; they are red; do not wear jackets or coats; men put on a coarse cloth, which is thrown over from one side, and one hand is released from under it. Each of them always has a sword, knife and ax with him. Their swords are wide, wavy, with blades of Frankish work; on one side of them, from the point to the handle, trees and various figures are depicted "...
Arab writers depict the Normans for us with the same features as European chronicles, i.e. as river and sea warriors who live by what they earn with the sword.
Along the Dnieper, the Normans descended into Black Sea and attacked Byzantium. “In 865,” the chronicler reports, “the Normans dared to attack Constantinople on 360 ships, but, being able to harm the most invincible city, they bravely fought its suburbs, killed the people as much as they could, and then returned home in triumph ".
The Bishop of Cremona visited Constantinople in 950 and 968. In his account of the Greek Empire, he also mentions the Normans, who not long before him made a major attack on Constantinople. “In the north,” he says, “he lives. the people that the Greeks call Rus, we are the Normans. The king of this people was Inger (Igor), who came to Constantinople with more than a thousand ships.
In the Slavic lands, along the Volkhov and along the Dnieper, the Normans - the Varangians first appeared, so to speak, in passing; here they stagnated a little at first, and more directed along the great waterway to the rich southern countries, mainly in Greece, where they not only traded, but also served for a good reward.
With their warlike character and piratical inclinations, the Varangians, as they accumulated more and more in the Slavic cities, of course, began to definitely tend to become masters of the Slavic cities and master the great waterway. The Arab Al-Bekri wrote about the middle of the 10th century that "the tribes of the north took possession of some of the Slavs and still live among them, even learned their language, mixing with them." It was then that the event occurred, which is mentioned by our chronicle before the story of the calling of princes.
“In the summer of 6367 (859), the Imakh paid tribute to the Varangians from overseas on the Chuds and the Slovenes, on the Mary and the Vesakhs and on the Krivichs,” i.e., from the Novgorod Slavs and their closest neighbors, Slavs and Finns. Established, then, at the northern end of the great waterway. At the same time, the Khazars took tribute from the meadows, northerners and Vyatichi, that is, from the inhabitants of the southern end of the waterway.
The Novgorod Slavs could not stand it even two years later, as we read in the chronicle, "they drove the Varangians across the sea and did not give them tribute, more often in themselves Volodya." But then quarrels and strife began in the country because of dominion, and “there was no truth in them and a hundred generations,” we read in the annals, “and there were strife in them and more often they fought on themselves.” And then everything northern tribes "deciding for themselves: a prince to themselves, who would rule over us and judge by right. And go across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia: the Varangians are called Russia, as friends are called Svei (Swedes), friends are Urmans ( Norwegians), Anglians (British), Druzi Te (Goths), Tacos and Si". Sent from the Slavs, Chuds, Krivichs and Vess, they told the Varangians of Rus': “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no dress in it; but, despite such a call, “as soon as three brothers from their generations came out of their brothers, they took the whole of Rus' with them and came” (862). They were three brother-kings, so the princes were called in Varangian, Rurik, Sineus and Truvor.
The brothers-princes, having arrived in the country, began to “cut down cities and fight everywhere”, that is, they began to defend the Slavs from their enemies, for which they erected fortified towns everywhere and often went on campaigns. The princes settled along the edges of the country: Rurik - in Ladoga, Sineus - on Beloozero, and Truvor - in Izborsk.A little time later, the brothers died.

Norman Rurik decided to move to live in Novgorod. There was even a conspiracy among the Novgorodians with the aim of driving Rurik and his Vikings back across the sea. But Rurik killed the leader of this conspiracy, “brave Vadim”, and killed many Novgorodians. This event dramatically changed the mutual relationship between Rurik and Novgorodians. Novgorodians paid him the agreed tribute. He lived on the border of the Novgorod region, in Ladoga; after the victory over the rebels, Rurik moved to live in Novgorod. Now Novgorod became his military prey. Rurik reigned in Novgorod "strongly", as a conquering prince, demanded tribute as much as he wanted, and many Novgorodians fled from him to the south.
And in the south, in Kyiv, the Varangians also established themselves at that time. As you might think, at the same time as Rurik, many of these newcomers from the north flooded into the Slavic lands. Perhaps, imitating Rurik, they strove to establish themselves more firmly in the Slavic cities. Rogvolod then reigned in Polotsk, and among the tribes that lived along the Pripyat, a principality of a certain Tura, or Tor, was formed.
Our chronicle tells about the occupation of the southern end of the waterway by the Varangians: “Rurik had two husbands, not of his tribe, but of a boyar; and they asked to go to the Tsar-city with their kind. We went along the Dnieper, on the way we saw a town on the mountain and asked: “What is this town e?” They were explained that the town was nicknamed Kiev and paid tribute to the Khazars. Askold and Dir, that was the name of these Rurik boyars, offered the people of Kiev to free them from the Khazars. They agreed , and Askold and Dir remained in Kiev to reign: "Many Varangians gathered and began to own the Polyan land. Rurik reigned in Novgorod."
In the second half of the 9th century, principalities arose at both ends of the great waterway. The Varangian princes - Rurik in the north, Askold and Dir in the south - are busy building fortresses, protecting the land. Before the arrival of Askold and Dir in Kyiv, the people of Kiev were offended by the Drevlyans and other tribes. Askold and Dir, having established themselves in Kyiv, undertook a fight against the Drevlyans and saved Kyiv from them. When the Greeks offended the Slavic merchants, Askold and Dir raided the Greek land. All this, of course, aroused the sympathy of the population and contributed to the approval of the princes in the cities they occupied.
But both ends of the great waterway were in the hands of different princes. Considerable inconveniences could result from this, and sooner or later a struggle between the northern princes and the southern princes for possession of the great waterway had to flare up.
It was very inconvenient for the northern princes and townspeople that the original end of the great waterway, Kyiv, was not in their hands. Kyiv stood almost on the border of the Slavic lands, and to the south of it the kingdom of the steppe began. Overland routes went through Kyiv from the West to the East and to Tauris. Not a single large tributary flowing through a populated country flows into the Dnieper south of Kyiv. All large rivers flowing through populated areas flow into it north of Kyiv. From Kyiv began a direct road to the sea. K. Kyiv, therefore, along countless rivers and streams, tributaries of the Dnieper itself and tributaries of its tributaries, the wealth of the Slavic lands was fused. The inhabitants of all the cities lying along the northern tributaries of the Dnieper, sending their goods to Byzantium, had to sail past Kyiv. Consequently, whoever owned Kiev, in his hands was also the main gate of foreign Russian trade of that time, and whoever held in his hands the trade of Slavic cities - their main occupation, he, naturally, owned the entire Slavic country. It was necessary to delay merchant boats from the north near Kyiv, and all the cities from Lyubech to Novgorod and Ladoga suffered huge losses. Thus, the center and crossroads of land and river trade routes, which was Kyiv, naturally had to become the political center of the country, united by the Varangian princes. This significance of Kyiv, as the center of state life, grew out of its significance as the center of national economic life, which was drawn to Kyiv and only from Kiev had access to the breadth and expanse of international deceit.
Rurik did not have to break through to Kyiv. Rurik's kinsman and successor, Oleg, took possession of Kiev. From Novgorod, along the beaten path, along the Volkhov, Ilmen and Lovat, he descended to the upper reaches of the Dnieper and captured here, in the country of the Krivichi, the city of Smolensk. He reached Lyubech along the Dnieper and captured this city. Having sailed to Kyiv, he lured Askold and Dir out of the city and killed them, while he himself remained in Kyiv - “the mother of Russian cities”, as he, according to legend, called this city. Having established himself here, Oleg continued the work of Askold and Dir; built new fortress towns around Kyiv to protect the Kyiv region from raids from the steppe, went on campaigns against the Khazars and other neighbors of Kyiv. Having united the militia of all the Slavic cities occupied by him, Oleg went to Constantinople and, according to legend, nailed his shield to the gates of the great city as a sign of victory over the Greeks.
The princes following Oleg - Igor, his widow Olga, Igor's son Svyatoslav - successfully continued the unification of Slavic cities and regions. Oleg captured the entire country of the Drevlyans, northerners and Radimichi; Igor continued to capture Oleg and took the entire middle Dnieper under his arm; Olga finally "tormented" the Drevlyans, Svyatoslav captured the Vyatichi.
By the middle of the 10th century, most of the Slavic tribes and cities had gathered around Kyiv and the Kyiv prince.
The land of the Kyiv princes occupies a vast space by this time. From north to south, the land subject to them then stretched from Lake Ladoga to the mouths of the Rosisteppe tributary of the Dnieper, and from east to west, from the confluence of the Klyazma into the Oka to the upper course of the Western Bug. All the tribes of the Eastern Slavs and some Finnish tribes lived in this vast region: the Baltic Chud, the entire Belozerskaya, the Rostov Merya, and along the middle Oka and the Murom. Among these tribes, the princes built fortified towns in order to keep foreigners in obedience from the walls of these towns with an armed hand and collect faithful tribute from them.

In old and new cities, the princes imprisoned their governors, "posadniks" Even after Rurik, after "assuming power", "distributed by his husband his cities - Polotesk, Rostov, another Beloozero". Posadniks were supposed to judge people on behalf of the prince , collect tribute in favor of the prince and to feed himself, protect the land, protect it from enemy attacks, and keep the local population in obedience to his prince. and lessons", appointing new tributes and the order of their collection.
Local residents were obliged to bring the next with. tribute to them at certain times in the once for all established locality. It was called a haul. So, “in the summer of 6455 (947), Olga went to Novgorod and set up settlements and tributes according to Meta,” we read in the annals.
The prince usually went to the polyudye in late autumn, when frosts would set in and the impenetrable dirt of the paths would be hardened with ice. The whole winter passed on the road from city to city, from graveyard to graveyard. It was a difficult journey full of dangers. In the dense wild forests there was no "straight road", one had to make his way along the hunting paths covered with snowdrifts, with difficulty making out the "signs and places" with which the hunters indicated the direction of their paths. I had to fight off a wild beast, and the forest dwellers did not always greet the prince and his squad with humility and greetings.
Tribute often had to be “forced out, that is, to take by force, and violence met with an armed rebuff, and not always the prince and his well-armed and fairly numerous squad managed to achieve their goal, especially when the prince allowed any injustice in the collection, he wanted to take more than he or his predecessor ordered.
Rurik's son, Igor, had to pay dearly for his greed for tribute. In 945, when “autumn arrived”, the usual time for polyudya, Igor, as we read in the annals, “began to think in terms of the Drevlyans, although think of a big tribute.” By the way, Igor's squad pointed out to him that there was little tribute, that even Sveneld's servants, Igor's governors, walked more elegantly than the prince's combatants.
“Svenelzha’s children made their weapons and ports, and we are Nazis,” Igor’s warriors complained, “go to the prince with us in tribute, and you will get us too.” Igor listened to his warriors and went to the land of the Drevlyans; collecting tribute from them, he "primyshlyashe to the first tribute", that is, he took more than the established. The warriors also did not lose their own and extorted tribute from the Drevlyans. After collecting the tribute, we went home. Dear Igor, “on reflection, he said to his retinue: go with tribute to the house, and I will return, I look like it again. With a small retinue, Igor returned to the Drevlyans, “wishing more property.” The Drevlyans, having heard about Igor’s return, gathered at a veche and decided: “if a wolf in a sheep wads, then he takes out the whole herd, if they don’t kill him; so this one. If we don’t kill him, then we will all be destroyed.” And Igor was sent to say: “After you go again, you caught all the tribute!” Igor did not listen to the Drevlyans. The Drevlyans attacked the prince and "killed Igor and his squad: there were not enough of them."
The tribute collected at the polyudye and delivered from the churchyards, brought there by tributaries, entered the prince's treasury. Tribute was collected mainly in kind, various forest products, which were mined by the inhabitants of the forests. This tribute, collected in very large quantities, made the prince the richest supplier of forest products to the then international market. The prince was therefore the most important and richest participant in trade with Byzantium, with the European West and the Asian East. In exchange for his goods and slaves, which he captured in the struggle with his closest neighbors, the prince received in Byzantium and in the eastern markets precious metals, lush fabrics, wine, weapons, jewelry, from the West silver, fabrics and weapons.
In pursuit of prey, the prince sought to subjugate the lands of his closest neighbors and imposed tribute on them. Interested in the speedy and safe delivery of his wealth to foreign markets, the prince took care of the protection of the routes, vigilantly watched that the steppe nomads and their robbers did not "clog" trade routes, protected bridges and transportations, arranged new ones. Thus, the prince's trading activities were closely intertwined with the military and both together widely and far spread the power and importance of the Varangian-Slavic prince, who owned Kiev and the entire great waterway from the Varangians to the Greeks. It was a severe, full of deprivation and danger, the service of the prince and his own benefits and the benefits of all the land subject to him. About the prince Svyatoslav the chronicler tells that this prince "walks easily like a pardus of war, doing many things. Walking around on his own, he does not carry, neither a boiler, nor cooking meat, but he baked a yadyash for a thin piece of horsemeat, beast or beef on coals; not a name tent, but he laid a saddle in his head under the treasure; so did his other howl all the way "... Svyatoslav laid down his head in a battle with the Pechenegs at the rapids of the Dnieper.
Having united the Slavic land under their sword, taking an active part in trade, the main occupation of this country, the Varangian princes, on behalf of the whole land, defend trade interests when they are in danger from foreigners, and, relying on their sword and the combined strength of the tribes subject to them, they are able to special treaties to ensure the benefits of trade and the interests of their merchants in a foreign land.

Noteworthy are the campaigns of the Varangian princes against Byzantium and the treaties they concluded with the Greeks. During the period from the 9th to the 11th centuries, six such large campaigns are known: the campaign of Askold and Dir, the campaign of Oleg, two campaigns of Igor, one of Svyatoslav and one of Vladimir, the son of Yaroslav the Wise. Folk tradition, recorded in the annals, especially remembered Oleg's campaign and embellished it with legendary tales. “In the summer of 907,” we read in the annals, “Oleg went to the Greeks, leaving Igor in Kyiv. He took with him many Varangians, Slavs, Chuds, Krivichi, Meri, Drevlyans, Radimichis, Polyans, Northerners, Vyatichi, Croats, Dulebs and Tivertsy, “all of them,” the chronicler notes, “should be called Great Skuf from the Greek.”
Oleg went with them all on horseback and on ships; the number of ships reached 2,000. When Oleg approached the Tsar-city, the Greeks blocked access to the capital from the sea, and they themselves took refuge behind the walls. Oleg, having landed on the shore, began to fight; many Greeks were killed, many chambers were destroyed, churches were burned, some of those taken into captivity were cut down, others were tortured, others were shot, others were thrown into the sea, and many other evils were caused by the Russian Greeks, “how much they do armies.” And Oleg ordered his soldiers to make wheels and put ships on them. A fair wind blew the sails from the field, and the ships moved towards the city. Seeing this, the Greeks were frightened and sent to tell Oleg: “Do not destroy the city, we will give you whatever tribute you want.” Oleg stopped his soldiers, and the Greeks brought him food and wine, but Oleg did not accept the treat, “because it was arranged with poison.”
And the Greeks were afraid and said: “This is not Oleg, but Saint Demetrius was sent to us from God.” And Oleg ordered the Greeks to give tribute to 2,000 ships at 12 hryvnia per person, and there were 40 people in the ship. The Greeks agreed to this and began to ask for peace so that Oleg does not fight the Greek land. Oleg, retreating a little from the city, "beginning to create peace with the king of the Greeks with Leon and Alexander, sent Karl, Farlof, Velmud, Rulav and Stemid to them in the city, saying:" imshte we pay tribute." The Greeks asked: "What do you want, ladies?"
And Oleg prescribed his peace conditions to the Greeks, demanding not only a ransom for the soldiers, but also tribute to Russian cities: “the first to Kiev, also to Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Polotsk, Rostov, Lyubech and other cities, for those the city of sedyahu the great princes near the Olga exist."
Then the terms of trade of the Slavic-Russian merchants in Byzantium were established. The peace treaty was sealed by a mutual oath. The Greek kings kissed the cross for loyalty to the treaty, and Oleg and his men swore, according to Russian law, their weapons and Perun their god and Hair the cattle god. When the peace was approved, Oleg said: “Sew sails from pavolok (silk) Russ, and for the Slavs, kropinny (thin linen).”
So they did. Oleg hung his shield on the gates, as a sign of victory, and went from Constantinople. Rus' raised the sails from the curtains, and the Slavs were the crop, and the wind tore them apart, and the Slavs said: “Let's take up our canvases, the crop sails are not suitable for the Slavs” ... Oleg came to Kiev and brought gold, curtains, vegetables, wines and all sorts of patterns. And Oleg was nicknamed the Prophet, for the people were filthy (pagans) and ignorant."
In 941, Prince Igor attacked the Asia Minor coast of the Black Sea and plundered the entire country because the Greeks offended Russian merchants. But the Greeks gathered enough troops and pushed back Igor's soldiers. Rus' retreated to her boats and headed to the sea. But here Igor's ships were met by the Greek fleet; the Greeks “put fire on the Russian boats with trumpets.” It was the famous Greek fire. Almost the entire fleet of Igor died, and a few soldiers returned home to tell “about the former fire”: behold, letting go zhezhagahu us; For this reason we will not overcome them.”
In 944, Igor, wanting to avenge the defeat, "collecting the howl of many" again moved to Byzantium. The Greeks, having learned about this, offered Igor peace and tribute, which Oleg took. Igor's team persuaded the prince to agree, pointing out that it was better to take tribute without a battle, “when someone knows who will prevail, whether we, whether they are with the sea, who advises us not to walk on the ground, but in the depths of the sea; obcha death to all." The prince obeyed the squad, took tribute from the Greeks and concluded a profitable trade agreement with them.
Rus' undertook the last campaign against Byzantium in 1043. Prince Yaroslav sent his son Vladimir and governor Vyshata against the Greeks. The Russian boats reached the Danube safely. But when they moved on, there was a storm “and smashed the Russian ships and the prince’s ship broke the wind and took the prince into the ship Ivan Tvorimirich voivode Yaroslavl”; 6,000 Russian soldiers were washed ashore by the storm. These warriors were supposed to return home, but none of the governors wanted to lead them. Then Vyshata said: “I will go with them and sit out of the ship to them and say: If I live with them, if I run away, then with a squad.” The Greeks, having learned that the Russian fleet was defeated by a storm, sent a strong squadron, which forced Vladimir to retreat. The Greeks took Vyshata and his entire detachment prisoner, brought them to Constantinople, and blinded all the captives there.Three years later, they only released the blind governor with the blinded army home.
The military campaigns of the Varangian princes in Byzantium ended with peace treaties. Four treaties between the Russians and the Greeks have come down to us: two treaties of the Olegovs, one of Igorev and one of Svyatoslav.
According to the Olegov agreements of 907 and 911, the Greeks were obliged to:

1) pay tribute to each of the older cities
2) to give food to those Russians who come to Tsar-grad, and to Russian merchants a monthly allowance, and a free bath was also supposed.

From Rus', the Greeks demanded:

1) “for the Russians to stop in the Tsaregrad suburb near the monastery of St. Mammoth,
2) that the Russians enter the city only through certain gates and accompanied by a Greek official;

According to the Igor Treaty, the Greeks, who were very afraid of the Russians, achieved some restrictions in their favor. Let Rus' come to Constantinople, - say the articles of Igor's treaty, - but if they come without a purchase, then they do not receive a month; may the prince forbid with his word, so that the coming Rus' does not do dirty tricks in our villages; no more than fifty people are allowed to enter the city at a time; all those who come to Greece from Rus' must have a special letter from the Kyiv prince, truly certifying that the Russians came with "peace"; those who came to trade had no right to stay for the winter and had to go home in the autumn.
The treaties between the Varangian princes and the Greeks are important and interesting in that they are our oldest record of laws and judicial customs; they testify to the leading position that the princes and their Varangian squad occupied in the then society; then treaties are very important in that they retained the features of trade relations and international relations; further, in them we have the most ancient evidence of the spread of Christianity; finally, the contracts retain the features of everyday meaning when I am described; for example, an oath, or talk about the conditions of the trial of the thieves of someone else's property.
For the same trading purposes, the first princes went to war against the Khazars and the Kama Bulgarians. Trade with these peoples was also significant. In 1006, St. Vladimir, having defeated the Kama Bulgarians, concluded an agreement with them, in which he negotiated for the Russians the right of free passage to Bulgarian cities with seals to certify from their posadniks and allowed Bulgarian merchants to travel to Rus' and sell their goods, but only in cities and not in the villages.

With his sword, concerns about external security and device inner world, participating in the main life activities of the country and protecting its trade interests, the Varangian princes quite firmly united into one state the separate Slavic volosts and tribes that were drawn to the Dnieper. This new state got its name from the tribal nickname of the Varangian princes - Rus.
In treaties, as well as in other places in the chronicle, which tells about the time of the first Varangian princes, "Rus" is almost always opposed to the name "Slovenia"; for the chronicler, this is not the same thing.
The very word “Rus” is of mysterious origin. The closest neighbors of the Ilmenian Slovenes and the Krivichi-Baltic Finns called the Normans ruotsi. From them, one might think, the Slavs began to call the Norman finders Rus. When the Varangian kings established themselves in Slavic cities, the Slavs called the squad of princes Rus; Since the time of Oleg, the Varangian princes established themselves in Kiev and from here they kept the whole land, Kiev region, the former land of the glades, began to be called Rus.
Describing the resettlement of the Slavs, the chronicler notes: “so the Slovene language (people) spread like that, and the letter was nicknamed Slovene with the same.” doubts, he says: “But the Slovene language and Russian are one, from the Varangians they are more nicknamed Rus, and the first Besha Slovene.”

Armament of the Varangian combatants

But there was “a time when they knew how to distinguish between both languages. The difference between them was still very noticeable in the X century. And in the annals and in other monuments of our ancient writing Slavic names alternate with "Russian" and differ, like words of a language alien to one another. Notes the Slavic and Russian names of the Dnieper rapids in his description of Russian trade and Konstantin Porphyrogenitus. Among the names of the first princes and their combatants, there are about 90 names of Scandinavian origin; Rurik, Sineus , Truvor, Askold, Dir, Oleg, Igor, Olga - these are all Scandinavian, that is, Varangian or Norman names: Hroerekr, Signiutr, Torwardt, Hoskuldr, Dyri, Helgi, Ingvar, Helga.
The princes themselves and their squad that came with them quickly became glorified. The Arab writer Ibrahim calls the "people of the north", that is, the Normans, Russ, distinguishes them from the Slavs, but at the same time notices that these "people of the north", who have taken possession of the Slavic country, "speak Slavic, because they mixed with them ". The grandson of Rurik, Svyatoslav - a true Varangian in all his actions and habits, bears a pure Slavic name.
The Varangians who came to the country of the Eastern Slavs, one might say, melted in the Slavic sea, merged into one tribe with the Slavs, among whom they settled, and disappeared, leaving behind insignificant traces in the language of the Slavs. So, the following words were preserved from the Varangians in the Slavic-Russian language: grid (junior warrior), whip, chest, shop, banner, banner, yabednik (judicial official), tiun (butler from serfs), anchor, luda (cloak), knight (Viking), prince (king) and some others.
(jcomments on)

Textbook of Russian history Platonov Sergey Fedorovich

§ 7. Varangian princes

Olga(in Old Norse and Greek Helga) remained after Igor with her young son Svyatoslav and took over the reign of the principality. According to ancient Slavic custom, widows enjoyed civil independence and full rights, and in general the position of a woman among the Slavs was better than among other European peoples. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Princess Olga became the ruler. The chronicler's attitude towards her is the most sympathetic: he considers her "the wisest of all people" and ascribes to her great concern for the organization of the earth. Going around her possessions, she established order everywhere and left a good memory everywhere. Her main business was the adoption of the Christian faith and a pious journey to Constantinople (957). According to the chronicle, Olga was baptized "by the tsar with the patriarch" in Tsaregrad, although it is more likely that she was baptized at home, in Rus', before her trip to Greece. Emperor Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, who honorably received Olga in his palace and described her reception (in his essay “On the Rites of the Byzantine Court”), narrates about the Russian princess with restraint and calmness. The tradition that has developed in Rus' about the journey of the princess tells that the emperor was so struck by the beauty and intelligence of Olga that he even wanted to marry her; however, Olga shied away from this honor. She behaved respectfully towards the patriarch, but quite independently towards the emperor. The chronicler is even sure that she managed to outwit the emperor twice: firstly, she deftly managed to refuse his courtship, and secondly, she refused him tribute or gifts, which he supposedly gullibly counted on. Such was the naive tradition that taught Olga exceptional wisdom and cunning. With the triumph of Christianity in Rus', the memory of Princess Olga, in holy baptism Elena, began to be revered by the Orthodox Church and Princess Olga was canonized.

Even during the life of his mother, leaving the Principality of Kiev in the care of Olga, Svyatoslav made his first brilliant campaigns. He went to the Oka and subjugated the Vyatichi, who then paid tribute to the Khazars; then he turned to the Khazars and defeated the Khazar kingdom, taking the main cities of the Khazars (Sarkel and Itil). At the same time, Svyatoslav defeated the tribes of Yases and Kasogs (Circassians) on the river. Kuban and took possession of the area near the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov called Tamatarkha (later Tmutarakan, and now Taman). Finally, Svyatoslav, having penetrated the Volga, devastated the land of the Kama Bulgarians and took their city of Bolgar. In a word, Svyatoslav defeated and ruined all the eastern neighbors of Rus', which were part of the Khazar state. Rus' now became the main force in the Black Sea region. But the fall of the Khazar state strengthened the nomadic Pechenegs. All the southern Russian steppes, formerly occupied by the Khazars, now fell at their disposal; and Rus' itself soon had to experience great troubles from these nomads.

After the death of Svyatoslav in Rus' between his sons (Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir) there were bloody civil strife, in which the brothers of Prince Vladimir died, and he remained an autocratic sovereign. Shaken by strife, the Kiev principality showed signs of internal decay, and Vladimir had to spend a lot of effort to pacify the Varangians who served him and subdue the deposited tribes (Vyatichi, Radimichi). Shaken after the failures of Svyatoslav and the external power of Rus'. Vladimir waged many wars with various neighbors for border volosts; also fought with the Volga Bulgarians. He was also drawn into the war with the Greeks, as a result of which he adopted Christianity according to the Greek rite. This important event ended the first period of power of the Varangian dynasty in Rus'.

This text is an introductory piece.

Rurik (d. 879) - the chronicle founder of the statehood of Rus', the Varangian, the prince of Novgorod since 862 and the ancestor of the princely, which later became royal, Rurik dynasty.

Some Normanists identify Rurik with King Rorik (Hrørek) from Jutland Hedeby (Denmark) (d. before 882). According to the anti-Norman version, Rurik is a representative of the princely family of obodrites, and his name is a Slavic family nickname associated with a falcon.

The calling of the Varangians
According to the Old Russian chronicle of the XII century "The Tale of Bygone Years", in 862 the Varangian Rurik with his brothers, at the invitation of such tribes as: Chud, Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi and the whole, was called to reign in Novgorod. This event, from which the beginning of the statehood of the Eastern Slavs is traditionally counted, in historiography received the conditional name of the Calling of the Varangians. The chronicler called the reason for the invitation the civil strife that engulfed those who lived on Novgorod lands Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes. Rurik came with all his kind, called Rus, whose ethnicity continues to be debated.
The chronicle tells how, after the death of the brothers, power was concentrated in the hands of the eldest of them, Rurik:
... And they came and sat the eldest, Rurik, in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. The Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before that they were Slovenes. Two years later, Sineus and his brother Truvor died. And one Rurik took all power, and began to distribute cities to his men - Polotsk to that, Rostov to that, Beloozero to another. The Varangians in these cities are nakhodniki, and the indigenous population in Novgorod is Slovene, in Polotsk - Krivichi, in Rostov - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Murom - Murom, and Rurik ruled over all of them.

Rurikovich (IX-XI centuries)
Rurik
Igor, wife: Olga, co-ruler: Oleg
Svyatoslav
Yaropolk
Svyatopolk the Cursed
Oleg Drevlyansky
Vladimir
Vysheslav
Izyaslav Polotsky
Polotsk branch
Yaroslav the Wise
Vsevolod
Mstislav the Brave
Evstafiy
Svyatoslav Drevlyansky
St. Boris
St. Gleb
Stanislav
Pozvizd
Sudislav Pskovskiy

According to the annals, one can notice the expansion of the lands subject to Rurik. His power extended to Novgorod, as well as to the Western Dvina Krivichi (the city of Polotsk) in the west, the Finno-Ugric tribes of Meri (the city of Rostov) and Murom (the city of Murom) in the east. In the late Nikon chronicle (1st half of the 17th century) it is reported about the turmoil in Novgorod, whose inhabitants were dissatisfied with the rule of Rurik. The event is attributed to the year 864, that is, when, according to the Ipatiev Chronicle, Rurik founded Novgorod. Novgorod itself was built, according to archaeological dating, after the death of Rurik near his fortified residence (fortified settlement).

In 879, according to the chronicle, Rurik dies, leaving his young son Igor under the care of his commander and, possibly, a relative of Oleg.

Old Russian chronicles began to be compiled 150-200 years after the death of Rurik on the basis of some oral traditions, Byzantine chronicles and the few existing documents. Therefore, in historiography, there are different points of view on the annalistic version of the calling of the Varangians. In the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century, the opinion about the Scandinavian or Finnish origin of Prince Rurik prevailed, later a hypothesis was proposed about his Pomeranian origin.

Origin of Rurik

There are many versions around the ancestor of the princely Rurik dynasty, up to attempts to prove his legendary character. The legend of Rurik is generated by the lack of information about his origin: where he came from to reign and to which people-tribe he belonged. The theme of Rurik's homeland is closely connected with the etymology of the words Rus and Rus.
There are several versions of the origin of Rurik, of which the main ones are Norman and West Slavic.

Norman version

The name ruRikr on runestone fragment U413 used to build Norrsunda Church, Uppland, Sweden.
Based on the fact that in the Russian chronicles Rurik is called a Varangian, and the Varangians-Rus are associated with the Normans or Swedes according to various sources, supporters of the Norman concept consider Rurik, like his entire squad, to be Viking Vikings from Scandinavia.

According to the generally accepted opinion of Germanic philologists, the common origin with the name Rorik (Rurik) is modern names Roderich, Roderick, Rodrigo. The Rurik name is currently in circulation in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.

According to one version, Rurik was the Viking Rorik of Jutland (or Friesland) from the Skjoldung dynasty, the brother (or nephew) of the exiled Danish king Harald Klak, who in 826 or about 837 received from the emperor of the Franks Louis the Pious in fief possession on the coast of Frisia with center in Dorestad, which was raided by the Vikings.
In 841, he was expelled from there by Emperor Lothair. Rorik's name appears in the Xanten Annals in 845 in connection with a raid on the lands of Frisia. In 850, Rorik fights in Denmark against the Danish king Horik I, and then plunders Frisia and other places along the Rhine. King Lothair I was forced to cede Dorestad and most of Frisia to Rorik, having him baptized in return.
In 855-857, Rorik and his nephew Gottfried (son of Harald Klak) regained royal power in Denmark when the throne was vacated after the death of Horik I.
Around 857-862 Rorik, according to some writers, conquers the Wendish Slavs. According to Saxo the Grammar, the Danish king Hrorik the Ring Thrower, who is identified by these writers with Rorik of Jutland, breaks the flotilla of Curonians and Swedes in naval battle off the coast of Denmark, and then forces the attacking Slavs to pay tribute to him after, again, a sea clash. However, the lifetime of Hrorik the Ring Thrower, the grandfather of the famous Prince Hamlet, is dated by researchers to the 7th century.
In 863, Rorik unsuccessfully tried with the Danes to return Doreshtad. In 867, his attempt to gain a foothold in Friesland is again mentioned. He succeeded only in 870-873. In 873, Rorik, "the bile of Christianity" according to the chronicler of Xanten, takes an oath of allegiance to Louis the German.
In 882, Emperor Charles the Fat handed over Frisia to Gottfried, Rorik's nephew, apparently in connection with the death of the latter.
The version of his involvement in the "calling of the Varangians" is supported by some linguistic coincidences. In Frisia (now the northeastern part of the Netherlands and part of Germany) there was a coastal region of Wieringen in the 9th century. In modern pronunciation, the name sounds something like Vierega, which is close to the ancient Russian Varangians, but in ancient times this territory was called Wiron and pagus Wirense. According to archaeological finds in the area, assumptions are made about the existence of Rorik's base here.
Also connected with Frisia is the remark of the 12th-century chronicler Helmold about "the Frisians, who are called rusters." The seaside province of Rüstringen is marked on 17th-century maps in eastern Friesland, on the border of modern Germany with the Netherlands.

Another version of the Scandinavian origin of Rurik connects him with Eirik Emundarson, king of the Swedish Uppsala. In the work of the Icelandic skald of the beginning of the 13th century, Snorri Sturluson, “The Circle of the Earth”, it is told about the national gathering (ting) in 1018 in Uppsala. One of the participants in the gathering said: “Torgnir, my paternal grandfather, remembered Eirik Emundarson, the king of Uppsala, and said about him that while he could, every summer he undertook a campaign from his country and went to various countries and conquered Finland and Kirjalaland, Eistland and Kurland, and many lands in Austrland. And if you want to return under your rule those states in Austrweg that your relatives and ancestors owned there, then we all want to follow you in this. Rus was called Austrland (Eastern Land) and Austrwegi (Eastern Ways) in the sagas.

According to the calculations of the famous Swedish archaeologist Birger Nerman, King Eirik of Uppsala (ancient Scandinavian Eiríkr), the son of Emund, died in 882, and the “conquest of the Eastern lands” refers to the beginning of his reign - 850-860, which almost coincides with the dates of Rurik's reign. Nerman's method for such an accurate calculation of dates is unknown. For more on the Swedish raids on the Baltic in the middle of the 9th century, see Rimbert's "Life of Ansgar" and Grobin's article.
In the time of Eirik Emundarson, the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair had a son named Hrorek (Snorri Sturluson's saga about Harald Fairhair). King Harald died in the province of Rugaland (Rygjafylke), transferring power to his son Eirik the Bloody Axe, and the saga does not report anything about the fate of King Hrörek.

West Slavic version

An alternative to the Norman version is the version about the origin of Rurik from among the West Slavic tribes of Obodrites, Ruyans and Pomeranians. The Tale of Bygone Years directly says that Rurik, being a Varangian, was neither a Norman, nor a Swede, nor an Englishman, nor a Gotlander.
] Varangians from Wagrs or Prussians
The Austrian Herberstein, being an adviser to the ambassador in the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 1st half of the 16th century, was one of the first Europeans to get acquainted with the Russian chronicles and expressed his opinion about the origin of the Varangians and Rurik. Associating the name of the Varangians with the Slavic Baltic tribe of the Vagrs, Herberstein comes to the conclusion that: “the Russians summoned their princes rather from the Vagrs, or Varangians, than handed over power to foreigners who differed from them in faith, customs and language.” The Scandinavians and Germans called the Wagrs and all the Pomeranian Slavs Wends. In synchronous sources, there is no information about the connection of the Pomeranian Slavs with the Varangians, although in the 2nd half of the 10th century, sea raids of the Wends on their neighbors were noted.
M.V. Lomonosov deduced Rurik with the Varangians from the Prussians, relying on toponyms and later chronicles, which replaced the lexeme "Varangians" with the pseudo-ethnonym "Germans". The Slavic origin of Rurik Lomonosov a priori accepted as an indisputable fact:
... the Varangians and Rurik with their family, who came to Novgorod, were Slavic tribes, spoke the Slavic language, came from the ancient Russians and were by no means from Scandinavia, but lived on the eastern-southern shores of the Varangian Sea, between the rivers Vistula and Dvina ... named after Rus in Scandinavia and on the northern shores of the Varangian Sea have never been heard of ... Our chroniclers mention that Rurik and his Family came from the Germans, and in the Indian it is written that from Prussia ... Between the rivers Vistula and Dvina flows into the Varangian Sea from the east-south side of the river, which above, near the city of Grodno, it is called Nemen, and Rusa is known to its mouth. Here it is clear that the Varangians-Rus lived in the east-south shore of the Varangian Sea, near the river Rusa ... And the very name of the Prussians or Poruss shows that the Prussians lived along the Russ or near the Russ.

There is a folk legend about Rurik and his brothers, published in the 30s of the XIX century by the French traveler and writer Xavier Marmier in the book Northern Letters. He recorded it in northern Germany, among the Mecklenburg peasants who lived on former lands Bodrichi, by that time completely Germanized. The legend tells that in the 8th century, the Obodrite tribe was ruled by a king named Godlav, the father of three young men, the first of whom was called Rurik the Peaceful, the second - Sivar the Victorious, the third - Truvar the Faithful. The brothers decided to go in search of glory in the lands to the east. After many deeds and terrible battles, the brothers came to Russia, whose people suffered under the burden of a long tyranny, but did not dare to rebel. The encouraging brothers awakened the dormant courage in the local people, led the army and overthrew the oppressors. Having restored peace and order in the country, the brothers decided to return to their old father, but the grateful people begged them not to leave and take the place of the former kings. So Rurik received the principality of Novgorod (Nowoghorod), Sivar - Pskov (Pleskow), Truvar - Belozersk (Bile-Jezoro). Since after a while the younger brothers died, leaving no legitimate heirs, Rurik annexed their principalities to his own, becoming the founder of the ruling dynasty. It should be noted that this is the only mention of Rurik in Western folklore, although the date of the origin of the legend cannot be established. The legend was written down a century after the publication of the Mecklenburg genealogy of Rurik.

Coat of arms of Staraya Ladoga - a falcon falling down (the coat of arms of Rurik)
The coat of arms of the Rurikids is interpreted by some researchers as a schematic representation of a falcon falling on its prey. At the same time, others see in it the image of a scepter, anchor, trident or pitchfork. A stylized version of this image is the current coat of arms of Ukraine. In support of the Balto-Slavic etymology, archeological finds from the times of the first Rurikids with the image of a falcon are given. A similar image of a falcon (or Odin's raven) was also minted on the English coins of the Danish king Anlaf Gutfritsson (939-941). However, the falcon is called differently in the Scandinavian languages.

Joachim Chronicle

The Joachim Chronicle is a chronicle text of unknown origin, preserved only in extracts made by V. N. Tatishchev. The chronicle is named after Joachim, the first Novgorod bishop, to whom Tatishchev attributed authorship, based on the content of the chronicle. Historians treat it with great distrust, but use it as auxiliary material.
According to the Joachim Chronicle, Rurik was the son of an unknown Varangian prince in Finland from Umila, middle daughter Slavic elder Gostomysl. The chronicle does not say what tribe the prince was in Finland, it only says that he was a Varangian. Before his death, Gostomysl, who reigned in the "Great City" and lost all his sons, gave the order to call the sons of Umila to reign, in accordance with the advice of the prophets.
So Rurik, according to the matrilateral tradition (inheritance on the maternal side), appeared with two brothers Sineus and Truvor in the "Great City", which corresponds to either Staraya Ladoga or the Bodrich city of Veligrad. In the 4th year of his reign, Rurik moved to the "Great New City" (one can mean Rurik's Settlement or Novgorod) to Ilmen. After the death of his father, Finnish lands passed to Rurik.
One of Rurik's wives was Efanda, the daughter of the "Urman" (Norman) prince, who gave birth to Ingor (Igor Rurikovich). Efanda's brother, the "Urman" prince Oleg began to reign after the death of Rurik. The Finnish origin of Rurik may be associated with one of the versions of the etymology of the word Rus. According to her, Rus' is the Slavic pronunciation of the Finnish Ruotsi, that is, the Finnish name for the Swedes. It is believed that in the 9th century, the Finns called so all the Vikings-Varangians who collected tribute from the local population.

Rurik (Miniature from the "Royal titulary". 17th century

Coin of the Bank of Russia 50 rubles, gold, reverse. (2011)

For the first time, the name of Rurik is mentioned in the "Life of the Holy Prince Vladimir", written presumably around 1070 by the monk Jacob Chernorizets: "to the autocrat of all the Russian land Volodimer, to the grandson of Iolzhin (Princess Olga) and to the great-grandson of Ryurikov." The earliest chronicle that has come down to us, The Tale of Bygone Years, was written about forty years later, and the history of the Varangian Rurik was detailed there. Historians are not aware of other independent sources on Prince Rurik, with the exception of attempts to connect him with the Viking Rorik of Jutland from Western Europe.

Doubted in different time the chronology of Rurik's vocation was put, and the reality of Rurik and his brothers, and their origin, and, especially, the very political idea of "calling the Varangians" - foreign rulers. In the historiography of the 19th-20th centuries (especially the Soviet one), this issue was overly ideologized. It was stated that the version of the foreign origin of the first princes was "anti-scientific Norman theory”, allegedly designed to prove that the Slavs could not create a state on their own.

Some historians believe that Sineus and Truvor, identified in the annals as Rurik's brothers, did not really exist. So, Sineus could not have been a Beloozero prince from 862 to 864, since the existence of the city of Beloozero can be traced archaeologically only from the 10th century. Rybakov believes that the name "Sineus" is a distorted "one's own family" (Swedish sine hus), and "Truvor" is a "faithful squad" (Swedish thru varing). Thus, Rurik comes to reign not with his two brothers, but with his family (which includes, for example, Oleg) and a faithful squad. D.S. Likhachev assumed that Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, according to the plan of the chronicler, should have become the “mystical ancestors” of Novgorod, like Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv for Kyiv.

Heirs

It is not known how many wives and children Rurik had. Chronicles report only one son - Igor. According to the Joachim Chronicle, Rurik had several wives, one of them and Igor's mother was the "Urman" (that is, Norwegian) princess Efanda.
In addition to Igor, Rurik may have had other children, since the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 944 mentions Igor's nephews - Igor and Akun.

§ 7. Varangian princes

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