HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rusʹ Khaganate ( be, Рускі каганат, ''Ruski kahanat'', russian: Русский каганат, ''Russkiy kaganat'', uk, Руський каганат, ''Ruśkyj kahanat''), is the name applied by some modern historians to a
polity A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of ...
postulated to have existed during a poorly documented period in the history of
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
in the 9th century AD. It was suggested that the Rusʹ Khaganate was a
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
, or a cluster of
city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
s, set up by a people called ''Rusʹ'' (characterised in all contemporary sources as
Norsemen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the ...
) somewhere in what is today
European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
as a chronological predecessor to the
Rurik Dynasty The Rurik dynasty ( be, Ру́рыкавічы, Rúrykavichy; russian: Рю́риковичи, Ryúrikovichi, ; uk, Рю́риковичі, Riúrykovychi, ; literally "sons/scions of Rurik"), also known as the Rurikid dynasty or Rurikids, was ...
and Kievan Rusʹ. The region's population at that time was composed of Slavic, Turkic,
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
, Finnic, Hungarian and Norse peoples. The region was also a place of operations for Varangians, eastern Scandinavian adventurers, merchants, and pirates.Franklin, Simon and Jonathan Shepard. ''The Emergence of Rus 750–1200.'' London: Longman, 1996. . pp. 33–36. The sparse contemporaneous sources refer to the leader or leaders of Rusʹ people at this time using the Old Turkic title ''
Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...
'', hence the suggested name of their polity. Some historians have criticised the concept of Rus Khaganate calling it a "historiographical phantom" and said that the society of 9th-century Rusʹ cannot be characterised as a state.


Documentary evidence

The title of "
Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...
" for a leader of some groups of
Rus' people The Rusʹ (Old East Slavic: Рѹсь; Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian: Русь; Old Norse: '' Garðar''; Greek: Ῥῶς, ''Rhos'') were a people in early medieval eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were or ...
is mentioned in several historical sources, most of them foreign texts dating from the 9th century, while three East Slavic sources date from the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest European reference related to the Rus' people ruled by a ''khagan'' comes from the Frankish ''
Annals of St. Bertin ''Annales Bertiniani'' (''Annals of Saint Bertin'') are late Carolingian, Frankish annals that were found in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, France, after which they are named. Their account is taken to cover the period 830-82, thus continu ...
'', which refer to a group of
Norsemen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the ...
who called themselves ''Rhos'' () and visited
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
around 838. Fearful of returning home via the
steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...
s, which would leave them vulnerable to attacks by the
Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
, these Rhos travelled through the
Frankish Empire Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
accompanied by
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...
s from the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
emperor
Theophilus Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...
. When questioned by the Frankish
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqu ...
at Ingelheim, they stated that their leader was known as ''chacanus'' (hypothesized to be either the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word for "Khagan" or a deformation of Scandinavian proper name ''Håkan''), that they lived far to the north, and that they were
Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...
(''comperit eos gentis esse sueonum'').'' Annales Bertiniani, a. 839'', (The Annals of St. Bertin). Ed. Georg Waitz, ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum.'' Hannoverae, 1883. pp. 19–20; Jones, Gwyn. ''A History of the Vikings.'' 2nd ed. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984. pp. 249–50. The scholarly consensus is that the
Rus' people The Rusʹ (Old East Slavic: Рѹсь; Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian: Русь; Old Norse: '' Garðar''; Greek: Ῥῶς, ''Rhos'') were a people in early medieval eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were or ...
originated in what is currently coastal eastern Sweden around the eighth century and that their name has the same origin as
Roslagen Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern p ...
in Sweden (with the older name being '' Roden''). According to the prevalent theory, the name ''Rus'', like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (''*Ruotsi''), is derived from an
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
term for "the men who row" (''rods-'') as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of
Roslagen Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern p ...
(''Rus-law'') or '' Roden'', as it was known in earlier times.Stefan Brink, "Who were the Vikings?", in
The Viking World
', ed. by Stefan Brink and Neil Price (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 4–10 (pp. 6–7).
The name ''Rus'' would then have the same origin as the Finnish and
Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...
names for Sweden: ''Ruotsi'' and ''Rootsi''. Thirty years later, in spring 871, the eastern and western emperors,
Basil I Basil I, called the Macedonian ( el, Βασίλειος ὁ Μακεδών, ''Basíleios ō Makedṓn'', 811 – 29 August 886), was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a lowly peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the ...
and Louis II, quarreled over control of
Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Ital ...
, which had been conquered from the Arabs by their joint forces. The Byzantine emperor sent an angry letter to his western counterpart, reprimanding him for usurping the title of emperor. He argued that the Frankish rulers are simple ''
reges The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 50 ...
'', while the imperial title properly applied only to the overlord of the Romans, that is, to Basil himself. He also pointed out that each nation has its own title for the supreme ruler: for instance, the title of ''chaganus'' is used by the overlords of the Avars,
Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
(''Gazari''), and "Northmen" (''Nortmanno''). To that, Louis replied that he was aware only of the Avar khagans, and had never heard of the khagans of the Khazars and Normans. The content of Basil's letter, now lost, is reconstructed from Louis's reply, quoted in full in the '' Salerno Chronicle'', and it indicates that at least one group of Scandinavians had a ruler who called himself "khagan".
Ahmad ibn Rustah Ahmad ibn Rustah Isfahani ( fa, احمد ابن رسته اصفهانی ''Aḥmad ibn Rusta Iṣfahānī''), more commonly known as Ibn Rustah (, also spelled ''Ibn Rusta'' and ''Ibn Ruste''), was a tenth-century Persian explorer and geographer ...
, a 10th-century
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
geographer from
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, wrote that the Rus' khagan ("khāqān rus") lived on an island in a lake. Constantine Zuckerman comments that Ibn Rustah, using the text of an anonymous account from the 870s, attempted to accurately convey the titles of all rulers described by its author, which makes his evidence all the more invaluable.Zuckerman, "Deux étapes" 96. Ibn Rustah mentions only two khagans in his treatise – those of Khazaria and Rus. A further near-contemporary reference to the Rus' comes from al-Yaqubi, who wrote in 889 or 890 that the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...
mountaineers, when besieged by the Arabs in 854, asked for help from the overlords (''sahib'') of al-Rum (Byzantium), Khazaria, and al- Saqaliba (Slavs). According to Zuckerman,
Ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
and other Arab authors often confused the terms Rus and Saqaliba when describing their raids to the Caspian Sea in the 9th and 10th centuries. But Ibn Khordādbeh's '' Book of Roads and Kingdoms'' does not mention the title of Khagan for the ruler of Rus'. '' Hudud al-Alam'', an anonymous Persian geography text written in the late 10th century, refers to the Rus' king as "Khāqān-i Rus". As the unknown author of ''Hudud al-Alam'' relied on numerous 9th-century sources, including Ibn Khordādbeh, it is possible that his reference to the Rus' Khagan was copied from earlier, pre-Rurikid texts, rather than reflecting contemporary political reality. Finally, the 11th century
Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...
geographer Abu Said Gardizi mentioned "khāqān-i rus" in his work ''Zayn al-Akhbār''. Like other Muslim geographers, Gardizi relied on traditions stemming from the 9th century."Rus", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam''.


Dating

Extant primary sources make it plausible that the title of ''khagan'' was applied to the rulers of the Rus' during a rather short period, roughly between their embassy to Constantinople (838) and Basil I's letter (871). All Byzantine sources after Basil I refer to the Rus' rulers as ''
archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...
s'' (Greek for "ruler"). The dating of the Khaganate's existence has been the subject of debates among scholars and remains unclear.
Paul Robert Magocsi Paul Robert Magocsi (born January 26, 1945 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980, and became ...
and
Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Har ...
date the foundation of the Khaganate to be around the year 830.Pritsak, ''Origin of Rus', passim.'' According to Magocsi, "A violent civil war took place during the 820s. ... The losers of the internal political struggle, known as Kabars, fled northward to the Varangian Rus' in the upper
Volga region The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European Russ ...
, near Rostov, and southward to the
Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
, who formerly had been loyal vassals of the
Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
. The presence of Kabar political refugees from Khazaria among the Varangian traders in Rostov helped to raise the latter's prestige, with the consequence that by the 830s a new power center known as the Rus' Kaganate had come into existence." Whatever the accuracy of such estimates may be, there are no primary sources mentioning the Rus' or its khagans prior to the 830s.
Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Har ...
noted that the leader of those Kabars was
Khan-Tuvan Khan-Tuvan Dyggvi, according to Omeljan Pritsak, was the name of a Khazar khagan of the mid 830s. He led a rebellion of the Kabars against the Khagan Bek. As this rebellion took place roughly contemporaneously with the conversion of the Khazars to ...
.Pritsak, ''Origins of Rus' ''1:28, 171, 182. Equally contentious has been the discussion about the date of the khaganate's disintegration. The title of Khagan is not mentioned in the Rus'-Byzantine treaties (
907 __NOTOC__ Year 907 ( CMVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Rus'–Byzantine War: Varangian prince Oleg of Novgorod leads the K ...
,
911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...
, 944), or in ''
De Ceremoniis The ''De Ceremoniis'' (fully ''De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae'') is the conventional Latin name for a Greek book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople. Its Greek title is often cited as ("Explanation of ...
'', a record of court ceremonials meticulously documenting the titles of foreign rulers, when it deals with
Olga Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia, ...
's reception at the court of
Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe ...
in 945. Moreover,
ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of his ...
, in his detailed account of the Rus (922), designated their supreme ruler as ''malik'' ("king"). From this fact, Peter Golden concluded via an
argumentum ex silentio To make an argument from silence ( Latin: ''argumentum ex silentio'') is to express a conclusion that is based on the absence of statements in historical documents, rather than their presence.John Lange, ''The Argument from Silence'', History and ...
that the khaganate collapsed at some point between 871 and 922. Zuckerman, meanwhile, argues that the absence of the title "khagan" from the first Russo-Byzantine Treaty proves that the khaganate had vanished by 911.


Location

The location of the khaganate has been actively disputed since the early 20th century. According to one fringe theory, the Rus' khagan resided somewhere in Scandinavia or even as far west as Walcheren. In stark contrast,
George Vernadsky George Vernadsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Влади́мирович Верна́дский; August 20, 1887 – June 12, 1973) was a Russian Empire-born American historian and an author of numerous books on Russian history. European years ...
believed that the khagan had his headquarters in the eastern part of the
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
or in the Taman Peninsula and that the island described by Ibn Rustah was most likely situated in the estuary of the
Kuban River The Kuban; Circassian: Псыжъ, ''Psyẑ'' or Псыжь, ''Psyź'' ; abq, Къвбина, ''Q̇vbina'' ; Karachay–Balkar: Къобан, ''Qoban''; Nogai: Кобан, ''Qoban'') is a river in Russia that flows through the Western Cauca ...
.Vernadsky VII-4. Neither of these theories has won many adherents, as
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
s have uncovered no traces of a Slavic-Norse settlement in the Crimea region in the 9th century and there are no Norse sources documenting "khagans" in Scandinavia.
Soviet historiography Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union (USSR). In the USSR, the study of history was marked by restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Soviet historiography i ...
, as represented by
Boris Rybakov Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov (Russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Рыбако́в, 3 June 1908, Moscow – 27 December 2001) was a Soviet and Russian historian who personified the anti-Normanist vision of Russian history. He is th ...
and Lev Gumilev, advanced Kiev as the residence of the khagan, assuming that
Askold and Dir Askold and Dir (''Haskuldr'' or ''Hǫskuldr'' and ''Dyr'' or ''Djur'' in Old Norse; died in 882), mentioned in both the Primary Chronicle and the Nikon Chronicle, were the earliest known ''purportedly Norse'' rulers of Kiev. Primary Chronicle ...
were the only khagans recorded by name. Mikhail Artamonov became an adherent of the theory that Kiev was the seat of the Rus' Khaganate, and continued to hold this view into the 1990s. Western historians, however, have generally argued against this theory. There is no evidence of a Norse presence in Kiev prior to the 10th century. Troublesome is the absence of hoards of coins which would prove that the Dnieper trade route – the backbone of later
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas o ...
– was operating in the 9th century. Based on his examination of the archaeological evidence, Zuckerman concludes that Kiev originated as a
fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on the Khazar border with
Levedia Hungarian prehistory ( hu, magyar őstörténet) spans the period of history of the Hungarian people, or Magyars, which started with the separation of the Hungarian language from other Finno-Ugric or Ugric languages around , and ended with the ...
and that only after the
Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
departed for the west in 889 did the middle
Dnieper } The Dnieper () or 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. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
region start to progress economically. A number of historians, the first of whom was Vasily Bartold, have advocated a more northerly position for the khaganate. They have tended to emphasize ibn Rustah's report as the only historical clue to the location of the khagan's residence. Recent archaeological research, conducted by Anatoly Kirpichnikov and
Dmitry Machinsky Dmitry Alexeyevich Machinsky (russian: Дмитрий Алексеевич Мачинский, 1937 – 8 January 2012) was a Russian archaeologist. He lived in Saint Petersburg and worked in the Hermitage Museum. Machinsky is particularly we ...
, has raised the possibility that this polity was based on a group of settlements along the
Volkhov River The Volkhov (russian: Во́лхов) is a river in Novgorodsky and Chudovsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast and Kirishsky and Volkhovsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia. It connects Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga and form ...
, including Ladoga,
Lyubsha : ''For the Ukrainian military facility, see Lyubsha (air base).'' Lyubsha ( rus, Любша) is an archaeological site situated on the right bank of the Volkhov, about 1,500 metres downstream from Staraya Ladoga. As was determined by the 1997 exc ...
,
Duboviki Novyye Duboviki (russian: Новые Дубовики; literally: "New Oak Grove") is an archaeological site in Leningrad Oblast of Russia, located about south of Ladoga upstream the Volkhov River, at the head of the lower Volkhov rapids. In the ...
,
Alaborg Álaborg or Áluborg is the name of a Varangian fort mentioned in the Norse sagas about Halfdan Eysteinsson and Hrolf Ganger. The first saga indicates that it was possible to sail from Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga) to Alaborg northward by sea, but a mo ...
, and Holmgard. "Most of these were initially small sites, probably not much more than stations for re-fitting and resupply, providing an opportunity for exchange and the redistribution of items passing along the river and caravan routes". If the anonymous traveller quoted by ibn Rustah is to be believed, the Rus of the Khaganate period made extensive use of the Volga route to trade with the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, possibly through Bulgar and Khazar intermediaries. His description of the Rus' island suggests that their center was at
Holmgard Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
, an early medieval precursor of Novgorod whose name translates from
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
as "the river-island castle". The
First Novgorod Chronicle The Novgorod First Chronicle (russian: Новгородская первая летопись) or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the most ancient extant Old Russian chronicle of the Novgorodian Rus'. It reflects a tradition different ...
describes unrest in Novgorod before
Rurik Rurik (also Ryurik; orv, Рюрикъ, Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse '' Hrøríkʀ''; russian: Рюрик; died 879); be, Рурык, Ruryk was a semi-legendary Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 was invited to reign in Novgor ...
was invited to come to rule the region in the 860s. This account prompted
Johannes Brøndsted Johannes Balthasar Brøndsted (5 October 1890 - 16 November 1965) was a Danish archaeologist and prehistorian. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and director of the Danish National Museum. Biography Brøndsted was born at Gr ...
to assert that Holmgard-Novgorod was the khaganate's capital for several decades prior to the appearance of Rurik, including the time of the Byzantine embassy in 839. Machinsky accepts this theory but notes that, before the rise of Holmgard-Novgorod, the chief political and economic centre of the area was located at Aldeigja-Ladoga.


Origin

The origins of the Rus' Khaganate are unclear. The first Norse settlers of the region arrived in the lower basin of the
Volkhov River The Volkhov (russian: Во́лхов) is a river in Novgorodsky and Chudovsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast and Kirishsky and Volkhovsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia. It connects Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga and form ...
in the mid-8th century. The country comprising the present-day
Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ...
,
Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russi ...
,
Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluenc ...
, and Smolensk regions became known in
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
sources as " Garðaríki", the land of forts. Around 860, the Rus', a group of
Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
perhaps from Roden, Sweden, began to rule the area under their leader
Rurik Rurik (also Ryurik; orv, Рюрикъ, Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse '' Hrøríkʀ''; russian: Рюрик; died 879); be, Рурык, Ruryk was a semi-legendary Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 was invited to reign in Novgor ...
. Gradually, Norse warlords, known to the Turkic-speaking steppe peoples as "köl-beki" or "lake-princes", came to dominate some of the region's Finno-Ugric and Slavic peoples, particularly along the
Volga trade route In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea and the Sasanian Empire, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the ...
linking the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
with the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central A ...
and Serkland.
Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Har ...
speculated that a Khazar khagan named
Khan-Tuvan Khan-Tuvan Dyggvi, according to Omeljan Pritsak, was the name of a Khazar khagan of the mid 830s. He led a rebellion of the Kabars against the Khagan Bek. As this rebellion took place roughly contemporaneously with the conversion of the Khazars to ...
Dyggvi, exiled after losing a civil war, settled with his followers in the Norse-Slavic settlement of Rostov, married into the local Scandinavian nobility, and fathered the dynasty of the Rus' khagans. Zuckerman dismisses Pritsak's theory as untenable speculation, and no record of any Khazar khagan fleeing to find refuge among the Rus' exists in contemporaneous sources. Nevertheless, the possible Khazar connection to early Rus' monarchs is supported by the use of a stylized trident
tamga A tamga or tamgha (from otk, 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga, lit=stamp, seal; tr, damga; mn, tamga; ; ); an abstract seal or stamp used by Eurasian nomads and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, ...
, or seal, by later Rus' rulers such as
Sviatoslav I of Kiev ; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazars, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian E ...
; similar tamgas are found in ruins that are definitively Khazar in origin. The genealogical connection between the 9th-century Khagans of Rus' and the later
Rurikid The Rurik dynasty ( be, Ру́рыкавічы, Rúrykavichy; russian: Рю́риковичи, Ryúrikovichi, ; uk, Рю́риковичі, Riúrykovychi, ; literally "sons/scions of Rurik"), also known as the Rurikid dynasty or Rurikids, was ...
rulers, if any, is unknown at this time. Most historians agree that the title "khagan" was borrowed by the Rus from the Khazars, but there is considerable dispute over the circumstances of this borrowing.
Peter Benjamin Golden Peter Benjamin Golden (born 1941) is an American historian who is Professor Emeritus of History, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University. He has written many books and articles on Turkic and Central Asian Studies, such as ''An ...
presumes that the Rus' Khaganate was a puppet state set up by the Khazars in the basin of the
Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of it ...
to fend off recurring attacks of the
Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
. However, no source records that the Rus' of the 9th century were subjects of the Khazars. For foreign observers (such as Ibn Rustah), there was no material difference between the titles of the Khazar and Rus' rulers.Zuckerman, "Deux étapes".
Anatoly Novoseltsev Anatoly Petrovich Novoseltsev (Анатолий Петрович Новосельцев; 1933, Irkutsk – 1995) was a Russian orientalist who brought to light and translated into Russian a slew of obscure Persian and Arab documents relating to ...
hypothesizes that the adoption of the title "khagan" was designed to advertise the Rus' claims to equality with the Khazars. This theory is echoed by Thomas Noonan, who asserts that the Rus' leaders were loosely unified under the rule of one of the "sea-kings" in the early 9th century, and that this " High King" adopted the title "khagan" to give him legitimacy in the eyes of his subjects and neighboring states. According to this theory, the title was a sign that the bearers ruled under a divine mandate.


Government

Writing in 922, Ibn Fadlan described the Rus' ruler as having little real authority like the Khazar khagan. Instead, political and military power was wielded by a deputy, who "commands the troops, attacks
he Rus' ruler's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
enemies, and acts as his representative before his subjects."Christian 340–341, citing ibn Fadlan's ''Risala''. The supreme king of the Rus', on the other hand, "has no duties other than to make love to his slave girls, drink, and give himself up to pleasure." He was guarded by 400 men, "willing to die for him ... These 400 sit below the royal throne: a large and bejewelled platform which also accommodates the forty slave-girls of his harem." Ibn Fadlan wrote that the Rus' ruler would almost never leave his throne and even "when he wants to go riding his horse is led up to him, and on his return the horse is brought right up to the throne." Ibn Rustah, on the other hand, reported that the khagan was the ultimate authority in settling disputes between his subjects. His decisions, however, were not binding, so that if one of the disputants disagreed with the khagan's ruling, the dispute was then resolved in a battle, which took place "in the presence of the contestants' kin who stand with swords drawn; and the man who gets the better of the duel also gets the decision about the matter in dispute." The
dichotomy A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simul ...
between the relative powerlessness of the nominal ruler and the great authority of his subordinate reflects the structure of Khazar government, with
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
authority in the hands of a Khagan Bek only theoretically subordinate to the khagan, and it agrees with the traditional Germanic system, where there could be a division between the king and the military commander. Moreover, some scholars have noted similarities between this dual kingship and the postulated relationship between
Igor Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...
and Oleg of Kiev in the early 10th century (compare
Askold and Dir Askold and Dir (''Haskuldr'' or ''Hǫskuldr'' and ''Dyr'' or ''Djur'' in Old Norse; died in 882), mentioned in both the Primary Chronicle and the Nikon Chronicle, were the earliest known ''purportedly Norse'' rulers of Kiev. Primary Chronicle ...
in the 9th century). The institution of separate sacral ruler and military commander may be observed in the reconstructed relationship between Oleg and Igor, but whether this is part of the Rus' Khaganate's legacy to its successor-state is unknown. The early Kievan Rus' principalities exhibited certain distinctive characteristics in their government, military organization, and
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...
that were comparable to those in force among the Khazars and other steppe peoples; some historians believe that these elements came to Kievan Rus' from the Khazars by way of the earlier Rus' Khagans.


Decline and legacy

Soon after Patriarch Photius informed other Orthodox bishops about the Christianization of the Rus, all major settlements in North-Western Russia which could have been centres of the khaganate were destroyed by fire. Archaeologists found convincing evidence that Holmgard,
Aldeigja Staraya Ladoga (russian: Ста́рая Ла́дога, p=ˈstarəjə ˈladəɡə, lit=Old Ladoga), known as Ladoga until 1704, is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near ...
,
Alaborg Álaborg or Áluborg is the name of a Varangian fort mentioned in the Norse sagas about Halfdan Eysteinsson and Hrolf Ganger. The first saga indicates that it was possible to sail from Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga) to Alaborg northward by sea, but a mo ...
, and
Izborsk Izborsk (russian: Избо́рск; et, Irboska; vro, Irbosk, Irbuska, label=Seto) is a rural locality ( village) in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia. It contains one of the most ancient and impressive fortresses of Western Russia. T ...
were burnt to the ground in the 860s or 870s. Some of these settlements were permanently abandoned after the conflagration. The
Primary Chronicle The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
describes the uprising of the pagan Slavs and
Chudes Chud or Chude ( orv, чудь, in Finnic languages: tšuudi, čuđit) is a term historically applied in the early East Slavic annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia. Arguably, the ...
(Baltic Finns) against the Varangians, who had to withdraw overseas in 862. The
First Novgorod Chronicle The Novgorod First Chronicle (russian: Новгородская первая летопись) or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the most ancient extant Old Russian chronicle of the Novgorodian Rus'. It reflects a tradition different ...
, whose account of the events Shakhmatov considered more trustworthy, does not pinpoint the pre-Rurikid uprising to any specific date. The 16th century
Nikon Chronicle The ''Nikon Chronicle'' (russian: Никоновская летопись) is a compilation of Russian chronicles undertaken at the court of Ivan the Terrible in the mid-16th century. The compilation was named after Patriarch of Moscow and all ...
attributes the banishment of the Varangians from the country to
Vadim the Bold Vadim the Bold was a legendary chieftain of the Ilmen Slavs who led their struggle against Rurik and the Varangians in the 9th century. According to the Nikon Chronicle, a historic 16th-century Muscovite chronicle that covered events of 859–1520 ...
. The Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Braichevsky labelled Vadim's rebellion "a pagan reaction" against the Christianization of the Rus'. A period of unrest and anarchy followed, dated by Zuckerman to ca. 875–900. The absence of coin hoards from the 880s and 890s suggests that the Volga trade route ceased functioning, precipitating "the first
silver crisis Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical cond ...
in Europe". After this economic depression and period of political upheaval, the region experienced a resurgence beginning in around 900. Zuckerman associates this recovery with the arrival of
Rurik Rurik (also Ryurik; orv, Рюрикъ, Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse '' Hrøríkʀ''; russian: Рюрик; died 879); be, Рурык, Ruryk was a semi-legendary Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 was invited to reign in Novgor ...
and his men, who turned their attention from the Volga to the Dnieper, for reasons as yet uncertain. The Scandinavian settlements in Ladoga and Novgorod revived and started to grow rapidly. During the first decade of the 10th century, a large trade outpost was formed on the
Dnieper } The Dnieper () or 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. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
in Gnezdovo, near modern
Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...
. Another Dnieper settlement, Kiev, developed into an important urban centre roughly in the same period. The fate of the Rus' Khaganate, and the process by which it either evolved into or was consumed by the Rurikid Kievan Rus', is unclear. The Kievans seem to have had a very vague notion about the existence of the khaganate. Slavonic sources do not mention either the Christianization of the Rus in the 860s nor the Paphlagonian expedition of the 830s. The account of the Rus' expedition against Constantinople in the 860s was borrowed by the authors of the Primary Chronicle from Greek sources, suggesting the absence of a
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
written tradition.Franklin and Shepard, 53.


See also

*
Arsania Arthania ( ar, ارثانية ''’Arṯāniya'', russian: Арcания, uk, Артанія, be, Артанія) was one of the three states of the Rus or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) with the center in Artha described in a lost book by Abu Zayd ...
* Caspian expeditions of the Rus' * Garðaríki * Rus'–Byzantine War (disambiguation)


Citations


General references

*Ahmed ibn Fadlan. ''Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghdad to the Volga River.'' Frye, Richard Nelson, ed. and trans. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005. *Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Rustah. ''al-Alaq al-nafisah: Maruf bih Ibn Rustah. Tarjamah va taliq-i Husayn Qarah'chanlu.'' Tehran, Iran: Amir Kabir, 1986. *Александров А.А. ''Остров руссов.'' 'The Rus' Island'' St. Petersburg-Kishinev, 1997. * Artamanov, M.I. "Prevye Stranisky Russkoy Istorii ve Archeologicheskom Osveshchenii." ''Sovietskaya Arkheologica''. Vol 3, 1990. pp. 271–290. *''Annales Bertiniani, a. 839'', (The Annals of St. Bertin). Ed. Georg Waitz, ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum.'' Hannoverae, 1883. pp. 19–20. *Брайчевский М.Ю. ''Утверждение христианства на Руси'' 'Establishment of Christianity in Rus'' Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1989. * Brøndsted, Johannes. ''The Vikings''. (transl. by Kalle Skov). Penguin Books, 1965. * Brook, Kevin Alan. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2d ed. Rowman and Littlefield, 2006. * Brutzkus, Julius. "The Khazar Origin of Ancient Kiev." '' Slavonic and East European Review'', 22 (1944). *Callmer J. ''The Archaeology of Kiev to the End of the Earliest Urban Phase.'' // Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 1987, No.11. * Christian, David. ''A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia.'' Blackwell, 1999. * Dolger F. ''Regesten der Kaiserurkunden des ostromischen Reiches. I''. Berlin, 1924. *Dolukhanov, P.M. ''The Early Slavs: Eastern Europe and the Initial Settlement to Kievan Rus'.'' London: Longman, 1996. *Duczko, Władysław.
Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe
'. Brill, 2004. *''The Encyclopaedia of The Lay of Igor's Campaign'', in 5 volumes. Volume 3. St. Petersburg, 1995. *Franklin, Simon and Jonathan Shepard. ''The Emergence of Rus 750–1200.'' London: Longman, 1996. . *Garipzanov, Ildar. ''The Annals of St. Bertin and the Chacanus of the Rhos''. University of Bergen, 2006. *
Golden, Peter Benjamin Peter Benjamin Golden (born 1941) is an American historian who is Professor Emeritus of History, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University. He has written many books and articles on Turkic and Central Asian Studies, such as ''An i ...
. "Rus." ''
Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...
'' Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill. Brill Online, 2006 *Golden, Peter Benjamin. ''The Question of the Rus' Qaganate''. ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi'', 1982. *Halperin, Charles J. ''Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History.'' Bloomington: Univ. of Indiana Press, 1987. . * Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. ''A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures''. Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 2000. Page 266. * Hrushevsky, Mikhailo. ''History of Ukraine-Rus','' trans. Marta Skorupsky. Canadian Inst. of Ukr. Studies Press, 1997. *Huxley, George. "Byzantinochazarika." ''Hermathena'' 148 (1990): 79. *Ilarion of Kiev. "Sermon on Law and Grace". ''Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus'. Simon Franklin, transl. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1991. *Jones, Gwyn. ''A History of the Vikings.'' 2nd ed. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984. * Kovalev, Roman. "What Does Historical Numismatics Suggest about the Monetary History of Khazaria in the Ninth Century?- Question Revisited." ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 13(2004):97–129. *Laurent, J. and M. Canard. ''L'Armenie entre Byzance et l'Islam depuis la conquete arabe jusqu'en 886''. Lisbon, 1980. *Мачинский Д.А. "О месте Северной Руси в процессе сложения Древнерусского государства и европейской культурной общности." 'On the Place of Northern Rus in the Genesis of the Old Rus' State and European Cultural Continuum'' ''Археологическое исследование Новгородской земли''. Leningrad, 1984. * Minorsky, Vladimir. ''Hudud al-'Alam (The Regions of the World)''. London: Luzac & Co., 1937. *"Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae VII". ''Epistolae Karolini aevi V''. Berlin: W. Henze, 1928. * Noonan, Thomas. "The Khazar Qaghanate and Its Impact On the Early Rus' State: The ''translatio imperii'' from Itil to Kiev." ''Nomads in the Sedentary World'', Anatoly Mikhailovich Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds. p. 76–102. Richmond, England: Curzon, 2001. . *Noonan, Thomas. "When Did Rus/Rus' Merchants First Visit Khazaria and Baghdad?" ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi'' 7 (1987–1991): 213–219. *Noonan, Thomas. "The First Major Silver Crisis in Russia and the Baltic, ca. 875–900". ''Hikuin'', 11 (1985): 41–50. *Noonan, Thomas. "Fluctuations in Islamic Trade with Eastern Europe during the Viking Age". ''Harvard Ukrainian Studies'', 1992, №16. *Noonan, Thomas. "The Monetary System of Kiev in the Pre-Mongol Period". ''Harvard Ukrainian Studies'', 1987, №11. Page 396. *Новосельцев А.П. ''et al. Древнерусское государство и его международное значение.'' 'Old Rus' State And Its International Relations'' Moscow, 1965. *Новосельцев А.П. "К вопросу об одном из древнейших титулов русского князя". 'On One of the Oldest Titles of the Rus' Princes'' ''История СССР.'' – 1982. – Вып. 4. *
Pritsak, Omeljan Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harva ...
. ''The Origin of Rus'.'' Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991. *Pritsak, Omeljan. ''The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1998. *Shepard, Jonathan. "The Khazars' Formal Adoption of Judaism and Byzantium's Northern Policy." ''Oxford Slavonic Papers, New Series ''31 (1998):24. *Smirnov, Pavel. ''Volz'kiy shlyakh i starodavni Rusy'' (''The Volga route and the ancient Rus''). Kiev, 1928. *''Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus''. Ed. I. Becker. Bonnae, 1838 (CSHB), pp. 342–343. * Vasiliev, Alexander. ''The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860''. Mediaeval Academy of America, 1946. *
Vernadsky, G.V. George Vernadsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Влади́мирович Верна́дский; August 20, 1887 – June 12, 1973) was a Russian Empire-born American historian and an author of numerous books on Russian history. European years ...
''A History of Russia''. Vol. 1. Yale University Press, 1943
Russian version online
*Vernadsky, G.V., ed. ''A Source Book for Russian History from Early Times to 1917, Vol. 1.'' New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1972. * Yanin, Valentin. ''Денежно-весовые системы русского средневековья. Домонгольский период.'' 'The Monetary Systems of the Russian Middle Ages. The Pre-Mongol Period'' Moscow, 1956. * Zenkovsky, Serge A., ed. ''Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales.'' New York: Meridian, 1974. . *
Zuckerman, Constantine Constantin Zuckerman (; born 1957) is a French historian and Professor of Byzantine studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Biography Academic rank: professor. Highest degree: doctorate. Job title: The Deputy Director of the C ...
. "Deux étapes de la formation de l'ancien état russe", in ''Les centres proto-urbains russes entre Scandinavie, Byzance et Orient: Actes du Colloque International tenu au Collège de France en octobre 1997'', éd. M. Kazanski, A. Nersessian et C. Zuckerman (Réalités Byzantines 7). Paris, 2000
Russian translation online
. *Zuckerman, Constantine. "Les Hongrois au Pays de Lebedia: une nouvelle puissance aux confins de Byzance et de la Khazarie en 836–889." ''Byzantium at War'' (9th–12th c.) Athens, 1997.


External links


Online ''Britannica'' on "Russia: Prehistory and the rise of the Rus"
{{Russia topics States and territories established in the 830s States and territories disestablished in the 890s Former Slavic countries
Khaganate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a Khan (title), khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribe, tribal chiefdom, principality, monarch ...
Medieval Russia Medieval Ukraine Varangians