Rurik. Perhaps, it is unlikely that we will be able to find at least one more hero in our history, about whose personality, deeds and significance for our history pundits would argue for so long and fiercely.
Normanism and Anti-Normanism
In 2035, we will be rightfully able to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the beginning of this dispute, and in the foreseeable future, the end is not yet foreseen. And if earlier disputes around the personality of Rurik in particular and the "Norman question" in general in the scientific community were limited to the problem of "Scandinavian or Slav", now more and more often the "Rurik" question is posed in the form of "was there a boy" at all, in the sense that some fairly authoritative researchers believe that Rurik is an extremely legendary character and in reality could not exist at all.
The duration of the dispute and the harshness of the rhetoric of its participants is explained, not at all by the desire of researchers to find objective truth, but, first of all, by the fact that the subject of the dispute itself, even at the moment of its appearance, through the efforts of M. V. Lomonosov has acquired a pronounced ideological coloration, from which he actually cannot get rid of to this day. And although recently the scientific community, in general, has come to a certain consensus on the origin of Rurik, the fallen banner of the struggle against the Norman theory was picked up by representatives of various pseudo-historical currents, such as V. A. Chudinov, A. A. Klesov and, of course (how can it be without him!), A. T. Fomenko and his comrades.
As part of this study, we will not study the irresponsible fantasies of these figures about our history. There is no point in listing them and even more so discussing them; rather, it should be entrusted to the participants of any humorous television programs, for example, "Where is the logic?" - it will be both fun and useful for the audience. I would like to offer the reader information about Rurik and his time, gleaned exclusively from scientific sources.
The era of Rurik
It seems that it is advisable to start the story about Rurik with a brief description of the era in which he and his contemporaries acted. So, what was Europe in general and Eastern Europe in particular in the middle of the 9th century?
In Western Europe in 843 the empire of Charlemagne finally collapsed. His grandsons Lothair, Louis and Charles began to build their own states. On the coast of the Baltic Sea to the east of the Jutland Peninsula, the Baltic Slavs were entrenched. In Central Europe, the first Slavic state, Great Moravia, fought for hegemony in this region with the East Frankish kingdom, to the south the Bulgarian kingdom and the Byzantine Empire were in a state of permanent conflict, which, in turn, on the other, from the southern side, was constantly subjected to pressure from the Arab Caliphate, by that time it was firmly entrenched in both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The Mediterranean Sea was under the rule of Arab pirates based in the harbors and ports of that North Africa, and normal merchant shipping was impossible in it. In the Lower Volga region, the Khazar Kaganate felt great, spreading its influence over the Slavic Dnieper, the upper reaches of the Oka with a predominantly Finno-Ugric population, and the Volga, where the Bulgar tribes lived for about a hundred years, and a little later created such a state as the Volga Bulgaria.
In the Scandinavian countries during this period, the Viking Age was in full swing, the famous "Deliver us from the cruelty of the Normans, Lord!" appeared already in 888, drakkars with woolen striped sails scurried here and there, representatives of the Scandinavian peoples could be found almost in any corner of Europe and these meetings, as a rule, did not bode well. Every year from the territories of modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark, hundreds, if not thousands, of well-armed, united and aggressive, young, healthy and strong people were sent in various directions in search of wealth and glory.
A little about trade routes
We will dwell in more detail on those lands on which the ancient Russian state arose and developed. To do this, we need to go back one and a half centuries ago, when the Arabs, in the course of their conquests, finally managed to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean and began to intensively establish their order there. In this case, the word "order" should rather mean complete anarchy that reigned throughout the Mediterranean Sea, except perhaps the immediate vicinity of major ports and harbors, where local rulers with great difficulty maintained a certain order. However, this was completely insufficient to organize safe maritime communications between Europe and Asia.
Due to the impossibility of organizing regular trade links along the "East-West" line across the Mediterranean, it became necessary to find other trade routes to connect with the eastern markets, which were then, in fact, the only source of silver for Europe, and such routes were found already by the end of VII - early VIII centuries. These were the Dnieper and Volga routes along the rivers of the same name in Eastern Europe, leading straight to the Caspian and Black Seas from the Baltic. The main trade intermediary and the most developed state formation on these routes was the Khazar Kaganate, which collected a significant share of the profits from trade along the Volga and Dnieper.
When someone begins to get rich, someone else immediately appears, who at first shows some curiosity about the process of someone else's enrichment, but having delved into this matter more deeply, begins to consider himself deprived, and immediately makes a demand to share. This requirement needs a strong confirmation of any active actions, since no one likes to share. In the case of trade routes, these actions can be expressed in the establishment of control over at least part of these very routes.
Slavs and Scandinavians in Eastern Europe
If we look closely at the map of Eastern Europe, we will easily see that the sources of the Volga and Dnieper rivers on the one hand and the Western Dvina, Msta and Lovati, rivers carrying their waters to the Baltic Sea, on the other, are, in general, very close to each other. from a friend and control over this area may well ensure control over the transit of merchant ships from the Caspian and Black Seas to the Baltic and, as a result, a comfortable existence for those who exercise this control.
By the beginning of the VIII century. Scandinavian "travelers", not yet Vikings and not yet in a mass and organized manner, following like hunting dogs on a bloody trail to the sources of streams of Arabian silver in Europe, ended up in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and southern Ladoga. Almost simultaneously with them, the Slavs came to the same places from the west and southwest - the tribes of the Krivichi and Slovens, who settled, respectively, in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and southern Ladoga. The local Finno-Ugric population, which was at a much lower stage of social development, greeted both those and others relatively favorably, since the interests of newcomer traders (Scandinavians) and farmers (Slavs) practically did not intersect with their interests of hunters and fishermen, and the benefits of cooperation with them was obvious. The Slavs began to build their settlements along the rivers, where the soil was more fertile, the Scandinavians - trading posts with a constant military presence on the same rivers as on the trade routes, and the local population watched them with curiosity from the forests, systematically entering into trade relations with new inhabitants, selling them the furs they got, in exchange for jewelry and tools made of iron.
N. K. Roerich. Overseas guests
It should be noted that at that time furs were a strategically important commodity, supplied both to the east and to the west and, in fact, the only trade resource produced in this region. Considering its value in the markets of Western Europe and the East, as well as its ease and compactness during transportation, the fur trade brought huge profits and attracted the Scandinavians to the east no less than eastern silver.
The oldest of the houses excavated by archaeologists in Staraya Ladoga (and, possibly, the oldest of all wooden residential buildings in this region) dates from a dendrochronological analysis of 753, and this house was built according to the Scandinavian model. To list all the finds of archaeologists that clearly confirm the stable and extensive sedentary presence of both Scandinavians and Slavs in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland already in the 8th century, within the framework of this study, of course, makes no sense - there are so many of them.
With no less obviousness, according to archaeological data, trade relations of the Slavic-Scandinavian settlements with the Muslim East and, to a lesser extent, in the period under consideration, with the Byzantine Empire are traced - an abundance of coin hoards containing mainly Arab and Persian coins, the earliest of which, the so-called "Peterhof treasure" dates back to the beginning of the IX century.
The described picture may seem somewhat refined pastoral or ideally utopian, but archaeologists argue that in the archaeological layers of the 8th - early 9th centuries. there are no traces of any global fires that accompanied all conflicts in those days. A large fire in the settlement of Lyubsha (located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, practically opposite to modern Staraya Ladoga), which put an end to this fortified settlement, dates back to about 865 and is associated by researchers directly with the episode of the "vocation of the Varangians", or rather, the troubles that led to this calling.
With the beginning of the Viking Age (end of the 8th century), the Scandinavian presence in the Eastern Baltic region increased. The qualitative composition of the Scandinavian population is also changing. The new arrivals are more militant, aggressive, they begin to make deeper penetrations along the internal river routes into the lands of the Slavs, reach the Middle Dnieper region, and the Volga-Oka interfluve, where their presence during this period is clearly recorded by archaeologists, and also begin to encircle in the regions of their appearance. the local population is a tribute. Probably, it was at this time that the Slavic-Scandinavian settlements, the future Pskov, Izborsk, Polotsk, as well as the Meryanskiy Rostov (Sarskoe settlement), and Beloozero (present-day Belozersk) acquired the first fortifications and permanent garrisons, consisting mainly of newly arrived Vikings. or the descendants of former discoverers from the Scandinavian countries who were already born here. It was at this moment that, in fact, Russia, as such, was born.
Where did the Russian land come from?
There are two main explanations for the origin of the word Rus.
The first, the most obvious, includes all possible geographical names and ethnonyms of Eastern, Central, and, to be honest, sometimes Western Europe, as well as Asia, which contain the letter combinations "rus" and "ros". These are the Norwegian Nidaros, and the French Roussillon, and the former German Prussia, as well as the city of Staraya Russa, the Porusya river flowing nearby and, the most popular version among the "geographical" etymologies - the Ros River in Ukraine, one of the tributaries of the Dnieper. Among ethnonyms, one can recall M. V. Lomonosov with his roxolans, as well as rosomons, rugs and ruthenes, which some researchers, both authoritative historians of the past, and modern "folk historians" with varying degrees of persistence tried and still try to present as the ancient ancestors of the Slavs.
The second, not so obvious, asserts the origin of the word Rus from the distorted Finnish “ruotsi”, which in turn is a distortion of the Old Norse “rubs”, which means “rower”, “sailor”.
The end of disputes between supporters of one or another explanation was finally put by linguists, who proved with mathematical precision the impossibility of phonetic transformations into the word "Rus" of the listed geographical names (for example, residents of the vicinity of the Ros River in Slavic languages would certainly be transformed into "Poroshan") and ethnonyms, while while the Scandinavian "rowers", who became Finnish "ruotsi" (as the Finns still call the Swedes), in the Slavic languages inevitably transform into "rus", similarly to how "suomi" was transformed into "sum", and "yami" into "Eat".
Kaganat Rosov
At the beginning of the IX century. the first units of the Vikings appear in the footsteps of eastern silver in the Caspian and Black Seas, which did not please the local population at all.
Around the same time, in the Middle Dnieper region, on the tribal territory of the Polyans, the first East Slavic proto-state was probably already formed, at the head of which was the Scandinavian Rus. Perhaps, already in 830, the Rus made the first attack on the territory of the Byzantine Empire - they plundered the southern coast of the Black Sea (campaign against Amastrida). The dating of this campaign is controversial; some researchers attribute it to 860.
The first reliable date of mentioning the Rus in foreign sources is found in the Bertinsky annals. An article dedicated to 839 says that this year the embassy of the Byzantine emperor Theophilos arrived at the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. Together with the embassy, Theophilus sent certain people to Louis who claimed that they were a people called "grew" and that their ruler, called "Khakan", sent them to the Byzantine emperor "for the sake of friendship." Theophilus asked Louis to transport these people to their ruler in a roundabout way, since the path along which they arrived in Constantinople is replete with dangers.
Further in the Bertine annals it is written that Louis carried out a thorough investigation and found that under the name of the Sveons, that is, the Scandinavians, the Swedes, came to him. It seems that this investigation was not particularly long, since it was extremely difficult not to identify the Scandinavians, who by that time were already a serious headache for the Frankish empire. The investigation could only concern the purpose of their arrival. One way or another, Louis considered the "dew-sveons" not ambassadors, but scouts, and the further fate of this embassy is unknown.
Be that as it may, we know that already in the 30s of the IX century. the Rus had their own state formation in Eastern Europe, the ruler of which was called the Turkic (Khazar) title "Khakan" (or the Scandinavian name "Hakon") and that he, probably, having spent in 830 a successful campaign on the Byzantine lands, tried to establish diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire. The exact location of the borders and the further fate of this proto-state remain controversial. Some researchers believe that it was located in the Middle Dnieper region (Kiev - Smolensk region) and either fell under the blows of the Khazars at the turn of the 50-60s of the 9th century, or existed until 882 when it was annexed by Prophetic Oleg to the state of the Rurikovich during his Dnieper campaign, which ended with the assassination of Askold and the reign of Oleg in Kiev. There is also another point of view, according to which the state of the "Khakan of the Ros" was located within the boundaries of the future state of Rurik, including the tribal centers of Slovenes, Krivichi, Mary and Vesi, respectively, Ladoga (Staraya Ladoga), Polotsk, Rostov (Rostov Veliky) and Beloozero (Belozersk). In this case, the power of Rurik will be the direct successor of the power of the “Khakan of the Ros” and, accordingly, the date of foundation of the Russian state is shifted half a century earlier, and Rurik actually loses the right to be called its founder, while retaining, however, the title of the ancestor of the first princely dynasty.
