X-XI centuries are a very interesting period in the history of our country. Familiar names are constantly found in Western European and Byzantine sources of that time, and some Russian princes are heroes of the Scandinavian sagas. At that time, the contacts between Kievan Rus and the Scandinavian countries were especially close.
It should be said that from the end of the 8th to the middle of the 11th centuries, pagan and economically backward Scandinavia managed to exert a tremendous influence on the development and the very course of history in the countries of Western and Eastern Europe. Scandinavian warships, like ghosts, appeared on the coasts, but could pass along the rivers and inland - Paris, far from the sea, for example, was plundered four times by the Danes. The Catholic Cathedral in Metz on May 1, 888, decided to include in official prayers the words "which were not required to be written on parchment; where the Vikings came at least once, they were forever imprinted on the tablets of human hearts" (Gwynne Jones): "God save us from the fury of the Normans."
In Western Europe, warlike newcomers were called Normans ("northern people"), in Russia - Varangians (possibly - from Old Norse varing - "squad", or from varar - "oath"; or from West Slavic - Varang - "sword"), in Byzantium - Verings (probably from the same root as the Varangians).
Sword found in a Viking's grave (Norway)
It is interesting that the Swedish scientist A. Stringolm considered the words "Varangian" and "Guard" to be one-root:
"The name of the Varangians is the easiest and most natural way to form from, in the old Swedish laws, the word vaeria, which is encountered, to protect, defend, or from varda, to protect, protect; Visigothic laws of royal bodyguards, hence - Garde - guard."
Regardless of the nationality of the warriors going on a military campaign, the Scandinavians were called Vikings (most likely from the Old Norse vic - "bay", but, possibly, from vig - "war").
Hrolv the Pedestrian who became Duke of Normandy Rollo, the luckiest and most famous Viking in Scandinavia - a monument in Alesund, Norway
The northwestern Russian lands, opened from the Baltic Sea to the Scandinavian invasions, also experienced all the "delights" of their geographical location. Slovenes (whose main city was Novgorod) and the allied or vassal Finno-Ugric tribes were repeatedly raided by Norman squads. Historians believe that the last time Novgorod was captured by the Normans at the end of the 9th century. As a result of the uprising of the townspeople, they were expelled from the city, however, according to the information given in the "Tale of Bygone Years", the situation in the land of the Slovenes was extremely tense at that time. Taking advantage of the weakening of Novgorod, the tribes, previously subject to him, refused to pay tribute, in the city itself, the townspeople who had lost their property attacked the houses of wealthy merchants, they hired guards, and sometimes real battles took place there. Tired of strife, residents of the city decided to call on the ruler from outside, who could, firstly, become an uninterested arbiter in their disputes and, secondly, lead the people's militia in the event of a resumption of hostilities.
Which of the neighbors could the Novgorodians turn to? "The Tale of Bygone Years" directly calls the "Varangian tribe Rus". And this only evidence has literally become the curse of Russian history. Our "patriots" - anti-Normanists do not fully trust the "Tale of Bygone Years", but they do not dare to declare it an unreliable source and withdraw it from the historical circulation. It would seem that it has long been proven that the role of the prince in Novgorod at that time was reduced to military leadership and arbitration. So, no matter who Rurik is by origin, it is absolutely not legitimate to talk about his authoritarian rule and decisive influence on the formation of Russian statehood. The recognition of this fact should have taken the edge off the discussion long ago. In fact, neither the German origin of Catherine II, nor the complete absence of her rights to the Russian throne, resent us. However, the Norman problem has long gone beyond rationality and is not so much a historical problem as a psychopathological one.
By the way, an interesting study was carried out in 2002. The fact is that the original Y chromosome is passed on by hundreds and thousands of generations unchanged, and only through the male line. DNA analysis showed that people considered to be the descendants of Rurik belong to two completely different branches of population markers, that is, they are descendants of two different ancestors in the male line. Vladimir Monomakh, for example, has a Scandinavian genetic marker N, and his uncle Svyatoslav has a Slavic R1a. This can serve as a confirmation of the well-known assumption that the continuity of the Rurik dynasty and family ties, known to us from textbooks, is most likely a historical myth. But we got distracted.
When reading Scandinavian sources, an unexpected fact is striking: the sagas do not know about the vocation of the Normans to Novgorod. They know about the Baptism of Rus in distant Iceland, but they don't even suspect about such, without any exaggeration, a significant event even in neighboring Sweden. You can still try to find candidates for the role of Rurik and Oleg (at the level of guesses and assumptions), however, Igor and Svyatoslav, who ruled later, are completely unknown to the Scandinavians. The first Russian prince, who can be identified with full confidence in the sagas, is Vladimir Svyatoslavich, and for the Scandinavians he was not "one of our own." And his name has no Scandinavian counterpart. If we assume that Vladimir is nevertheless a direct descendant of the first Norman king called to Novgorod, then it should be admitted that by this time the Scandinavians in Russia had finally assimilated and became glorified. There is nothing surprising in this: in Normandy, the descendants of Hrolf and his warriors also became French, and after a generation they even forgot their language - in order to teach his grandson the "northern dialect" Hrolf had to invite a teacher from Scandinavia. But during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the Scandinavians again come to Russia in large numbers - now as "condottieri" offering their services to anyone who can pay for their willingness to fight and die. And some Russian princes even have second names - Scandinavian names. The son of Yaroslav the Wise Vsevolod is known in Scandinavia as Holti (this name was probably given to him by his mother, the Swedish princess Ingigerd). And the Scandinavians know the son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav as Harald (probably, the "Anglo woman" Gita named him after her father, Harold Godwinson).
Son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav - Harald
It is noteworthy that the Scandinavians themselves did not know any Rus and any "Ros people": they called themselves Sveons, Danes, Normans (Norwegians: Norway - "Country along the northern route"), and the Russian lands - the word "Gardariki" ("Country of cities"). The Slavs also did not call themselves Rus at that time: glades lived in Kiev, Krivichi lived in Smolensk, Polotsk and Pskov, Slovenia in Novgorod, etc. Only at the beginning of the 12th century, the author of The Tale of Bygone Years identifies the Glades with the Rus: “the glade, even calling Rus.” He informs that the Novgorodians, who were formerly Slavs, “became enthusiastic”:
"The Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before they were Slovenes."
So, the "vocation" of the Varangians from Scandinavia, most likely, was not, but the presence of people of Scandinavian origin on the territory of Ancient Rus is beyond doubt, and even "Rus" are there somewhere.
In the Bertine annals, for example, it is reported that in 839 the embassy of the Byzantine emperor Theophilos arrived at the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious, and with him - people, "who said that their people were called grew (Rhos), and whom, as they said, their king, by the name of Khakan (Scandinavian name Khakon? Turkic title of Kagan?), sent to him (Theophilus) for the sake of friendship "(Prudentius). After getting to know the ambassadors of the "people grew" better, the Franks came to the conclusion that they were Sveons.
In 860, according to Greek and Western European sources, the army of the "people of Ros" made a campaign against Constantinople.
Dew besieges Constantinople
Patriarch Photius in his "District letter" to the eastern archbishops wrote that the Russians left the "northern country", live far from the Greeks, behind many countries, navigable rivers and seas deprived of shelters. Religious tradition connects this campaign with the so-called miracle of immersion in the sea of the veil of the Most Holy Theotokos - supposedly after this a storm arose that sank the enemy fleet. However, contemporaries do not know anything about this miracle - everyone is sure of the defeat of the Byzantines. Pope Nicholas I reproached Michael III for the fact that the aliens left unavenged, and Patriarch Photius, who was in Constantinople during the hostilities, argued that "the city was not taken by their (the Russians) mercy." He also spoke about the Ross in his sermon: "An unnamed people, not considered for anything, unknown, but received a name from the time of the campaign against us … who reached a brilliant height and untold wealth - oh, what a disaster sent down to us from God." ("Two Conversations of His Holiness Patriarch Photius of Constantinople on the Occasion of the Invasion of the Russians"). The chaplain of the Venetian doge John the Deacon (XI century) claims that under the Emperor Michael III the Normans attacked Constantinople, who, having arrived on 360 ships, "fought the outskirts of the city, mercilessly killed many people and returned home in triumph."
Emperor Michael III, whom the Pope reproached for the fact that the Russians left unavenged
Chronicler of the 10th century Liutpround of Cremona is no less categorical: "The Greeks call Russos the people we call Nordmannos by their place of residence." He placed "the people of Ros" next to the Pechenegs and the Khazars.
The Rhymed Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy, written around 1175 by the poet Benoit de Saint-Mor, states:
Between the Danube, the ocean and the land of the Alans
there is an island called Skansi, and I believe that this is the land of Russia.
Like bees from hives
They fly out in huge mighty swarms
of thousands and thousands of fierce fighters, and throw themselves into battle, drawing their swords, inflamed with anger
as one for all and all for one.
This great people
can attack large countries, and give fierce battles, and win glorious victories.
Bishop Adalbert calls the famous princess Olga, who ruled in the land of the glades, the queen of not the Slavs, but the Rus. At the same time, Adalbert reports that the Rus are a people, the western part of which perished in Noric (a Roman province on the right bank of the Upper Danube) and in Italy in the 5th century. By the way, on the territory of Ukraine (near Kovel), archaeologists discovered one of the most ancient Scandinavian runic inscriptions known to science - on the tip of a spear, it belongs to the III-IV centuries A. D.
A number of historians believe that the ethnonyms and names of the Russians indicate their Germanic language. Proof of this, in their opinion, may be the fact that the names of the Dnieper rapids in the essay "On the Administration of the State" by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (10th century) are given "in Russian" (Essupy, Ulvoren, Gelandri, Eifar, Varuforos, Leanty, Struvun) and "in Slavic" (Ostrovuniprah, Neyasit, Wulniprah, Verutsi, Naprezi).
Konstantin Porphyrogenitus. In his work, the names of the Dnieper rapids are given "in Russian" and "in Slavic"
Especially famous were two rapids, Gelandri and Varuforos, which M. P. In the 19th century, Pogodin called "two pillars that will always support Normanism and withstand any ax." His opponent N. A. Dobrolyubov responded to this statement with an ironic poem "Two Pillars":
Gelyandri and Varuforos - these are my two pillars!
Fate put my theory on them.
This is how Leberg explained the name of the rapids, From the Norman language that there is no strength to argue.
Of course, the Greek author could have misinterpreted them, But he could, against custom, and write correctly.
………………………………..
Gelyandri and Varuforos are, so to speak, bulls, About koi you needlessly beat your fists.
Actually, at present it has been possible to translate the names of all the rapids into modern Russian. But, in order to save time, I will give a translation of the names of only two thresholds, which are discussed in this poem: Gelandri (giallandi) - "The noise of the threshold"; Varuforos - baruforos ("Strong wave") or varuforos ("High rock"). Another threshold (Euphor - eifors - "Ever furious", "Eternally noisy") is interesting because its name is present in the runic inscription on the Pilgard stone (Gotland).
Eastern sources also report about the differences between the Slavs and the Rus: the Arabs called the Slavs the word "Sakaliba", while the Russians have always been Russians and stand apart, being dangerous opponents for the Khazars, Arabs, and Slavs. In the VII century. Bal'ami reports that in 643 the ruler of Derbent, Shahriyar, said during negotiations with the Arabs:
"I am between two enemies: one is the Khazars, the other is the Russians, who are enemies to the whole world, especially to the Arabs, and no one knows how to fight them, except for the local people."
Khazar king Joseph in the middle of the 10th century wrote to his Spanish correspondent Hasdai ibn Shafrut:
"I live at the entrance to the river and do not allow the Russians arriving on ships to penetrate them (the Ismailis) … I am waging a stubborn war with them. If I were alone, they would have destroyed the entire Ismailian country to Baghdad."
Viking ship. Illustration: from a 10th century manuscript
The 10th century Persian scientist Ibn Rust unequivocally points out the difference between the Rus and the Slavs: “The Rus raids on the Slavs: they approach them on boats, disembark and take them prisoner, take them to Bulgaria and Khazaria and sell them there. and they eat what they bring from the land of the Slavs … Their only trade is the fur trade. They dress untidy, their men wear gold bracelets. They treat slaves well. They have many cities and live in the open. They are tall, prominent and courageous people., but they show this courage not on horseback - they make all their raids and campaigns on ships."
The information given in this passage characterizes the Rus as typical Vikings. The author of the end of the 9th century al-Marvazi also writes that the Russians prefer to fight on ships:
"If they had horses, and they were riders, they would be a terrible scourge of humanity."
In 922 the envoy of the Baghdad Caliph Ibn-Fadlan visited the Volga Bulgaria.
On the Volga, he met the Russians and described in some detail their physique, clothing, weapons, customs, manners and religious rites. At the same time, "in the entire description of the Rus on the Volga, communicated to us by Ibn Fadlan … we meet the Normans as portrayed by the French and the British of the same time … the Arabs from the east seem to be shaking hands with these writers" (Frenn).
Semiradsky G. "The funeral of a noble Rus"
It is also indicated that there were differences between the Rus and the Slavs at the everyday level: the Rus washed in a common basin, shaved their heads, leaving a clump of hair on the crown, lived in military settlements and "fed" on war booty. The Slavs washed themselves under running water, cut their hair in a circle, were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. By the way, Olga's son - Prince Svyatoslav, judging by the Byzantine descriptions, was exactly Russian:
"He had one tuft of hair on his head, as a sign of his noble birth."
Svyatoslav had one tuft of hair on his head as a sign of noble birth. Monument to Svyatoslav in the Belgorod region. Arch. Fangs
The author of the Arabic source "Khudud al Alem" ("The Limits of the World") also knows that the Rus and Slavs belong to different peoples, who reports that some inhabitants of the first city in the east of the country of the Slavs are similar to the Rus.
So, some people of Scandinavian origin, constantly lived in the neighborhood with the Slavic tribes. Since they are nowhere called Normans, or Swedes, or Danes, and they themselves did not call themselves that, it can be assumed that these were settlers from different countries of Scandinavia, united only by a common "northern" language for all, a similar way of life and temporary common interests.
Scandinavian colonists
They themselves could call themselves rodsmen (sailors, rowers), the Finns called them ruotsi ("people or warriors in boats" - in modern Finnish this word is called Sweden, and Russia - Venaja), Slavic tribes - Rus. That is, "Rus" in the "Tale of Bygone Years" is not the name of a tribe, but a specification of the occupation of the Varangians. Probably, the prince's warriors were originally called Rus (with whom the Byzantines, the Finns, the Slavs, and other peoples had to "get to know") - regardless of their nationality. Norwegians, Swedes, Estonians, Glades, Drevlyans, Krivichi, and even biarms - having joined the squad, they all became Russians. And from that moment on, the interests of the squad were above the interests of the tribe for them. And many people wanted to enter the prestigious and highly paid princely military service. The story of Prince Vladimir's spoons has probably become boring to everyone and "set the teeth on edge." But here is what the author of the Rotten Skin manuscript tells about the order at the court of his son Yaroslav: the warrior brings Magnus (the future king of Norway) to the room where Yaroslav is sleeping and throws him on the prince's bed with the words: "Better guard your fool another time." … And Yaroslav, instead of hitting him in the neck, ordering him to be whipped in the stable, or at least fining him in the amount of a monthly salary, meekly replies: "Often you choose obscene words for him" (there, however, it was difficult to do without "obscene words", in the next article I will talk about what happened, but Yaroslav doesn't know about it yet. Readers who know what the matter is, please do not comment, wait a few days to keep the intrigue). As you can see, the status of professional warriors in those years was so high that they would gladly agree to call and consider themselves even Huns, even Sarmatians, even Nibelungs. But, according to old memory and the tradition of the first princely squads, they were called Rus. Later this name was transferred to the entire population of the country.
Where, then, were the Varangians-Rus "summoned" to Novgorod? B. Bogoyavlensky and K. Mitrofanov in their work "Normans in Russia before St. Vladimir" came to the conclusion that the "Rus" referred to in the "Tale of Bygone Years" were people of Scandinavian origin who lived in the area of Staraya Ladoga (Aldeigyuborg - Old city). The aforementioned authors suggest that Ladoga played the role of a gathering point for floating and traveling Scandinavians, an international trade center. According to Swedish sources, this city was founded in 753. Tradition associates its foundation with the god Odin, but in fact, of course, Aldeigyuborg was built by people from Uppsala. There lived the kolbyag Swedes (külfings or kolfings - "spearmen"), which were soon joined by the Norwegians and Danes, and the Finns in the surrounding villages. The presence of the Scandinavians in Ladoga is confirmed by numerous finds of runic records dating back to the beginning of the 9th century. We also add that, according to the latest archaeological research, the Normans appeared on the White Lake and the upper Volga a century earlier than the Slavs.
Norman settlement, reconstruction
Both Slavs and Scandinavians went to Ladoga at the same time: first - as members of robber squads, then - as merchants, and, finally, as administrators and organizers of collecting taxes from local tribes.
The Normans and the Slavs met at the shores of Lake Ladoga, but the Scandinavians came earlier, besides, the geographical position of Ladoga was more advantageous. Therefore, in the dispute: Slovenian Novgorod against the international Aldeigjuborg at first was dominated by the latter, his kings seized Novgorod more than once. But, nevertheless, Novgorod won. According to some Scandinavian sources, the first Russian ruler to subdue Ladoga was Prophetic Oleg, who drove away the sea king Eirik who had seized this city. But this submission, apparently, was an episode. Finally, Prince Vladimir annexed Ladoga to the Russian possessions in 995 - having committed an act opposite to the "vocation of the Varangians". This led to the fact that Gardariki-Rus became much more famous in the Scandinavian countries and began to play a role in the politics of these countries. When Olav Tryggvason (a friend and ally of Vladimir) came to power in Norway, his enemy Jarl Eirik attacked Ladoga in revenge, took this city and ravaged its surroundings. It was this raid that caused the center of trade to shift even more from Ladoga to the less convenient, but more protected Novgorod.
Vasnetsov A. M. "Old Veliky Novgorod"
At the same time, the Rus and the Varangians, although these words appeared at the beginning as synonyms, were not fully identified by the chroniclers: "Igor mated many soldiers. Varangians and Russia and Polyana and Slov'ni … (944)". That is, it turns out that the Rus are the entire population of the Ladoga region, and the Varangians are members of organized squads, independent, or entering the service of some prince. Moreover, after the annexation of Ladoga, it was the newcomers from the Scandinavian countries that began to be called the Varangians. The Rus quickly disappeared into the Slavic sea, leaving behind only a name.
In a modern commentary on A. Stringolm's fundamental work Viking Campaigns, the Russian historian A. Khlevov writes:
In Russian history, the question of the participation of Scandinavian warriors in the genesis of the Old Russian state acquired a painful and extremely politicized, emotional form of the so-called Norman problem … The discussion was ended by recognizing the facts that:
a) the settlement of the Slavs and Scandinavians among the autochthonous Finns and Balts unfolded almost simultaneously, in opposite directions and had, in principle, the same character (pumping out tribute from the local population with a predominance of the colonization-settlement principle among the Slavs);
b) the state matured quite naturally, not needing any kulturtrager "first impulses", and arose initially as a mechanism for regulating tributary-power balance and as a means of streamlining transit trade along the Volga and the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks;
c) the Scandinavians made an important contribution to the formation of Ancient Russia precisely as highly professional warriors, giving originality and flavor to the emerging state and successfully harmonizing with the spiritual component that came from Byzantium (Academician D. S. Likhachev even suggested the term Scandovizantia).
The natural course of events led to the complete assimilation of the Rus by the more numerous Slavs and the formation on this basis of a state formation, which Russian historians of the 19th century gave the provisional name of Kievan Rus.
