Rus' Khaganate

7/30/2019 Rus' Khaganate

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Rus' Khaganate 1

Rus' Khaganate

Rus' Khaganate

9thcentury

Map showing Varangian or Rus' settlement (in red) and location of Slavic tribes (in grey), during the mid-ninth century. Khazar

influence indicated with blue outline.

Capital Not specified

Languages Old East Norse, Old East Slavic

Religion Norse religion, Slavic religion

Government Monarchy

Historical era Early Middle Ages

- Established ca. 830[1]

- Disestablished ca. 882-899[2]

Today part of Russia Ukraine

Part ofa series on the

History of Russia
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Early Slavs / Rus' pre-9th century

Volga Bulgaria 7th13th century

Khazar Khaganate 7th10th century

Pre-Kievan Rus' 8th9th century

Kievan Rus' 9th12th century

Vladimir-Suzdal 12th14th century

Novgorod Republic 12th15th century

Tatar Yoke 13th15th century

Grand Duchy 12831547

Tsardom of Russia 15471721

Russian Empire 17211917

Russian Republic 1917

Russian SFSR / Soviet Union 19171991Russian Federation 1992present

Timeline

Russia portal

The Rus' Khaganate was a polity that flourished during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern

Europe, roughly the late 8th and early-to-mid-9th centuries AD. [3] A predecessor to the Rurik Dynasty and the

Kievan Rus', the Rus' Khaganate was a state, or a cluster of city-states, set up by a people calledRus', who may have

been Norsemen, in what is today northern Russia.[4] The region's population at that time was composed of Baltic,

Slavic, Finnic, Turkic, and Norse peoples. The region was also a place of operations for Varangians, easternScandinavian adventurers, merchants, and pirates.[5][6]

According to contemporaneous sources, the population centers of the region, which may have included the

proto-towns of Holmgard, Aldeigja, Lyubsha, Alaborg, Sarskoye Gorodishche, and Timerevo, were under the rule of

a monarch or monarchs using the Old Turkic title Khagan. The Rus' Khaganate period marked the genesis of a

distinct Rus' ethnos, and its successor states would include Kievan Rus' and later states from which modern Russia,

Belarus, and Ukraine evolved.[5][6]

Documentary evidence

A ruler of a settlement of Rus' people is mentioned by the title of "khagan" in several historical sources, most ofthem foreign texts dating from the 9th century, while three other East Slavic sources date from the 11th and 12th

centuries. The earliest European reference related to the Rus' khaganate comes from the Frankish Annals of St.

Bertin, which refer to a group of Norsemen who called themselves Rhos (qui se, id est gentem suam, Rhos vocari

dicebant) and visited Constantinople around the year 838.[7] Fearful of returning home via the steppes, which would

leave them vulnerable to attacks by the Magyars, these Rhos travelled through the Frankish Empire accompanied by

Greek ambassadors from the Byzantine emperor Theophilus. When questioned by the Frankish Emperor Louis the

Pious at Ingelheim, they stated that their leader was known as chacanus (the Latin word for "Khagan"),[8] that they

lived far to the north, and that they were Swedes (comperit eos gentis esse sueonum).[4]

Thirty years later, in spring 871, the eastern and western emperors, Basil I and Louis II, quarreled over control of

Bari, which had been conquered from the Arabs by their joint forces. The Byzantine emperor sent an angry letter tohis western counterpart, reprimanding him for usurping the title of emperor. He argued that the Frankish rulers are
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Rus' Khaganate 3

simple reges, while the imperial title properly applied only to the overlord of the Romans, that is, to Basil himself.

He also pointed out that each nation has its own title for the supreme ruler: for instance, the title ofchaganus is used

by the overlords of the Avars, Khazars (Gazari), and "Northmen" (Nortmanno). To that, Louis replied that he was

aware only of the Avar khagans, and had never heard of the khagans of the Khazars and Normans. [9][10] The content

of Basil's letter, now lost, is reconstructed from Louis's reply, quoted in full in the Salerno Chronicle, and it indicates

that at least one group of Scandinavians had a ruler who called himself "khagan".[11]

Ahmad ibn Rustah, a 10th century Muslim geographer from Persia, wrote that the Rus' khagan ("khqn rus") lived

on an island in a lake.[12] Constantine Zuckerman comments that Ibn Rustah, using the text of an anonymous account

from the 870s, attempted to accurately convey the titles of all rulers described by its author, which makes his

evidence all the more precious.[13] The Muslim geographer mentions only two khagans in his treatise those of

Khazaria and Rus. A further near-contemporary reference to the Rus' comes from al-Yaqubi, who wrote in 889 or

890 that the Caucasus mountaineers, when besieged by the Arabs in 854, asked for help from the overlords (sahib) of

al-Rum (Byzantium), Khazaria, and al-Saqaliba (Slavs).[14]Hudud al-Alam, an anonymous Persian geography text

written in the late 10th century, refers to the Rus' king as "Khqn-i Rus".[15] As the unknown author ofHudud

al-Alam relied on numerous 9th century sources, including Ibn Khorddbeh, it is possible that his reference to the

Rus' Khagan was copied from earlier, pre-Rurikid texts, rather than reflecting contemporary political reality.[16]

Finally, the 11th century Persian geographer Abu Said Gardizi mentioned "khqn-i rus" in his work Zayn

al-Akhbr. Like other Muslim geographers, Gardizi relied on traditions stemming from the 9th century.[17]

There are good grounds for believing that the title "khagan" was still remembered in Kievan Rus' during the

Christian period. Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev applied the title "khagan" to the Grand Princes of Kievan Rus -

Vladimir I of Kiev and Yaroslav I the Wise in the earliest surviving example of Old Russian literature, Slovo o

Zakone i Blagodati ("Sermon on Law and Grace"), written around 1050.[18] Hilarion referred to Vladimir as "the

great khagan of our land" (velikago kagana nashea zemlja, Vladimera) and Yaroslav as "our devout khagan."[19] A

graffito in the north gallery of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev reads "O Lord, save our khagan", apparently in

reference to Sviatoslav II (10731076).[20] As late as the end of the 12th century, The Tale of Igor's Campaign refers

in passing to a "kogan Oleg",[17] traditionally identified with Oleg of Tmutarakan.[21]

Dating

The Klvesten runestone dates to the

9th century, the oldest known

runestone telling of expeditions in

the East.

Extant primary sources make it plausible that the title ofkhagan was applied to

the rulers of the Rus' during a rather short period, roughly between their embassy

to Constantinople (838) and Basil I's letter (871). All Byzantine sources after

Basil I refer to the Rus' rulers as archons (Greek for "ruler").

The dating of the Khaganate's existence has been the subject of debates among

scholars and remains unclear. Omeljan Pritsak dates the foundation of the

Khaganate to around 830840. In the 1920s, Russian historian Pavel Smirnov

suggested that the Rus' Khaganate emerged only briefly around 830 and was

soon destroyed by the migration of the Magyar-Kabar tribal confederation

towards the Carpathian Mountains.[22] Whatever the accuracy of such estimates

may be, there are no primary sources mentioning the Rus' or its khagans prior to

the 830s.[23]

Equally contentious has been discussion about the date of the khaganate's

disintegration. The title of Khagan is not mentioned in the Rus'-Byzantine

treaties (907, 911, 944), or in De Ceremoniis, a record of court ceremonials

meticulously documenting the titles of foreign rulers, when it deals with Olga's reception at the court of Constantine

VII in 945. Moreover, ibn Fadlan, in his detailed account of the Rus (922), designated their supreme ruler as malik
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Rus' Khaganate 4

("king"). From this fact, Peter Golden concluded via an argumentum ex silentio that the khaganate collapsed at some

point between 871 and 922.[24] Zuckerman, meanwhile, argues that the absence of the title "khagan" from the first

Russo-Byzantine Treaty proves that the khaganate had vanished by 911.[13]

Location

Europe in the early 9th century

The location of the khaganate has been

actively disputed since the early 20th

century. According to one fringe theory, the

Rus' khagan resided somewhere in

Scandinavia or even as far west as

Walcheren.[25] In stark contrast, George

Vernadsky believed that the khagan had his

headquarters in the eastern part of the

Crimea or in the Taman Peninsula and that

the island described by Ibn Rustah was most

likely situated in the estuary of the Kuban

River.[26] Neither of these theories has won

many adherents, as archaeologists have

uncovered no traces of a Slavic-Norse

settlement in the Crimea region in the 9th century and there are no Norse sources documenting "khagans" in

Scandinavia.[27]

Soviet historiography, as represented by Boris Rybakov and Lev Gumilev, advanced Kiev as the residence of the

khagan, assuming that Askold and Dir were the only khagans recorded by name. Mikhail Artamonov became an

adherent of the theory that Kiev was the seat of the Rus' Khaganate, and continued to hold this view into the

1990s.[28]

Western historians, however, have generally argued against this theory. There is no evidence of a Norse presence in

Kiev prior to the 10th century.[29] Troublesome is the absence of hoards of coins which would prove that the Dnieper

trade route the backbone of later Kievan Rus' was operating in the 9th century.[30] Based on his examination of

the archaeological evidence, Zuckerman concludes that Kiev originated as a fortress on the Khazar border with

Levedia, and that only after the Magyars departed for the west in 889 did the middle Dnieper region start to progress

economically.[31]

A number of historians, the first of whom was Vasily Bartold, have advocated a more northerly position for the

khaganate.[citation needed] They have tended to emphasize ibn Rustah's report as the only historical clue to the location

of the khagan's residence.[32] Recent archaeological research, conducted by Anatoly Kirpichnikov and Dmitry

Machinsky, has raised the possibility that this polity was based on a group of settlements along the Volkhov River,

including Ladoga, Lyubsha, Duboviki, Alaborg, and Holmgard.[33] "Most of these were initially small sites, probably

not much more than stations for re-fitting and resupply, providing an opportunity for exchange and the redistribution

of items passing along the river and caravan routes".[34] If the anonymous traveller quoted by ibn Rustah is to be

believed, the Rus of the Khaganate period made extensive use of the Volga route to trade with the Middle East,

possibly through Bulgar and Khazar intermediaries. His description of the Rus' island suggests that their center was

at Holmgard, an early medieval precursor of Novgorod whose name translates from Old Norse as "the river-island

castle". The First Novgorod Chronicle describes unrest in Novgorod before Rurik was invited to come rule the

region in the 860s. This account prompted Johannes Brndsted to assert that Holmgard-Novgorod was the

khaganate's capital for several decades prior to the appearance of Rurik, including the time of the Byzantine embassyin 839.[35] Machinsky accepts this theory but notes that, before the rise of Holmgard-Novgorod, the chief political

and economic centre of the area was located at Aldeigja-Ladoga.[36]
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Rus' Khaganate 5

Origin

The origins of the Rus' Khaganate are unclear. The first Norse settlers of the region arrived in the lower basin of the

Volkhov River in the mid-8th century. The country comprising the present-day Saint-Petersburg, Novgorod, Tver,

Yaroslavl, and Smolensk regions became known in Old Norse sources as "Gararki", the land of forts. Around the

860 Rus', a group of Vikings perhaps from Roden, Sweden, began to rule the area under their leader Rurik. [37][38][39]

Gradually, Norse warlords, known to the Turkic-speaking steppe peoples as "kl-beki" or "lake-princes", came todominate some of the region's Finno-Ugric and Slavic peoples, particularly along the Volga trade route linking the

Baltic Sea with the Caspian Sea and Serkland.[40]

Omeljan Pritsak speculated that a Khazar khagan named Khan-Tuvan Dyggvi, exiled after losing a civil war, settled

with his followers in the Norse-Slavic settlement of Rostov, married into the local Scandinavian nobility, and

fathered the dynasty of the Rus' khagans.[41] Zuckerman dismisses Pritsak's theory as untenable speculation,[42] and

no record of any Khazar khagan fleeing to find refuge among the Rus' exists in contemporaneous sources. [43]

Nevertheless, the possible Khazar connection to early Rus' monarchs is supported by the use of a stylized trident

tamga, or seal, by later Rus' rulers such as Sviatoslav I of Kiev; similar tamgas are found in ruins that are definitively

Khazar in origin.[44] The genealogical connection between the 9th century Khagans of Rus' and the later Rurikid

rulers, if any, is unknown at this time.[45]

Most historians agree that the title "khagan" was borrowed by the Rus from the Khazars, but there is considerable

dispute over the circumstances of this borrowing. Peter Benjamin Golden presumes that the Rus' khaganate was a

puppet state set up by the Khazars in the basin of the Oka River to fend off recurring attacks of the Magyars. [46]

However, no source records that the Rus' of the 9th century were subjects of the Khazars. For foreign observers

(such as Ibn Rustah), there was no material difference between the titles of the Khazar and Rus' rulers. [47] Anatoly

Novoseltsev hypothesizes that the adoption of the title "khagan" was designed to advertise the Rus' claims to the

equality with the Khazars.[48] This theory is echoed by Thomas Noonan, who asserts that the Rus' leaders were

loosely unified under the rule of one of the "sea-kings" in the early 9th century, and that this "High King" adopted

the title "khagan" to give him legitimacy in the eyes of his subjects and neighboring states. [49] According to this

theory, the title was a sign that the bearers ruled under a divine mandate.[50]

Economy

The likely mainstay of the khaganate's economy was the Volga trade route. Early 9th century coin hoards unearthed

in Scandinavia frequently contain large quantities of dirhem coins minted in the Abbasid Caliphate and other Muslim

polities, sometimes split into smaller pieces and inscribed with Runic signs. [51] All in all, more than 228,000 Arabic

coins have been recovered from over 1,000 hoards in European Russia and the Baltic region. Almost 90% of these

arrived in Scandinavia by way of the Volga trade route. Unsurprisingly, the dirhem was the basis for the monetary

system of Kievan Rus'.[52]

Trade was the major source of income for the Rus, who according to ibn Rustah did not engage in agriculture: "They

have no cultivated fields but depend for their supplies on what they can obtain from as-Saqaliba's [Slavs] land. They

have no estates, villages, or fields; their only business is to trade in sable, squirrel, and other furs, and the money

they take in these transactions they stow in their belts."[53] Rus merchants travelled down the Volga, paying duties to

the Bulghars and Khazars, to the ports of Gorgan and Abaskun on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea; on occasion

they travelled as far as Baghdad.[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baghdadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caspian_Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abaskunhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gorganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Furhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Squirrelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agriculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tradehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Runichttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muslimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abbasid_Caliphatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dirhemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=High_Kinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_S._Noonanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anatoly_Novoseltsevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anatoly_Novoseltsevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magyarshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oka_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Benjamin_Goldenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rurikidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sviatoslav_I_of_Kievhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamgahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coat_of_arms_of_Ukrainehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarskoe_Gorodishchehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kabarshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khan-Tuvanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khazarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Omeljan_Pritsakhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Serklandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caspian_Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baltic_Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Volga_trade_routehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Turkic_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norsemenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rurikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swedenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roden%2C_Swedenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vikingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rus%27_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gar%C3%B0ar%C3%ADkihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Norsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smolensk_Oblasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yaroslavl_Oblasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tver_Oblasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Novgorod_Oblasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leningrad_Oblasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Volkhov_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norsemen


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Rus' Khaganate 6

Government

Writing in 922, Ibn Fadlan described the Rus' ruler (like the Khazar khagan), as having little real authority. Instead,

political and military power was wielded by a deputy, who "commands the troops, attacks [the Rus' ruler's] enemies,

and acts as his representative before his subjects."[54] The supreme king of the Rus', on the other hand, "has no duties

other than to make love to his slave girls, drink, and give himself up to pleasure."[54] He was guarded by 400 men,

"willing to die for him ... These 400 sit below the royal throne: a large and bejewelled platform which alsoaccommodates the forty slave-girls of his harem." Ibn Fadlan wrote that the Rus' ruler would almost never leave his

throne and even "when he wants to go riding his horse is led up to him, and on his return the horse is brought right

up to the throne."[55] Ibn Rustah, on the other hand, reported that the khagan was the ultimate authority in settling

disputes between his subjects. His decisions, however, were not binding, so that if one of the disputants disagreed

with the khagan's ruling, the dispute was then resolved in a battle, which took place "in the presence of the

contestants' kin who stand with swords drawn; and the man who gets the better of the duel also gets the decision

about the matter in dispute."[56]

The dichotomy between the relative powerlessness of the nominal ruler and the great authority of his subordinate

reflects the structure of Khazar government, with secular authority in the hands of a Khagan Bek only theoretically

subordinate to the khagan, and it agrees with the traditional Germanic system, where there could be a division

between the king and the military commander. Moreover, some scholars have noted similarities between this dual

kingship and the postulated relationship between Igor and Oleg of Kiev in the early 10th century (compare Askold

and Dir in the 9th century).[57] The institution of separate sacral ruler and military commander may be observed in

the reconstructed relationship between Oleg and Igor, but whether this is part of the Rus' Khaganate's legacy to its

successor-state is unknown. The early Kievan Rus' principalities exhibited certain distinctive characteristics in their

government, military organization, and jurisprudence that were comparable to those in force among the Khazars and

other steppe peoples; some historians believe that these elements came to Kievan Rus' from the Khazars by way of

the earlier Rus' Khagans.[58]

Customs and religion

Oleg being mourned by his warriors, an 1899

painting by Viktor Vasnetsov. This burial rite,

with the funerary tumulus, is typical of both

Scandinavian, and Eurasian nomadic customs.

Judging from excavations conducted since the 1820s at Ladoga and

related sites in Northern Russia, the Rus' customs reflected primarily

Scandinavian influences. This is consistent with the writings of ibn

Rustah and ibn Fadlan. The former gives a brief description of the

burial of a Rus' nobleman, who was put into a "grave like a large

house", together with food, amulets, coins, other staples, as well as his

favorite wife. "Then the grave door is sealed and she dies there." [59]

Ibn Fadlan provides further evidence of the Rus' building a memorial

mound, or cenotaph, and giving it a runic inscription on a piece of

wood.[60] The Arab traveler also left a detailed description of the Rus'

custom of cremating noblemen in a ship, which involved both animal

and human sacrifice. When a poor man died, he was put into a little

ship and burned in it; the funeral of a nobleman was much more

elaborate. His estate was divided into three parts: one for his family, one to pay for his funerary costume, and one to

make beer, which was consumed on the day of his cremation.[61] One of the deceased man's slave girls volunteered

to be put to death so as to join her master in paradise. On the day of cremation, the dead man was disinterred from

his grave, dressed in fine clothings, and put onto a specially constructed ship. The volunteer slave girl was killed

(after the deceased man's kinsmen and friends had sex with her) and placed on board together with her master before

the dead man's nearest kinsman set the vessel on fire. The funeral ended with the construction of a round mound.[62]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paradisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paradisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paradisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_sacrificehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ship_burialhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norse_funeralhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Runichttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cenotaphhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Noblemanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burialhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ahmad_ibn_Fadlanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ahmad_ibn_Rustahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ahmad_ibn_Rustahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ATrizna_1899.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eurasian_nomadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scandinaviahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viktor_Vasnetsovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jurisprudencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Successor-statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Askold_and_Dirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Askold_and_Dirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oleg_of_Kievhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Igor%2C_Grand_Prince_of_Kievhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanic_peopleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khagan_Bekhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Secularhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khazarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dichotomyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holmganghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_%28sociology%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Authority


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Rus' Khaganate 7

Early medieval historians were impressed with the spirit of independence and enterprise inculcated among the Rus

from birth.[17] Ibn Rustah writes: "When a son is born the father will go up to the newborn baby, sword in hand;

throwing it down, he says; 'I shall not leave you any property: you have only what you can provide with this

weapon!'"[63] Al-Marwazi repeated this description of the instructions given to a son and added that it was the

daughter who received her father's inheritance. The same sense of rugged individualism was reflected in their

treatment of the ill. According to ibn Fadlan, "if one of the Rus falls sick they put him in a tent by himself and leave

bread and water for him. They do not visit him, however, or speak to him, especially if he is a serf. Should he

recover he rejoins the others; if he dies they burn him. If he happens to be a serf, however, they leave him for the

dogs and vultures to devor."[64] Sources describe the Rus as liberal in sexual matters. Ibn Fadlan wrote that the king

of the Rus did not shy away from having public intercourse with the slave girls in his harem. When Rus traders

arrived to the Volga shores, they would make love with the slave girls they brought for sale in the presence of their

comrades; sometimes this would develop into a communal orgy.[65]

The Idols, a painting by Nicholas

Roerich (1901)

Both ibn Fadlan and ibn Rustah portray the Rus as devout pagans. Ibn Rustah

and, following him, Garizi reported that the Rus shamans or "medicine men"

(attiba) wielded great power over the common folk. According to ibn Rustah,

these shamans acted "as if they own everything". They determined what women,men, or animals had to be sacrificed, and there was no appealing their decisions.

A shaman would take the selected offering, whether human or animal, and hang

it from a pole until it died.[66] Ibn Fadlan left a description of the Rus merchants

praying for success in trading before "a large wooden stake with a face like that

of a human being, surrounded by smaller figures, and behind them tall poles in

the ground." If trade did not pick up, more offerings were made; if the business

remained slow, the trader would make offerings to the minor idols, too. When the

trading was especially good, Rus merchants would likewise make additional

offerings of cattle and sheep, some of which were distributed as alms.[67]

On the other hand, Byzantine sources report that the Rus adopted Christianity by

the end of the 860s. In his encyclical dated to 867, Patriarch Photius wrote about

the enthusiastic conversion of the Rus, mentioning that he had sent to their lands

a bishop.[68] Constantine VII attributes the conversion to his grandfather Basil

the Macedonian and to Patriarch Ignatius rather than to their predecessors

Michael III and Photius. Constantine narrates how the Byzantines galvanized the

Rus' into conversion by their persuasive words and rich presents, including gold,

silver, and precious fabrics. He also repeats a traditional story that the pagans

were particularly impressed by a miracle: a gospel book thrown by the

archbishop into an oven was not damaged by fire.[69] Ibn Khordadbeh wrote in

the late 9th century that the Rus who arrived to Muslim lands "claimed to be Christians".[17] Modern historians are

divided in their views on the historicity and extent of the Christianization of the Rus' Khaganate.

Relations with neighbors

In 838, the Rus' Khaganate sent an embassy to the Byzantine Empire, which was recorded in the Annals of St.

Bertin. The purpose of this embassy remains controversial among historians. Aleksey Shakhmatov argued that the

embassy was meant to establish amity with Byzantium and to open up the way into Sweden through Western

Europe.[70] Constantine Zuckerman postulates that the Rus' ambassadors were to negotiate a peace treaty after their

Paphlagonian expedition of the 830s.[47] George Vernadsky connects their mission with the construction of the

fortress of Sarkel in 833. That embassy was not recorded in Byzantine sources, and in 860 Patriarch Photius referred

to the Rus as "unknown people".[71]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aleksey_Shakhmatovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constantine_Zuckermanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paphlagonian_expedition_of_the_Rus%27http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Vernadskyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarkelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarkelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarkelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Vernadskyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paphlagonian_expedition_of_the_Rus%27http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constantine_Zuckermanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aleksey_Shakhmatovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianization_of_the_Rus%27_Khaganatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ibn_Khordadbehhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archbishophttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gospelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_IIIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patriarch_Ignatiushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basil_the_Macedonianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basil_the_Macedonianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constantine_VIIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bishophttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patriarch_Photiushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Encyclicalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Medicine_menhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shamanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AIdoly.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orgyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Al-Marwazihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spatha%23Viking_Age


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Rus' Khaganate 8

According to Vernadsky, the Khazars and Greeks erected Sarkel near the portage between the Don River and Volga

specifically to defend this strategic point from the Rus.[26] Other scholars, however, believe that the fortress of

Sarkel was constructed to defend against or monitor the activities of the Magyars and other steppe tribes, and not the

Rus'.[72] The Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky declared that the extant sources were unclear on this

point.[73] John Skylitzes claimed that Sarkel was a "staunch bulwark against the Pechenegs" but did not identify that

as its original purpose.[74]

In 860, the Rus besieged Constantinople, with a fleet of 200 ships. The Byzantine army and navy were far from the

capital, leaving it vulnerable to the attack. The timing of the expedition suggests that the Rus were well-aware of the

internal situation in the empire thanks to the commercial and other relations that continued after the embassy of 838.

The Rus warriors devastated the suburbs of Constantinople before suddenly departing on August 4.[75]

The early Rus' traded extensively with Khazaria. Ibn Khordadbeh wrote in the Book of Roads and Kingdoms that

"they go via the Slavic River (the Don) to Khamlidj, a city of the Khazars, where the latter's ruler collects the tithe

from them."[76] Some modern commentators infer from Arab accounts that the Rus' Khaganate's political culture was

profoundly influenced by its contacts with Khazaria.[77] By the beginning of the Rurikid period in the first decades of

the 10th century, however, relations between the Rus' and the Khazars soured.

Decline and legacy

Soon after Patriarch Photius informed other Orthodox bishops about the Christianization of the Rus, all the centres of

the khaganate in North-Western Russia were destroyed by fire. Archaeologists found convincing evidence that

Holmgard, Aldeigja, Alaborg, Izborsk and other local centres were burnt to the ground in the 860s or 870s. Some of

these settlements were permanently abandoned after the conflagration. The Primary Chronicle describes the uprising

of the pagan Slavs and Chudes (Finnic peoples) against the Varangians, who had to withdraw overseas in 862. The

First Novgorod Chronicle, whose account of the events Shakhmatov considered more trustworthy, does not pinpoint

the pre-Rurikid uprising to any specific date. The 16th century Nikon Chronicle attributes the banishment of the

Varangians from the country to Vadim the Bold. The Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Braichevsky labelled Vadim'srebellion "a pagan reaction" against the Christianization of the Rus'.[78] A period of unrest and anarchy followed,

dated by Zuckerman to ca. 875900. The absence of coin hoards from the 880s and 890s suggests that the Volga

trade route ceased functioning, precipitating "the first silver crisis in Europe".[79]

After this economic depression and period of political upheaval, the region experienced a resurgence beginning in

around 900. Zuckerman associates this recovery with the arrival of Rurik and his men, who turned their attention

from the Volga to the Dnieper, for reasons as yet uncertain. The Scandinavian settlements in Ladoga and Novgorod

revived and started to grow rapidly. During the first decade of the 10th century, a large trade outpost was formed on

the Dnieper in Gnezdovo, near modern Smolensk. Another Dnieper settlement, Kiev, developed into an important

urban centre roughly in the same period.[80][81]

The fate of the Rus' Khaganate, and the process by which it either evolved into or was consumed by the RurikidKievan Rus', is unclear. The Kievans seem to have had a very vague notion about the existence of the khaganate.

Slavonic sources do not mention either the Christianization of the Rus in the 860s nor the Paphlagonian expedition

of the 830s. The account of the Rus' expedition against Constantinople in the 860s was borrowed by the authors of

the Primary Chronicle from Greek sources, suggesting the absence of a vernacular written tradition.[82]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vernacularhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smolenskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gnezdovohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dnieperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rurikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Recessionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silver_crisishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vadim_the_Boldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nikon_Chroniclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=First_Novgorod_Chroniclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chudeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primary_Chroniclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Izborskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alaborghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patriarch_Photiushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caspian_expeditions_of_the_Rus%23Raid_of_913http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rurikidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khamlidjhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Book_of_Roads_and_Kingdoms_%28ibn_Khordadbeh%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ibn_Khordadbehhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khazariahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naval_fleethttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rus%27-Byzantine_War_%28860%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pechenegshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Skylitzeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mykhailo_Hrushevskyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ukrainian_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magyarshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_River_%28Russia%29


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Rus' Khaganate 9

Notes[1] ""A violent civil war took place during the 820s [...] The losers of the internal political struggle, known as Kabars, fled northward to the

Varangian Rus' in the upper Volga region, near Rostov, and southward to the Magyars, who formerly had been loyal vassals of the Khazars.

The presence of Kabar political refugees from Khazaria among the Varangian traders in Rostov helped to raise the latter's prestige, with the

consequence that by the 830s a new power center known as the Rus' Kaganate had come into existence."

[2][2] "By the end of the 9th century, Helgi/Oleh the empire builder [...] had from his capital in Kiev gained control over most of the East Slavic

tribes [to] the upper Volga in the far north."[3] E.g., Christian, David.A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999. p. 38.

[4] Annales Bertiniani, a. 839, (The Annals of St. Bertin). Ed. Georg Waitz,Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum

in usum scholarum. Hannoverae, 1883. pp. 1920; Jones, Gwyn.A History of the Vikings. 2nd ed. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984.

pp. 249-50.

[5] Franklin, Simon and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 7501200. London: Longman, 1996. ISBN 0-582-49091-X. pp. 3336.

[6] Dolukhanov, P.M. The Early Slavs: Eastern Europe and the Initial Settlement to Kievan Rus'. London: Longman, 1996. p. 187.

[7] Jones 249250.

[8] A minority of scholars believe that the reference was to a king bearing the Old Norse nameHkan orHaakon. See, e.g., Garipzanov 811.

[9] Monumenta Germaniae 385394.

[10] cagano veram non praelatum Avarum, non Gazanorum aut Nortmannorum nuncipari reperimus. Duczko 25.

[11] Dolger T. 59, 487.

[12] Brndsted (1965), pp. 267268.

[13][13] Zuckerman, "Deux tapes" 96.

[14] Laurent and Canard 490. According to Zuckerman, Ibn Khordadbeh and other Arab authors often confused the terms Rus and Saqaliba when

describing their raids to the Caspian Sea in the 9th and 10th centuries. Thus, the ruler of al-Saqualiba in 852 was likely the same person as the

khagan of the Rus.But n.b., Ibn Khorddbeh'sBook of Roads and Kingdoms does not mention the title of Khagan for the ruler of Rus'. Duczko

25.

[15][15] Minorsky 159.

[16] See, e.g., Minorsky xvi.

[17] "Rus",Encyclopaedia of Islam.

[18][18] Ilarion, "Sermon on Law and Grace" 3, 17, 18, 26; for discussion, see Brook 154.

[19][19] Duczko 25.

[20] Spasi gospodi, kagana nashego. Duczko 25; see also Noonan, "Khazar" 9192.

[21] Most commentators follow Dmitry Likhachev's interpretation of the passage. Tmutarakan was a former Khazar possession and the Khazar

traditions may have persisted there for an extended period of time. It is known that, while reigning in Tmutarakan, Oleg assumed the title ofthe "archon of all Khazaria". Other candidates include Oleg of Novgorod and Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod-Seversky. See: Zenkovsky 160;

Encyclopaedia of The Lay 34.

[22][22] Smirnov 132-45.

[23] Pritsak, Origin of Rus', passim.

[24][24] Golden 87, 97.

[25] 222224.

[26][26] Vernadsky VII-4.

[27] Franklin and Shepard 2750.

[28] Artamonov 271290.

[29] From the Baltic to the Black Sea: Studies in Medieval Archaeology (One World Archaeology, 18) by David Austin Publisher: Routledge;

New edition (June 27, 1997).pp. 285286; . . // . 41989. 118127.

[30] Yanin 105106; Noonan, The Monetary System of Kiev 396.[31] Zuckerman, "Les Hongrois au Pays de Lebedia" 6566.

[32] 397408.

[33] Zuckerman, 2000; 525.

[34] A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures 266.

[35] Brndsted 6768; for a detailed analysis of recent archaeological investigations at Holmgard, see Duczko 102104.

[36] 525; see also Duczko 3132.

[38] "in 839, the Rus' were Swedes. In 1043, the Rus' were Slavs." (F. Donald Logan, The Vikings in History, cit. Montgomery, p. 24),

[40][40] Brutzkus 120.

[41] Pritsak, Origins of Rus'1:28, 171, 182.

[42][42] Archaeologists did not find traces of a settlement in Rostov prior to the 970s. Furthermore, the placename "Rostov" has a transparent Slavic

etymology.

[43][43] Duczko 31.

[44] Brook 154; Franklin and Shepard 120121; Pritsak, Weights 7879.

[45] But see, e.g., Duczko 3132, outlining theories that Rurik held the title of Khagan Rus'.
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Rus' Khaganate 10

[46] Golden 7799; Duczko 30.

[47][47] Zuckerman, "Deux tapes".

[48][48]

[49] Noonan, "Khazar" 8789, 94.

[50] Brook 154; Noonan, "Khazar" 8794.

[51] Noonan, "Rus/Rus' Merchants" 213219.

[52] Yanin 1956. 91100.

[53] Ibn Rustah. English translation in Brndsted (1965), pp. 267268[54] Christian 340341, citing ibn Fadlan'sRisala.

[55] Ibn Fadlan,Risala. English translation in Brndsted 266267

[56] Ibn Rustah. English translation in Brndsted 266267

[57][57] Christian 341.

[58][58] Brutzkus 111.

[59][59] Ibn Rustah. English translation in Brndsted 305

[60][60] Brndsted 305

[61] Ibn Fadlan describes the Rus' as addicted to beer, "and often one of them has been found dead with a beaker in his hand." Ibn Fadlan,Risala.

English translation in Brndsted 301


[63][63] Brndsted 268


305. See also "Rus",Encyclopaedia of Islam.[65] Ibn Fadlan,Risala. English translation in Brndsted 265, 305; "Rus",Encyclopaedia of Islampassim

[66] Ibn Rustah. English translation in Brndsted 268. See also "Rus",Encyclopaedia of Islam.

[67] Ibn Fadlan,Risala. English translation in Brndsted 266. See also "Rus",Encyclopaedia of Islam.

[68][68] Photii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Epistulae et Amphilochia. Ed. B. Laourdas, L.G. Westerinck. T.1. Leipzig, 1983. P. 49.

[69] Theophanes 342343.

[70][70] A. Shakhmatov, Survey of the Oldest Period of the History of the Russian Language. Encyclopedia of Slavonic Philology, II, 1 (Petrograd,

1915), XXVIII, cited in Vasiliev 12

[71][71] Vasiliev 13.

[72][72] Shepard 24; Kovalev 124.

[73][73] Hrushevsky 1:176.

[74] Huxleypassim.

[75] Franklin and Shepard, 5055.

[76][76] ibn Khordadbeh, as cited in Vernadsky 1:9

[77] E.g., Jones 164 (summarizing evidence from al-Masudi and al-Muqaddasi); Franklin and Shepard 67-8; Christian 340.

[78] 4296.

[79] Noonan, "Silver Crisis" 4150; Noonan, "Fluctuations in Islamic Trade"passim

[80] Franklin and Shepard, 91111.

[81] See, e.g., Duczko 81 et seq., discussing the argument among various scholars as to whether the devastating attacks of the 860s and 870s were

caused by Rurik and a new wave of Norse settlers who supplanted the old Rus Khagans, whether the burnings of the Rus' settlements were the

result of civil war unconnected to Rurik's purported ascendency, or whether they were caused by unrelated incursions by Norsemen or other

people.

[82][82] Franklin and Shepard, 53.

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Article Sources and Contributors 13

Article Sources and ContributorsRus' Khaganate Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=553757783 Contributors: AdultSwim, Alcmaeonid, Aleksandr Grigoryev, Alex Bakharev, AlexPin, Alphasinus, Altenmann,Angel ivanov angelov, Angusmclellan, Appraiser, BD2412, BabelStone, Barticus88, Beit Or, Berig, Bhudh, Br' er Rabbit, Briangotts, Brighterorange, BrokenMirror2, Canglesea, Cattus, Ceiling

Cat, Chaosdruid, Charles Matthews, ChrisO, Colchicum, Colonies Chris, CommonsDelinker, Dabomb87, DanaPhD, Danlq, David Levy, Dbachmann, Deacon of Pndapetzim, Deanlaw,

Deviator13, Downwards, DrKiernan, EamonnPKeane, Enerelt, ExRat, Faustian, Favonian, Finalyzer, Fred J, Gaius Cornelius, Gestr, Ghirlandajo, Greyhood, Grimhelm, Hibernian, Horlo,

IchLiebeKasachstan, Ilya, Imperium Romanum Sacrum, Ioannes Tzimiskes, Irpen, Ivan2007, Jayjg, John of Reading, JosephIWMolto, JuanGabrielRobalino, Kevlar67, Laszlo Panaflex,

Leandrod, Lightmouse, Like tears in rain, Lom Konkreta, Look2See1, Lugia2453, Luwilt, Lvivske, MartinDK, Maxdf, Meika, MiG, Mibelz, Michael Devore, Mr Stephen, Mzajac, NawlinWiki,

Neelix, Neumannk, Ost316, OwenBlacker, P. S. Burton, Pax:Vobiscum, Pgan002, Piast93, Piledhigheranddeeper, Piotrus, Planetneutral, Prometheus.pyrphoros, R'n'B, RelHistBuff, Remario88,Reo On, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Robertgreer, Robth, SandyGeorgia, Sfan00 IMG, Shalalal, Smalljim, SwinSvinoza, Taketa, Tbhotch, Termer, ThaddeusB, Therexbanner, Thhist, This lousy

T-shirt, Tomcat7, Tony1, Tpbradbury, Uc smaller, Ulric1313, Vanished user, Vistor, Vmenkov, Wavelength, Woohookitty, Xyboi, Yerevanci, Yosh3000, , 66 anonymous edits

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