The Rus'–Byzantine Treaty, between the

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...

and Igor I of Kiev, was concluded either in 944 or 945. It was a result of the Rus'-Byzantine War of 941 undertaken by

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

against

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Its provisions were less advantageous for the Rus' than those of the previous treaty, associated with the name of Igor's predecessor

Oleg Oleg (), Oleh (), or Aleh () is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine, and Belаrus. Origins ''Oleg'' derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "blessed". The feminine equival ...

. It was one of the earliest written sources of Kievan Rus' law. The text of the treaty, as preserved in the ''

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

'', contains agreements regarding the Rus' promise not to attack

Chersonesos Chersonesus, contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson (), was an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean Peninsula. Settlers from Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia established the colon ...

, a Byzantine exclave in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

(Article 8). The mouth of the

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

( Beloberezhye) was to be administered jointly, although the Rus' were forbidden to winter there and to oppress fishers from Chersonesos (Article 12). Article 2 of the treaty contains provisions on

maritime law Maritime law or admiralty law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between pri ...

. In order to distinguish peaceful merchants from raiders, each ship of the Rus' was to bear a charter of the Kievan prince, explaining how many people and how many ships would sail to Constantinople. Otherwise, the Rus' ships might be apprehended by the imperial authorities. The text also contains a list of Rus' plenipotentiaries (no fewer than fifty are named). The overwhelming majority have Norse names. One part of the Rus' envoys swear to their pagan gods, while another part invoke the name of the Christian God, indicating that a portion of the Rus' elite was Christianized. The total number of names is 76, among whom 12 belong to the

ruling family A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

, 11 to emissaries, 27 to other agents, and 26 to merchants. In the princely family, there are three Slavic names ''Svjatoslav'', son of prince Igor' (Ingvar) and ''Volodislav'' and ''Predslava'' (of unknown relation). The other members of the family have Norse names, i.e. Olga (''

Helga Helga (derived from Old Norse ''heilagr'' - "holy", "blessed") is a female name, used mainly in Scandinavia, German-speaking countries and the Low Countries (''Hege'', ''Helle'', ''Helge'', ''Helga'', ''Helka'' or ''Oili''). The name was in use ...

''), Akun ('' Hákon''), Sfanda (''Svanhildr''), Uleb ('' Óleifr''), etc. The emissaries also have Old Norse names except for three who have Finnish names. Olga has a representative by the Finnish name ''Iskusevi'', whereas Volodislav is represented by the Norse Uleb (''Óleifr''). Among the 27 agents there are some who have Finnish names, but none with Slavic, while among the 26 merchants there are three with Finnish names and two with Slavic.Melnikova, E.A. (2003) ''The Cultural Assimilation of the Varangians in Eastern Europe from the Point of View of Language and Literacy'' in Runica - Germ. - Mediavalia (heiz./n.) Rga-e 37, pp. 454-465

References

Sources

* Повесть временных лет, ч. 1–2, М.—Л., 1950. * Памятники русского права, в. 1, сост. А. А. Зимин, М., 1952 (библ.). {{DEFAULTSORT:Rus'-Byzantine Treaty 945 945 Treaties of the Byzantine Empire 10th-century treaties Byzantine Treaty 945 940s in the Byzantine Empire 10th century in Kievan Rus' Textual criticism of the Primary Chronicle Greece–Russia relations