The First Centuries of Russian History. Traces of the Scandinavians
A. D. Kivshenko. The Calling of the Prince
В previous article We discussed the "Tale of Bygone Years," as well as the information about the Slavs and Rus' found in surviving works by Greek, Roman, Khazar, Persian, and Arabic authors. Today, we'll continue this story. We'll discuss the so-called "dispersal of the Slavs," the state of Samo, and the Rus' and Slavs of Byzantine and European chronicles. And in the next article, we'll explore the so-called "Russian Land," modern versions of the origins of the word "Rus'," and contemporary views on the notorious "Norman problem."
Great migration of peoples
In the second half of the sixth century, the Slavs became the main players in the so-called Great Migration of Peoples. This was likely due to constant pressure from the Huns and Avars.
The settlement of the Slavs
The Slavic migration of the 6th-8th centuries was the final stage of the Great Migration and is officially referred to as the "dispersal of the Slavs." It proceeded in three main directions. The first was to the south (the Balkan Peninsula) into the domains of the Byzantine Empire. Interestingly, the Slavic penetration into the Balkans was so successful that the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus sadly noted in the 10th century that his entire country had become "Slavicized."
The second was to the east (along the East European Plain). The third was to the west (into the Middle Danube region and the Oder-Elbe interfluve). In 622-623, the struggle between small, disparate Western European (Czecho-Moravian) tribes and the Avars was led by Samo (Samoslav?), who was likely a Frankish merchant, but possibly a Slav who had lived long among the Franks. According to the chronicler Fredegar, Samo arrived in Moravia "to trade at the head of an entire detachment." He united a number of tribal principalities, creating the first state of the Western Slavs. Having defeated the Avars, Samo also routed the Franks in 631 and expanded the country's territory in the northwest at the expense of the lands of the Sorbian-Luzatian tribes inhabiting the basin of the Middle Elbe.
State Samo
In 658 (following the death of its leader), this state disintegrated, Avar raids continued, and in 745, the Slovene (Croatian) prince Borut was forced to surrender Carantania (the Slovene center in the eastern Alps) to the protection of the Duke of Bavaria. In 788, Carantania became part of the Frankish Empire.
Other Slavic tribes
As for the Antes, they were divided into the Tivertsi, Croats, and Ulich tribes, all of whom are mentioned in Russian chronicles. The "Bavarian Geographer," compiled in the East Frankish Kingdom no later than the third quarter of the 9th century, also mentions the Slavic tribes of Buzhans, Volynians, and Ulichs. The same work first mentions Rus' (Ruzzi), localizing it somewhere in the south of Eastern Europe, most likely in the region of the middle Dnieper. According to the so-called Cottonian (Priscian) map, created around 1000 by an unknown Anglo-Saxon priest, Slavic tribes also lived in approximately the same area: the inscription "Slavs" (sclavi) is placed east of Silesia, between the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and the Danube.
Scandinavian trace
В previous article It was said that, according to the testimony of many medieval foreign authors, the Slavs and Rus' lived in the same territory, but seemingly as neighbors. Indeed, five separate major centers of Scandinavian presence have been identified archaeologically: Staraya Ladoga, Gorodishche near Novgorod, Gnezdovo near Smolensk, Timerevo in the Yaroslavl region, and the Shestovitsky burial ground near Chernigov. Even in Novgorod itself, the number of archaeological finds of Norman origin is relatively small; for example, out of 233 pieces of jewelry from the 10th–11th centuries, only 7 are Scandinavian. There are even fewer such finds in the Kyiv area.
The Norman outpost at Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga) deserves special mention. Here, the Scandinavians transferred from their traditional "longships" to "single-tree" ships, rested before or after a campaign, and sold some of their goods. Stopping at Ladoga deprived them of their main advantage—the element of surprise. They could proceed south only after capturing Novgorod, a difficult task that also deprived the campaign of the element of surprise, or after receiving permission from the Novgorod authorities. Therefore, in the Slavic principalities, the Normans were not Vikings, but merchants, mercenaries, or transit guests (en route to Constantinople for recruitment).
The Normans were keenly interested in the affairs of the neighboring Slavic principalities. The "baptism of Rus'" was immediately known in distant Iceland, but the Scandinavians knew nothing about the "summoning of the Varangians." Yet the change of power in strategically located Novgorod was a very important and extraordinary event. This suggests that even if some minor leader had appeared in Holmgard, his role was minor and nothing fundamentally changed. This was neither the conquest of a neighboring state nor the founding of a new one. And the semi-legendary Rurik himself clearly cannot claim any role in the formation of Russian statehood—whoever he was: an Obodrite, the son of a Scandinavian and an Obodrite princess, or a Viking named "Herraud the Falcon, son of Ludbrand the Victorious, the Trustworthy," who belonged to the dynasty of rulers of Jutland.
From his older brother, Herraud-Rurik inherited a fief in Friesland, which he lost after a conflict with Emperor Lothair. He spent some time as a pirate in the North Sea, and in 845, he took part in a major Norman expedition, when a large Viking fleet entered the mouth of the Elbe, threatening Hamburg. However, the expedition ended in failure due to an epidemic.
In 850, Herraud-Rurik made peace with Lothair, who returned Friesland to him on the condition that he protect it from other Vikings. However, in 854, Lothair divided Friesland between his sons, and Rurik was again left without an inheritance. In 857, the Danish ruler Horik II granted Herraud-Rurik part of his lands between the North Sea and the Eider River, and then his name disappeared from the historical Chronicles—some believe it was at this time that he was "summoned" to the Slovenes. Historians also have at their disposal an extremely interesting account from the "Bavarian Geographer" (a document compiled in the East Frankish Kingdom no later than the third quarter of the 9th century), according to which "Frisians" serve in the army of the "Russians" of its author's time:
The Russians, whose army is free Frisians.
In January 863, Herraud-Rurik attacked the Rhineland city of Neuss, which is said to have recently converted to Christianity. In 873, he received a fief from Charles the Bold, and died in 874. According to Russian sources, Rurik died in the territory of modern-day Karelia in 879.
Another oddity of the Tale of Bygone Years is the punning names of Rurik's brothers. Even modern Swedes clearly recognize the sine hus (family) in the name Sineus, and the thru varing (faithful retinue) in the name Truvor. However, E.A. Melnikova believes that in Old Norse, these expressions would have been pronounced differently. She suggests that the reference is to people with the names Þórvar[ð]r and Signjótr, which in Russian transcription would be rendered as Truvor and Sineus. And since the sources mention nothing about their descendants, they may not have been Rurik's relatives, but rather the commanders of his retinue.
And what about Gostomysl, who supposedly came up with the idea of inviting the Varangians? According to vague chronicle references, he was the son of the tribal chieftain Burivoy, who:
He had a difficult war with the Varangians, and, having defeated them many times... finally... having been defeated and having lost almost his entire army, he went to the city of Korela and died there.
The Annals of Xanten mention a certain Gustimusl, a Slavic leader in the land of the Obodrites, whose descendants are now considered the Novgorod Slavs. As early as the 12th century, Novgorod maintained contact with the West Slavic city of Volin.
So, it seems some Gostomysl did exist after all. But this doesn't resolve the main question: was he truly a Slovenian prince? Or at least the head of a clan? Or perhaps memories of him are echoes of some other history, not our own?
Gostomysl continued his father's work with varying success, and the greatest defeat of his life, according to the chronicles, was the death of all four sons, although his three daughters, married off to various countries, were alive and well and had children. It was among their grandchildren that the Novgorod Slavs decided to seek a prince. The outcome is well known.
A much greater role in the history of Rus' was played by the successor of the semi-mythical Rurik, Oleg, whose nickname is a literal translation into Russian of the "telling" name Helgi. Snorri Sturlsson, author of the collection of "royal" sagas "The Circle of the Earth" and "The Younger Edda," writes on this subject:
Sigrun (the name of the Valkyrie) drew Helgi into the great battle, and with Odin's blessing, she brought him a great victory. He became the conqueror of all kings. His very name has since become a byword, meaning "prophetic leader," "leader guided by spirits."
That is, our famous prince is called “Prophetic” in two languages and twice.
Monument to Rurik and Oleg in Old Ladoga
Oleg made a fateful decision: to leave Novgorod, where the princes had virtually no power, and head south, where, again, an existing city—Kyiv—was not founded but captured. And, with little knowledge of the local language, he declared this city not the father, but the mother of Russian cities.
The murder of Askold and Dir by order of the Prophetic Oleg in an engraving by A. Bruni, 1839
We can also find a similar character in the sagas—Orvar Odd (Odd the Arrow). The only problem is that "Orvar-Oddsaga" belongs to the genre of "sagas of ancient times," which the Scandinavians themselves considered fairy tales. But if we discard all the fairy tale episodes and elements, the bottom line is that we still see a man similar to "Oleg the Prophet": the general biographical details are identical, right down to his death by snakebite.
Most modern researchers agree that the famous Princess Olga was a woman of Varangian descent, but born somewhere near Pskov.
V. Vasnetsov. Princess Olga
The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus calls her Helga and the sister of the Danish king Ingelus, while the manuscript Synopsis of Undolus asserts that she was Oleg's daughter. Excerpts from Olga's speeches, preserved in chronicles, reveal obvious Scandinavisms. For example, Olga reproaches the Byzantine ambassadors who arrived in Kyiv for "standing before the emperor in court in skutars." Skuta, in Old Norse, means a single-masted vessel, and sund means strait. This means that the Byzantines kept her and her entire retinue on boats in the Bosphorus, not allowing them to disembark. Moreover, she says this in a fit of irritation, when she doesn't choose her words, but utters the first ones that come to mind and, therefore, the most familiar.
There are reports that Olga's parents entrusted the young girl to an aunt for upbringing—uncommon among Slavs, but quite common among Viking Age Scandinavians. The account of Olga's behavior after her husband's murder by the Drevlians reads like a typical "Pryad" (a short prose tale often part of a saga). Revenge through funeral rites is a favorite motif in Scandinavian sagas; variants of the legend of burning a city with the help of birds can be found in the works of Snorri Sturlsson and Saxo Grammaticus.
The son of Olga and Igor (Ingvar) already bears a Slavic name - Svyatoslav, although many prominent commanders of his squad still have Scandinavian names.
The Kievan army, led by Sveneld and Asmud, defeats the Drevlians. Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle.
However, Sveneld, the de facto co-ruler of Igor, Olga, and Svyatoslav, also gave his sons Slavic names – Lyut and Mstisha. This is not surprising: in Normandy, the descendants of Hrolf the Walker and his warriors quickly became so "Frenchified" that they forgot the "northern tongue," and to teach it to his grandson, Hrolf had to invite a tutor from Scandinavia.
It's worth noting once again that the accounts of that time are riddled with inconsistencies in dates. Based on some sources, V. Tatishchev claimed Olga was baptized at age 68, while B. Rybakov calculated that she was between 28 and 32 at the time. The age difference between Igor and his wife is truly staggering. If we combine the data from various chronicles, it turns out that Olga lived in the village of Vydubitskoye, near the already existing Pskov, which, nevertheless, she founded after her return from Byzantium. She was a simple, modest girl, yet the eldest daughter of the famous Gostomysl. Her real name was Prekrasa, and she was later given the name "Veshka," or Helga, for her wisdom. Her younger sister, Gostomysl's middle daughter Umila, was Rurik's mother.
In 880, 19-year-old Igor first met Prekrasa, who ferried him across the river in a boat. According to some chronicles, the "maiden" was 120 years old at the time. Twenty-three years later (in 903), she married Igor, and gave birth to Svyatoslav 39 years later, in 942—at approximately 180 years old. When the princess was around 200 years old, the Byzantine emperor fell in love with her. She then lived for another 12 years. Therefore, many historians believe that in reality, there were several Olegs, several Olgas, and several Igors in Rus', who might not even have been related. Helga's "spirit-guided" Oleg may not be a proper name in this case, but a title, and Ingvar (the Younger) is the deputy ruler.
It's worth noting that in 2002 and 2006, interesting genetic studies were conducted that are directly related to the issue under discussion. The Y chromosome, which is passed down unchanged for hundreds and thousands of generations and only through the male line, was studied in Rurik's descendants. It turned out that people considered to be descendants of Rurik belong to two completely different branches of population markers, meaning they are descendants of two different male ancestors.
Vladimir Monomakh, for example, has the Scandinavian genetic marker N, while his uncle Svyatoslav has the Slavic R1a. Some researchers believe the reason could have been the infidelity of Yaroslav the Wise's wife, the Swedish princess Ingigerd, who was unable to resist the masculine charms of the Norwegian king Olav Haraldsson, who was forced to stay with them. This is especially true since the young Ingigerd had once passionately desired to marry Yaroslav: with great difficulty, she was persuaded to marry him. On the other hand, Vladimir Svyatoslavich is referred to as "the Old" in a number of sources—a clear reference not to the ruler's age, but to his role as the founder of the dynasty. This means that the previous princes may indeed not have been related.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich is already very well known to the authors of the sagas, since the future king of Norway and patron saint of Iceland, Olaf Tryggvason, was raised at his court, and this prince also captured Kyiv with the help of Scandinavian mercenaries.
Monument to Olav Trygvason in Trondheim
However, Vladimir is known to the Scandinavians only as the ruler of a foreign state; they don't consider him "one of their own." Therefore, if Vladimir was a direct descendant of Rurik, and Rurik was indeed a Norman king summoned to Novgorod, then by this time both he and the other Scandinavians in Rus' had been completely assimilated and Slavized.
Many Russian princes subsequently became, if not heroes, then characters in sagas; some even had second, Scandinavian names. Yaroslav the Wise's son Vsevolod, for example, is known in Scandinavia as Holti, while Vladimir Monomakh's son Mstislav is known as Harald. Two more future kings of Norway—Magnus and Harald Hardrada (Stern)—hid from their enemies at the court of Yaroslav the Wise, and Harald also became the prince's son-in-law.
Harald Hardrada. Stained glass window in Kirkwall Cathedral, Orkney.
Magnus Olavson
But that is a completely different story, which has nothing to do with the supposed “first wave” Scandinavians.
And what did the Europeans and Byzantines say about the Rus?
Rus' in Byzantine and European Chronicles
The Annals of Bertin claim that in 839, envoys from the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus accompanied the court of the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious. "They said their people were called Rhos, and they said their king, named Hakan (Scandinavian name Hakon? Turkic title Khagan?), had sent him (Theophilus) out of friendship" (Prudentius). It turned out that these "Rhos" spoke a "northern language" and were suspiciously similar to the "Sweones." Meanwhile, just two years earlier, the Normans had attacked Frankish lands, and therefore the "Rhos" were considered spies. They were detained, and unfortunately, nothing is known about their subsequent fate.
Speaking of Khaganates: in 871, Louis the German, in a letter to Basil the Macedonian, counted four of them – Khazar, Avar, Bulgarian and… Norman.
In 844, some of the Normans who had arrived on the shores of France headed south and laid siege to Seville. Local chronicles refer to the newcomers as warriors of the "people of Ar-Rus." Abu al-Hasan al-Mas'udi (died 951), known as the "Arab Herodotus," wrote of the same:
Ships came to Andalusia by sea, with some people on them, and they attacked its coast... And these people are the Rus, whom we have already mentioned, for no one but them sails on this sea, which connects with the Ocean Sea.
Viking ship. Miniature from a 10th-century manuscript.
New information about the "Rhos" in Greek and Western European sources relates to the events of 860, when the army of the "Rhos people" marched on Constantinople. It is this campaign that religious tradition associates with the so-called "miracle of the immersion of the Holy Virgin's veil into the sea": supposedly, after this, a storm arose, sinking the enemy's vessel. fleetBut contemporaries, it seems, were unaware of any miracle, and were convinced of the Byzantine defeat. Pope Nicholas I, for example, reproached Emperor Michael III for the fact that the invaders left unavenged, and Patriarch Photius, who was in Constantinople at the time, reported that "the city was not taken by their (the Russians') mercy." He bitterly lamented in his sermon:
A nameless people, not considered for anything, unknown, but who received a name from the time of the campaign against us... Having reached a brilliant height and immeasurable wealth - oh, what a disaster sent down to us from God.
(“Two conversations of His Holiness Patriarch Photius of Constantinople on the occasion of the Russian invasion”).
And in the “Circular Letter” to the Eastern archbishops, he says that the Russians came from the “northern country”, live far from the Greeks, beyond many countries, navigable rivers and seas without shelter.
The chaplain of the Venetian Doge John the Deacon (11th century) reports that during the reign of Emperor Michael III, Constantinople was attacked by the Normans, who, having arrived on 360 ships,
They fought around the city, mercilessly killed many people, and returned home in triumph.
The Spanish merchant of Jewish descent, Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Isra'ili at-Turtushi, reached Hungary and the Czech Republic, and possibly Poland, in the 960s–980s. He also differentiated the Rus' from the Slavs: he wrote that "Rus' and Slavs come to Prague from the city of Krakow," and that the state of the Polish prince Mieszko bordered "the Rus' to the east and the Prussians to the north."
The Byzantine historian John Skylitzes (who, by the way, described Princess Olga's visit to Constantinople and her baptism) reports in his "Review of History," written before 1079:
Everything lying on the banks of the Euxine and its coast was ravaged and devastated in raids by the fleet of the Russians, who lived near the Northern Taurus (Crimea), a rough and wild people.
The 10th-century chronicler Liutprand of Cremona categorically states:
The Greeks call Russos the people whom we call Nordmannos according to their place of residence.
He placed the "People of Ros" next to the Pechenegs and Khazars.
The Rhymed Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy, written around 1175 by the poet Benoît de Sainte-Maure, states:
Between the Danube, the Ocean and the land of the Alans
there is an island called Scansi
and I believe that this is the land of Russia.
Like bee hives,
They take off in huge mighty swarms
from thousands and thousands of fierce fighters,
and rush into battle, drawing their swords,
inflamed with anger, as one for all and all for one.
This great nation can attack large countries,
and give fierce battles,
and win glorious victories.
there is an island called Scansi
and I believe that this is the land of Russia.
Like bee hives,
They take off in huge mighty swarms
from thousands and thousands of fierce fighters,
and rush into battle, drawing their swords,
inflamed with anger, as one for all and all for one.
This great nation can attack large countries,
and give fierce battles,
and win glorious victories.
Bishop Adalbert of Magdeburg, who corresponded with Princess Olga (she asked him to send missionaries to preach Christianity), calls her the queen not of the Slavs, but of the Rus'—even though she ruled precisely in Slavic lands. Regarding the Rus', he states that they are part of a people whose western part perished in Noricum (a Roman province on the right bank of the Upper Danube) and in Italy in the fifth century.
Thus, Liutprand of Cremona, Bishop Adalbert and the author of the "Bavarian Geographer" unanimously assert that the Rus' of their time were not Slavs, but people of Scandinavian origin, and that they appeared on the banks of the Dnieper long before the "calling" of Rurik.
Perhaps it's time to take a short break. We'll continue and finish this story in the next article.
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