Formation of the state of Kievan Rus in the 9th century. Old Russian state Kievan Rus

Established by the 9th century. The ancient Russian feudal state (also called Kievan Rus by historians) arose as a result of a very long and gradual process of splitting society into antagonistic classes, which took place among the Slavs throughout the 1st millennium AD. Russian feudal historiography of the 16th - 17th centuries. sought to artificially connect the early history of Rus' with the ancient peoples of Eastern Europe known to it - the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans; The name of Rus' was derived from the Saomat tribe of Roxalans.
In the 18th century Some of the German scientists invited to Russia, who had an arrogant attitude towards everything Russian, created a biased theory about the dependent development of Russian statehood. Relying on an unreliable part of the Russian chronicle, which conveys the legend about the creation of three brothers (Rurik, Sineus and Truvor) as princes by a number of Slavic tribes - Varangians, Normans by origin, these historians began to argue that the Normans (detachments of Scandinavians who robbed in the 9th century on seas and rivers) were the creators of the Russian state. The “Normanists”, who had poorly studied Russian sources, believed that the Slavs in the 9th-10th centuries. They were completely wild people who allegedly knew neither agriculture, nor crafts, nor settled settlements, nor military affairs, nor legal norms. They attributed the entire culture of Kievan Rus to the Varangians; the very name of Rus' was associated only with the Varangians.
M.V. Lomonosov vehemently objected to the “Normanists” - Bayer, Miller and Schletser, marking the beginning of a two-century scientific debate on the issue of the emergence of the Russian state. A significant part of the representatives of Russian bourgeois science of the 19th and early 20th centuries. supported the Norman theory, despite the abundance of new data that refuted it. This arose both due to the methodological weakness of bourgeois science, which failed to rise to an understanding of the laws of the historical process, and due to the fact that the chronicle legend about the voluntary calling of princes by the people (created by the chronicler in the 12th century during the period of popular uprisings) continued in the 19th - XX centuries maintain its political significance in explaining the question of the beginning of state power. The cosmopolitan tendencies of part of the Russian bourgeoisie also contributed to the predominance of the Norman theory in official science. However, a number of bourgeois scientists have already criticized the Norman theory, seeing its inconsistency.
Soviet historians, approaching the question of the formation of the ancient Russian state from the position of historical materialism, began studying the entire process of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of the feudal state. To do this, it was necessary to significantly expand the chronological framework, look into the depths of Slavic history and attract a number of new sources depicting the history of the economy and social relations many centuries before the formation of the ancient Russian state (excavations of villages, workshops, fortresses, graves). A radical revision of Russian and foreign written sources speaking about Rus' was required.
The work on studying the prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state has not yet been completed, but already an objective analysis of historical data has shown that all the main provisions of the Norman theory are incorrect, since they were generated by an idealistic understanding of history and an uncritical perception of sources (the range of which was artificially limited), as well as the bias of the researchers themselves. Currently, the Norman theory is being propagated by certain foreign historians of capitalist countries.

Russian chroniclers about the beginning of the state

The question of the beginning of the Russian state was of keen interest to Russian chroniclers of the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest chronicles apparently began their presentation with the reign of Kiy, who was considered the founder of the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv principality. Prince Kiy was compared with other founders of the largest cities - Romulus (founder of Rome), Alexander the Great (founder of Alexandria). The legend about the construction of Kyiv by Kiy and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv apparently arose long before the 11th century, since it was already in the 7th century. turned out to be recorded in the Armenian chronicle. In all likelihood, the time of Kiya is the period of the Slavic campaigns on the Danube and Byzantium, i.e. VI-VII centuries. The author of “The Tale of Bygone Years” - “Where did the Russian land come from (and) who in Kyiv began first as princes...”, written at the beginning of the 12th century. (as historians think, by the Kyiv monk Nestor), reports that Kiy traveled to Constantinople, was an honored guest of the Byzantine emperor, built a city on the Danube, but then returned to Kiev. Further in the “Tale” there is a description of the struggle of the Slavs with the nomadic Avars in the 6th – 7th centuries. Some chroniclers considered the beginning of statehood to be the “calling of the Varangians” in the second half of the 9th century. and to this date they adjusted all the other events of early Russian history known to them (Novgorod Chronicle). These works, the bias of which had been proven long ago, were used by supporters of the Norman theory.

East Slavic tribes and tribal unions on the eve of the formation of a state in Rus'

The state of Rus' was formed from fifteen large regions inhabited by Eastern Slavs, well known to the chronicler. The glades have long lived near Kyiv. The chronicler considered their land to be the core of the ancient Russian state and noted that in his time the glades were called Russia. The neighbors of the glades in the east were the northerners who lived along the Desna, Seim, Sula and Northern Donets rivers, which retained the memory of the northerners in their name. Down the Dnieper, south of the glades, lived the Ulichi, who moved in the middle of the 10th century. in the area between the Dniester and Bug rivers. In the west, the neighbors of the glades were the Drevlyans, who were often at enmity with the Kyiv princes. Even further to the west were the lands of the Volynians, Buzhans and Dulebs. The extreme East Slavic regions were the lands of the Tiverts on the Dniester (ancient Tiras) and on the Danube and the White Croats in Transcarpathia.
To the north of the glades and Drevlyans were the lands of the Dregovichs (on the swampy left bank of the Pripyat), and to the east of them, along the Sozha River, the Radimichi. The Vyatichi lived on the Oka and Moscow Rivers, bordering on the non-Slavic Meryan-Mordovian tribes of the Middle Oka. The chronicler calls the northern regions in contact with the Lithuanian-Latvian and Chud tribes the lands of the Krivichi (the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Dvina), Polochans and Slovenes (around Lake Ilmen).
In the historical literature, the conventional term “tribes” (“tribe of the Polyans”, “tribe of the Radimichi”, etc.) was established for these areas, which, however, was not used by the chroniclers. These Slavic regions are so large in size that they can be compared to entire states. A careful study of these regions shows that each of them was an association of several small tribes, the names of which were not preserved in sources on the history of Rus'. Among the Western Slavs, the Russian chronicler mentions in the same way only such large areas as, for example, the land of the Lyutichs, and from other sources it is known that the Lyutichs are not one tribe, but a union of eight tribes. Consequently, the term “tribe,” which speaks of family ties, should be applied to much smaller divisions of the Slavs, which have already disappeared from the memory of the chronicler. The regions of the Eastern Slavs mentioned in the chronicle should be considered not as tribes, but as federations, unions of tribes.
In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs apparently consisted of 100-200 small tribes. The tribe, representing a collection of related clans, occupied an area approximately 40 - 60 km across. Each tribe probably held a council that decided the most important issues of public life; a military leader (prince) was elected; there was a permanent squad of youth and a tribal militia (“regiment”, “thousand”, divided into “hundreds”). Within the tribe there was its own “city”. There a general tribal council gathered, bargaining took place, and a trial took place. There was a sanctuary where representatives of the entire tribe gathered.
These “cities” were not yet real cities, but many of them, which for several centuries were the centers of a tribal district, with the development of feudal relations turned into either feudal castles or cities.
The consequence of major changes in the structure of tribal communities, replaced by neighboring communities, was the process of formation of tribal unions, which proceeded especially intensively from the 5th century. Writer of the 6th century Jordanes says that the general collective name of the populous people of the Wends “now changes depending on the different tribes and localities.” The stronger the process of disintegration of primitive clan isolation, the stronger and more durable the tribal unions became.
The development of peaceful ties between tribes, or military victories of some tribes over others, or, finally, the need to combat a common external danger contributed to the creation of tribal alliances. Among the Eastern Slavs, the formation of the fifteen large tribal unions mentioned above can be attributed to approximately the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Thus, during the VI - IX centuries. prerequisites for feudal relations arose and the process of formation of the ancient Russian feudal state took place.
The natural internal development of Slavic society was complicated by a number of external factors (for example, raids by nomads) and the direct participation of the Slavs in major events in world history. This makes the study of the pre-feudal period in the history of Rus' especially difficult.

Origin of Rus'. Formation of the Old Russian people

Most pre-revolutionary historians connected the questions of the origin of the Russian state with questions of the ethnicity of the “Rus” people. about which the chroniclers speak. Accepting without much criticism the chronicle legend about the calling of the princes, historians sought to determine the origin of the “Rus” to which these overseas princes supposedly belonged. “Normanists” insisted that “Rus” are the Varangians, Normans, i.e. residents of Scandinavia. But the lack of information in Scandinavia about a tribe or locality called “Rus” has long shaken this thesis of the Norman theory. “Anti-Normanist” historians undertook a search for the “Rus” people in all directions from the indigenous Slavic territory.

Lands and states of the Slavs:

Eastern

Western

State borders at the end of the 9th century.

Ancient Rus were sought among the Baltic Slavs, Lithuanians, Khazars, Circassians, Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region, Sarmatian-Alan tribes, etc. Only a small part of scientists, relying on direct evidence from sources, defended the Slavic origin of Rus'.
Soviet historians, having proven that the chronicle legend about the calling of princes from overseas cannot be considered the beginning of Russian statehood, also found out that the identification of Rus' with the Varangians in the chronicles is erroneous.
Iranian geographer of the mid-9th century. Ibn Khordadbeh points out that “the Russes are a tribe of Slavs.” The Tale of Bygone Years talks about the identity of the Russian language with the Slavic language. The sources also contain more precise instructions that help determine which part of the Eastern Slavs one should look for Rus' among.
Firstly, in the “Tale of Bygone Years” it is said regarding the glades: “even now the calling Rus'.” Consequently, the ancient tribe of Rus was located somewhere in the Middle Dnieper region, near Kyiv, which arose in the land of glades, to which the name of Rus subsequently passed. Secondly, in various Russian chronicles of the time of feudal fragmentation, a double geographical name for the words “Russian land”, “Rus” is noticed. Sometimes they are understood as all East Slavic lands, sometimes the words “Russian land”, “Rus” are used in lands should be considered more ancient and in a very narrow, geographically limited sense, denoting the forest-steppe strip from Kiev and the Ros River to Chernigov, Kursk and Voronezh. This narrow understanding of the Russian land should be considered more ancient and can be traced back to the 6th-7th centuries, when it was within these limits that a homogeneous material culture existed, known from archaeological finds.

By the middle of the 6th century. This is also the first mention of Rus' in written sources. One Syrian author, a successor to Zechariah the Rhetor, mentions the “ros” people, who lived next door to the mythical Amazons (whose location is usually confined to the Don basin).
The territory delineated by chronicles and archaeological data was home to several Slavic tribes that had lived here for a long time. In all probability. The Russian land got its name from one of them, but it is not known for certain where this tribe was located. Judging by the fact that the oldest pronunciation of the word “Rus” sounded slightly different, namely as “Ros” (the people “ros” of the 6th century, “Rus’ letters” of the 9th century, “Pravda Rosskaya” of the 11th century), apparently , the initial location of the Ros tribe should be sought on the Ros River (a tributary of the Dnieper, below Kiev), where, moreover, the richest archaeological materials of the 5th - 7th centuries were discovered, including silver items with princely signs on them.
The further history of Rus' must be considered in connection with the formation of the Old Russian nationality, which eventually embraced all the East Slavic tribes.
The core of the Old Russian nationality is that “Russian land” of the 6th century, which, apparently, included the Slavic tribes of the forest-steppe strip from Kyiv to Voronezh. It included the lands of the glades, northerners, Rus' and, in all likelihood, the streets. These lands formed a union of tribes, which, as one might think, took the name of the most significant tribe at that time, the Rus. The Russian union of tribes, famous far beyond its borders as the land of tall and strong heroes (Zachary the Rhetor), was stable and long-lasting, since a similar culture developed throughout its entire territory and the name of Rus' was firmly and permanently attached to all its parts. The union of the tribes of the Middle Dnieper and Upper Don took shape during the period of the Byzantine campaigns and the struggle of the Slavs with the Avars. The Avars failed in the VI-VII centuries. invade this part of the Slavic lands, although they conquered the Dulebs who lived to the west.
Obviously, the unification of the Dnieper-Don Slavs into a vast union contributed to their successful fight against the nomads.
The formation of the nationality went in parallel with the formation of the state. National events consolidated the ties established between individual parts of the country and contributed to the creation of an ancient Russian nation with a single language (if there were dialects), with its own territory and culture.
By the 9th - 10th centuries. The main ethnic territory of the Old Russian nationality was formed, the Old Russian literary language was formed (based on one of the dialects of the original “Russian Land” of the 6th - 7th centuries). The Old Russian nationality arose, uniting all the East Slavic tribes and becoming the single cradle of three fraternal Slavic peoples of later times - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The Old Russian people, who lived in the territory from Lake Ladoga to the Black Sea and from Transcarpathia to the Middle Volga, were gradually joined in the process of assimilation by small foreign-language tribes that came under the influence of Russian culture: Merya, Ves, Chud, the remnants of the Scythian-Sarmatian population in the south, some Turkic-speaking tribes.
When faced with the Persian languages ​​spoken by the descendants of the Scythian-Sarmatians, with the Finno-Ugric languages ​​of the peoples of the northeast and others, the Old Russian language invariably emerged victorious, enriching itself at the expense of the defeated languages.

Formation of the state of Rus'

The formation of a state is the natural completion of a long process of the formation of feudal relations and antagonistic classes of feudal society. The feudal state apparatus, as an apparatus of violence, adapted for its own purposes the tribal government bodies that preceded it, completely different from it in essence, but similar to it in form and terminology. Such tribal bodies were, for example, “prince”, “voivode”, “druzhina”, etc. KI X -X centuries. the process of gradual maturation of feudal relations in the most developed areas of the Eastern Slavs (in the southern, forest-steppe lands) was clearly defined. Tribal elders and leaders of squads who seized communal land turned into feudal lords, tribal princes became feudal sovereigns, tribal unions grew into feudal states. A hierarchy of landowning nobility was taking shape. collaboration of princes of different ranks. The young emerging class of feudal lords needed to create a strong state apparatus that would help them secure communal peasant lands and enslave the free peasant population, and also provide protection from external invasions.
The chronicler mentions a number of principalities-tribal federations of the pre-feudal period: Polyanskoe, Drevlyanskoe, Dregovichi, Polotsk, Slovenbkoe. Some eastern writers report that the capital of Rus' was Kiev (Cuyaba), and besides it, two more cities became especially famous: Jervab (or Artania) and Selyabe, in which, in all likelihood, you should see Chernigov and Pereyas-lavl - the oldest Russian cities always mentioned in Russian documents near Kiev.
Treaty of Prince Oleg with Byzantium at the beginning of the 10th century. already knows the branched feudal hierarchy: boyars, princes, grand dukes (in Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Lyubech, Rostov, Polotsk) and the supreme overlord of the “Russian Grand Duke”. Eastern sources of the 9th century. They call the head of this hierarchy the title “Khakan-Rus”, equating the Kiev prince with the rulers of strong and powerful powers (Avar Kagan, Khazar Kagan, etc.), who sometimes competed with the Byzantine Empire itself. In 839, this title also appeared in Western sources (Vertinsky annals of the 9th century). All sources unanimously call Kyiv the capital of Rus'.
A fragment of the original chronicle text that survived in the Tale of Bygone Years makes it possible to determine the size of Rus' in the first half of the 9th century. The Old Russian state included the following tribal unions that previously had independent reigns: Polyans, Severyans, Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polochans, Novgorod Slovenes. In addition, the chronicle lists up to one and a half dozen Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes who paid tribute to Rus'.
Rus' at that time was a vast state that had already united half of the East Slavic tribes and collected tribute from the peoples of the Baltic and Volga regions.
In all likelihood, this state was reigned by the Kiya dynasty, the last representatives of which (judging by some chronicles) were in the middle of the 9th century. Princes Dir and Askold. About Prince Dir, Arab author of the 10th century. Masudi writes: “The first of the Slavic kings is the king of Dir; it has extensive cities and many inhabited countries. Muslim merchants arrive in the capital of his state with all kinds of goods." Later, Novgorod was conquered by the Varangian prince Rurik, and Kyiv was captured by the Varangian prince Oleg.
Other eastern writers of the 9th - early 10th centuries. They report interesting information about agriculture, cattle breeding, beekeeping in Rus', about Russian gunsmiths and carpenters, about Russian merchants who traveled along the “Russian Sea” (Black Sea), and made their way to the East by other routes.
Of particular interest are data on the internal life of the ancient Russian state. Thus, a Central Asian geographer, using sources from the 9th century, reports that “the Rus have a class of knights,” that is, feudal nobility.
Other sources also know the division into noble and poor. According to Ibn-Rust (903), dating back to the 9th century, the king of the Rus (i.e., the Grand Duke of Kiev) judges and sometimes exiles criminals “to the rulers of remote regions.” In Rus' there was a custom of “God’s judgment”, i.e. resolving a controversial case by combat. For especially serious crimes, the death penalty was applied. The Tsar of the Rus traveled around the country annually, collecting tribute from the population.
The Russian tribal union, which turned into a feudal state, subjugated the neighboring Slavic tribes and organized long campaigns across the southern steppes and seas. In the 7th century the sieges of Constantinople by the Rus and the formidable campaigns of the Rus through Khazaria to the Derbent Pass are mentioned. In the 7th - 9th centuries. Russian prince Bravlin fought in the Khazar-Byzantine Crimea, marching from Surozh to Korchev (from Sudak to Kerch). About the Rus of the 9th century. a Central Asian author wrote: “They fight with the surrounding tribes and defeat them.”
Byzantine sources contain information about the Rus who lived on the Black Sea coast, about their campaigns against Constantinople and about the baptism of part of the Rus in the 60s of the 9th century.
The Russian state developed independently of the Varangians, as a result of the natural development of society. At the same time, other Slavic states arose - the Bulgarian Kingdom, the Great Moravian Empire and a number of others.
Since the Normanists greatly exaggerate the impact of the Varangians on Russian statehood, it is necessary to resolve the question: what actually is the role of the Varangians in the history of our Motherland?
In the middle of the 9th century, when Kievan Rus had already formed in the Middle Dnieper region, on the distant northern outskirts of the Slavic world, where the Slavs lived peacefully side by side with the Finnish and Latvian tribes (Chud, Korela, Letgola, etc.), detachments of Varangians began to appear, sailing from across the Baltic Sea. The Slavs even drove away these detachments; we know that the Kyiv princes of that time sent their troops to the north to fight the Varangians. It is possible that it was then that, next to the old tribal centers of Polotsk and Pskov, a new city, Novgorod, grew up in an important strategic place near Lake Ilmen, which was supposed to block the Varangians’ path to the Volga and Dnieper. For nine centuries until the construction of St. Petersburg, Novgorod either defended Rus' from overseas pirates, or was a “window to Europe” for trade in the Northern Russian regions.
In 862 or 874 (the chronology is confusing), the Varangian king Rurik appeared near Novgorod. From this adventurer, who led a small squad, the genealogy of all Russian princes “Rurik” was traced without any particular reason (although Russian historians of the 11th century traced the genealogy of the princes from Igor the Old, without mentioning Rurik).
The alien Varangians did not take possession of Russian cities, but set up their fortified camps next to them. Near Novgorod they lived in the “Rurik settlement”, near Smolensk - in Gnezdovo, near Kiev - in the Ugorsky tract. There could have been merchants here and Varangian warriors hired by the Russians. The important thing is that nowhere were the Varangians masters of Russian cities.
Archaeological data show that the number of Varangian warriors themselves who lived permanently in Rus' was very small.
In 882, one of the Varangian leaders; Oleg made his way from Novgorod to the south, took Lyubech, which served as a kind of northern gate of the Kiev principality, and sailed to Kiev, where by deception and cunning he managed to kill the Kiev prince Askold and seize power. To this day, in Kyiv, on the banks of the Dnieper, a place called “Askold’s grave” has been preserved. It is possible that Prince Askold was the last representative of the ancient Kiya dynasty.
The name of Oleg is associated with several campaigns for tribute to neighboring Slavic tribes and the famous campaign of Russian troops against Constantinople in 911. Apparently Oleg did not feel like a master in Rus'. It is curious that after a successful campaign in Byzantium, he and the Varangians around him ended up not in the capital of Rus', but far in the north, in Ladoga, from where the path to their homeland, Sweden, was close. It also seems strange that Oleg, to whom the creation of the Russian state is completely unreasonably attributed, disappeared from the Russian horizon without a trace, leaving the chroniclers in bewilderment. Novgorodians, geographically close to the Varangian lands, Oleg’s homeland, wrote that, according to one version known to them, after the Greek campaign, Oleg came to Novgorod, and from there to Ladoga, where he died and was buried. According to another version, he sailed overseas “and I pecked (him) in the foot and from that (he) died.” The people of Kiev, repeating the legend about the snake that bit the prince, said that he was allegedly buried in Kyiv on Mount Shchekavitsa (“Snake Mountain”); perhaps the name of the mountain influenced the fact that Shchekavitsa was artificially associated with Oleg.
In the IX - X centuries. The Normans played an important role in the history of many peoples of Europe. They attacked from the sea in large flotillas on the shores of England, France, Italy, and conquered cities and kingdoms. Some scholars believed that Rus' was subjected to the same massive invasion of the Varangians, forgetting that continental Rus' was the complete geographical opposite of the Western maritime states.
The formidable fleet of the Normans could suddenly appear in front of London or Marseilles, but not a single Varangian boat that entered the Neva and sailed upstream of the Neva, Volkhov, Lovat could go unnoticed by the Russian watchmen from Novgorod or Pskov. The portage system, when heavy, deep-drawing sea vessels had to be pulled ashore and rolled along the ground on rollers for dozens of miles, eliminated the element of surprise and robbed the formidable armada of all its fighting qualities. In practice, only as many Varangians could enter Kyiv as the prince of Kievan Rus allowed. It was not for nothing that the only time the Varangians attacked Kyiv, they had to pretend to be merchants.
The reign of the Varangian Oleg in Kyiv is an insignificant and short-lived episode, unnecessarily inflated by some pro-Varangian chroniclers and later Norman historians. The campaign of 911 - the only reliable fact from his reign - became famous thanks to the brilliant literary form in which it was described, but in essence it is only one of many campaigns of Russian squads of the 9th - 10th centuries. to the shores of the Caspian and Black Sea, about which the chronicler is silent. Throughout the 10th century. and the first half of the 11th century. Russian princes often hired troops of Varangians for wars and palace service; they were often entrusted with murders from around the corner: hired Varangians stabbed, for example, Prince Yaropolk in 980, they killed Prince Boris in 1015; Varangians were hired by Yaroslav for the war with his own father.
To streamline the relationship between the mercenary Varangian detachments and the local Novgorod squad, the Truth of Yaroslav was published in Novgorod in 1015, limiting the arbitrariness of violent mercenaries.
The historical role of the Varangians in Rus' was insignificant. Appearing as “finders,” aliens attracted by the splendor of the rich, already far-famous Kievan Rus, they plundered the northern outskirts in separate raids, but were able to get to the heart of Rus' only once.
There is nothing to say about the cultural role of the Varangians. The treaty of 911, concluded on behalf of Oleg and containing about a dozen Scandinavian names of Oleg's boyars, was written not in Swedish, but in Slavic. The Varangians had nothing to do with the creation of the state, the construction of cities, or the laying out of trade routes. They could neither speed up nor significantly delay the historical process in Rus'.
The short period of Oleg’s “reign” - 882 - 912. - left in the people's memory an epic song about the death of Oleg from his own horse (arranged by A.S. Pushkin in his “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”), interesting for its anti-Varangian tendency. The image of a horse in Russian folklore is always very benevolent, and if the owner, the Varangian prince, is predicted to die from his war horse, then he deserves it.
The fight against Varangian elements in the Russian squads continued until 980; there are traces of it both in the chronicle and in the epic epic - the epic about Mikul Selyaninovich, who helped Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich fight the Varangian Sveneld (the black raven Santal).
The historical role of the Varangians is incomparably smaller than the role of the Pechenegs or Polovtsians, who really influenced the development of Rus' for four centuries. Therefore, the life of only one generation of Russian people, who suffered the participation of the Varangians in the administration of Kiev and several other cities, does not seem to be a historically important period.

Rus- a historically formed name given to the lands of the Eastern Slavs.

It was first used as the name of the state in the text of the treaty between Russia and Byzantium in 911. Even earlier mentions characterize Rus as an ethnonym (name of a people, ethnic community). As evidenced by the chronicle legend "The Tale of Bygone Years", created in the 11th - 12th centuries, this name takes its origins from the Varangian tribes called by the Finno-Ugric and Slavic tribes (Krivichi, Slovenes, Chud, and all) Rus in 862. According to some historical information, the lands of the Eastern Slavs had an even earlier state with the conventional name Russian Kaganate, but this fact did not find sufficient evidence, and therefore the Russian Kaganate refers, rather, to historical hypotheses.

Formation of the state of Rus'

The earliest historical documents confirming the existence of the Old Russian state include the Bertine Annals, which testify to the arrival of a Byzantine embassy from Emperor Theophilus to Louis the Pious, the Frankish emperor, in May 839. The Byzantine delegation consisted of ambassadors from the rhos people, who were sent to Constantinople by the emperor, named in the document as chacanus. The state of Rus', about the existence of which there is practically no information during this period, is today conventionally designated by historians as a kind of Russian Kaganate.

There are references to Rus' in a later entry by Jacob Reitenfels from 1680 about the times when Michael I, the Byzantine emperor, reigned: “In 810, the Greek emperor Michael Kuropalate waged a war with varying degrees of success against the Bulgarians, supported by the Russians. The same Russians helped Krunn, the king of the Bulgarians, when he captured the richest city of Mesembria, when he inflicted a terrible defeat on the emperor."

This event is conventionally dated 01.11. 812, however, this information has not yet been confirmed by official historical data. It is unknown what the ethnicity of the mentioned “Russians” is and where exactly they lived.

Some chronicles contain information that the first mentions of Rus' are associated with the reign of Irina, the Byzantine queen (797-802). According to chronicle researcher M. N. Tikhomirov, this information comes from Byzantine church sources.

In addition, according to existing legend, Andrew the First-Called came to Russian lands back in the 1st century AD.

The emergence of Novgorod Rus'

In the earliest ancient Russian chronicle, The Tale of Bygone Years, records of the formation of Rus' are based on legends. They were created after 250 years, and dated to 862. Then the alliance of the northern peoples, which consisted of the Slavic tribes, Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi and Finno-Ugric tribes of the whole and Chud, invited the overseas princes of the Varangians to stop internecine wars and internal strife (more details in the article “Calling the Varangians”). As the Ipatiev Chronicle of the Varangians indicates, Rurik first reigned in Ladoga, and after the death of his brothers he cut down Novgorod and went there.

Since the middle of the 8th century, there was an unfortified settlement of Ladoga, while in Novgorod there was no dated cultural layer earlier than the 30s. X century. However, there is confirmation of the location of the residence of the princes, called the Rurik settlement, which arose at the beginning of the 9th century. near Novgorod.

Historians attribute the events to the same time when Rus' made a campaign against Constantinople in 860, however, the Tale of Bygone Years indicates that this event dates back to 866 and is associated with the Kiev princes Dir and Askold.

The year 862 is accepted as the starting point for the existence of Russian statehood, although this is probably a conditional date. According to one version, this year was chosen by an unknown Kyiv chronicler of the 11th century, based on the memory of the first baptism of Rus', which followed the raid of 860.

From the text of the chronicle it follows that the author also tied the emergence of the Russian land to the campaign of 860:

In the chronicler's further calculations it is stated: “from the birth of Christ to Constantine there are 318 years, from Constantine to Michael this is 542 years.” As it is easy to see, the chronicle erroneously indicates the date of the beginning of the reign of the Emperor of Byzantium, Michael III. In addition, some historians express the view that, in fact, by 6360 the author meant 860. Since the year is designated according to the Alexandrian era (also called Antiochian), for correct calculation it is necessary to subtract 5.5 thousand years. However, the indictment is designated precisely by the year 852.

As indicated in the “Tale of Bygone Years”, then the Varangian-Rus created 2 independent centers: in Kyiv, Rurik’s fellow tribesmen Askold and Dir reigned, and in the area of ​​Novgorod and Ladoga - Rurik himself. Kievan Rus (Varangians who ruled the Polyanian lands) adopted Christianity from a bishop from Constantinople.

The emergence of Kievan Rus

With the development of the state, in 882, Prince Oleg, Rurik’s successor, moved the capital of the ancient Russian state to Kyiv. Then he killed Dir and Askold, the Kyiv princes who ruled there, and united the Kyiv and Novgorod lands into a single state. Later, historians designated this period as the beginning of the times of Kievan or Ancient Rus' (with a change in the location of the capital).

Some historical hypotheses

A. A. Shakhmatov in 1919 suggested that the Scandinavians called Staraya Russa Holmgard. According to his hypothesis, Rusa is the original capital of the ancient country. It was from this “most ancient Rus'...soon after” 839 that the movement of Rus' to the south began, which subsequently led to the formation of a “young Russian state” in Kyiv in 840.

Academician S. F. Platonov noted in 1920 that further research would, of course, make it possible to collect more extensive material to understand and confirm A. A. Shakhmatov’s assumption about the existence of a Varangian center on the Ilmen Southern Bank. He concluded that now the hypothesis has all the characteristics and is qualitatively scientifically constructed, and is capable of opening up a potential historical perspective for us: the city of Rusa and the region of Rusa acquire a new and quite significant meaning.

G.V. Vernadsky expressed his opinion: in the 9th century. near Lake Ilmen, a community of Swedes merchants was formed, connected in a certain way, due to commercial activities, with the Russian Kaganate (according to the historian’s assumption, this is approximately the area of ​​​​the mouth of the Kuban River on Taman). Thus, Staraya Rusa, most likely, was the center of this northern “branch”.

According to Vernadsky, in the “calling of the Varangians”, in accordance with the Ipatiev list (“Rkosha Rus, Chud, Sloven, and Krivichi and all: our land is great and abundant, but there is no outfit in it: let you go and reign over us”) - members of the Swedish colony in Staraya Rus, mainly merchants conducting trade with the Russian Kaganate in the Azov region, take part “under the name “Rus”. Their goal in “calling the Varangians” was, first of all, to reopen the trade route to the south with the help of new detachments of Scandinavians.”

V.V. Fomin already in 2008 did not rule out that at the time of Rurik’s reign the territory of Staraya Russa could have been inhabited by Russia, and also that the early appearance of Russia in these places is explained by this fact - in those days salt, the need for which was felt by vast territories Rus, was mined exclusively in the Southern Ilmen region (including processing of leather and fur, which were then exported).

Archaeological evidence

Archaeological research confirms the fact of significant socio-economic improvements in the territory of the Eastern Slavs in the 9th century. In general, the results of various archaeological studies correspond to the Tale of Bygone Years, including the events of 862 - the calling of the Varangians.

Old Russian cities: development

Along the Volkhov River in the 8th century, 2 buildings were founded: Lyubsha Fortress (built by the Ilmen Slovenes on the territory of a Finnish fortress in the 8th century). According to some assumptions, a little later, 2 kilometers from the fortress on the opposite bank of the Volkhov, Ladoga, a Scandinavian settlement, was formed. In the 760s. it was subject to invasions by the Ilmen Slovenes and Krivichi. By the 830s, its population had become overwhelmingly Slavic (according to assumptions, Krivichi).

Ladoga burned down in the late 830s and its population changed again. Now there is a clearly visible presence of the military elite of Scandinavia (Scandinavian military male burials, and also “Thor’s hammers”, etc.).

A wave of wars and fires passed through the northwestern territory of Rus' in the 860s. The Lyubsha fortress, Ladoga, and the Rurik settlement burned down (according to the arrowheads found in its walls, the capture and siege of Lyubsha was carried out exclusively by the non-Scandinavian, but predominantly Slovenian population). Lyubsha disappeared forever after the fires, and as for the population of Ladoga, it became almost completely Scandinavian. And from these times the city became little different from the Danish and Swedish cities of this period.

VIII-IX centuries archaeologists consider the time of the emergence of the Rurik settlement, not far from which in the 930s. 3 settlements were formed (Krivichi, Ilmen Slovenes and Finno-Ugric peoples). Later they merged into Veliky Novgorod. By the nature of the settlement, the Rurik settlement can be called a military-administrative center with a clear Scandinavian culture, not only in the military strata, but also in the household (families). The relationship between the Rurik settlement and Ladoga is observed by the special characteristics of beads, which have become particularly widespread in both settlements. Some information about the origin of the arriving population of the Rurik settlement is provided by studies of pottery ceramics that were found in the south of the Baltic.

Archaeological excavations in Kyiv prove the existence from the beginning of the 6th-8th centuries. several small isolated settlements that were located on the territory of the future capital. Since the 8th century, defensive fortifications have been visible - the main city-forming feature (in the 780s, the northerners built fortifications on Starokievskaya Mountain). Archaeological research indicates that the city began to play a central role only in the 10th century. From this same time, the presence of the Varangians was established.

In the second half of the 9th century. Rus' covered a network of cities (Sarskoe Mountain near Rostov, Gnezdovo near Smolensk, Timerevo near Yaroslavl). The Scandinavian military elite was present here. The settlements served trade flows with the East, and at the same time served as centers of colonization for local tribes. Some cities (Smolensk, Rostov) are mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles as tribal centers of the 9th century. No cultural layers older than the 11th century have been identified here, although small settlements have been discovered.

Arab coins: treasures

In the 780s, the Volga trade route began, which was called “From the Varangians to the Bulgars.” It was in this decade that Arab silver dirhams were found (the oldest treasure in Ladoga is dated 786). On the lands of the future Novgorod, the number of treasures before 833 significantly exceeds the number of similar ones in Scandinavia. Thus, only local needs were initially served by the Volga-Baltic route. While through the basin of the Upper Dnieper, Don, Western Dvina, Neman, Arab dirhams (the main flows) entered the Southern Baltic and Prussia, to the islands of Bornholm, Rügen and Gotland, where the richest treasures in the region at that time were discovered.

In the 9th century, Arab silver came through Ladoga to Central Sweden. However, after Ladoga burned down (860), the flow of silver to the island was suspended for approximately 10 years. Gotland to and Sweden.

According to the research of T. Noonan, in the second half of IX the number of coin hoards in Sweden and Gotland increased 8 times compared to the first half. This indicates the stable functioning and final formation of the trade route passing to Scandinavia from Northern Rus'. The distribution of early treasures indicates that in the 9th century the route “From the Varangians to the Greeks” did not yet function along the Dnieper: treasures dating back to that period in the Novgorod land were discovered along the Oka, upper Volga, Western Dvina (Neva - Volkhov route).

The route “from the Varangians to the Persians” to the countries of Scandinavia passed through the territory of the Novgorod lands, which was a continuation of the path to the Eastern camps “from the Varangians to the Bulgars.”

One of the earliest treasures that were found in Peterhof (the earliest coin is dated 805) has many graffiti inscriptions on the coins, thanks to which it became possible to determine the ethnic composition of their owners. Among the graffiti, an inscription in Greek was found (name Zacharias), runic inscriptions (magic signs and Scandinavian names) and Scandinavian runes, Khazar (Turkic) runes and, directly, Arabic graffiti.

Between the Dnieper and Don in the forest-steppe in the 780-830s. coins were minted - the so-called “imitation of dirhams”, which were in use among the Slavs, who had the Volyntsev (later Borshev and Romny) culture and the Alans, who had the Saltov-Mayak culture.

It was through this territory that the most active flow of dirhams passed from the earliest period - until 833. Here, according to many historians, the center of the Russian Kaganate was located at the beginning of the 9th century. And already in its middle, the minting of these coins was stopped after the Hungarian defeat.

Origin of the name "Rus"

As chronicle sources testify, it was from the Varangians - Rus', that the Slavic state of Rus acquired its name. Before the arrival of the Varangians, there were Slavic tribes on the territory of the Russian state and bore their own names. It was “from those Varangians that the Russian land was nicknamed,” noted ancient Russian chroniclers, the earliest of them the monk Nestor (beginning of the 12th century).

Ethnonyms

Russian people, Russian, Russian, Russian- an ethnonym that designates the population of Kievan Rus. A representative of the people of Rus' in the singular was called Rusin (“Rousin” graphically, due to the inherited method of transferring the letter [u] from Greek graphics), one resident of Rus' was called “Russky” or “Rusky”. Despite the fact that from the content of the Russian-Byzantine agreement of 911 (the Treaty of Prophetic Oleg) it is not entirely clear whether all inhabitants of Rus' were called Rus, or only Varangians-Rus, the Russian-Byzantine agreement of 944 (Igor Rurikovich) allows us to conclude that Rus refers to " to all people of the Russian land».

A fragment of the agreement between the Greeks and Igor from 944 (according to the dating of PVL-945):

In this case, “Grchin” is used in the meaning of “Byzantine”, Greek; but the meaning of the word “Rusin” is not known exactly: it was “a representative of the people of Rus'”, or maybe “a resident of Rus'”.

Already in the earliest versions of “Russian Truth” that have come down to us, Rus' and the Slavs became completely equal:

The words “Rusyn” and “Slav” become synonymous (or instead of “Rusyn” “citizen” is used) only in later editions; in addition, for example, fines of 80 hryvnia appear for the princely tivun.

In the text of the German-Smolensk treaty of the 13th century, “Rousin” means “Russian warrior”:

Russia

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Moscow principality was given the name Russia, and the great John III, Prince of Moscow, became the Sovereign of All Russia: “We are John, by the grace of God Sovereign, of all Russia, Volodymyr, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tfer, and Ugorsky, and Vyatsky, and Perm, and Bulgarian, and others.”

Turn of the XV-XVI centuries. was marked by the fact that initially, as a church-book and common name, and then in official documentation, the name “Russia” appeared, close to the Greek “Pwaia”. Thus, instead of the designations White, Little and Great Rus', Great Russia - Great Russia, Little Russia - Little Russia, Belarus - Belorussia - White Russia began to be used. In addition, Galician Rus' was sometimes called Red (Chervona) Russia - Krasnorossiya, Western Belarus - Black Russia - Chernorossiya. Also, there were the designations Horde, Purgas Rus, South-Western, Lithuanian, North-Eastern, Carpathian Rus, etc.

Due to the annexation of new territories, the names New Russia - Novorossiya (the south of Ukraine today, the southern part of European Russia) and the not so common Yellow Russia - Zheltorossiya (began with Turkestan, and then Manchuria, after - the eastern and northern parts of modern Kazakhstan) were formed , as well as the bordering steppe territories of the Volga region, southern Siberia and the southern Urals of modern Russia). By analogy, the names Green Russia or Zelenorossiya (territory of Siberia), Goluborossiya or Blue Russia (territory of Pomerania), etc. were proposed to other and new territories of Russia by analogy, but were practically not used.

Denial of the greatness of Russia is a terrible robbery of humanity.

Berdyaev Nikolay Alexandrovich

The origin of the ancient Russian state of Kievan Rus is one of the biggest mysteries in history. Of course, there is an official version that gives many answers, but it has one drawback - it completely rejects everything that happened to the Slavs before 862. Are things really as bad as they write in Western books, when the Slavs are compared to semi-wild people who are not able to govern themselves and for this they were forced to turn to an outsider, a Varangian, so that he could teach them reason? Of course, this is an exaggeration, since such a people cannot take Byzantium by storm twice before this time, but our ancestors did it!

In this material we will adhere to the basic policy of our site - presentation of facts that are known for certain. Also on these pages we will point out the main points that historians use under various pretexts, but in our opinion they can shed light on what happened on our lands in that distant time.

Formation of the state of Kievan Rus

Modern history puts forward two main versions according to which the formation of the state of Kievan Rus occurred:

  1. Norman. This theory is based on a rather dubious historical document - “The Tale of Bygone Years”. Also, supporters of the Norman version talk about various records from European scientists. This version is basic and accepted by history. According to it, the ancient tribes of the eastern communities could not govern themselves and called upon three Varangians - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor.
  2. anti-Norman (Russian). The Norman theory, despite its general acceptance, looks quite controversial. After all, it does not answer even a simple question: who are the Varangians? Anti-Norman statements were first formulated by the great scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. This man was distinguished by the fact that he actively defended the interests of his Motherland and publicly declared that the history of the ancient Russian state was written by the Germans and had no logic behind it. The Germans in this case are not a nation as such, but a collective image that was used to call all foreigners who did not speak Russian. They were called dumb, hence the Germans.

In fact, until the end of the 9th century, not a single mention of the Slavs remained in the chronicles. This is quite strange, since quite civilized people lived here. This question is discussed in great detail in the material about the Huns, who, according to numerous versions, were none other than Russians. Now I would like to note that when Rurik came to the ancient Russian state, there were cities, ships, their own culture, their own language, their own traditions and customs. And the cities were quite well fortified from a military point of view. This somehow loosely connects with the generally accepted version that our ancestors at that time ran around with a digging stick.

The ancient Russian state of Kievan Rus was formed in 862, when the Varangian Rurik came to rule in Novgorod. An interesting point is that this prince carried out his rule of the country from Ladoga. In 864, the associates of the Novgorod prince Askold and Dir went down the Dnieper and discovered the city of Kyiv, in which they began to rule. After the death of Rurik, Oleg took custody of his young son, who went on a campaign against Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir and took possession of the future capital of the country. This happened in 882. Therefore, the formation of Kievan Rus can be attributed to this date. During Oleg's reign, the country's possessions expanded through the conquest of new cities, and international power also strengthened as a result of wars with external enemies, such as Byzantium. There were good relations between the Novgorod and Kyiv princes, and their minor conflicts did not lead to major wars. Reliable information on this matter has not survived, but many historians say that these people were brothers and only blood ties restrained bloodshed.

Formation of statehood

Kievan Russia was a truly powerful state, respected in other countries. Its political center was Kyiv. It was a capital that had no equal in its beauty and wealth. The impregnable fortress city of Kyiv on the banks of the Dnieper has long been a stronghold of Rus'. This order was disrupted as a result of the first fragmentations, which damaged the power of the state. It all ended with the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol troops, who literally razed the “mother of Russian cities” to the ground. According to the surviving records of contemporaries of that terrible event, Kyiv was destroyed to the ground and lost forever its beauty, significance and wealth. Since then, the status of the first city did not belong to it.

An interesting expression is “mother of Russian cities,” which is still actively used by people from different countries. Here we are faced with another attempt to falsify history, since at the moment when Oleg captured Kyiv, Rus' already existed, and its capital was Novgorod. And the princes got to the capital city of Kyiv itself, descending along the Dnieper from Novgorod.


Internecine wars and the reasons for the collapse of the ancient Russian state

Internecine war is that terrible nightmare that tormented the Russian lands for many decades. The reason for these events was the lack of a clear system of succession to the throne. In the ancient Russian state, a situation arose when after one ruler there remained a huge number of contenders for the throne - sons, brothers, nephews, etc. And each of them sought to realize their right to rule Russia. This inevitably led to wars, when supreme power was asserted with weapons.

In the struggle for power, individual contenders did not shy away from anything, even fratricide. The story of Svyatopolk the Accursed, who killed his brothers, is widely known, for which he received this nickname. Despite the contradictions that reigned within the Rurikovichs, Kievan Rus was ruled by the Grand Duke.

In many ways, it was the internecine wars that led the ancient Russian state to a state close to collapse. This happened in 1237, when the ancient Russian lands first heard about the Tatar-Mongols. They brought terrible troubles to our ancestors, but internal problems, disunity and the unwillingness of princes to defend the interests of other lands led to a great tragedy, and for 2 long centuries Rus' became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.

All these events led to a completely predictable result - the ancient Russian lands began to disintegrate. The date of the beginning of this process is considered to be 1132, which was marked by the death of Prince Mstislav, popularly nicknamed the Great. This led to the fact that the two cities of Polotsk and Novgorod refused to recognize the authority of his successor.

All these events led to the collapse of the state into small fiefs, which were controlled by individual rulers. Of course, the leading role of the Grand Duke remained, but this title was more like a crown, which was used only by the strongest as a result of regular civil strife.

Key events

Kievan Rus is the first form of Russian statehood, which had many great pages in its history. The main events of the era of Kyiv's rise include the following:

  • 862 - the arrival of the Varangian Rurik in Novgorod to reign
  • 882 – Prophetic Oleg captured Kyiv
  • 907 – campaign against Constantinople
  • 988 – Baptism of Rus'
  • 1097 – Lyubech Congress of Princes
  • 1125-1132 - reign of Mstislav the Great

There are several historiographical names for the state that prevailed in literature at different times - “Old Russian State”, “Ancient Rus'”, “Kievan Rus”, “Kievan State”. Currently, three historiographical names are most widespread - “Old Russian State”, “Kievan Rus” and “Ancient Rus”. The definition of “Old Russian” is not connected with the division of antiquity and the Middle Ages in Europe generally accepted in historiography in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. In relation to Rus', it is usually used to designate the so-called pre-Mongol period of the 9th - mid-13th centuries, in order to distinguish this era from subsequent periods of Russian history.

Old Russian state- a state that arose in the early Middle Ages in Eastern Europe, in 862 as a result of the unification of a number of East Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty of the two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kiev, as well as lands (settlements in the area of ​​​​Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdov ).

"Varangians", Vasnetsov V.M. 1909



An event that took place in 862 A.D. received the code name “calling of the Varangians.” In the fourth to seventh centuries AD, a migration of peoples took place in Europe, and this migration also captured the Slavic tribes. During these processes, an intertribal alliance gradually began to take shape, which marked the beginning of our future Russian state. Here is an excerpt from the ancient Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”:

"In the summer of 6367 (859). The Varangians from overseas took tribute from Chud, and from the Novgorod Slovens, and from Meri, from all the Krivichi. In the year 6370 (862) they drove the Varangians overseas and did not give them tribute and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth in them, and generation after generation rebelled, and they had strife, and began to fight with themselves. And they said to themselves: “Let us look for a prince who would rule us and judge us by right. And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. That’s what those Varangians were called, Rus, just as other Varangians are called Svei (Swedes), others are Urmans (Normans), Angles (Normans from England), other Goths (inhabitants of the island of Gotland), and so are these. The Chud (Finns), Slovenes (Novgorod Slavs), and Krivichi (Slavs from the upper reaches of the Volga) said the following words to Russia: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it; come reign and rule over us.” And three brothers and their family volunteered and came. The eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. From them the Russian land was nicknamed, that is, the land of the Novgorodians: these are the Novgorodians from the Varangian family, before they were Slavs." As written in historical sources, in 862 there was an act of voluntary agreement between the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, who agreed that in order to stop internecine wars, you need to choose a person as a ruler from the outside, who is not associated with any local clan, who was supposed to judge by right, that is, according to the law. And such a person was Prince Rurik, who laid the foundation for the first Russian dynasty, ruling our state for more than seven centuries. Rurik first settled in Staraya Ladoga, built a fortress there, took power in Novgorod under an agreement with local Slavic boyars. After the death of his brothers, Rurik began to rule the state alone. And in 882, as it is written in historical references, his successor Oleg , who began to rule immediately after the death of Rurik, killing Askold and Dir (Normans who had earlier left Rurik), thus conquered Kiev. After this, he freed the Slavic tribes from Khazar tribute and subjugated them to his power. This version of the emergence of the formation of the Russian state is confirmed in written sources, for example the First Novgorod Chronicle and the Tale of Bygone Years. Who is Rurik and where he comes from, it was not possible to find an exact answer; there are many versions. In Staraya Ladoga (Lake Ladoga), according to Russian chronicles, it is assumed that Rurik could be a Scandinavian, a Swede, and even a Norwegian or Dane and the leader of the Eastern Slavs-Russians. There are assumptions that Rurik is a reliable person, born around 817. Son of the Danish king Haldvan. Disputes about the calling of the Varangians, led by Rurik, have been going on for about two hundred centuries. But there are certain things such as:

1. From 862 to 1598, Russia was ruled by the Rurik dynasty and the last king from this dynasty was Fyodor Ivanovich.

2. Rurik was invited to rule over two Slavic tribes and two Finnish ones.

3. Still, the modern population of the Russian north-west preserves the memory of Rurik (such as Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, Priozersk). And no matter how scientists argue, whether Rurik existed at all and regardless of whether Rurik’s grave will be found or not in the vicinity of Priozersk, and whether archaeologists and anthropologists will find objects that are associated with his reign. All the same, the History of Russia begins with this name.

The Old Russian state arose on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then covering the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polotsk, Radimichi, Severians. In its heyday, the Old Russian state covered the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the headwaters of the Vistula in the west, to the headwaters of the Northern Dvina in the north.


Map of the settlement of peoples on the eve of the formation of the state


The formation of the state was preceded by a long period (from the 6th century) of the maturation of its prerequisites in the depths of military democracy. During the existence of the Old Russian state, the East Slavic tribes formed into the Old Russian nationality. Old Russian state (Old Russian and Old Slav. Рѹ́с, Рѹ́ськаѧ злѧ, Greek. Ῥωσία, Latin. Russia, Ruthenia, Ruscia, Ruzzia, other Scand. Garðar, later Garðaríki).
By the middle of the 12th century, the ancient Russian state entered a state of feudal fragmentation and actually disintegrated into one and a half dozen separate Russian principalities, ruled by different branches of the Rurikovichs. Kyiv, which had lost its political influence in favor of several new centers of power, continued to be formally considered the main table of Rus' until the Mongol invasion (1237-1240), and the Principality of Kiev remained in the collective possession of Russian princes.

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1 - First used by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the treatise “On the Administration of the Empire” (948-952). (Soloviev A.V. The Byzantine name of Russia // Byzantine temporary book. - 1957. - No. 12. - P. 134-155.)
2 - The spelling Ruscia is typical for Latin texts from Northern Germany and Central Europe, Ruzzia - for Southern Germany, various variations of Rus(s)i, Rus(s)ia - for Romance-speaking countries, England and Scandinavia. Along with these forms, from the beginning of the 12th century in Europe, the book term Rut(h)enia began to be used, formed by consonance on behalf of the ancient people of Ruten. (Nazarenko A.V. Ancient Rus' on international routes: Interdisciplinary essays on cultural, trade, political relations of the 9th-12th centuries - M.: Languages ​​of Russian Culture, 2001. ISBN 5-7859-0085-8. - P. 49-50 )
3 - Designation of Rus' in Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic sources, including runic inscriptions, skalds and sagas. First found in the vis of Hallfred the Difficult Skald (996). The toponym is based on the root garđ- with the meaning “city”, “fortified settlement”. Since the 12th century it has been replaced by the form Garðaríki - lit. “Country of Cities” (Ancient Rus' in the light of foreign sources. - pp. 464-465.).

Kievan Rus or the Old Russian State is a medieval state in Eastern Europe that arose in the 9th century as a result of the unification of East Slavic tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty.

The problem of the emergence of statehood

In historiography, there have long been two hypotheses for the formation of the “Old Russian state”. According to the Norman theory, based on the Initial Russian Chronicle and numerous Western European and Byzantine sources, statehood in Rus' was brought from outside by the Varangians (Rurik, Sineus and Truvor) in 862. The founders of the Norman theory are considered to be the German historians Bayer, Miller, who worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Schlözer; The point of view about the external origin of the Russian monarchy was generally held by N. M. Karamzin, who followed the versions of PVL. The anti-Norman theory is based on the concept of the impossibility of introducing statehood from the outside, on the idea of ​​the emergence of the state as a stage in the internal development of society. The founder of this theory in Russian historiography was considered to be Mikhail Lomonosov.

In addition, there are different points of view on the origin of the Varangians themselves. Scientists classified as Normanists considered them to be Scandinavians (usually Swedes); some anti-Normanists, starting with Lomonosov, suggest their origin from Western Slavic lands. There are also intermediate versions of localization - in Finland, Prussia, and other parts of the Baltic states. The problem of the ethnicity of the Varangians is independent of the issue of the emergence of statehood.

In modern science, the prevailing point of view is that the strict opposition between “Normanism” and “anti-Normanism” is largely politicized; the prerequisites for primordial statehood among the Eastern Slavs were not seriously denied by either Miller, Schlözer, or Karamzin, and the external (Scandinavian or other) origin of the ruling dynasty was a fairly common phenomenon in the Middle Ages, which in no way proves the inability of the people to create a state or, more specifically, the institution of monarchy.

Questions about whether Rurik was the founder of the princely dynasty, what the origin of the chronicled Varangians is, whether the ethnonym (and then the name of the state) Rus' is associated with them, continue to remain controversial in modern Russian historical science. Western historians generally follow the concept of Normanism.

Education of Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus (Old Russian state) arose on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” on the lands of the Slavic tribes - the Polyans, the Drevlyans and the Northerners in the Middle Dnieper region. The chronicle legend considers the brothers Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv to be the founders of Kyiv and the first rulers of the Polyan tribe. According to archaeological excavations carried out in Kyiv in the 19th-20th centuries, already in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. on the site of Kyiv there was an urban settlement. Arab writers of the end of the 1st millennium (al-Istarkhi, Ibn-Khordadbeh, Ibn-Haukal speak of Kiev (Cuyaba) as a large city. Ibn Khaukal wrote: “The king lives in a city called Kuyaba, which is larger than Bolgar... The Russes constantly trade with the Khozar and rum (Byzantium)."

The Varangians, seeking to establish complete control over the most important trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” established control over Kiev in the 9th-10th centuries. The chronicle preserved the names of the leaders of the Varangians who ruled in Kyiv: Askold (Hoskuldr), Dir (Dyri), Oleg (Helgi) and Igor (Ingvar).

Rus' is mentioned as a power in a number of other early sources: in 839, the ambassadors of the Kagan of the people of Ros are mentioned, who arrived first in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. From this time on, the ethnonym “Rus” also became known. By analogy with other ethnonyms of that time (Chudin, Greek, Nemchin, etc.), a resident (inhabitant) of Rus', who belonged to the “Rus” people, was called “Rusin”. However, the term "Kievan Rus" appears only in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 860, under the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, Rus' loudly entered the international arena: it carried out the first known campaign against Constantinople, which ended in victory and the conclusion of a Russian-Byzantine peace treaty. The Tale of Bygone Years attributes this campaign to the Varangians Askold and Dir, who ruled in Kyiv, independent of Rurik. The campaign led to the so-called first baptism of Rus', known from Byzantine sources, after which a diocese arose in Rus' and the ruling elite (apparently led by Askold) adopted Christianity.

In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg, a relative of Rurik, captured Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir and declared Kyiv the capital of his state; Paganism again became the dominant religion, although a Christian minority remained in Kyiv. Oleg the Prophet is considered the founder of Rus'.

Oleg conquered the Drevlyans, northerners and Radimichi, who had previously paid tribute to the Khazars. The first written agreements were concluded with Byzantium in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were abolished, ship repairs and overnight accommodation were provided), and the resolution of legal and military issues. The tribes of the Radimichi, Northerners, Drevlyans, and Krivichi were subject to tribute. According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, ruled for more than 30 years, regardless of Rurik’s own son, Igor. He took the throne after the death of Oleg around 912 and ruled until 945.

Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was preceded by an equally unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Rus', acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach, and then turned its arms against Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944. It ended with a treaty that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous treaties of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. After Igor's death, due to the minority of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state to officially accept Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). However, around 960 Olga invited the German bishop Adalbert and priests of the Latin rite to Rus' (after the failure of their mission they were forced to leave Kyiv).

Around 962, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to pay tribute to the Khazars. In 965 (according to other sources in 968/969) Svyatoslav defeated the Khazar Kaganate. Svyatoslav intended to create his own Slavic state with its capital in the Danube region. He was killed in a battle with the Pechenegs while returning to Kyiv from an unsuccessful campaign in 972. After the death of Svyatoslav, civil strife broke out for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). During the civil strife, the son of Svyatoslav Vladimir I the Holy defended his rights to the throne.