Kievan Rus'

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Native name	Русь
Conventional long name	Kievan Rus'
Common name	Rus'
Continent	Europe
Region	Belarus, Northern Ukraine, Western Russia
Year start	862
Year end	1349
P1	Rus' Khaganate
Flag p1	Vlag ontbreekt.svg
P2	Khazaria
Flag p2	Vlag ontbreekt.svg
P3	Kuyavia (Ukraine)
Flag p3	Vlag ontbreekt.svg
S7	Grand Duchy of Lithuania
S6	Grand Duchy of Tver
S6	Principality of Chernigov
S5	Grand Duchy of Smolensk
S4	Grand Duchy of Ryazan
S3	Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
Flag s3	Alex K Halych-Volhynia.svg
S2	Novgorod Republic
Flag s2	Novgorod1400.png
Image coat	Yarthewise.png
Coa size	77px
S1	Vladimir-Suzdal
Flag s1	Vladimirskaya.jpg
Image map caption	Kievan Rus, 11th century
Religion	Slavic Paganism Orthodox Christianity
Capital	Kiev (Novgorod until 882)
Government type	Monarchy
Legislature	Veche
Title leader	Grand Prince of Kiev
Leader1	Oleg
Year leader1	882–912
Common languages	Old East Slavic
Demonym	Rusyn or rusych
Currency	hryvna

Kievan Rus' (Old East Slavic Рѹ́сь , , , later also Ruthenia, , , romanised: Kievskaya Rus’, , romanised: Kyivs'ka Rus’), is the name coined by Nikolai Karamzin for the Medieval state of Rus. The state existed from approximately 880 to sometime in the middle of the 13th century when it disintegrated. It is considered that the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240 greatly contributed to that effect.

Originally founded by East Slavic Tribes and Scandinavian traders (Varangians) called "Rus'" and centered in Novgorod, the state later included territories stretching south to the Black Sea, east to Volga, and west to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 9th century, Kiev, a Slavic settlement that in early 9th century was paying tribute to Khazars, but was captured by the Varangians in 864, became the capital of Rus'. Rus' polity is widely considered an early predecessor of three modern East Slavic nations: Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians. Attempts to nationalize the medieval state's history are common among historians from the modern three countries.

The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and his son Yaroslav I the Wise (1019–1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw the acceptance of Christianity and the creation of the first East Slavic written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda (Old East Slavic for The Truth of Rus). The early leaders of Rus' were most likely a Scandinavian warrior-elite that ruled a majority of Slavic subjects. Scandinavians gradually intermarried and merged with the Slavic population — the third known ruler of Rus', Sviatoslav I, Rurik's grandson, already has a Slavic name. The state's power gradually fell in 13th century and Kievan Rus' disintegrated due to the armed struggles among members of the princely family, the collapse of Rus' commercial ties to Byzantium due to the decline of Constantinople, the drying up of trade routes and the subsequent Mongol invasion of Rus'.

Early history

First records

According to the Norman theory in the early 9th century, the northern tribes of Rus' people became loosely organized under the Rus' Khaganate, the fact suggested by several non-Russian historians and may be regarded as a predecessor state to the Kievan Rus'. The early leaders of Rus' were most likely a Scandinavian warrior-elite that ruled a majority of Slavic subjects. trade routes, the Volga trade route (red) and the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks (purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange]] campaigns, mid-10th century]]

Two of Riurik's boyars, Haskold and Dyr who were not blood-related to Riurik, asked him to go with their families to Tsargrad. Going down the Dnieper River they noticed settlement named Kiev which they liberated from the Khazars' tribute and settled there, eventually conquering the rest of the Polians' land.

Establishment of Rus'

Kievan Rus' was officially founded by Prince Oleg (Helgu in Khazarian records) about 880. The territory of his state was much smaller, compared to the state of Yaroslav the Wise. During the next 35 years, Oleg and his warriors subdued the various Eastern Slavic (Smolensk and Liubech) and Finnic tribes. In 882, Oleg deposed Haskold and Dyr subordinating Kiev directly to himself and choosing it as the capital city. In 883, Oleg conquered the Drevlians imposing a fur tribute on them. By 884 he managed to subjugate the Polians, Drevlians, Severians, Vyatichs, and Radimichs while at war with the Tivertsi and the Ulichs. The latter were located in the area known among the Greek historians as the Great Scythia (lands of lower Dniester and Dnieper rivers). In 907, Oleg led an attack against Constantinople with 80,000 warriors transported by 2,000 ships, leaving Igor in Kiev. Oleg managed to impose a tribute upon Greeks of no less than one million grivna. In 912, he signed a commercial treaty with the Byzantine Empire as an equal partner. After the death of Oleg later in 912, the Drevlians managed to break away, but were conquered again by Igor. In 914, Igor concluded a peace treaty with the Pechenegs, a nomadic tribe that was passing through Rus' towards the Danube River in order to attack the Byzantine Empire.

The new Kievan state prospered because it had an abundant supply of furs, beeswax and honey for export and because it controlled three main trade routes of Eastern Europe: the Volga trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Orient, the Dnieper trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and the trade route from the Khazars to the Germans (see Raffelstetten Customs Regulations).

Some historians narrate that based upon modern surveys of Rus’ history the ruler of the Rhos/Rus (people of Swedish origin) was called chaganus by their southern neighbors, a title of Khazar origin (Latin form of the Turk word khaqan), at least in 839.

Liutprand of Cremona, who was twice (949 and 968) an envoy to the Byzantine court, identifies the "Russi" with the Norse (Rusios, quos alio nos nomine Nordmannos apellamus), but explains the name as a Greek term referring to their physical traits (Gens quaedam est sub aquilonis parte constituta, quam a qualitate corporis Graeci vocant [...] Rusios, nos vero a positione loci nominamus Nordmannos).

Given the postulated pro-Scandinavian bias of the Rus' Primary Chronicle, some historians of Slavic studies (Tatishchev, Solovyov) have debated the role of the Varangians in the establishment of Kievan Rus' (see Rus'), as not all Slavic tribes at first recognized the rule of Kiev (for example, the Drevlians). Even though by the reign of Sviatoslav I of Kiev (r. 945–972) Kievan rulers had adopted Slavic religion and names, their druzhina (also called "rat'", ) still consisted primarily of Scandinavians. Sviatoslav's military conquests were extensive: he dealt lethal blows to two of his strongest neighbours, Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria (a vassal of Khazaria), both of which collapsed soon after his raids.

Grand Duchy of Kiev and of all Rus

Reign of Vladimir and Christianisation

It is not clearly documented when the title of the Grand Duke was first introduced, but the importance of the Kiev principality was recognized after the death of Sviatoslav I (Sviatoslav the Brave; r. 945–972) and the struggle between Vladimir the Great and Yaropolk I. The region of Kiev dominated the state of Kievan Rus' for the next two centuries. The Grand Prince (velikiy kniaz') of Kiev controlled the lands around the city, and his formally subordinate relatives ruled the other cities and paid him tribute. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Prince Vladimir (Vladimir the Great, r. 980–1015) and Prince Yaroslav (the Wise; r. 1019–1054). Both rulers continued the steady expansion of Kievan Rus' that had begun under Oleg.

Vladimir rose to power in Kiev after the death of his father Sviatoslav I in 972 and after defeating his half-brother Yaropolk in 980. As Prince of Kiev, Vladimir's most notable achievement was the Christianization of Kievan Rus', a process that began in 988. The Primary Chronicle states that when Vladimir had decided to accept a new faith instead of the traditional idol-worship (paganism) of the Slavs, he sent out some of his most valued advisors and warriors as emissaries to different parts of Europe. The emissaries visited the Christians of the Latin Rite, the Jews and the Muslims, they finally arrived in Constantinople. They rejected Islam because, among other things, it prohibited the consumption of alcohol, and Judaism because the god of the Jews had permitted his chosen people to be deprived of their country. They found the ceremonies in the Roman church to be dull. But, at Constantinople, they were so astounded by the beauty of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the liturgical service held there, that they made up their minds there and then about the faith they would like to follow. Upon their arrival home, they convinced Vladimir that the faith of the Byzantine Rite was the best choice of all, upon which Vladimir made a journey to Constantinople and arranged to marry with Princess Anna, the sister of the Byzantine emperor, Basil II.

Vladimir's choice of Eastern Christianity may also have reflected his close personal ties with Constantinople, which dominated the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the River Dnieper. Adherence to the Eastern Church had long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences. The church had a liturgy written in Cyrillic and a corpus of translations from Greek that had been produced for the Slavic peoples. The existence of this literature facilitated the conversion to Christianity of the Eastern Slavs and introduced them to rudimentary Greek philosophy, science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek. In contrast, educated people in medieval Western and Central Europe learned Latin. Enjoying independence from the Roman authority and free from tenets of Latin learning, the East Slavs developed their own literature and fine arts, quite distinct from those of other Eastern Orthodox countries. See Old East Slavic language and Architecture of Kievan Rus for details. Following the Great Schism of 1054, the Russian church maintained communion with both Rome and Constantinople for some time, but along with most of the Eastern churches eventually split to go with the Eastern Orthodox.

Reign of Yaroslav

.]]

Yaroslav, known as "the Wise", also struggled for power with his brothers. Although he first established his rule over Kiev in 1019, he did not have uncontested rule of all of Kievan Rus' until 1036 together with Mstislav Vladimirovich since 1024. Like Vladimir, Yaroslav was eager to improve relations with the rest of Europe, especially the Byzantine Empire. Yaroslav's granddaughter, Eupraxia the daughter of his son Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev, was married to Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. Yaroslav also arranged marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary and Norway. Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code, Russkaya Pravda; built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system. Yaroslav's sons developed the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery), which functioned in Kievan Rus' as an ecclesiastical academy.

In the centuries that followed the state's foundation, Rurik's descendants shared power over Kievan Rus'. Princely succession moved from elder to younger brother and from uncle to nephew, as well as from father to son. Junior members of the dynasty usually began their official careers as rulers of a minor district, progressed to more lucrative principalities, and then competed for the coveted throne of Kiev. In the 11th century and the 12th century, the princes and their retinues, which were a mixture of Slavic and Scandinavian elites, dominated the society of Kievan Rus'. Leading soldiers and officials received income and land from the princes in return for their political and military services. Kievan society lacked the class institutions and autonomous towns that were typical of Western European feudalism. Nevertheless, urban merchants, artisans and labourers sometimes exercised political influence through a city assembly, the veche (council), which included all the adult males in the population. In some cases, the veche either made agreements with their rulers or expelled them and invited others to take their place. At the bottom of society was a stratum of slaves. More important was a class of tribute-paying peasants, who owed labour duty to the princes. The widespread personal serfdom characteristic of Western Europe did not exist in Kievan Rus'.

The rise of regional centres

.]] Kievan Rus' was not able to maintain its position as a powerful and prosperous state, in part because of the amalgamation of disparate lands under the control of a ruling clan. As the members of that clan became more numerous, they identified themselves with regional interests rather than with the larger patrimony. Thus, the princes fought among themselves, frequently forming alliances with outside groups such as the Cumans, Poles and Hungarians. During the years from 1054 to 1224 no fewer than 64 principalities had a more or less ephemeral existence, 293 princes put forward succession claims, and their disputes led to 83 civil wars. The most prominent struggle for power was the conflict that erupted after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. The rivaling Principality of Polotsk was contesting the power of the Grand Prince by occupying Novgorod, while Rostislav Vladimirovich was fighting for the Black Sea port of Tmutarakan belonging to Chernigov. Three of Yaroslav's sons that first allied together found themselves fighting each other especially after their defeat to the Cuman forces in 1068 at the Battle of the Alta River. At the same time an uprising took place in Kiev, bringing to power Vseslav of Polotsk who supported the traditional Slavic paganism. The ruling Grand Prince Iziaslav fled to Poland asking for support and in couple of years returned to establish the order. The affairs became even more complicated by the end of the 11th century driving the state into chaos and constant warfare. On the initiative of Vladimir II Monomakh in 1097 the first federal council of Kievan Rus took place near Chernigov in the city of Liubech with the main intention to find an understanding among the fighting sides. However even though that did not really stopped the fighting, it certainly cooled things off.

The Crusades brought a shift in European trade routes that accelerated the decline of Kievan Rus'. In 1204 the forces of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, making the Dnieper trade route marginal. was not only the largest contemporary European state in terms of area but also culturally advanced. Literacy in Kiev, Novgorod and other large cities was high. As birch bark documents attest, they exchanged love letters and prepared cheat sheets for schools. Novgorod had a sewage system and wood paving not often found in other cities at the time. The Russkaya Pravda confined punishments to fines and generally did not use capital punishment. Certain inalienable rights were accorded to women, such as property and inheritance rights.

's battle with the Polovtsy, by Viktor Vasnetsov.]] The economic development of Kievan Rus may be translated into demographic statistics. Around 1200, Kiev had a population of 50,000, Novgorod and Chernigov both had around 30,000. Constantinople had population of about 400,000 around 1180. The Soviet scholar Mikhail Tikhomirov calculated that Kievan Rus' on the eve of the Mongol invasion had around 300 urban centers.

Kievan Rus' also played an important genealogical role in European politics. Yaroslav I the Wise, whose stepmother belonged to the greatest dynasty to rule Byzantium, married the only legitimate daughter of the king who Christianized Sweden. His daughters became queens of Hungary, France and Norway, his sons married the daughters of a Polish king and a Byzantine emperor (not to mention a niece of the Pope), while his granddaughters were a German Empress and (according to one theory) the Queen of Scotland. A grandson married the only daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. Thus the Rurikids were the most well-connected royal family of the time. The Rurik Dynasty were the ruling the Kievan Rus' successor principalities of Galicia-Volhynia (after 1199), Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, as well as the early Tsardom of Russia (after 1168).

Kievan Rus' left a powerful legacy. The leader of the Rurik Dynasty united a large territory inhabited by East Slavs into an important, albeit unstable, state. After Vladimir accepted Eastern Orthodoxy, Kievan Rus' came together under a church structure and developed a Byzantine-Slavic synthesis in culture, statecraft and the arts.

In the western periphery, the Kievan Rus' legacy was carried for two more centuries by the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Later, as these lands along with the territories of modern central Ukraine and Belarus fell to the Gediminids, the powerful, largely Ruthenized Grand Duchy of Lithuania, drew heavily on Rus' cultural and legal traditions. Due to the fact that the economical and cultural core of Rus' was located on the territory of modern Ukraine some Ukrainian historians and scholars consider Kievan Rus' to be a founding Ukrainian state.

On the northeastern periphery of Kievan Rus' traditions were adapted in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality that gradually gravitated towards Moscow. In the very north, the Novgorod and Pskov Feudal Republics carried on a separate and less autocratic version of Rus' legacy into the 16th century until they were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Foreign relations

Turkic societies

Pechenegs

From the 9th century, the Pecheneg nomads began an uneasy relationship with Kievan Rus. For more than two centuries they launched random raids into the lands of Rus, which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars (such as the 920 war on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev reported in the Primary Chronicle), but there were also temporary military alliances (e.g. the 943 Byzantine campaign by Igor). In 968, the Pechenegs attacked and then besieged the city of Kiev. There exist some speculations that the Pechenegs drove away the Tivertsi and the Ulichs to the regions of the upper Dniester river in Bukovina. The Byzantine Empire was known to support the Pechenegs in their military campaigns against the Eastern Slavic states.

Cumans

Golden Horde

Khazars

Byzantine Empire

Between 850 and 1100, the Empire developed a mixed relationship with a new state that emerged to the north across the Black Sea, that of the Kievan Rus'. This relationship would have long-lasting repercussions in the history of East Slavs. Byzantium quickly became the main trading and cultural partner for Kiev, but relations were not always friendly. The most serious conflict between the two powers was the war of 968–971 in Bulgaria, but several Rus' raiding expeditions against the Byzantine cities of the Black Sea coast and Constantinople itself are also recorded. Although most were repulsed, they were concluded by trade treaties that were generally favourable to the Rus'.

Rus'-Byzantine relations became closer following the marriage of the porphyrogenita Anna to Vladimir the Great, and the subsequent Christianization of the Rus': Byzantine priests, architects and artists were invited to work on numerous cathedrals and churches around Rus', expanding Byzantine cultural influence even further. Numerous Rus' served in the Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian Guard.

Teutonic Order

Swedes

Administrative divisions of Rus

;11th century

Novgorod Land 862–1478 (the allied territory of Kievan Rus', since 1136 the Novgorod Republic)

Principality of Rostov-Suzdal (until 1125 Rostov Principality, later in 1155 Vladimir-Suzdal Principality)

Principality of Polotsk 9th century-14th century (separatist territory, partial suzerainty under Kievan Rus)

*Principality of Minsk

Principality of Smolensk (from 1054)

Principality of Pereyaslavl

Principality of Volyn

Principality of Kiev (1132–1399)

*Principality of Galicia

*Principality of Turov and Pinsk

Principality of Chernigov

*Murom-Ryazan Principality (until 1078)

*Novgorod-Siversk Principality

City of Tmutarakan (from 988 and until sometime in the 12th century)

Belaya Vezha (from 965 and until sometime in the 12th century)

Southern dependancies (Oleshky, New Galich, Peresechen')

Drevlian territories (?-884 (annexation to Rus' by Oleg) 912–946 (vassal of Rus' since 914, Drevlians Uprising in 945))

Principal cities

Veliky Novgorod

Chernihiv, capital along with Kiev in 1024–1036 (joined rule of Yaroslav and Mstislav)

Bilhorod Kyivsky, capital of Rus under Rurik Rostislavich

Vyshgorod, prince residence and royal library (at Mezhyhirya)

Polotsk

Rostov Veliky

Suzdal

Vladimir

Murom

Halych

Smolensk

Ryazan

Staraya Ladoga

Tmutarakan

Pereyaslavets (Bulgaria), capital of Rus' in 969–971

Demographics

Finno-Ugric peoples

Chud

Merya

Meshchera

Muroma

Vepsians

Karelians

Votes

Izhorians

Slavic peoples

Ilmen Slavs

Krivichs

Vyatichs

Sieverians

Polians

Radimichs

Dregovichs

Drevlians

Tivertsi

Ulichs

Buzhans

Dulebes

White Croats

Polochans

Others

Jews

Turkic peoples (Volga Bulgars, Khazars, Pechenegs)

Rus

Baltic peoples (Goliad

See also

Rus' (people)

Rus (name)

Rulers of Kievan Rus'

Rurik Dynasty

Slavic studies

List of Russian historians

De Administrando Imperio

Notes

References

Further reading

Christian, David. A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999.

Franklin, Simon and Shepard, Jonathon, The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. (Longman History of Russia, general editor Harold Shukman.) Longman, London, 1996. ISBN 0-582-49091-X

Fennell, John, The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200–1304. (Longman History of Russia, general editor Harold Shukman.) Longman, London, 1983. ISBN 0-582-48150-3

Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. 2nd ed. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984.

Martin, Janet, Medieval Russia 980–1584. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993. ISBN 0-521-36832-4

Obolensky, Dimitri, The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500–1453. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1971. ISBN 0-297-00343-7

Pritsak, Omeljan. The Origin of Rus'. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.

Stang, Håkon. The Naming of Russia. Meddelelser, Nr. 77. Oslo: University of Oslo Slavisk-baltisk Avelding, 1996.

Alexander F. Tsvirkun E-learning course. History of Ukraine. Journal Auditorium, Kiev 2010

References

– Russia

External links

Historical map of Kiev Rus' from 980. to 1054.

Historical map of Rus'-Ukraine from 1220. to 1240.

Graphic History of Kievan Rus from c. 800 to 988

Rus’, Encyclopedia of Ukraine

Ancient Rus: trade and crafts

Category:880s establishments Category:States and territories established in the 880s Category:880 establishments Category:1240 disestablishments Category:Former countries in Europe Category:Former Slavic countries Category:History of Belarus Category:History of Russia Category:History of Ukraine Category:Kievan Rus'