THE MEDIEVAL KINGDOM OF KYIVAN RUS

The foundation of the kingdom of Rus is wrapped up in what historians like to call mythohistory. We have a great deal of information accumulated from archaeological investigations that points to a long-established connection with Scandinavia. We know that Scandinavian traders plied the eastern European river systems looking for amber, furs, slaves, and eventually silver to take back to Baltic and North Sea markets. The silver came from the Abbasid Caliphate and passed up the Volga to the Bulgars and elsewhere, thus drawing the Scandinavians – called Varangians in the sources – down those river pathways.

By Christian Raffensperger

Despite these early connections, the story of the founding of Rus is one written centuries after the fact as a way to aggrandize the then ruling family. The story is centred on the claim that the local tribes, living along the eastern European waterways, kicked out the Scandinavians who were taking tribute from them. But they were unable to rule them-selves – “tribe rose against tribe” – thus they is-sued an invitation: “Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us.” These new rulers were Scandinavians, a group called the Rus. The name Rus most likely comes via a Finnish word for ‘rowers’ (ruotsi), which was transmitted into Slavic as ‘Rusi’ and eventually to Rus (Pycb). Thus, in this mythohistorical…

You're reading a preview of

Medieval World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 2 - 2022

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.