Kyivan Rus –: 100 Steps of History- (English-Russian)

By Leonard Chepel

The mighty Swedish Viking warrior, Oleg-Helge, standing on the shores of the Dnieper River, declared: “Garðaveldi (Gardarike) – Kyivan Rus!” The city of Kyiv (50:27N/30:31E) became the mother of all cities of that new Scandinavian Rus Empire. It happened ca. 882-884 in the heart of the medieval East Slavic population called “Polans”, the ancestors of the Ukrainian nation. Kyivan Rus prevailed strong and unified for a couple of centuries, until the renegade rulers-princes sundered the country, taking the northeastern outskirts at the upper springs of the Volga River and naming those as the “Russian Principality”. In 13-15th centuries, the Mongols of Genghis khan enslaved, as they said - “the northern Russian tribes”, which became the most devoted vassals of the Mongol Empire. Supported by the Mongols, the Russian tribes had violently moved to the west, into the central Kyivan Rus – Ukraine. The former Kyivan Rus Empire fell apart. If the fall of the Roman Empire led to the birth of Europe and higher civilization, the fall of Kyivan Rus led to the opposite results.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728397771

Leonard Chepel

Leonard Chepel was born in Ukraine; marine biologist-ichthyologist; PhD. Took part in research voyages throughout Arctic and Atlantic Ocean from Greenland-Labrador to Antarctica. Served an Executive Secretary of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) in Halifax, NS, Canada, 1991-2002. Published professional articles & books in English and Russian

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Published by AuthorHouse 01/28/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-9776-4 (sc)

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Volume I

Kyivan Rus

100 Steps of History

The scene on the front cover

Three Rus Warriors

by V. M. Vasnetsov (1898)

Plea to generations:

Image%201.jpg

(978 - 1054)

My sons,

Remember that internecine conflicts

Are disastrous for you all.

This could annihilate the glory

And the greatness of the state,

Which was built on the happy toil

Of our fathers and grandfathers.

Your peace and consent will reinforce its might.

Prince Yaroslav the Wise

Kyivan Rus, Kyiv; ca 1054

Image%202.jpg

(1053 - 1125)

Oh, my children!

Praise the God!

You should love the humankind.

Not your position, not your solitary life,

But the good deeds would save you.

Don’t forget the poor, feed them

And think that any possessions are God-given

And given to you by Him for a temporary use only.

Prince Vladimir Monomakh

Kyivan Rus, Kyiv; ca 1125

Contents

Introduction

Part I Kyivan Rus genesis

Beginning

Foundation of Empire

Vladimir the Baptist

The Might and Weaknessof the Rus Empire

Vladimir Monomakh

The Fateful 12th Century

The Long Arms of Yuri Dolgorukiy

Isolation of the Northern Territories

Destruction and Inception

On the Eve

Invincible Horde

Part II In Thralldom

Ordained by the Horde

Ingloriously Enslaved

Agony of Ukraine

Sword of Punishment and Justice

Part III Transformation

The Splitting World

Rise Up from the Knees

Russia in Servile Squeeze

Introduction to the Russian Tsardom

Destruction of Civilizations

The Last Steps

Poltava

Epilogue

Introduction

For the book, I used the most valid historical evidences out of major Kyivan Rus ancient scripts and some other literary sources in the following, but not exclusive list: The Tale of Bygone Years or Primary Chronicle by Nestor the Chronicler (11 - 12th centuries); the Kyivan Rus Chronicles - The Hypatian Chronicle - Codex (10-15th centuries), which includes the Ukrainian chronicles of Kyiv and Galician-Volhynian. One book, The Visage of Empire by L. Chepel (2015), was especially useful to follow the general course of documented historical events. The other book of History of the Russian State by N.M. Karamzin (1766 - 1826) was of fundamental importance, as the most trusted in the former Russian Empire and today in Russia historical accounts about Kyivan Rus. Those written sources were the major components to compose my millennium-long narration.

In the 9th century, the Swedish-Scandinavian warriors of Roslagen (the name of the Baltic coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden), who called as "Rus-Ros-Ruotsi, crossed the Baltic Sea and settled near and around a northern city, which today called Velikiy Novgorod (58:31:30N/31:16:30E). Then, they moved down south, to the shores of the large Dnieper River and ancient city of Kyiv (50:27N/30:31E) and established the Rus-Viking Empire, naming it Kyivan Rus. The newborn empire sustained as the largest and strongest in the eastern part of Europe through the 10 - 12th centuries. Then, Kyivan Rus, experiencing many destructive internal and external socio-political influences, has been divided in two parts during the following centuries. The northeastern territories of Kyivan Rus have been seized by renegade rulers and separated from its main body of central and western territories. As a consequence, on the outskirts of Kyivan Rus was formed a separate Russian principality, which name was borrowed from the Swedish-Varangian Rus or Ros and transformed through the coming centuries to a new name of Russia".

At the beginning of the 13th century, the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan had arrived from the southeastern steppes of Asia and conquered Kyivan Rus. The Mongol domination continued for nearly three centuries and was especially intense and violent on the remote northeastern territories of Kyivan Rus, along the Volga River springs, which was called by the invaders as the land of Russian tribes. The major cities at the northeast (Moscow, Ryazan, Suzdal, Vladimir) were razed and many people killed, ravished and enslaved. The people called that time as the Tatar-Mongol Yoke. At the same time, the Mongol invasion wasn’t such violent on the prime territory of Kyivan Rus, which today is modern Ukraine and which was under influence and protection of the mighty western kingdom of Lithuania. It was time of a fundamental separation of the main central part of Kyivan Rus from its east and north and not only geographically-ethnically, but also socially-culturally and politically. In fact, the segregation was far-reaching, forever dividing two different worlds - the Ukrainian-European southwest from the Russian-Asian northeast.

The prominent Russian historian and writer N.M. Karamzin wrote about it in a number of historical books. As he described, the unremitting tribal fights besmirched the life of the people, residing in the territories of the Russian tribes, to the east and northeast of the Dnieper River. They were the numerous forest dwellers called themselves by the names, which reflected their prime living environment - drevlians, drehovians and severians, which were synonymous with wood, forest and the north. Those extremely aggressive inhabitants were looking all the time for the fights against their neighbors at the west and south. The lucrative trade route called The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks passed through Kyiv, the territory of the ancient Slavic tribes of Polans. It connected the northern European countries via the Dnieper River with the Black Sea and the Byzantine Empire. This route brought a lot of riches to Kyivan Rus and, of course, appealed to many fortune seekers to come from their desolate northeastern territories and fight for it.

N. M. Karamzin wrote that the drevlians had wild habits, similar to animals, which were around there in the dark forests. They ate all kinds of filthy stuff; they killed each other in simple arguments: they did not know about marriage, which should be based on mutual agreement, but simply stole the girls. The others – drehovians, severians and similar tribes in these forests were no different. The young people would just come with each other in the play and they were the polygamy people. In the future, the people of the upper springs of the Volga River and to the northeast will compose the dominant Russian population.

In that historical time, the other peoples occupied the territories to the south and west, which were the boundless steppes of rich black soil along the Dnieper River, towards the northern shores of the Black Sea. Those humans belonged to the ancient civilization of the Polans, which name derived from the basic Slavic word called pole with the meaning of a flat land - fields or steppes. The Polans preferred to reside in the open fields, engaging in farming and breeding domestic animals. They settled with large families in loamy-made houses and wore rude homemade-spun clothes. N. M. Karamzin specified that the Polans were much better educated than the others. They were patient, calm by their habit. The Polans wives were diffident, as their modesty was their virtue. The matrimony was sacred in the Polans society. As well, the peace and chastity prevailed in a family. The chroniclers were of one mind that socioeconomic relations of communities, residing along the Dnieper River, were more advanced comparably to the populace of the northern forest tribes in the northeastern territories of Kyivan Rus.

Inevitably, the two divergent cultures clashed when they came closer together in one domain of Kyivan Rus and connected by the forests, plains and rivers. Attempting to exist and survive, as one population of a huge empire, they couldn’t sustain in peace, just barely and painfully coexisting in everlasting human drama. And in such a diverse cultural mix, the evolution of human society in this part of the world took a twisted way, leading into a cultural cul-de-sac, which came with a tragic dramatization of the life in those ancient times and through. If the fall of ancient Rome led to the birth of Europe and higher civilization, the collapse of Kyivan Rus led to the opposite outcome. Why and how could this have happened? To comprehend it and find the answers, I considered summarizing and compressing a millennium long history of countless events just in a hundred major steps-periods, which could enlighten the dark sides of the mysterious and often distorted history of Kyivan Rus.

Leonard

Part I

Kyivan Rus genesis

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Beginning

862 - 882

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"Our land is large and bountiful,

But we have no order in it.

Come to rule and take over us."

Nestor the Chronicler

In those ancient times, the uncivilized human tribes called drevlians, severians, radimichi, vyatichi, krivichi, comi and the enigmatically-mystical chudes occupied the vast territories of the northeastern European Continent among the gloomy forests, lakes and rivers. The people built the wooden lodgings amidst wet muddy grounds to protect their lives against the enemies, who were all others inhabitants around. The best distinctions of those people were bravery and behest of fighting. To maintain the peace and order, they employed the laws of their fathers and other common regulations, agreed at the assembly-veche of the residents. Anyway, such democratic governing could not prevent internecine warfare and social disorders. Then, the white-haired wise oldies of the major city in this part of the world, Veliky Novgorod, said that they knew what should have been done for better life.

1

Seek a prince-ruler

According to the Kyivan Rus Primary Chronicle, in summer (ca 861 - 862), the people of Veliky Novgorod (Novgorod the Great at 58:31:30N/31:16:30E) gathered on the central square and pledged:

"Let us seek a prince, who may rule

And judge us according to customary laws,

And who can bring peace to us."

The strongest and bravest warriors-messengers were selected. The fearless native fighters boarded a special seaworthy boat called ladya and left the northern city of Veliky Novgorod. Their journey was expected long and dangerous across lakes and down the rivers to the southwest, into the Baltic Sea, and then, crossing that cold turbulent sea to reach the Sweden shores. The messengers were looking specifically only for one man by the name of Rurik (Old Norse: Hrorekr.) He was a chieftain-Viking (Swedish: vikingar) of the Eastern Baltic coastal territory called Roslagen. The Viking population of Scandinavia those days was organized in a chieftain-clan society. In early centuries, several chieftains or warlords ruled their separate regions. Each chieftain possessed his individual domain without any control or influence from central government.

All inhabitants of the southeastern Swedish province were called the Rospiggs, and the Ros, or Rus, or Ruotsi (Finnish name for Sweden), and Rootsi, which meaning derived from the Old Norse term for rowing men. The rowing had been the main way of travel, by navigating the rivers and sea along and around the Swedish eastern coastal area in early centuries. The Rus people under the chieftain Rurik and his two brothers, Truvor and Sineus, controlled the whole southeastern area of the Baltic Sea along the Sweden coast and further to the east. And for time to time, they would cross the sea towards the east, assaulting the inhabitants along the eastern Baltic coast. The Swedish Ros raiders were called as the Varangians (Old Norse: Væringjar.) The messengers of Velikiy Novgorod had found the chieftain Rurik and probably were successful in their negotiations. A strong Swedish Viking warrior was ready to come and bring the law and peace into the unknown and untamed world.

2

Arrival of the Vikings

The spectacular Viking longships with dragonheads slowly approached the open shores (ca 862 - 863). It was a special request by the Vikings, and they selected such a low-shore spot void of greenery that to evade a possible ambush. Those types of Viking longships were called "the knarr" or snekkja or snekke, which in the Old Norse meant ‘thin and projecting’ and some people called those as "Drakarr – dragonship". (History: In the old language of Archangelsk Pomors, who were most likely the Scandinavian descendants, it called ‘shnyaka’, which is still in use on the shores of the White Sea around Archangelsk city and the Peninsular Onega coast). The ships were used mostly in warfare and could carry 40 - 50 fighters each. Rurik brought only a limited number of fighters to get enough space for extra weapons and provision. The Vikings approached the shores on full alert with the warriors ready for the unexpected, standing and holding their huge shields high along the boards and shielding themselves from the anticipated arrow attacks. It has been the typical Viking’s tactic when traveling the Scandinavian fjords or European shores or visiting their friends, which were very rare and unreliable in that life.

Image%203.jpg

Invitation of Varangians. (by Russian

painter V.M. Vasnetsov, ca 1900)

(Rurik is standing between his two brothers. The painting clearly displays a state of alert of the Vikings on the shores; they don’t disembark all at once and the man behind the brothers stays vigilant, as well the Rurik’s brothers, watching around with suspicion, and Rurik is holding his axe ready to use it.)

3

Rurik’s peace and order

Rurik with his brothers, Truvor and Sineus, who were called by the aboriginal people "the Rus", had settled around the town of Veliky Novgorod but in different areas, spreading the forces and controlling the large territories of impassable forests and lakes. Rurik built up his first stronghold not far of Veliky Novgorod (58:31N/31:16E). Sineus took up residency in the territory of Beloozero, northeast of Novgorod, and Truvor got Izborsk, west of Novgorod. The Swedish Vikings always resided in separate fortified bastions and didn’t associate closely with the aboriginals. They have never trusted the people around them and watched the natives with a sneaking suspicion all the time. Therefore, the Rurik’s first residence was located outside of Veliky Novgorod, in Old Ladoga, as stated in the Hypatian Chronicle.

With time, after enhancing the power and with new troops arriving from Sweden, Rurik moved his base closer to the outskirts of Veliky Novgorod. A strong fortification of Holmgård, girded by high embankments and deep ditches, was built not in the upper region of the Volkhov River. The prominent Swedish chieftain, Rurik, became a sole ruler of the vast territory and a progenitor of the Rurik Dynasty in this part of the world for the next seven centuries. He had planted the lasting Viking Tree, and his countrymen settled in that inhospitable dangerous country to look after and grow the tree and make a new unique history of the Eastern Empire under the name of Kyivan Rus. The Vikings did it for good and for bad fortune of that exceptional savage world.

Sweden Vikings acted in accordance with their laws and intellect and very often with painful outcome to the aboriginals. The people got very soon what they were looking for, when delegating their messengers to negotiate with Rurik about the peace and order. The local neighboring clans and their chieftains understood the name of a new ruthless game and submitted to the higher military power and intellect of the Vikings. The new rulers were the wise masters of barbarian souls. They inevitably punished any culprit without compromise and leniency, but always according to the established and agreed with the local chieftains’ regulations, which called by one unknown word in that country – The Justice, and which has always associated with one well-known for them word and outcome - The Punishment. The Viking’s justice had appeared in that heathen world first time, but it had never been at home, and only a sword continued to be a supreme ruler, identifying the present and foretelling the future of the country.

4

Rurik’s bequest

After the Vikings had firmly settled in the land and subdued all warring tribes, Rurik resolved stepping aside. He summoned his close associate, Viking warrior Oleg (Old Norse: Helgi or Hailaga - dedicated to the gods), and asked him to look after his young son, Igor (Old Norse: Ingvar), and to assume the command of the Eastviking troops. The history left in obscurity the reason why he did it and what happened to him afterwards. Most likely he had returned to more peaceful lifestyle in his loving Rosland-Friesland that to grow vegetables and brew his favored strong bitter-flavor ale and nurture his farm animals (ca 873). Why Rurik didn’t take the son with him and left the child in that northern estranged world? Probably, the Varangian warrior envisaged the future and thought about the destiny of his great dynasty and name in that desolate murky land.

Rurik’s imagination was extended onward for seven centuries, however, he couldn’t foresee or imagine for a moment the immensity and tragedy of the upcoming events, in which his descendants would play historically great roles and, as well, less heroic reprehensible characters and even the slaves. Rurik bequeathed that new northeastern realm with his son, who was very young, to Oleg-Helgi, a strong Swedish Viking warrior. And the choice was faultless. Oleg clearly perceived his task and mission with great dedication – to build up an empire in one special spot, which Rurik and he had already identified.

It was down there, at the south. Almost fifteen years ago (ca 866 - 867), the two powerful Viking warriors, Askold (Oskold) and Dir, had established a strong city-fortress on the shores of the Dnieper River in Kyiv (50:27N/ 30:31E) and began reigning in this part of Eastern Europe. The first time, arriving by the Dnieper River to Kyiv, the Viking strong company sailed down the river and across the Black Sea to Constantinople. The Norsemen came unexpectedly and overpowered the Greek Byzantine army and took great wealth and became the richest Vikings in this part of the world, living from the bountiful produce of surrounding nature and the benefits of lucrative trade with the Byzantine Empire and other countries. Being satisfied with their life and deeds, the princes almost forget about their masters Rurik and Oleg, who sent them down the river to the Black Sea.

Oleg was going to reinstate the justice. He assembled a formidable military force, the first time such large and organized in that northern country (ca 881 - 882), and moved the southward from the murky country of northern forests and cold lakes. Very soon the whole territory to the northeast of the city of Kyiv was taken under full Viking’s control. The first part of the military campaign has been successfully accomplished according to the Oleg’s plan, which major task was to get Kyiv-city at the southwest, the Varangians called Kyivan lands as Garðaríki-Gardariki. Oleg was jealous and resentful that his two countrymen were living such luxurious, peaceful life in time when their northern countrymen suffered, engaging in constant battles with aboriginal tribes.

But not only the wealth and prestige of the Kyivan princes was the reason for animosity. In time Askold (In Old Norse: Oskold or Haskuldr) and Dir stationed in Constantinople, they accepted the Christianity and were baptized. Probably it wasn’t very hard for them, as pagans, having many gods, and it was no problem for them to accept the Christian god alongside their own. That time very active Christianization has already been going on in Scandinavian countries, and the belligerent Vikings were often coming into contacts with Christianity through their constant raids in Europe and, in such a way, adopting a new religion. However, such an argument wasn’t made for the real pagan and strong Viking warrior, dedicated to his gods - Hailaga. His former associate-warriors became his worst enemies. (History: According to some chronicles, Askold got a Christian name – Nicolas.)

The master of deception, as Oleg has always been, did his military trick. The strongest warriors, covered with sail canvas, hid in the boats, holding their swords ready. The boats rowed to the foot of a prominent hill, called the Hungarian hill, on the right shore of the Dnieper River. The watchmen on the shore saw the boats with peaceful merchants in and sent for Askold and Dir. Oleg disembarked at the foot of the hill and walked out with Rurik’s son, young boy Ingvar-Igor. Askold and Dir came straightway down the slope without their guards and heartily welcomed the travelers as members of their own Viking race. At first, Oleg represented himself as a merchant-stranger on his way to the southern countries on an errand for the northern prince and the prince’s son, Igor, who was just a five-year-old boy.

The hospitality was a fatal mistake with a deadly verdict. The Vikings jumped out of the knarrs and surrounded the princes. As recorded in the Kyivan Nestor’s Chronicle, Oleg said to Askold and Dir, "You are not princes, not even of princely stock, but I am of a princely birth."

(History: Oleg lied. According to the old Scandinavian scripts and sagas The Tale of Ragnar’s Sons, Askold was the son of Hvitserk and the grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok (Old North: Lothbrok, Loðbrók), a famed Scandinavian king of Denmark. Hvitserk was a noble Viking, who attempted to unite the warring chieftains of Sweden. Not many liked it and the son was chosen to pay for this.)

Oleg brought Igor before Askold and Dir and announced that the child was the son of Rurik and from now on he became an actual ruler of Kyiv and the whole land around. The warriors killed Askold and Dir right away and carried their bodies up the hill and buried them upslope. Some historians speculated that Dir was buried later on separately in monastery. The burial spot of Askold under the name of the Askold’s grave is still there, on the same hill on the right banks of Dnieper River, almost in the center of Kyiv, not far from the European Square.

Image%204.jpg

Askold’s memorial in Kyiv (2019)

5

The birth of Kyivan Rus

That moment of the 9th century, the turbulent Eastviking Empire - Kyivan Rus was born (ca 882 - 884). The largest city in this part of the world, Kyiv, was taken by deception. The first Varangian rulers of Kyiv, Askold and Dir, were killed. For this country of the Slavic Polans, it was a drastic transition from the previous more or less peaceful life towards the continuous warfare throughout the centuries to come. The new ruler brought the Viking warriors and northeastern forest fighters to this land and introduced a completely new aggressive lifestyle. Kyivan Rus had emerged as the first eastern Scandinavian - Slavic state.

Oleg had amassed a large army comprised of troops predominantly from the northern forest dwellers, who were numerous in the vast territories around the city of Smolensk, Veliky Novgorod and from the Ladoga Lake shores. The peaceful pastoral land around Kyiv was about to change and transform into battlefields. The strong leader saw the future not in the seeded fields, but on the battlegrounds. In that historical moment he said the famous words, "This city of Kyiv should be called the mother of all cities of our Rus Empire forever." Oleg thought that the name equaled to his own land, and not less, should distinguish his kingdom. It was called accordingly - Kyivan Rus. Through the next 10 - 11th centuries, the term of Slavs-Polans had virtually been eradicated out of use and exchanged for the Swedish-Scandinavian name of Rus.

Oleg quickly united and subdued all territories around the city of Kyiv and to the north and east, which became the tributaries of Kyivan Rus. Exactly that time the first Kyivan Rus currency has been introduced, and the tributes were calculated mostly in a monetary value called the hryvnia (Ukrainian: hryvna), which was used to denote at first copper and then silver ingots of a certain weight (usually around 150gr). This word derived from an old Slavic word "griva with the meaning of mane, which was used to denote valuable jewelry made of silver or gold. Probably, the meaning of the word hryvnia – neck jewelry was complemented with meaning monetary unit" due to the widespread tradition of making neck jewelry out of coins. From the 10th century, the Kyivan Rus tax collectors were coming to the northern and eastern territories, up to Ladoga Lake, Veliky Novgorod, Smolensk and brining the dues to Kyiv.

(History: Then, three centuries later, a new currency of ruble appeared in Kyivan Rus, in its renegade northeastern principalities of Russia. It was denominated as former silver hryvnia cut in half. Hryvnia again became the currency of modern-day Ukraine almost 1100 years later, in1996.)

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Foundation of Empire

882 - 978

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"The coffers of the weaklings belong to the brave warriors."

Helgi-Oleg-Viking; Kyiv Chronicles

Oleg was not satisfied with his bounteous Kyivan properties and rich tributes from the vast territories. At the south, he saw the prolific country-empire and its capital city of Constantinople (Tsar City) and thought taking it. It was the largest army of all times, drifting down the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, and the thousands of mounted troops were moving along the western shores of the sea. They all were looking at Constantinople. The army crossed the lands of Moldova, Transylvania and Bulgaria with violence and cruelty, invading into the advanced Greek civilization of those days. As it was written in the chronicles, the emperor Leon-Philosopher in Constantinople was busy with his cultural events and science-astrology. The ruler was writing his historical books in time the illiterate barbarians were closing at him and his country. Kyivan chronicler Nestor depicted the cruelty of the Rus in that land, where the warriors tormented their captives and swam in the human blood and threw the people into the sea. It was exactly what the Eurasian steppe nomads of Scythians and Attila’s Huns would do in the past. Constantinople fell and Oleg with his ruthless Rus-Vikings got a huge ransom of twelve hryvnias for each his warrior and extra dues for all other large cities of Kyivan Rus (Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Rostov and a few others). The Kyivan chroniclers named that war as the glorious and luckiest Oleg’s army incursion. The luckiest historical lesson, as an example, has been set up to follow up for the glory of the next coming warriors, who were going to expand the Kyivan Rus Empire.

6

Igor Rurikovich & princess Olga

Oleg passed away in 914, and as some Rus legends said - from a snake bite at a graveyard, while visiting the burial site of his beloved horse:

"The serpent was hissing, while squirming from bones.

As black ribbon coiled it around the legs,

And screamed of the poisonous bite prince-Oleg."

(The Song of Prince Oleg. A.S. Pushkin, 1822)

Rurik’s son, Igor, had finally ascended to the throne, which he coveted for a long time, but didn’t like challenging his mighty regent-teacher. The Oleg’s military lessons became the greatest assets for the young prince. He was ready and eager to launch his wars and moved westward. The European nations, terrorized by the Rus, detested and called the invaders as the northern barbarians, and such a name became notorious forever. Very soon the western countries had united and resisted strongly and pushed Igor and his army from the territories of Moldavia, northern shores of the Black Sea, Romania and Northern Greece. Igor-warrior remained warmongering and restless all the time. In 945, he had again assembled the troops and marched to the north, collecting extra dues from the forest tribes of his country, called the Drevlians (those who live in the woods). There, right in the forest, the frustrated, angry hunters and the peasants killed the greedy prince.

Igor’s wife, Olga, assumed the power. She was a regent before her infant son, Sviatoslav, was ready to step in. This woman of a Scandinavian origin (Old Norse: Helga) was strong and resolute. In her first ruling action, she mercilessly revenged the assassination of her husband. In a short time, she had subdued the enemy and destroyed, burned many villages on the north and east. Olga’s governing actions were highly rational and queenly. And she was first in that heathen world to realize that the confused and aggressive aboriginal populations were lacking a true belief in god. Olga heard about Christianity in the south, in the Byzantine Empire and Greece. She sailed to Constantinople and was baptized, taking Christian name of Yelena (Helena) in 957.

But the celebrated lonely woman couldn’t propagate the Christianity over a violent pagan country. She was already nearly 60 years old and her only son, Sviatoslav at the young age of fourteen-fifteen years and already a strong warrior, was reluctant to accept the mother’s faith. That country was infected with paganism and the son was a stalwart infidel. He ridiculed his mother by saying - "Do you want me to accept a new law that all my druzhina-army will be laughing at me?" The young prince was not only an innocent witless laughter, but also a vicious stalwart idolater. When the mother invited the Christian missionaries (from Germany) to Kyiv, Sviatoslav chose a convenient moment and ruthlessly slew them. In history, Olga left her legacy in three distinct nominations, as she was called – shrewd, tricky and saint. Olga died in 969.

7

Building up Kyivan Rus Empire

The Olga’s son, Sviatoslav Igorevich, was brave, but without the mother’s regal intelligent qualities, which he had successfully compensated with his strategic military skill. If the previous Kyivan chieftains sought the battles only as a chance to get more spoils from the neighbors, Sviatoslav would go after the far distant territories-trophies and not only for the sake of the booty. He was the first Kyivan Rus prince, expanding Kyivan Rus to the dimensions of a real empire, to the east and south. Right upon his accession to the throne (ca 964), Sviatoslav began campaigning towards the east to secure his control around the Volga River territories and the southern Pontic Steppes, the grassy plains along the northern shores of the Black Sea. The valorous distinction of the prince was his famous advance warning, when coming against his opponents - "I’m coming at you!"

The Sviatoslav’s greatest victory came on the shores of the Volga River in the fight with the mighty Khazarian kings. The Sviatoslav’s Rus druzhina-army went on and destroyed that highly developed human civilization, which existed centuries before Kyivan Rus. The medieval kingdom extended far along the Volga River and down south to the Caspian Sea and from there, to the Black Sea. In those early centuries, the Khazaria was the first civilized ancient eastern state with the dimensions of an empire. On that early historical scene, the Rus warriors had demonstrated themselves as the true invaders-barbarians, coming and destroying the highly cultured human world around them. On that way, the very first victim became the tribes of vyatichi-viatichi (in the future – the predominant Russian population in that central area) and then, Volga Bulgaria settled with variety of Finnic and Ugrian peoples. It was a great military success for the Rus prince.

Then, he looked at the south, moving to the Khazarian capital city of Atil (History: The ancient name of the Volga River was the Khazarian name – Atil or large river), which was on the right shores of the Volga delta, at the northwestern corner of the Caspian Sea. The city was sacked and ruined. After this, Sviatoslav advanced into the Crimean Peninsula and attacked many ancient cities such as Kerch, Feodosia and the settlements around, which had been settled by Greeks a long time ago and then possessed by the Khazars. Sviatoslav captured the Khazar’s wonderful white city-fortress of Sarkel on the left banks of the Don River and ruined it (ca 965.) Many historians were too critical and unjust when talking about Sviatoslav’s governing weakness. Nobody before him had achieved such solid victories, which enlarged the country of Kyivan Rus with new tributaries on the east and south, expanding it to the dimensions of a true empire.

8

First partition of Kyivan Rus

Prince Sviatoslav considered splitting the Kyivan Rus territory into separate hereditary holdings, which he bequeathed to his two sons – Yaropolk and Oleg. His third son, Vladimir, born out of wedlock, was sent farther away from Kyiv to the remote north, to Veliky Novgorod. The first division of the country was direful and augury. It set forth a historical precedent, which was going to play a tragic role in the Kyivan Rus history for the next centuries. During Sviatoslav’s last invasion into Greece and Bulgaria, he was badly beaten. His army was completely routed. Sviatoslav was 30 years of age when on his returning voyage to Kyiv with a small regiment he was intercepted by steppe nomads, the Pechenegs, and killed at the site of the River Dnieper rapids (ca 972). (History: Today it’s the site of a hydroelectric power station near the city of Zaporozhia in Ukraine.)

After Sviatoslav’s demise, the first unprecedented bloody internecine struggle in Kyivan Rus took place. What the father thought as would have been the benefit for his sons had turned into a historical woeful legacy of this country. The teenage sons suddenly became the unrestricted owners of huge hereditary allotments. They were too young to rule or care about the country or consider their actions as responsible rulers. Prince Yaropolk was an older son and, therefore, according to the Kyivan Rus hereditary law, he became the ruling prince in Kyiv. He thought going to the north into Oleg’s territory with intention, as some chronicles put it - to talk to his brother about the unity of Kyivan Rus. But probably the ruling prince made a mistake, coming with a large army. Oleg became frightened and ran away from his stronghold. In the haste across the bridge, Oleg’s horse stumbled, and the prince was killed from an accidental fall. The other Sviatoslav’s son, Prince Vladimir of Veliky Novgorod, ran for his life as well. He crossed the Baltic Sea and asked the Swedish Vikings for protection. The Kyivan ruling prince, Yaropolk, thought that he had finally fixed his father’s mistake and united the country.

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Vladimir the Baptist

978 - 1015

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"Great God, who created the heaven and the earth!

Take care of these your new people.

And give them, God, to seeing you…"

Vladimir the Saint; Kyivan Chronicles; 988.

Prince Vladimir Sviatoslavich didn’t waste time overseas and was looking for the opportunities to come back with a strong Viking force to challenge his stepbrother. For nearly three years, being in the land of Rosland, he was assembling an army for the war in his native land. And there were a lot of such brave Varangian guys with swords, who were eager for coming and fighting. In 978, Vladimir landed with his army at Velikiy Novgorod and violently removed all officials from the city. Then, he went on with a personal vengeance, taking by force the brother’s Scandinavian bride, Rogneda (Old Norse: Ragnhild), and killing her famous Scandinavian family of the Rogvolds, the descendants of the old Varangian blood-kin. After that, he marched on Kyiv and took it without any fight, as Yaropolk didn’t wish to challenge the brother and voluntarily left Kyiv.

9

Prince Vladimir the Great

The unity of Kyivan Rus didn’t sustain for long. Prince Yaropolk and many others in this country did know nothing about the outstanding faculties of Prince Vladimir destined to stay in history with the celebrated names of the Great and the Baptist of Kyivan Rus. The man was a talented ruler and diplomat, and warrior. He took Kyiv and, being an arrogant and selfish man, didn’t wish sharing the power with anybody. The reasons for the ruthless and selfish behavior were probably hidden in the Vladimir’s special heredity. He was born to an aboriginal woman, Malusha; her ancestors used to lodge in the cave-dugouts near Kyiv and in the forests. According to some ancient chronicles, the girl was a servant of Prince Sviatoslav’s mother, Olga, in Kyiv. Vladimir was born out of wedlock, and he definitely didn’t experience any brotherly feelings towards Yaropolk, but only hated him and all others princely noble around him.

Prince Vladimir Sviatoslavich accumulated in his mentality all the wickedness and immorality of the Vikings from his father’s genes and the utmost barbarian savageness from his mother’s heritage. It nicely coexisted in the man’s vicious mental cauldron full of boiling vices, which were pushing him, both, towards the bad things and great deeds. He lured the brother Yaropolk from his stronghold (the city of Roden on the hill called Kniazha Hora, near the mouth of the Ros River, south of Kyiv) on the pretext of a brotherly friendly talk about the peace between them. When Yaropolk arrived to Kyiv, the mercenaries killed him. No doubt that Vladimir knew the bloody history and it has been deeply implanted in his Viking blood mixed with the special aboriginal ichors. He had staged almost the similar treacherous act that Oleg performed in Kyiv a century ago, killing Askold and Dir. The city of Kyiv fell to the feet of a killer the second time. The wily, ruthless, but wise and able prince came to power in Kyivan Rus (ca 978 - 979.)

10

The way to God

A very special mighty prince took the throne of Kyiv. Probably it was bad for all his rivals and to the Vikings as well. The man envisaged a new destiny for his empire. He acted unpredictably. In his further fight for the power, the prince reckoned more on the local ethnic groups instead of the Viking warriors. He sensed a predominant call of his native forest-cave ancestors and was endowed with the utmost vice of his hard-hearted forebears. He feverishly prayed to the pagan idol-god Perun (not Odin from Old Norse mythology - Óðinn,) and was regarded by the subjects as an avid follower. Then, one day, he woke up in the morning in his palace with a completely new idea. He thought about the future and his distraught soul, which needed of peace and repentance. No doubt, the best advice came from his grandmother, queenly Olga. It was her, who became a steadfast messenger of the Christ 30 years ago (of course, except Askold and Dir). And at the west, there were the Scandinavian countries; the Norwegian and Sweden Vikings experienced the similar circumstances, arriving at the threshold of exchanging their pagan gods and Óðinn with Thor for the Christianity.

But the choice of God, as it was recorded in chronicles, didn’t come straightforward. The Kyivan chronicler Nestor wrote some remarkable stories about Vladimir’s strive to figure out the best choice of the faith out of the following three major such around Kyivan Rus for that time – Islam, Jewish and Christian. Vladimir rejected the Islam because he regarded the male circumcision as not acceptable for the real heroic Viking warriors. But the main reason was in abstaining from alcohol, as Vladimir used to say, "Drinking is the joy for all Rus; we cannot exist without that pleasure." For the Jewish faith, the chronicles described Vladimir’s consulting with Jewish clerics, who probably came from the Khazarian land along the Volga River. Vladimir questioned them about their habits and religion. At the end, he had ultimately rejected it, saying that the loss of Jerusalem was the evidence that God had abandoned them. As the historians noted, Vladimir reproached the Jewish envoys with the exclamation - "And you, punished by your god, are highly impertinent to teach us? No, we don’t wish, as you, to be deprived of our fatherland." The arrogant self-confident prince could not foresee that his words were mystical-augury and his distant heirs would be deprived of their fatherland and even his, Vladimir’s, true faith.

Rejecting two major creeds around Kyivan Rus that time, Vladimir met a Greek philosopher, who read him the Old and New Testaments and told about the virtuous God’s court, in which the good will have a place in heaven for all guiltless. Prince was impressed and, as the chronicles said, exclaimed: "Gratefulness to the virtuous and anathema to the evildoing. The religious rituals in the Christian churches with songs and a golden altar and icons moved the prince. And he made a decisive choice when the Greek philosopher-clergyman told: Cross yourself and you’ll be first in Paradise." Now, the man had realized a simple way to get forgiveness for him and his subjects.

11

Christianization of Kyivan Rus

Prince Vladimir accepted the Christianity and consider his baptizing in a special sacred place. It was a historical site, the old city of Chersonesus of Crimea, located on the southwestern shore of the Crimean Peninsula. The city belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire and had been founded nearly a millennium ago. It had withstood a number of attacks by nomads and all kind of other rulers around (Bospor, Pontiac, Khazars, Turks). But it couldn’t hold out against one more opponent, coming from the north with a sword and looking for redemption of his sinful soul. Vladimir took the city by force and demanded from the Byzantine Emperor Vasyli II that his young sister, Anna, become his wife. The main condition and benefit for the Byzantine Empire was the end of war with Rus and help in suppressing the revolts of military in Byzantine.

Thus, the Grand Kyivan Prince Vladimir accepted a new religion and was baptized, assuming of the new Slavic-Christian name Vasyli, in the old city of Chersoneses on the southwestern shores of the Crimea Peninsular. He got married to princess Anna. For that moment, all Vladimir’s wives and many concubines were sent away or died. And Anna didn’t survive for long and died in 1011 at the age of 48 years.

(History: The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Bagrianorodniy, Anna’s grandfather, forewarned his children and heirs to avoid marriages with barbarian northern people and the Rus, naming them all as the Scynthians and impaired humans. But princess Anna was sacrificed, as a bargaining chip, in the name of peace with the northern barbarians. And she knew it and agreed, saying that she was going into her grueling custody, which was true.)

In July 988, the Grand Prince of Kyivan Rus Vladimir had introduced or rather forcefully imposed the Christianity upon the Rus people. In Kyiv, the warriors uprooted the wooden idols and the main one, Perun, from the ground and dragged those down the slopes into the Dnieper River. Vladimir ordered to erect a couple of large wooden crosses on the shores of the river and gathered a huge crowd of scared crying residents of Kyiv. Those people were all devoted pagans, kneeling before their great god Perun and the others less significant wooden-carved idols. Vladimir crossed himself and asked all people to do the same. Then, the guards pushed the crowd into the river for baptizing.

The Grand Kyivan Prince was ready for Christianity not only with his soul, but also with his mind and knowledge. The Greek philosopher, who read the Bible to Vladimir, was persuasive and the hearer was perceptive. The Prince considered performing the same sacred procedure what John the Baptist was doing, immersing his subjects into a deep river for baptizing. As in the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth was "coming up out of the water (Mk 1:10; NRSV). It has been a deeply symbolical omen for Kyiv and Kyivan Rus and its people, baptizing them in a deep basin as coming out of the water." And that sacred basin has been and will remain in the history of Kyivan Rus only one – the Dnieper River.

In the biblical times, John the Baptist was baptizing the people in the Jordan River, like on the border-margin of the two distinct shores, which separated two Testaments – the Old and the New one. Prince Vladimir, as well, performed a deeply symbolical biblical ritual of baptism on the right shores of the Dnieper River. In that moment, nobody could imagine that many centuries later, the very different baptism with fire and evil spirit was going to appear from the left shores, from the north and east. The Vladimir’s historical Christian symbols remained not only in the golden-cupola churches on those high hills. It has also been displayed in an allegoric sculpture of the Motherland Monument. (History: The Monument of 102m is standing on a high hill of the Dnieper River right shore. It was built in 1981 to commemorate the victory in WWII. The Motherland is looking across the Dnieper River, towards the northeast, and holding its shield and sword ready to meet the