Kievan Rus'

Main article: History of Russia

Northern Russia

Main article: Northern Russia

882: Oleg declares Kyiv "mother of Russian cities"

In 879, Rurik died and Oleg began to reign in Novgorod as the guardian of his young son Igor.

In 882, Oleg goes on a campaign to Kyiv. On the way, as the chronicler writes, Oleg "took possession" of two cities, putting his governors in them. These cities were not besieged and ruined. Smolensk is a city of Krivichs that occupied the upper Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga, part of the Neman basin and Lake Ilmen. Krivichi was among those who called for the reign of Rurik and was during the campaign in Oleg's army.

Lubech, which stood on the Dnieper somewhat higher from the confluence of the Pripyat, was a city of glades. Oleg did not want to rob these Russian lands and did not allow any of his soldiers. He only replaced the heads of local administrations.

In the same 882, Oleg came to Kyiv, killed the local rulers Askold and Dir and declared Kyiv the "mother of Russian cities," began to rule in it.

Building a stone fortress in Ladoga to protect against Viking robberies

In the last quarter of the 9th century. one of the first stone fortresses in Russia was built on the cape formed by the Volkhov and Ladozhka rivers. Judging by the fallen blocks, the initial height of its walls was at least 3 m with the same thickness. Whether it was erected by newcomers, perhaps Rhine, it is difficult to say, however, the goals of construction seem obvious. The stronghold ensured the safety of navigation, and the city itself. It was supposed to protect the townspeople primarily from the robber raids of the Vikings. This problem was solved successfully.

Only at the end of the X century. the Norwegian Jarl Eirik managed to destroy the fortress and burn the settlement of Ladoga, while part of the stone walls was simply overturned to the ground.

Excavation materials in Staraya Ladoga

Children were often given part of a parent's or grandfather's name

If you look closely at the names that parents endowed their children in those days, you can see that in the case of two-part names (such as Rurik, Rogvolod, Truvor, or, if we take Slavic names, Yaroslav, Vladimir, Svyatopolk), children were often endowed with part of the name of a parent or grandfather.

Then the choice of name by Prince Igor Rurikovich for his son becomes clear. The name Svyatoslav contains the root "glory," which is a literal translation into Slavic of the first part of the name of Father Igor - "Hród" - glory, in fact, the basis of the name "Hrórekr," that is, "Rurik."

922: Large Houses of Slave-Trading Varangians on the Middle Volga

In 922, the Arab traveler Ibn-Fadlan saw the buildings of the Varangians on the Middle Volga, similar to those discovered by archaeologists in Staraya Ladoga.

Rus merchants, Ibn-Fadlan writes, "dock their ships on the Itil River (Volga)... building large wood houses on its shore. And they gather in one such house ten or twenty, when more, when less. There, each of them has a long bench, on which he himself and the beautiful girls are located for sale. "

The number of people living in the house, called an Arab eyewitness, seems to correspond to the composition of the ship's crew engaged in trade in the waterways of Eastern Europe.

A whole batch of green beads found against the wall of such a house in Old Ladoga was obviously intended for sale. According to Ibn-Fadlan, it was green beads that were very appreciated in the East, and the Rus tried to decorate women with them.

Houses similar to Ladoga and described by Ibn-Fadlan could be built in trading cities and places located on the great river routes of Eastern Europe "from Varangians to Arabs" and "from Varangians to Greeks." They served as inns for merchants. Such houses were stayed by members of merchant ship teams who arrived to participate in fairs, or to wait out the winter, repairing ships, stocking up on local goods, along the way working out and making jewelry from amber, glass, bronze or brass.

Such houses were built by the ship's teams themselves where they needed stops. The central heated room in the house in Ladoga occupied an area of ​ ​ 104 square meters. m (8 x 13 m), and supplemented by a gallery around the perimeter of about 175 square meters. m - (10 x 17-17.5 m).

959: Princess Olga asks Otgon I to send Christian preachers and establish a bishopric in Kyiv

Main article: Adalbert Mission

In the summer or autumn of 959, that is, the next year after the breakdown of relations with the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Bagryanorodny, the princess sent ambassadors to Germany to King Otgon, whom she asked no less as the establishment of a bishopric in her country. Read more here.

963: Future King of Norway Olaf I Tryggvason spends his childhood and youth in Novgorod

Scandinavian sagas tell about how the future king of Norway, Olaf I Tryggvason, spent his childhood and youth in Novgorod. Olaf's mother, Astrid, fled from the killers of her husband Tryggvi Olafsson to Novgorod to King Waldemar (Vladimir), with whom her brother Sigurd served, but on the way she and her child were captured by robbers in Estonia. Sigurd, collecting tribute in Estonia at the behest of Vladimir, met by chance Olaf and bought him out of slavery. Olaf grew up under the auspices of Vladimir, was later taken into the squad, where he was popular among the soldiers.

964: Svyatoslav's campaign against the Khazars

976: The probable marriage of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich with Olava - daughter of the Swedish king Eric VI

The Scandinavian sagas mention that when Vladimir Svyatoslavovich reigned in Novgorod, he had a Varangian wife named Olava or Allogia. This unusual name is probably a feminine form from Olaf. According to Snorri Sturluson, the fugitive Olaf Tryggvason was sheltered by Allogia in her house; she also paid a hefty fine for him.

Several authoritative authors, notably Rydzewska ("Ancient Russia and Scandinavia in the 9th-14th Centuries," 1978), argue that later scalds mistook Vladimir's wife Olava as his grandmother and mentor Olga, and Allogia was a distorted form of the name Olga.

Others claim that Olava was a real person and mother of Vysheslav, the first of the sons of Vladimir, who was probably born in 977 and reigned in Novgorod, as befits the eldest son and heir. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the tradition of sending the eldest son of the Kyiv monarch to Novgorod existed in such early times.

Those scholars who believe that this Scandinavian wife was not fictional suggest that Vladimir may have married her during his famous exile to Scandinavia in the late 970s. They usually refer to a story from the "Ingvar Saga" (in a part called the "Eymund Saga"), which tells that King Eric VI of Sweden married his daughter to "a king of the fjord lying east of Holmgard." Perhaps this prince was Vladimir Veliky.

980: Reform of Vladimir's pagan beliefs with the rise of the god Perun

Main article: Religion in Russia

The worldview of the Eastern Slavs, who lived in a primitive communal system, was expressed in pagan beliefs. Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichs (as well as the Ugrufins who lived in Priilmenye) worshiped many gods who personified the elemental forces of nature: the deity of the sun - Wait for God, the god of fire - Svarog, the god of cattle - Veles, etc. With the development of feudal relations, pagan religion turned out to be unacceptable for the ruling class: it was not unified for the entire Old Russian state and did not reflect the new class structure of society.

Prince Vladimir tried to raise ancient folk beliefs to the level of state religion. In 980, a sanctuary with pagan idols of all Slavic tribes was created in Kyiv. The god Perun, the patron saint of the Kyiv squad nobility, dominated among them. The cult of Perun was also introduced in Novgorod.

Peryn - the capital of Perun near Novgorod

However, such an attempt to express the unity of Russia, the primacy of Kyiv in it and the dominance of the feudal elite failed. Undeveloped pagan beliefs no longer corresponded to the new level of industrial and social relations that had developed by this time in Kievan Rus.

997: The future ruler of Norway, Eirik Hakonarson, robs and burns Ladoga as a city of his enemies

In the spring of 997, Eirik Hakonarson made a predatory raid on Aldeigyuborg (Ladoga) and burned the city. This was atypical for the Scandinavians in Russia in comparison with their numerous robber raids in the West.

Excavations on Varyazhskaya Street (on the left bank of the Ladozhka River) established that "all the buildings of the II main horizon" and many of the buildings of the III "reveal traces of death in fire." The "poorly preserved tier XI" (after 980) on the Earthland settlement of Ladoga also dies in fire. Researchers attribute this destruction to the campaign of the Norwegian Jarl Eirik.

Prince Vladimir of Kyiv was the adoptive father, guardian of Olav Tryggvason, who in 995 seized power in Norway and Eirik Hakonarson was forced to flee to Sweden.

It is likely that Eric was driven by the desire to take revenge on Olav through the ruin of Vladimir's lands, given the shameful circumstances of the death of his father, Hakon the Mighty, who was hiding from Olav Tryggvason and promised to be his own slave at night in a pigsty.

Olav Tryggvason, who grew up in Novgorod and served with Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, was a relative of his first wife Olova, the mother of his first son Vysheslav. Upon reaching adulthood, Vysheslav became the prince of Novgorod.

Vladimir allocated inheritance to his former wives after a divorce from them, that is, no later than returning to Kyiv from foreign campaigns together with Princess Anna. Tin died shortly after the birth of her son. But Novgorod was intended for Vysheslav, as the first-born, in advance, and his relatives could receive land in the Principality of Novgorod.

The leader of the Varangians, Sigurd, who arrived in Russia in 980, was a generation older than Vladimir the Holy, and Olova should have been his or his daughter or niece. Olav Tryggvason she was a cousin or more distant relative. Vysheslav Olav was an even more distant relative. But these connections turned out to be enough to consider Ladoga the possession of the relatives of the Norwegian king and take revenge on its inhabitants. This, in turn, indirectly indicates the residence in Ladoga of Olova's relatives, just as later the Swedish relatives of Ingigerd, the wife of Yaroslav the Wise, lived in it.

In 997, Dobrynya was the Novgorod prince, who in 993 pacified a pagan rebellion in Novgorod. During the rebellion, Dobryni's wife died, which indicates the residence of his family in the city.

In 1000, Eirik Hakonarson attacked the fleet of Olaf Tryggvason, who died at this battle of Svolder. After the death of Olaf, Eirik became the ruler of Norway until 1014 together with his brother Sweyn and son Hakon as a vassal of Sven Viloborodogo, king of Denmark.

1000: A stream of silver coins from Central Asia from trade with Northern Europe along the Volga Route

Main article: Russian Foreign Trade

According to the calculation of the American numismatist T. Nunan, 125 million Islamic silver coins during the 10th century. were exported from Central Asia to Northern Europe (exports in weight terms amounted to 3750 kg of silver annually, which required the equivalent of 500,000 fur pelts of the highest quality). One can imagine the enormous volume and intensity of the movement of values, which were mainly transported then through Ladoga. Undoubtedly, residents of this key route ^[1] could not but participate in this international commerce.

Ring discovered in Old Ladoga

1019: The marriage of Yaroslav to Ingigerd, daughter of a Swedish king, to form a coalition against Poland in the struggle for the throne of Kyiv

Most fully, the story of the marriage of Yaroslav Vladimirovich and Ingigerd (daughter of the Swedish king Olav Eiriksson, who ruled from 995 to 1022, and probably the vendka Astrid) is presented by Snorri Sturluson. For more details see Leningrad Oblast

1031: The future King of Norway Harald III the Harsh enters the service of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv

The future king of Norway, Harald III the Harsh, at the age of 16, formed a military detachment of those who, like him, were forced to leave the country as a result of the death of Olav II, and in 1031 arrived in Kyiv with the detachment, where he entered the service of Yaroslav the Wise.

In 1031-1034, Harald, together with Eiliv Regnvaldson, the son of Jarl (posadnik) Aldeygyborg (Ladoga) Rögnvald Ulvsson, takes part in Yaroslav's campaign against the Poles and, according to the Scandinavian sagas, is the co-leader of the army.

1043: Vladimir Yaroslavich and Harald's campaign against Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh

In 1043, Yaroslav the Wise, "for the murder of one famous Russian in Tsaregrad" (in Constantinople), sent his son, Prince Vladimir of Novgorod, together with Harald Harsh (the future king of Norway) on a campaign against Emperor Konstantin Monomakh. The campaign ended with a peace concluded in 1046.

1044: Future King of Norway Harald the Harsh marries Elizabeth - daughter of Yaroslav the Wise

In the winter of 1043/1044, Harald became the son-in-law of Yaroslav the Wise, taking as his wife Elizabeth Yaroslavna (Ellisif in the sagas), from whom he had two daughters - Maria and Ingigerd. Although Harald was a Christian, in 1048 he took as concubine Torah, the daughter of Jarl Torberg Arnason, who gave birth to the future Norwegian kings Magnus II and Olav III Tikhy.

1074: Vladimir Monomakh marries daughter of English king Harald II

Guide is the daughter of the last ruling Anglo-Saxon king Harald II, who died during the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066. In accordance with the hypothesis of A.V. Nazarenko, in Russia, Guide Kharaldovna adopted, according to the custom of that time, the Orthodox name Anna [Nazarenko 1993a: 77, note. 79]. Gida was married by Vladimir, son of Yaroslav the Wise, but as S.H. Cross rightly noted, chronological considerations make one think that it was not Yaroslav the Wise's son but grandson, Vladimir Monomakh, born in 1053, then Prince of Smolensk and later in 1113-1125, Grand Prince of Kyiv [Cross 1929:182].

The dating adopted in science of the marriage of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh and the Guide - 1074/75 - relies only on the date of birth of their eldest son Mstislav Veliky - February 1076 [PSRL. T. 2. Stb.190; Kuchkin 1971: 24-25]. Taking into account the participation of the Danish king Sven Estridsen in the conclusion of this marriage, noted by Saxon Grammatik, as well as the simultaneous German-Chernigov and German-Danish negotiations in the early 1070s, A.V. Nazarenko sees this marriage as "manifestation of a coordinated international policy" of the younger brothers Izyaslav of Kyiv - Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod Pereyaslavsky, father of Vladimir Monomakh, - "in 1069-1072, aimed at isolating the Polish prince Boleslav II, the main ally of Izyaslav Yaroslavich." Accordingly, he relates the time of marriage to the period between 1072 and 1074 [Nazarenko 1984: 187-188].

Guida died in the late 1090s. Through her son Mstislav Veliky, she was the ancestor of the Danish king Valdemar I and his descendants, as well as Queen of England Philippa Gennegau and King Edward III of England, and therefore all subsequent English and British monarchs.

1095: Mstislav Vladimirovich marries Christine, daughter of the Swedish king

Around 1095, the son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav Vladimirovich marries Christine, daughter of the Swedish king Inga Steinkelsson (c. 1084 - c. 1100).

Daughter of Mstislav, known from Scandinavian sources as Malmfried. She was (probably from 1111) the wife of the Norwegian king Sigurd the Crusader (1103-1130), and three years after his death, in 1133, Eirik Eymun. V.T. Pashuto believes that in the first third of the XI century. "Kiev and Novgorod should have had political ties Norway with and with, Denmark if only because Malfrid Mstislavna, when in 1111 she was in Schleswig near Jarl Eilif, married Sigurd I, the son of the Norwegian king Magnus III, returning from the crusade; widowed (1130), she became the wife of the Danish king Eric Emun (1134-1137), who took refuge in Norway after the death of his father, Danish king Eric III the Good "[Paschuto 1968:146].

The daughter of Sigurd the Crusader and Malmfried Mstislavna is named, as is the daughter of Inhibjörg Mstislavna, after their grandmother, the wife of Mstislav Vladimirovich, Kristin.

Inhibjörg Mstislavna, sister of Malmfrida Mstislavna, was married to Knuth Lavard - the son of the Danish king Eirik the Good (1095-1103), the Danish prince, the Bodritsky king in 1129-1131, who was killed in 1131 [Pashuto 1968:146].

1097: Congress in Lubech: refusal to move princes by seniority and a new principle: "Let everyone keep his homeland"

Established after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, the procedure for replacing princely tables was called "lestvichny" in modern historiography. The princes advanced alternately from table to table in accordance with their seniority. With the death of one of the princes, the movement of the lower ones to the step up took place. But, if one of the sons died before his parent and did not have time to visit his table, then his descendants lost their rights to this table and became "outcasts." On the one hand, this order prevented the isolation of the lands, since the princes constantly moved from one table to another, but on the other, generated constant conflicts between uncles and nephews.

In 1097, at the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, the next generation of princes gathered at a congress in Lubech, where a decision was made to end strife and a new principle was proclaimed: "let everyone keep his homeland." Thus, the process of creating regional dynasties was opened.

1131: The birth in Russia of the future King of Denmark Valdemar I, so named after his grandfather Vladimir Monomakh

V.T. Pashuto suggested that "the son of Ingebjörg (daughter of Mstislav Veliky) - the future Danish king Valdemar I (1157-1182) is so named, apparently, in honor of his grandfather, Monomakh" [Paschuto 1968:147; Lind 1990: 16]. According to the Knutling Saga, which in this particular case appears to J. Linda to be reliable [Lind 1990:16], Waldemar was born in Russia seven days after the murder in 1131 of his father and spent his early childhood there.

See also

• Northern Russia