Yakun (ON: ''Hákon'') who took part in the
Battle of Listven. When Afrikan died Jakun expelled Å imon and his brother Friand (ON: ''Friandi'').
[Androshchuk 2004:44]
Å imon would live in
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 ...
for the rest of his life, and he first served
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I Vladimirovich ( 978 – 20 February 1054), better known as Yaroslav the Wise, was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death in 1054. He was also earlier Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1034 and Prince of Rostov from 987 to 1010, ...
and later
his son. In 1068, he joined Yaroslav's three sons in the
Battle of the Alta River against the
Polovtsians.
It is reported that before the battle, saint
Anthony of Kiev, predicted a dire outcome for the battle, but he also predicted that Å imon would be saved through a miracle.
Å imon survived the battle, but he was severely wounded. Anthony took care of Å imon and healed his wounds.
In recognition, when Anthony founded the cave monastery, Å imon donated a belt and a wreath of gold that his father Afrikan had used to adorn a crucifix.
The gifts were worth 50 gold
grivna
The grivna () was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus' and other states in Eastern Europe from the 11th century.
Name
The word ''grivna'' is derived from from . In Old East Slavic, it had the form , ''grivÄna''. ...
s. The Varangian was probably one of the first to be buried in the monastery and he was the first one to receive a written remission from the monastery that both he and his descendants were pardoned for all their sins.
His son Georgi also showed affection for the cave monastery and sent gold and silver from
Suzdal
Suzdal (, ) is a Types of inhabited localities in Russia, town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located along the Kamenka tributary of the Nerl (Klyazma), Nerl River, north o ...
to the decoration of the grave of Saint
Theodosius of Kiev. When Gregori died, he left a letter to his family asking them to help the monastery financially. Å imon's great-grandchildren were buried in the Dmitri church in Suzdal, which was built by its bishop Jefrem who had been ordained in the cave monastery.
Scandinavian sources
Based on
Vilhelm Thomsen
Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen (25 January 1842 – 12 May 1927) was a Denmark, Danish linguistics, linguist and Turkologist. He successfully deciphered the Turkic Orkhon inscriptions which were discovered during the expedition of Nikolai Yadrintse ...
's identification between the names ''Alfrekr'' and ''Alrikr'', Stender-Petersen connected Afrikan to the Alrekr who appears on the runestones
Sö 101 and
Sö 106 in Sweden.
[Pritsak 1981:417] Omeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak (; 7 April 1919 – 29 May 2006) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director (1973–1989) of the Harvard Ukrainian Rese ...
, however, opposes this identification as he considers Jakun to have been Jarl
Hákon EirÃksson who died in 1029, while Alrekr would not yet have been born.
[Pritsak 1981:418]
The first scholar who undertook to identify the people mentioned in the Patericon was
Fyodor Braun
Friedrich Braun or Fyodor Aleksandrovich Braun (20 July 1862 – 14 June 1942) was a Russian- German scholar who provided philological and mythological backing for the Normanist theory.
Braun came to study Scandinavian and Germanic epics on the ...
, and he suggested that ''Afrikan'' was based on an archaic pronunciation of the Old Norse dialect of
Södermanland
Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...
. The form would have been an
oblique case
In grammar, an oblique ( abbreviated ; from ) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case and, sometimes, the vocative.
A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role except as subject, ...
of *''afreki'', i.e. *''afriką'' (son) < *''afrikan''. The name ''Friand'' would not have been the name of a person, since the name is otherwise not attested among the Old Norse names, and Braun suggested that it was the appellative form of ''frjá'' ("to love"), ''frjándi'', and which meant "nephew" in some Old Norse sources. Likewise, he did not consider ''Šimon'' to be derived from ''Sigmundr'' because ''ši'' reflected the Södermanland pronunciation of ''si'', and thus ''Šimon'' referred to a Varangian having the Christian name ''Simon''. According to Braun, the Patronicon was based on the account of a Varangian who would have reported that "Jakun had expelled his nephew (*''frjándi'') Simon Afrekąson".
Basing himself on Braun's analysis, Pritsak suggests that Jarl Hákon EirÃksson had a brother named *''Afreki'' who is unattested in Old Norse sources. This brother would have died and then Hákon banished his nephew Simon which may have been due to Afreki having cooperated with
Olaf II of Norway
Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he w ...
. Simon would have been only c. 12 years old.
[Pritsak 1981:419]
See also
*
Vorontsov - one of several Russian noble families who claimed male-line descent from Å imon
Notes
Bibliography
*
Pritsak, O. (1981). ''The origin of Rus'.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
Androshchuk, F. "Kristna nordbor i Rus / Scandinavian Christians in Rus", in Berg, K. & Olsson, O. (eds.): ''Historiska Nyheter – Olga & Ingegerd''. Statens historiska museum 2004-2005. p. 44.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon
Varangians
11th-century Vikings