http://www.brama.com/news/press/020819mazepafilm_prayer.html
http://www.ukemonde.com/news/art7.html
http://genealogy.euweb.cz/index.html
http://genealogy.euweb.cz/note/rurik.html
http://genealogy.euweb.cz/scand/sweden1.html#IO3
http://genealogy.euweb.cz/russia/rurik1.html#YM
---------------------------------
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/russ110/htm_images/mapvarangianrus.htm
Image: map of Varangian Rus http://www.umkc.edu/imc/oldrussia.htm
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/russ110/russwomenslides.htm
Image: Vasnetsov painting "The Bogatyrs"
The first Russian State was organized in 862 by Viking adventurers
known as Varangians. They founded the city of Kiev and gathered a number
of
local Slavic tribes under their dominion. That first state, located
in what
is now Ukraine, was known as Rus'. It's subjects came to be called
russkie,
"Russians." The words Rus and Russia apparently derive from a Finnic
word
meaning "Scandinavian." A related word in the modern Finnish language--
ruotsi --means Swede. The Vikings in Russia quickly became Slavicized.
But
they left behind some linguistic traces. Many Russian names are originally
Viking: the name Olga derives from Helga, Igor from Ingvarr. Also,
the
rulers of early Russia were called knyazya, or princes, a Germanic
word
related to the modern English king and German König.
------------------------------
1045--- Building begins on the Cathedral of Saint-Sophia in Novgorod.
It
will take 5 years to finish.
1050--- Monk Nestor, living in the Cave Monastery outside Kiev, begins
writing the Primary Chronicle.
1054--- Yaroslav the Wise dies. Kiev will begin to decline. The Volga
will
begin to rival the Dnieper as a trade route. Moscow becomes a new trade
center.
1113--- The Primary Chronicle is finished.
Vladimir Monomakh begins his reign---he will be the last great prince
of the
Kievan period to be recognized as ruler of all Russia.
1125--- Vladimir Monomakh dies. The struggle for power between the
princes
of Rus intensifies.
1136--- Novgorodians expel their prince, assigned to them by Kiev, and
transfer his power to the local nobility and the wealthy merchant class
who
form a sort of city council known as the vieche. The prince, now only
an
elected military lead, can be removed from office if he meddles in
municipal
affairs.
----------------------
http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/list/98-07.txt
Robert W. Easton wrote: >I have seen photographs of runes scribed in
the
marble floor of Hagia >Sophia in Istanbul. Does anyone know if there
are any
traces of Viking >explorers in nearby Greece? The runes are not those
of
Viking explorers; they were probably inscribed by a member of the
Byzantines' Varangian Guard. The Varangians (the name comes from "virinjar",
derived from an Old Norse word meaning "plighted fish") were originally
Russianized Vikings whose forebears had sailed across the Baltic and
up the
rivers of northern Russia and dominated the Slav tribes of the interior.
In
988 the Byzantine emperor Basil II formed an alliance with Vladimer,
Prince
of Kiev. In return for the hand in marriage of Basil's sister, Anna,
Vladimer promised to send 6,000 fully-equipped Varangians that Basil
was
desperately in need of in order to suppress rivals for his throne.
The 6,000
Varangians arrived in early February 989 and Basil's problems with
rivals
were quickly--and brutally--resolved. Convincing Anna to go to Kiev
was a
bit more of a problem but the presence of 6,000 Varangians in Constantinople
had the effect of focusing minds marvelously. Anna was eventually packed
off--against a promise that Vladimer would embrace the Orthodox faith.
He
did. And not only was he baptized, he also got rid of his other four
wives
and eight hundred concubines and spent the rest of his life making
conversions and building churches everywhere. After his death, he was
canonized. As for the Varangians... They stayed on in Constantinople
and
became the imperial guard. Their numbers were replenished from time
to time
by new recruits from among Russian and Anglo-Saxon Vikings. (The last
part
of the Grettissaga (The Saga of Grettir) is about Grettir's young brother,
Thorsteinn, who heads for Miklagard (Constantinople) and joins the
Varangians there.) The Haghia Sophia inscription is not on the floor,
by the
way; it's on a marble screen in the south gallery. The inscription
has been
read as the name "Halfdan" and is dated to possibly the eleventh century.
There's an image of it at:
<http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/~gnott/Miklagard/period/guard.html>
For more
details about the Varangians in general check out:
<http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/~gnott/Miklagard/>
It's a fascinating story.
Bob Bragner Istanbul
------------------------------------
http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/MosPrinces.html
The Princes of Novgorod and
The Grand Princes of Moscow
Rurik, a Scandinavian Prince
Rurik arrived in Novgorod in 862.
He was the first Varangian ruler of legend. He died circa 879..
------------------------------
http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/chap1-2.html
Novgorod used its fleet to attack the Swedes at Sigtun. Novgorod pillaged
that Swedish town and carried off the booty won in the battle. The
most
prized treasure was Sigtun's massive red copper gate, called the
"Sigtunskiye Vrata," which to the present day adorns Novgorod's St.
Sophia
Cathedral.
---------------------------
http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/chap1-1.html
Kievan Rus
---------------------
The history of the Russian Navy
http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/book-cont.html
-------------------------
http://bridegirl.com/misc/russian-history.asp
The Kievan and Appanage Periods
860-1698 The House of Rurik. The period of the Kievan Russian Empire,
destroyed by the Mongol - Tatars, and the rise of Moscovy to recentralize
the demolished empire.
-------------------------------
http://faculty.smu.edu/cstand/WebSamples/C-Liya/timeline.html
<<...OLE_Obj...>> 862 -1237 AD -- "Kievan Rus': From Rurik
to Christianity
to the Mongols."
-------------------------------------
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/nestor.html
Medieval Sourcebook:
The Chronicle of Nestor
-------------------------------
Nestor's Chronicle
http://www.hum.gu.se/arkiv/ONN/1999/I/msg00607.html
http://www.hum.gu.se/arkiv/ONN/1999/I/msg00625.html
----------------------
http://www.ku.edu/~russcult/culture/handouts/chronicle_all.html
Nestor Chr. to be continued.
Oleksandr MOROZ <mailto:politics@mirror.kiev.ua>
(People's Deputy of Ukraine, Leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine)
http://www.mirror-weekly.com/nn/show/469/43798/
<<...OLE_Obj...>>
http://eng.ukrland.org.ua/ |
