Ruß: Roman (German Edition)

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Only 5 left in stock - order soon. Only 3 left in stock - order soon. Available for immediate download. Only 1 left in stock - order soon. Roman German Edition Feb 13, Only 2 left in stock - order soon. Only 11 left in stock - order soon. Roman German Edition Aug 18, The three brothers— Rurik , Sineus, and Truvor —established themselves in Novgorod, Beloozero , and Izborsk , respectively. On their way south, they discovered "a small city on a hill," Kiev, captured it and the surrounding country from the Khazars, populated the region with more Varangians, and "established their dominion over the country of the Polyanians.

The Chronicle reports that Askold and Dir continued to Constantinople with a navy to attack the city in —66, catching the Byzantines by surprise and ravaging the surrounding area, [38] though other accounts date the attack in Rurik led the Rus' until his death in about , bequeathing his kingdom to his kinsman, Prince Oleg , as regent for his young son, Igor. By he had subjugated the Poliane, Severiane, Vyatichi, and Radimichs , forbidding them to pay further tribute to the Khazars. Oleg continued to develop and expand a network of Rus' forts in Slav lands, begun by Rurik in the north.

The new Kievan state prospered due to its abundant supply of furs , beeswax , honey , and slaves for export, [50] and because it controlled three main trade routes of Eastern Europe. In the north, Novgorod served as a commercial link between the Baltic Sea and the Volga trade route to the lands of the Volga Bulgars , the Khazars, and across the Caspian Sea as far as Baghdad , providing access to markets and products from Central Asia and the Middle East. Kiev was a central outpost along the Dnieper route and a hub with the east-west overland trade route between the Khazars and the Germanic lands of Central Europe.

The rapid expansion of the Rus' to the south led to conflict and volatile relationships with the Khazars and other neighbors on the Pontic steppe. The Byzantine Empire was able to take advantage of the turmoil to expand its political influence and commercial relationships, first with the Khazars and later with the Rus' and other steppe groups.

The expansion of the Rus' put further military and economic pressure on the Khazars, depriving them of territory, tributaries, and trade. The Byzantines arranged for the Magyars to attack Bulgarian territory from the north, and Bulgaria in turn persuaded the Pechenegs to attack the Magyars from their rear. Boxed in, the Magyars were forced to migrate further west across the Carpathian Mountains into the Hungarian plain, depriving the Khazars of an important ally and a buffer from the Rus'. The Rus' were raiding and plundering into the Caspian Sea region from , [70] with the first large-scale expedition in , when they extensively raided Baku, Gilan, Mazandaran and penetrated into the Caucasus.

As the 10th century progressed, the Khazars were no longer able to command tribute from the Volga Bulgars, and their relationship with the Byzantines deteriorated, as Byzantium increasingly allied with the Pechenegs against them. The Pechenegs were nomads roaming the steppe raising livestock which they traded with the Rus' for agricultural goods and other products. Nevertheless, while the Primary Chronicle reports the Pechenegs entering Rus' territory in and then making peace, they were waging war with one another again in After the Rus' attack on Constantinople in , the Byzantine Patriarch Photius sent missionaries north to convert the Rus' and the Slavs.

Prince Rastislav of Moravia had requested the Emperor to provide teachers to interpret the holy scriptures, so in the brothers Cyril and Methodius were sent as missionaries, due to their knowledge of the Slavonic language. They translated portions of the Bible and drafted the first Slavic civil code and other documents, and the language and texts spread throughout Slavic territories, including Kievan Rus'. The mission of Cyril and Methodius served both evangelical and diplomatic purposes, spreading Byzantine cultural influence in support of imperial foreign policy.

Relations between the Rus' and Byzantines became more complex after Oleg took control over Kiev, reflecting commercial, cultural, and military concerns. Constantine Porphyrogenitus described the annual course of the princes of Kiev, collecting tribute from client tribes, assembling the product into a flotilla of hundreds of boats, conducting them down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, and sailing to the estuary of the Dniester, the Danube delta, and on to Constantinople.

The importance of this trade relationship led to military action when disputes arose. The Primary Chronicle reports that the Rus' attacked Constantinople again in , probably to secure trade access. The Chronicle glorifies the military prowess and shrewdness of Oleg, an account imbued with legendary detail. The Chronicle provides a mythic tale of Oleg's death.

A sorcerer prophesies that the death of the Grand Prince would be associated with a certain horse. Oleg has the horse sequestered, and it later dies. Oleg goes to visit the horse and stands over the carcass, gloating that he had outlived the threat, when a snake strikes him from among the bones, and he soon becomes ill and dies.

In , Igor led another major Rus' attack on Constantinople, probably over trading rights again. The Rus' burned towns, churches, and monasteries, butchering the people and amassing booty. The emperor arranged for a small group of retired ships to be outfitted with Greek fire throwers and sent them out to meet the Rus', luring them into surrounding the contingent before unleashing the Greek fire. Some sank, weighed down by the weight of their breastplates and helmets; others caught fire.

The ploy dispelled the Rus' fleet, but their attacks continued into the hinterland as far as Nicomedia , with many atrocities reported as victims were crucified and set up for use as targets. At last a Byzantine army arrived from the Balkans to drive the Rus' back, and a naval contingent reportedly destroyed much of the Rus' fleet on its return voyage possibly an exaggeration since the Rus' soon mounted another attack.

The outcome indicates increased military might by Byzantium since , suggesting a shift in the balance of power. Igor returned to Kiev keen for revenge.

Kievan Rus'

The Emperor sent gifts and offered tribute in lieu of war, and the Rus' accepted. Envoys were sent between the Rus', the Byzantines, and the Bulgarians in , and a peace treaty was completed. The agreement again focused on trade, but this time with terms less favorable to the Rus', including stringent regulations on the conduct of Rus' merchants in Cherson and Constantinople and specific punishments for violations of the law. Following the death of Grand Prince Igor in , his wife Olga ruled as regent in Kiev until their son Sviatoslav reached maturity ca.

By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity , Sviatoslav, like his druzhina , remained a staunch pagan. Due to his abrupt death in an ambush in , Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his sons, which resulted in two of his three sons being killed.

It is not clearly documented when the title of the Grand Duke was first introduced, but the importance of the Kiev principality was recognized after the death of Sviatoslav I in and the ensuing struggle between Vladimir the Great and Yaropolk I. The region of Kiev dominated the state of Kievan Rus' for the next two centuries. The Grand Prince "velikiy kniaz'" of Kiev controlled the lands around the city, and his formally subordinate relatives ruled the other cities and paid him tribute. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Vladimir the Great — and Prince Yaroslav I the Wise — Both rulers continued the steady expansion of Kievan Rus' that had begun under Oleg.

Vladimir had been prince of Novgorod when his father Sviatoslav I died in He was forced to flee to Scandinavia in after his half-brother Yaropolk had murdered his other brother Oleg and taken control of Rus. The Primary Chronicle states that when Vladimir had decided to accept a new faith instead of the traditional idol-worship paganism of the Slavs, he sent out some of his most valued advisors and warriors as emissaries to different parts of Europe.

They rejected Islam because, among other things, it prohibited the consumption of alcohol, and Judaism because the god of the Jews had permitted his chosen people to be deprived of their country. They found the ceremonies in the Roman church to be dull. But at Constantinople, they were so astounded by the beauty of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the liturgical service held there that they made up their minds there and then about the faith they would like to follow.

Upon their arrival home, they convinced Vladimir that the faith of the Byzantine Rite was the best choice of all, upon which Vladimir made a journey to Constantinople and arranged to marry Princess Anna , the sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II. Vladimir's choice of Eastern Christianity may also have reflected his close personal ties with Constantinople, which dominated the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the Dnieper River. Adherence to the Eastern Church had long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences. The church had a liturgy written in Cyrillic and a corpus of translations from Greek that had been produced for the Slavic peoples.

This literature facilitated the conversion to Christianity of the Eastern Slavs and introduced them to rudimentary Greek philosophy , science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek there were some merchants who did business with Greeks and likely had an understanding of contemporary business Greek.

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Enjoying independence from the Roman authority and free from tenets of Latin learning, the East Slavs developed their own literature and fine arts, quite distinct from those of other Eastern Orthodox countries. Following the Great Schism of , the Rus' church maintained communion with both Rome and Constantinople for some time, but along with most of the Eastern churches it eventually split to follow the Eastern Orthodox.

That being said, unlike other parts of the Greek world, Kievan Rus' did not have a strong hostility to the Western world. Yaroslav, known as "the Wise", struggled for power with his brothers. A son of Vladimir the Great , he was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his father's death in Subsequently, his eldest surviving brother, Svyatopolk the Accursed , killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev.

Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Viking mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the grand prince of Kiev in Like Vladimir, Yaroslav was eager to improve relations with the rest of Europe, especially the Byzantine Empire. Yaroslav also arranged marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary and Norway. Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code, Russkaya Pravda ; built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod ; patronized local clergy and monasticism ; and is said to have founded a school system.

Yaroslav's sons developed the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery , which functioned in Kievan Rus' as an ecclesiastical academy.

In the centuries that followed the state's foundation, Rurik's descendants shared power over Kievan Rus'. Princely succession moved from elder to younger brother and from uncle to nephew, as well as from father to son. Junior members of the dynasty usually began their official careers as rulers of a minor district, progressed to more lucrative principalities, and then competed for the coveted throne of Kiev. The gradual disintegration of the Kievan Rus' began in the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise.

The position of the Grand Prince of Kiev was weakened by the growing influence of regional clans. An unconventional power succession system was established rota system whereby power was transferred to the eldest member of the ruling dynasty rather than from father to son, i. The most prominent struggle for power was the conflict that erupted after the death of Yaroslav the Wise.

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The rivaling Principality of Polotsk was contesting the power of the Grand Prince by occupying Novgorod, while Rostislav Vladimirovich was fighting for the Black Sea port of Tmutarakan belonging to Chernihiv. At the same time, an uprising took place in Kiev, bringing to power Vseslav of Polotsk who supported the traditional Slavic paganism. On the initiative of Vladimir II Monomakh in the first federal council of Kievan Rus took place near Chernihiv in the city of Liubech with the main intention to find an understanding among the fighting sides.

However, even though that did not really stop the fighting, it certainly cooled things off. Rostislavichi who have initially established in Halych lands by were defeated by the Monomakh-Piast descendant Roman the Great. The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks , along which the goods were moving from the Black Sea mainly Byzantine through eastern Europe to the Baltic, was a cornerstone of Kiev wealth and prosperity.

Kiev was the main power and initiator in this relationship, once the Byzantine Empire fell into turmoil and the supplies became erratic, profits dried out, and Kiev lost its appeal. The last ruler to maintain a united state was Mstislav the Great.

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After his death in , the Kievan Rus' fell into recession and a rapid decline, and Mstislav's successor Yaropolk II of Kiev instead of focusing on the external threat of the Cumans was embroiled in conflicts with the growing power of the Novgorod Republic. In , as the Kievan Rus' state was full of internal conflict, Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir sacked the city of Kiev. The sack of the city fundamentally changed the perception of Kiev and was evidence of the fragmentation of the Kievan Rus'.

The Crusades brought a shift in European trade routes that accelerated the decline of Kievan Rus'.

In , the forces of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, making the Dnieper trade route marginal. Concurrently with it, the Ruthenian Federation of Kievan Rus' started to disintegrate into smaller principalities as the Rurik dynasty grew. The local Orthodox Christianity of Kievan Rus', while struggling to establish itself in the predominantly pagan state and losing its main base in Constantinople, was on the brink of extinction. In the north, the Republic of Novgorod prospered because it controlled trade routes from the River Volga to the Baltic Sea.

As Kievan Rus' declined, Novgorod became more independent. A local oligarchy ruled Novgorod; major government decisions were made by a town assembly, which also elected a prince as the city's military leader. In , Novgorod revolted against Kiev, and became independent.

Novgorod enjoyed a wide degree of autonomy although being closely associated with the Kievan Rus. In the northeast, Slavs from the Kievan region colonized the territory that later would become the Grand Duchy of Moscow by subjugating and merging with the Finnic tribes already occupying the area.

The city of Rostov , the oldest centre of the northeast, was supplanted first by Suzdal and then by the city of Vladimir , which become the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal'. The combined principality of Vladimir-Suzdal asserted itself as a major power in Kievan Rus' in the late 12th century. Prince Andrey then installed his younger brother, who ruled briefly in Kiev while Andrey continued to rule his realm from Suzdal. In , in the wake of the Mongol invasion , the metropolitan moved from Kiev to the city of Vladimir and Vladimir-Suzdal.

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To the southwest, the principality of Halych had developed trade relations with its Polish , Hungarian and Lithuanian neighbours and emerged as the local successor to Kievan Rus'. In , Prince Roman Mstislavych united the two previously separate principalities. In he conquered Kiev, and assumed the title of Knyaz of Kievan Rus', which was held by the rulers of Vladimir-Suzdal since His son, Prince Daniel r.

He accepted a crown as a "Rex Rusiae" "King of Rus" from the Roman papacy , apparently doing so without breaking with Constantinople. In , the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople granted the King of Poland a metropolitan for his Ruthenian subjects.

Lithuanian rulers also requested and received a metropolitan for Novagrudok shortly afterwards. Cyprian , a candidate pushed by the Lithuanian rulers, became Metropolitan of Kiev in and metropolitan of Moscow in ; this way the church in the Russian countries was reunited for some time. However, a long and unsuccessful struggle against the Mongols combined with internal opposition to the prince and foreign intervention weakened Galicia-Volhynia.

With the end of the Mstislavich branch of the Rurikids in the midth century, Galicia-Volhynia ceased to exist; Poland conquered Halych; Lithuania took Volhynia , including Kiev, conquered by Gediminas in ending the rule of Rurikids in the city. Lithuanian rulers then assumed the title over Ruthenia. The state finally disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of Rus' , fragmenting it into successor principalities who paid tribute to the Golden Horde the so-called Tatar Yoke. In the late 15th century, the Muscovite Grand Dukes began taking over former Kievan territories and proclaimed themselves the sole legal successors of the Kievan principality according to the protocols of the medieval theory of translatio imperii.

Later, as these territories, now part of modern central Ukraine and Belarus , fell to the Gediminids , the powerful, largely Ruthenized Grand Duchy of Lithuania drew heavily on Rus' cultural and legal traditions. Due to the fact of the economic and cultural core of Rus' being located on the territory of modern Ukraine, Ukrainian historians and scholars consider Kievan Rus' to be a founding Ukrainian state.

On the north-eastern periphery of Kievan Rus', traditions were adapted in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality that gradually gravitated towards Moscow. Russian historians consider Kievan Rus "the first period of Russian history". During the Kievan era, trade and transport depended largely on networks of rivers and portages.

Due to the expansion of trade and its geographical proximity, Kiev became the most important trade centre and chief among the communes; therefore the leader of Kiev gained political "control" over the surrounding areas. This princedom emerged from a coalition of traditional patriarchic family communes banded together in an effort to increase the applicable workforce and expand the productivity of the land. This union developed the first major cities in the Rus' and was the first notable form of self-government.

As these communes became larger, the emphasis was taken off the family holdings and placed on the territory that surrounded. This shift in ideology became known as the verv'.

In the 11th and the 12th centuries, the princes and their retinues, which were a mixture of Slavic and Scandinavian elites, dominated the society of Kievan Rus'. Leading soldiers and officials received income and land from the princes in return for their political and military services. Kievan society lacked the class institutions and autonomous towns that were typical of Western European feudalism. Nevertheless, urban merchants , artisans and labourers sometimes exercised political influence through a city assembly, the veche council , which included all the adult males in the population.

In some cases, the veche either made agreements with their rulers or expelled them and invited others to take their place. At the bottom of society was a stratum of slaves. More important was a class of tribute-paying peasants , who owed labour duty to the princes.

The widespread personal serfdom characteristic of Western Europe did not exist in Kievan Rus'. The change in political structure led to the inevitable development of the peasant class or smerdy. The smerdy were free un-landed people that found work by labouring for wages on the manors that began to develop around as the verv' began to dominate socio-political structure. The smerdy were initially given equality in the Kievian law code, they were theoretically equal to the prince, so they enjoyed as much freedom as can be expected of manual labourers.

However, in the 13th century, they slowly began to lose their rights and became less equal in the eyes of the law. Old Russian Law , main source: Kievan Rus', although sparsely populated compared to Western Europe, [] was not only the largest contemporary European state in terms of area but also culturally advanced. Novgorod had a sewage system [] and wood paving not often found in other cities at the time.

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