Rurikid

Legacy

Russian and Ukrainian historians have debated for many years about the legacy of the Rurikid dynasty. The Russian view sees the Principality of Moscow ruled by the Rurikid dynasty as the sole heir to the Kievan Rus' civilisation. This view is "resting largely on religious-ecclesiastical and historical claims" because the Eastern Russian lands managed to establish themselves as an independent state that was ruled by the Rurikid dynasty until the 16th century. This view started in Moscow as ruled by the original Rurikid dynasty between the 1330s and the late 1560s. At the same time the Ukrainian view of sole succession is based on continuity from the Kievan Rus and its subsequent Kingdom of Ruthenia, Lithuania-Ruthenia, and the Cossack Hetmanate. For that it had utilised mainly territorial, ethnodemographic, social, and institutional arguments.