List of pedigreesBland of Northern Neck Va. Nicholas of Roundway Hester of Fleming Co Ky Thruston Author's DNA match comparisons |
It is really something to sing and dance about. Dig up those old bones and get them dancing! |
Find your roots! Get DNA tested too! |
Godoslav, Count a 808.shown by GenEU but not by 'RoyalData' |
Rurik and his brothers, Truvor and Sineus arrive in Ladog Prince Igor Exacting Tribute from the Drevlyans, by Klavdiy Lebedev 1852-1916. Ship burial of Igor the Old in 945, depicted by Henryk Siemiradzki 1843�1902. Golden coin of Vladimir, with his portrait and personal emblem |
||||||||||||||
m Umila dau of Gostomys l, Count of Novgorod | |||||||||||||||
1. | Rurik,
Count of Novgorod, Old East Norse: Rørik, meaning "famous
ruler"; c. 830 � c. 879 DNA was a Varangian
chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement
near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and
then Galicia-Volhynia until 14th and Muscovy until the 16th century. the
12th-century Russian Primary Chronicle, which states that Chuds, Slovene
one of the tribes of eastern Slavs, Merias, Veses and Krivichs also
a slavic tribe "�drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to
pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves". Afterwards the tribes
started fighting each other and decided to invite Rurik to reestablish
order. Rurik remained in power until his death in 879. He married Efanda
Edvina Alfrind Ingrid of Urman. His successors the Rurik Dynasty, however,
moved the capital to Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus, which persisted
until 1240, the time of Mongol invasion. A number of extant princely families
are patrilineally descended from Rurik, although the last Rurikid to rule
Russia, Vasily IV, died in 1612. The only Hrörek described in Western
chronicles was Rorik of Dorestad, a konung from the royal house of Hedeby.
Since the 19th century, there have been attempts to identify him with the
Viking prince Rurik of Russian chronicles.[4] Alexander Nazarenko objects
to this identification.[5]
Roerik of Dorestad was born about 810/820 to Ali Anulo, 9th King of Hedeby. Frankish chroniclers mention that he received lands in Friesland from the Emperor Louis I. This was not enough for him, and he started to plunder neighbouring lands: he took Dorestad in 850, captured Hedeby in 857 and looted Bremen in 859. The Emperor was enraged and stripped him of all his possessions in 860. After that Roerik disappears from the Western sources for a considerable period of time. And at that very moment, in 862, the Rurik of Rus arrives in the Eastern Baltic, builds the fortress of Ladoga and later moves to Novgorod. Roerik of Dorestad reappeared in Frankish chronicles in 870, when his Friesland demesne was returned to him by Charles the Bald; in 882 he is already mentioned as dead. The Russian chronicle places the death of Rurik of Novgorod at 879. According to Western sources, the ruler of Friesland was converted to Christianity by the Franks. This may have parallels with the Christianization of the Rus', as reported by Patriarch Photius in 867. |
||||||||||||||
m Efanda of Urman | |||||||||||||||
A. | Igor
'the Old', Count of Novgorod and Kiev b 877, d 945/6 He twice besieged
Constantinople, in 941 and 944, and in spite of his fleet being destroyed
by Greek fire, concluded with the Emperor a favourable treaty whose text
is preserved in the chronicle. In 913 and 944, the Rus plundered the Arabs
in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian expeditions of the Rus, but it's
not clear whether Igor had anything to do with these campaigns.
Drastically revising the chronology of the Primary Chronicle, Constantine Zuckerman argues that Igor actually reigned for three years, between summer 941 and his death in early 945. He explains the epic 33-year span of his reign in the chronicle by its author's faulty interpretation of Byzantine sources.[1] Indeed, none of Igor's activity are recorded in the chronicle prior to 941. Prince Igor Exacting Tribute from the Drevlyans, by Klavdiy Lebedev 1852-1916.Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945 Leo the Deacon describes how Igor met his death: "They had bent down two birch trees to the prince�s feet and tied them to his legs; then they let the trees straighten again, thus tearing the prince�s body apart."[2] and avenged by his wife, Olga of Kiev. The Primary Chronicle blames his death on his own excessive greed, indicating that he was attempting to collect tribute a second time in a month. |
||||||||||||||
m c903 Olga of Pskov, Regent of Kiev b c881, d 969 Olga changed the system of tribute gathering poliudie in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe. | |||||||||||||||
i. | Svyatoslav I, Count of Novgorod and Kiev b c942, d 972 youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 942 and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav's maturity ca. 963.[4] His tutor was a Varangian named Asmud. "Quick as a leopard,"[5] Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina roughly, "troops" in permanent warfare against neighboring states. According to the Primary Chronicle:� Upon his expeditions he carried with him neither wagons nor kettles, and boiled no meat, but cut off small strips of horseflesh, game or beef, and ate it after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, but he spread out a horse-blanket under him, and set his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise. � Sviatoslav was noted by Leo the Deacon to be of average height and build. He shaved his head and his beard or possibly just had a wispy beard but wore a bushy mustache and a one or two sidelocks as a sign of his nobility. He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a ruby and two pearls. His mother converted to Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 945 or 957. However,[9] Sviatoslav continued to worship Perun, Veles, Svarog and the other gods and goddesses of the Slavic pantheon. He remained a pagan for all of his life; according to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.[10] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube. More below | ||||||||||||||
m1 Fredslava dau of Taskany of Hungary | |||||||||||||||
a. | Yaropolk I, Count of Kiev b 961, d c979 | ||||||||||||||
m Malfada or Julia, Princess of Byzantium | |||||||||||||||
1 | Svyatoslav I 'the Damned', Prince of Kiev b 980, d 1019 | ||||||||||||||
m c1013 ?? of Poland dau of Boleslav I of Poland | |||||||||||||||
m2 Esfir | |||||||||||||||
b. | Oleg, Count of Drevliansk b c959, d 977 | ||||||||||||||
m3. Malusha d 1002 housekeeper of Yaropolk. described in the Norse sagas as a prophetess who lived to the age of 100 and was brought from her cave to the palace to predict the future. | |||||||||||||||
c. | Valdimir
Vladimir I 'the Saint', 'the Great', Count of Kiev b c948/960, d 15.07.1015
His mother's brother, Dobrynya, was Vladimir's tutor and most trusted advisor.
Hagiographic tradition of dubious authenticity also connects his childhood
with the name of his grandmother, Olga Prekrasa, who was Christian andgoverned
the capital during Sviatoslav's frequent military campaigns. Transferring
his capital to Pereyaslavets in 969, Sviatoslav designated Vladimir ruler
of Novgorod the Great but gave Kiev to his legitimate son Yaropolk. After
Sviatoslav's death 972, a fratricidal war erupted 976 between Yaropolk
and his younger brother Oleg, ruler of the Drevlians. In 977 Vladimir fled
to his kinsmen Haakon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway in Scandinavia, collecting
as many of the Viking warriors as he could to assist him to recover Novgorod,
and on his return the next year marched against Yaropolk. In addition to
his father's extensive domain, Vladimir continued to expand his territories.
In 981 he conquered the Cherven cities, the modern Galicia; in 983 he subdued
the Yatvingians, whose territories lay between Lithuania and Poland; in
985 he led a fleet along the central rivers of the Kievan Rus' to conquer
the Bulgars of the Kama, planting numerous fortresses and colonies on his
way.
Though Christianity had won many converts since Olga's rule, Vladimir had remained a thorough going pagan, taking eight hundred concubines besides numerous wives and erecting pagan statues and shrines to gods. It is argued that he attempted to reform Slavic paganism by establishing thunder-god Perun as a supreme deity. "Although Christianity in Kiev existed before Vladimir�s time, he had remained a pagan, accumulated about seven wives, established temples, and, it is said, taken part in idolatrous rites involving human sacrifice." "In 983, after another of his military successes, Prince Vladimir and his army thought it necessary to sacrifice human lives to the gods. A lot was cast and it fell on a youth, Ioann by name, the son of a Christian, Fyodor. His father stood firmly against his son being sacrificed to the idols. More than that, he tried to show the pagans the futility of their faith: �Your gods are just plain wood: it is here now but it may rot into oblivion tomorrow; your gods neither eat, nor drink, nor talk and are made by human hand from wood; whereas there is only one God � He is worshipped by Greeks and He created heaven and earth; and your gods? They have created nothing, for they have been created themselves; never will I give my son to the devils!� An open abuse of the deities, to which most of our forefathers bowed in reverence in those times, triggered widespread indignation. Rampant crowds killed the Christian Fyodor and his son Ioann. Later on, after the overall christening of Russia, people came to regard them as the first Christian martyrs in Russia and the Orthodox Church set a day to commemorate them � July 25. Immediately after the murder of Fyodor and Ioann Ancient Russia saw persecutions against Christians, many of which had to escape or conceal their belief. However, Prince Vladimir mused over the incident long after, and not in the last place, for political considerations too. The chronicles have it that different preachers came to the Prince, each offering a particular faith. Vladimir spoke to Muslims, Catholics, Jews but for different reasons rejected all the religions. Finally, a Greek philosopher told the prince of the Old and New Testaments and presented him with a canvas depicting Doomsday. When he learned of what the unrepentant were in for, Prince Vladimir went numb with horror and after a short pause said with a sigh: �Blessed are the good doers and damned are the evil!�. more bleow |
||||||||||||||
GenEU and 'RoyalData' differ on some of Valdimir's marriages and children. As we are interested mainly in offspring who were ancestors of various British families, we simplify the position as follows: | |||||||||||||||
m1 Olova | |||||||||||||||
m2 c977, div 986 Rogneda b c956, d 1002, dau of Rognvald, Count of Polotsk | |||||||||||||||
Ki29 |
Yaroslav
I 'the Wise', Prince of Kiev b 978, d 20.02.1054 He was was thrice Grand
Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time
under his rule. During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus' reached a zenith
of its cultural flowering and military power.
He was one of the
numerous sons of Volodymyr the Great, presumably his second by Rogneda
of Polotsk, although his actual age as stated in the Primary Chronicle
and corroborated by the examination of his skeleton in the 1930s would
place him among the youngest children of Volodymyr. It has been suggested
that he was a child begotten out of wedlock after Volodymyr's divorce with
Rogneda and his marriage to Anna Porphyrogeneta, or even that he was a
child of Anna Porphyrogeneta herself. Yaroslav figures prominently in the
Norse Sagas under the name of Jarisleif the Lame; his legendary lameness
probably resulting from an arrow wound was corroborated by the scientists
who examined his relics.
In his youth, Yaroslav was sent by his father to rule the northern lands around Rostov but was transferred to Novgorod, as befitted a senior heir to the throne, in 1010. While living there, he founded the town of Yaroslavl literally, Yaroslav's on the Volga. His relations with father were apparently strained, and grew only worse on the news that Volodymyr bequeathed the Kievan throne to his younger son, Boris. In 1014 Yaroslav refused to pay tribute to Kiev and only Volodymyr's death prevented a war. During the next four years Yaroslav waged a complicated and bloody war for Kiev against his half-brother Sviatopolk, who was supported by his father-in-law, Duke Boleslaus I of Poland. During the course of this struggle, several other brothers Boris and Gleb, Svyatoslav were brutally murdered. The Primary Chronicle accused Svyatopolk of planning those murders, while the Saga of Eymund is often interpreted as recounting the story of Boris's assassination by the Varangians in the service of Yaroslav. Yaroslav defeated Svyatopolk in their first battle, in 1016, and Svyatopolk fled to Poland. But Svyatopolk returned with Polish troops furnished by his father-in-law Duke Boleslaus of Poland, seized Kiev and pushed Yaroslav back into Novgorod. In 1019, Yaroslav eventually prevailed over Svyatopolk and established his rule over Kiev. One of his first actions as a grand prince was to confer on the loyal Novgorodians who had helped him to regain the throne, numerous freedoms and privileges. Thus, the foundation for the Novgorod Republic was laid. The Novgorodians respected Yaroslav more than other Kievan princes and the princely residence in the city, next to the marketplace and where the veche often convened was named the Yaroslavovo Dvorishche after him. It is thought that it was at that period that Yaroslav promulgated the first code of laws in the East Slavic lands, the Yaroslav's Justice, better known as Russkaya Pravda. More on Yaroslav In 2003 Kitty
Fassett was in the town of Yaroslavl in Russia. Its emblem is a bear because
there's a legend that someone released a bear from a cage so it could attack
Yaroslav the Wise. Yaroslav won the battle. Little did she know at the
time that she had multiple lines of descent from this remarkable man.
m2
1019 Ingigerd/Ingegurd or Anna of Sweden d 10.02.1050, dau of Olaf Skotkonung, King of
Sweden |
||||||||||||||
Ki28-1 | Iliya, Count of Novgorod d 1020 | ||||||||||||||
Ki28-2 | Vladimir II, Count of Novgorod b 1020, d 1052 had issue | ||||||||||||||
Ki28-3 | Izyaslav,
Count of Turov, Count of Novgorod, Prince of Kiev b 1024, d 03.10.1078
With the aid of his son,Yaropolk, his brother, Vsevolod in 1078 he defeated
Vsevolod in battle, when Oleg Svyatoslavich and his son Boris was attemptingto
gain the throne of Chernigov from Vsevolod. Oleg had been allied to the
Polovtsy, and with their help Grand Prince Izyaslav and Yaropolk, as well
as Vsevolod's son Vladimir Monomakh, were able to reverse this result,
and Oleg was forced to retreat to Tmutorokan. But Grand Prince Izyaslav
died as a result of the battle.
m c1043 Gertrud of Poland d 04.01.1107 |
||||||||||||||
i+ | Yaropolk
Izyaslavich died 1087 was a Knyaz prince in eleventh-century Kievan
Rus. He is visible in papal sources by the early 1070s but largely absent
in contemporary Rus'ian sources until the year of his father's death, 1078.
During his father's exile in the 1070s, Yaropolk can be found acting on
his father's behalf in an attempt to gain the favor of the German emperors
and the court of Pope Gregory VII. Yaropolk followed his father when the
latter returned to Kiev in 1077.
After his father's death in the folloing year, 1078, Yaropolk was appointed Prince of Vladimir-in-Volhynia and Prince of Turov by the new Grand Prince, his uncle Vsevolod. By 1085 however, Yaropolk had fallen into a state of enmity with the Grand Prince and by extension the Grand Prince's son Vladimir Monomakh, forcing him to flee from his principality to his mother's homeland, Poland. He returned in the following year, but was soon murdered. He was remembered in Rus'ian sources as extremely pious and generous to the church, and is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. issue |
||||||||||||||
The following connection comes from GenEU Rurik4. | |||||||||||||||
partner unknown | |||||||||||||||
ii | Svyatopolk, Prince of Kiev b 1050, d 16.04.1113 | ||||||||||||||
m1 ?? "a Bohemian princess, apparently a niece of Vratislav II" | |||||||||||||||
a | Sbyslava of Kiev d by 1112 |
|
|||||||||||||
m 15.11.1102 Boleslaw III, Count of Poland b 20.08.1085, d 28.10.1138 |
|
||||||||||||||
D | Svyatoslav II, Prince of Kiev b 1027, d 27.12.1076 had issue | ||||||||||||||
E | Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev b 1030, d 13.04.1093 | ||||||||||||||
m1 1046 Irene of Byzantium d 1067, dau of Konstantinos VIII/IX, Emperor of Byzantium | |||||||||||||||
i | Vladimir II 'Monomachos', Prince of Kiev b 1053, d 19.05.1125 had issue | ||||||||||||||
m1 c1070 Gytha of Wessex d 07.05.1107, dau of Harold II Godwineson, King of England | |||||||||||||||
m2 ?? d 1107 | |||||||||||||||
m3. ?? d 1126 | |||||||||||||||
m2 1067 Anna of Cumin | |||||||||||||||
ii | Eupraxia Praxedis of Kiev b c1070, d 10.07.1109 | ||||||||||||||
m1 Henry, Count of Stade | |||||||||||||||
m2 17.10.1089, div 1093 Heinrich IV, Emperor of Germany b 1050, d 1106 | |||||||||||||||
Ki28 | Anna of Kiev b 1024, d after 1075 |
|
|||||||||||||
m1 29.01.1044 Henry I, King of France b 1008, d 04.08.1060 |
|
||||||||||||||
m2 1061/2, div 1067 Raoul II, Count de Crepy | |||||||||||||||
G | Anastasia Agmunda of Kiev b c1023, d after 1074 |
|
|||||||||||||
m 1037/8 Andrew I, King of Hungary d 1060 |
|
||||||||||||||
H | Elizabeth of Kiev b c1032, d after 1045 | ||||||||||||||
m1 1045 Harald III Hardrada, King of Norway b 1015, d 25.09.1066 | |||||||||||||||
m2 1067 Svend II Estridsen, King of Denmark b c1019, d 29.04.1076 | |||||||||||||||
I+ | other issue | ||||||||||||||
m3. Malfrida of Bohemia d 1002, possibly dau of Boleslaw I 'the Brave', King of Poland | |||||||||||||||
m4. Adela | |||||||||||||||
m5.988 Anna Porthyrogenita of Byzantium b 13.03.963, d 1011, dau of Romanus I Lecapenus, Emperor of Byzantium | |||||||||||||||
m6. 1012 ?? of Swabia dau of Konrad I, Duke of Swabia, by Rechlind of Germany | |||||||||||||||
2 | Dobronega Maria of Kiev |
|
|||||||||||||
m 1041/2 Casimir I , Count of Poland b 25.07.1016, d 28.11.1058 |
|
Sources: GenEU Rurikids1, 8, 'RoyalData'
More
on the reign of Sviatoslav:
Sviatoslav
began by rallying the Khazars' East Slavic vassal tribes to his cause.
Those who would not join him, such as the Vyatichs, were attacked and forced
to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than the Khazars.[15] According
to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message
to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at
you!" Old East Slavic: "???? ?? ?? ???"[16] This phrase is used in modern
Russian usually misquoted as "??? ?? ??" to denote an unequivocal declaration
of one's intentions. Proceeding by the Oka and Volga rivers, he invaded
Volga Bulgaria and exacted tribute from the local population, thus bringing
under Kievan control the upper Volga River. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg
mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' and Bulgars'
superior cavalry.[17]
Sviatoslav
destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked but
did not occupy the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea.[18] At Sarkel he
established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha "the white tower" or
"the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel".[19] He
subsequently probably in 968 or 969 destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil.[20]
A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus attacked,
and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."[21] The exact
chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example,
Mikhail Artamonov and David Christian proposed that the sack of Sarkel
came after the destruction of Atil.[22]
Although
Ibn Haukal reports Sviatoslav's sack of Samandar in modern-day Dagestan,
the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of
the Caucasus Mountains permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav
chose to strike against the Ossetians and force them into subservience.[23]
Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence
in the region.[24] The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way
for Kievan Rus' to dominate north-south trade routes through the steppe
and across the Black Sea, routes that formerly had been a major source
of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased
Slavic settlement in the region of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture, greatly
changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between
the forest and the steppe.[25]
Campaigns
in the Balkans
In
967 or 968[27] Nicephorus sent to Sviatoslav his agent, Kalokyros, with
the task of talking Sviatoslav into assisting him in a war against Bulgaria.[28]
Sviatoslav was paid 15,000 pounds of gold and set sail with an army of
60,000 men, including thousands of Pecheneg mercenaries.[29][30]
Sviatoslav
defeated the Bulgarian ruler Boris II[31] and proceeded to occupy the whole
of northern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the Byzantines bribed the Pechenegs to
attack and besiege Kiev, where Olga stayed with Sviatoslav's son Vladimir.
The siege was relieved by the druzhina of Pretich, and immediately following
the Pecheneg retreat, Olga sent a reproachful letter to Sviatoslav. He
promptly returned and defeated the Pechenegs, who continued to threaten
Kiev.
Byzantine
Wars
In
summer 969, Sviatoslav left Rus' again, dividing his dominion into three
parts, each under a nominal rule of one of his sons. At the head of an
army that included Pecheneg and Magyar auxiliary troops, he invaded Bulgaria
again, devastating Thrace, capturing the city of Philippopolis, and massacring
its inhabitants. Niceforus responded by fortifying the defenses of Constantinople
and raising new squadrons of armored cavalry. In the midst of his preparations,
Niceforus was overthrown and killed by John Tzimiskes, who thus became
the new Byzantine emperor.[32]
John
Tzimiskes first attempted to persuade Sviatoslav into leaving Bulgaria,
but was unsuccessful. Challenging the Byzantine authority, Sviatoslav crossed
the Danube and laid siege to Adrianople, causing panic on the streets of
Constantinople in summer 970.[33] Later that year, the Byzantines launched
a counteroffensive. Being occupied with suppressing a revolt of Bardas
Phocas in Asia Minor, John Tzimiskes sent his commander-in-chief, Bardas
Sklerus, who defeated the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians
in the Battle of Arcadiopolis.[34] Meanwhile, John, having quelled the
revolt of Bardas Phocas, came to the Balkans with a large army and promoting
himself as the liberator of Bulgaria from Sviatoslav, penetrated the impracticable
mountain passes and shortly thereafter captured Marcianopolis, where the
Rus were holding a number of Bulgar princes hostage.
Sviatoslav
retreated to Dorostol, which the Byzantine armies besieged for sixty-five
days. Cut off and surrounded, Sviatoslav came to terms with John and agreed
to abandon the Balkans, renounce his claims to the southern Crimea and
return west of the Dnieper River. In return, the Byzantine emperor supplied
the Rus' with food and safe passage home. Sviatoslav and his men set sail
and landed on Berezan Island at the mouth of the Dnieper, where they made
camp for the winter. Several months later, their camp was devastated by
famine, so that even a horse's head could not be bought for less than a
half-grivna, reports the Kievan chronicler of the Primary Chronicle.[35]
While Sviatoslav's campaign brought no tangible results for the Rus', it
weakened the Bulgarian statehood and left it vulnerable to the attacks
of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer four decades later.
Following
Sviatoslav's death, tensions between his sons grew. A war broke out between
Sviatoslav's legitimate sons, Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, at the conclusion
of which Oleg was killed. In 977 Vladimir fled Novgorod to escape Oleg's
fate and went to Scandinavia, where he raised an army of Varangians and
returned in 980. Yaropolk was killed and Vladimir became the sole ruler
of Kievan Rus'.
Icon
of Saint Vladimir, Novgorod, 16th centuryArab sources, both Muslim and
Christian, present a different story of Vladimir's conversion. Yahya of
Antioch, al-Rudhrawari, al-Makin, al-Dimashki, and ibn al-Athir[6] all
give essentially the same account. In 987, Bardas Sclerus and Bardas Phocas
revolted against the Byzantine emperor Basil II. Both rebels briefly joined
forces, but then Bardas Phocas proclaimed himself emperor on September
14, 987. Basil II turned to the Kievan Rus' for assistance, even though
they were considered enemies at that time. Vladimir agreed, in exchange
for a marital tie; he also agreed to accept Orthodox Christianity as his
religion and bring his people to the new faith. When the wedding arrangements
were settled, Vladimir dispatched 6,000 troops to the Byzantine Empire
and they helped to put down the revolt.[7]
Christian
reign
It
is mentioned in the Primary Chronicle that Vladimir founded the city of
Belgorod in 991.
In
992 he went on a campaign against the Croats, most likely the White Croats
an East Slavic group unrelated to the [Croats]] that lived in Dalmatia
that lived on the border of modern Ukraine. This campaign was cut short
by the attacks of the Pechenegs on and around Kiev.
In
his later years he lived in a relative peace with his other neighbors:
Boleslav I of Poland, Stephen I of Hungary, Andrikh the Czech questionable
character mentioned in A Tale of the Bygone Years.
After
Anna's death, he married again, most likely to a granddaughter of Otto
the Great.
In
1014 his son Yaroslav the Wise stopped paying tribute. Vladimir decided
to chastise the insolence of his son, and began gathering troops against
Yaroslav. However, Vladimir fell ill, most likely of old age and died at
Berestovo, near Kiev.
The
various parts of his dismembered body were distributed among his numerous
sacred foundations and were venerated as relics.
[edit]
Vladimir's significance and historical footprint
His
memory was also kept alive by innumerable Russian folk ballads and legends,
which refer to him as Krasno Solnyshko, that is, the Fair Sun. With him
the Varangian period of Eastern Slavic history ceases and the Christian
period begins
In
his foreign policy, Yaroslav relied on the Scandinavian alliance and attempted
to weaken the Byzantine influence on Kiev. In 1030 he reconquered from
the Poles Red Rus, and concluded an alliance with king Casimir I the Restorer,
sealed by the latter's marriage to Yaroslav's sister Maria. In another
successful military raid the same year, he founded Yuriev after St George,
or Yury, Yaroslav's patron saint and forced the surrounding province of
Ugaunia to pay annual tribute.
To
defend his state from the Pechenegs and other nomadic tribes threatening
it from the south he constructed a line of forts, composed of Yuriev, Boguslav,
Kaniv, Korsun, and Pereyaslav. To celebrate his decisive victory over the
Pechenegs in 1036 who thereupon never were a threat to Kiev he sponsored
the construction of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1037. Other celebrated
monuments of his reign, such as the Golden Gates of Kiev, have since perished.
Yaroslav
was a notable patron of book culture and learning. In 1051, he had a Russian
monk Ilarion proclaimed the metropolitan of Kiev, thus challenging old
Byzantine tradition of placing Greeks on the episcopal sees. Ilarion's
discourse on Yaroslav and his father Vladimir is frequently cited as the
first work of Old Russian literature.
[edit]
Family life and posterity
In
the Saint Sophia Cathedral, one may see a fresco representing the whole
family: Yaroslav, Irene as Ingigerd was known in Rus, their five daughters
and five sons. Yaroslav had three of his daughters married to foreign princes
who lived in exile at his court: Elizabeth of Kiev to Harald III of Norway
who had attained her hand by his military exploits in the Byzantine Empire;
Anastasia of Kiev to the future Andrew I of Hungary, and the youngest daughter
Anne of Kiev married Henry I of France and was the regent of France during
their son's minority. Another daughter may have been the Agatha who married
Edward the Exile, heir to the throne of England and was the mother of Edgar
Ætheling and St. Margaret of Scotland.
A
currentDNA research project by Professor
Andrzej Bajor of Poland, under the auspices of the Family Tree DNA Rurikid
Dynasty Project, seeks to more accurately place Rurik within the light
of history and out of the shadows of legend, while simultaneously trying
to find his modern descendants. This project also seeks to study the DNA
of male descendants of the medieval Lithuanian ruler Gediminas Gedymin,
whose line includes some of the highest princely families of Russia and
Poland. The Gediminids intermarried with the Rurikids, and there is a possibility
that they may even descend from Rurik, or at least from one of his ancestors
within historical times - the project seeks to answer this question. So
far, only two modern Rurikid princes have agreed to take this DNA test.
Their results indicate that their male line originated in Uppland province
in Sweden. So far, one Swede shares 11 of the prince's markers, and he
believes that his own male line goes back to the 15th century in Roslagen.
The DNA results of modern Rurikid princes indicate that Rurik was of Finno-Ugrian
descent haplogroup N3a1 [2]. Further genetic studies seem to indicate
the existence of two haplogroups among modern Rurikids: the descendants
of Vladimir II Monomakh Monomakhoviches are of N3a1 group typical for
Finno-Ugrian people, while the descendants of Oleg I of Chernigov Olgoviches
are of R1a group typical for Slavic peoples. According to the Russian Newsweek
magazine it indicates that the official genealogy is probably incorrect
but leaves the ethnic origin of Rurik unclear [3]
Eastern
campaigns
The
site of the Khazar fortress at Sarkel, sacked by Sviatoslav c. 965 aerial
photo from excavations conducted by Mikhail Artamonov in the 1930sShortly
after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand
the Rus control over the Volga valley and the Pontic steppe region. His
greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had
been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. The sources are not
clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several
possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing
the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected
duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested
that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars,
who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews in
the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus.[14]
Pursuit
of Sviatoslav's warriors by the Byzantine army, a miniature from 11th-century
chronicles of John Skylitzes.The annihilation of Khazaria was undertaken
against the background of the Rus'-Byzantine alliance, concluded in the
wake of Igor's Byzantine campaign in 944.[26] Close military ties between
the Rus' and Byzantium are illustrated by the fact, reported by John Skylitzes,
that a Rus' detachment accompanied Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas
in his victorious naval expedition to Crete.
830s
� 860 � 907 � 941 � 968�71 � 988 � 1024 � 1043
Boris
Chorikov. Sviatoslav's Council of War.Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan
conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result.
To the chagrin of his boyars and mother who died within three days after
learning about his decision, Sviatoslav decided to move his capital to
Pereyaslavets in the mouth of the Danube due to the great potential of
that location as a commercial hub. In the Primary Chronicle record for
969, Sviatoslav explains that it is to Pereyaslavets, the centre of his
lands, "all the riches flow: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from
Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus furs,
wax, honey, and slaves".
The
Death of Sviatoslav by Boris Chorikov.Fearing that the peace with Sviatoslav
would not endure, the Byzantine emperor induced the Pecheneg khan Kurya
to kill Sviatoslav before he reached Kiev. This was in line with the policy
outlined by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in De Administrando Imperio
of fomenting strife between the Rus' and the Pechenegs.[36] According to
the Slavic chronicle, Sveneld attempted to warn Sviatoslav to avoid the
Dnieper cataracts, but the prince slighted his wise advice and was ambushed
and slain by the Pechenegs when he tried to cross the cataracts near Khortitsa
early in 972. The Primary Chronicle reports that his skull was made into
a chalice by the Pecheneg khan, Kurya.[37]
More
on Vladimr:
Main article:
Christianization of Kievan Rus'
The
Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, by Viktor Vasnetsov 1890The Primary
Chronicle reports that in the year 987, as the result of a consultation
with his boyars, Vladimir sent envoys to study the religions of the various
neighboring nations whose representatives had been urging him to embrace
their respective faiths. The result is amusingly described by the chronicler
Nestor. Of the Muslim Bulgarians of the Volga the envoys reported there
is no gladness among them; only sorrow and a great stench, and that their
religion was undesirable due to its taboo against alcoholic beverages and
pork; supposedly, Vladimir said on that occasion: "Drinking is the joy
of the Rus'." Russian sources also describe Vladimir consulting with Jewish
envoys who may or may not have been Khazars, and questioning them about
their religion but ultimately rejecting it, saying that their loss of Jerusalem
was evidence of their having been abandoned by God. Ultimately Vladimir
settled on Christianity. In the churches of the Germans his emissaries
saw no beauty; but at Constantinople, where the full festival ritual of
the Byzantine Church was set in motion to impress them, they found their
ideal: "We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth," they
reported, describing a majestic Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia, "nor such
beauty, and we know not how to tell of it." If Vladimir was impressed by
this account of his envoys, he was yet more so by political gains of the
Byzantine alliance.[citation needed]
A
mid-19th century statue overlooking the Dnieper in Kiev, by Peter Klodt
and Vasily Demut-MalinovskyIn 988, having taken the town of Chersonesos
in Crimea, he boldly negotiated for the hand of the emperor Basil II's
sister, Anna. Never before had a Byzantine imperial princess, and one "born-in-the-purple"
at that, married a barbarian, as matrimonial offers of French kings and
German emperors had been peremptorily rejected. In short, to marry the
27-year-old princess off to a pagan Slav seemed impossible. Vladimir, however,
was baptized at Cherson, taking the Christian name of Basil out of compliment
to his imperial brother-in-law; the sacrament was followed by his wedding
with Anna. Returning to Kiev in triumph, he destroyed pagan monuments and
established many churches, starting with the splendid Church of the Tithes
989 and monasteries on Mt. Athos.
He
then formed a great council out of his boyars, and set his twelve sons
over his subject principalities.
Modern
statue of Vladimir in LondonOne of the largest Kievan cathedrals is dedicated
to him. The University of Kiev was named after the man who Christianized
Kievan Rus. There is the Russian Order of St. Vladimir and Saint Vladimir's
Orthodox Theological Seminary in the United States. The Roman Catholic
and Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the feast day of St. Vladimir on
15 July.
More
on Yaroslav:
Leaving
aside the legitimacy of Yaroslav's claims to the Kievan throne and his
postulated guilt in the murder of his brothers, Nestor and later Russian
historians often represented him as a model of virtue and styled him the
Wise. A less appealing side of his personality may be revealed by the fact
that he imprisoned his younger brother Sudislav for life. Yet another brother,
Mstislav of Tmutarakan, whose distant realm bordered on the Northern Caucasus
and the Black Sea, hastened to Kiev and inflicted a heavy defeat on Yaroslav
in 1024. Thereupon Yaroslav and Mstislav divided Kievan Rus: the area stretching
left from the Dnieper, with the capital at Chernihiv, was ceded to Mstislav
until his death in 1036.
One
of many statues of Yaroslav holding the Russkaya Pravda in his hand. See
another image here.In 1043 Yaroslav staged a naval raid against Constantinople
led by his son Vladimir and general Vyshata. Although the Rus' navy was
defeated, Yaroslav managed to conclude the war with a favourable treaty
and prestigious marriage of his son Vsevolod to the emperor's daughter.
It has been suggested that the peace was so advantageous because the Kievans
had succeeded in taking a key Byzantine possession in Crimea, Chersones.
In
1019, Yaroslav married Ingegerd Olofsdotter, daughter of the king of Sweden,
and gave Ladoga to her as a marriage gift. There are good reasons to believe
that before that time he had been married to a woman named Anna, of disputed
extraction.[citation needed]
Sarcophagus
of Yaroslav the Wise.Yaroslav had one son from the first marriage his
Christian name being Ilya, and 6 sons from the second marriage. Apprehending
the danger that could ensue from divisions between brothers, he exhorted
them to live in peace with each other. The eldest of these, Vladimir of
Novgorod, best remembered for building the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod,
predeceased his father. Three other sons�Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod�reigned
in Kiev one after another. The youngest children of Yaroslav were Igor
of Volynia and Vyacheslav of Smolensk.