Grand Prince of Kiev

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Rulers of Kievan Rus')
Jump to: navigation, search

Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes Grand Duke of Kiev) was the title of the Kievan prince and the ruler of Kievan Rus' from the 9th to 12th centuries.

The Annals of St. Bertin (Annales Bertiniani) for the year 839 became the first written record on the Rus'/Rhos. Louis the Pious, the Frankish emperor, came to the conclusion that the people called Rhos (qui se, id est gentem suum, Rhos vocari dicebant) belong to the gens of Swedes (eos gentis esse Sueonum).

Most of modern surveys of Rus' history narrate that in these Frankish annals the ruler of the Rhos/Rus (people of Swedish origin) was called chaganus (Latin form of the Turk word khaqan, or khagan, qaghan, qagan), similar to the Khazar chaqan (khaqan), a title of a prime ruler in the nomadic societies in Eurasia.[1]

Yet the original Latin text, published by Georg Weitz in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in 1883, contains a very significant difference from modern translations: it says the ruler of the Rhos was named not chaganus, but chacanus. Based on such a spelling of the royal name, chacanus, some historians thought that it simply meant the Scandianvian name Håkan. Such an interpretation of the passage in the Annales Bertiniani suggests that by 839 this konung Hakan, accompanied by his military followers from Scandinavia, most likely from East Sweden, operated in North Rus'. The Khagan-versus-Håkan debate, started in the 18th century, is still alive,[2] although at present there is almost total unity of opinion that the title of the ruler of Rus' is of Khazar origin.[3]

Rurik (Rørik in Old East Norse), a semi-legendary Scandinavian Varangian, was the founder of Rurik Dynasty, which ruled Kievan Rus', Rus' principalities and early Russian Tsardom for the next 700 years.[4] Genealogical DNA test results of modern Rurikid princes indicate that Rurik was of Finno-Ugrian descent (haplogroup N1c1).,[5] however the Rurikids do not possess the DYS390=24 mutation associated with the Finnic languages, theirs remaining the ancestral DYS390=23, with the Rurikid haplotype itself (all values considered) more closely associated with [North] Germanic speakers (Varangians).[6] Rurik's capital was Holmgard (Novgorod), a city settled by Slavic and Finno-Ugrian peoples (now north-western Russia). His successor Oleg relocated the capital to Kiev (now the capital of Ukraine) at around 880, laying the foundation of what has become known as Kievan Rus'.[7]

While the early rulers of Rus' were Scandinavians, they gradually merged into the local Slavic population but in the 11th century, dynastic links still remained; Yaroslav the Wise, (called Jarisleif in Scandinavian chronicles), married a Swedish princess Ingigerd, gave asylum to king Olaf II of Norway, and invited Harald Hardrada, later king Harald III of Norway, and his warriors to fight for him. According to Adam of Bremen, Anund Gårdske, a man from Kievan Rus' was elected king of Sweden, ca 1070. As he was a Christian, however, he refused to sacrifice to the Aesir at the Temple at Uppsala and he was deposed by popular vote.

The unity of Kievan Rus' gradually declined, and by 1136 Kievan Rus' had shattered into a number of smaller states, the southern of which contested control of Kiev. Finally, Kievan Rus' was destroyed by the Mongols in the period of 1237–1240,[8] but the Rurikid line persisted and continued to rule Rus' principalities.

The rulers of Kievan Rus' held the titles Kniaz and later Velikiy Kniaz, which are traditionally translated as Grand Prince or Grand Duke.[8]

Contents

Princes of Kiev [edit]

Legendary princes of Kiev [edit]

According to some Ukrainian historians (i.e. Kanyhin, Tkachuk), Ptolemy's mention of Metropolis, Sarmatian town on Dnieper River (the name Dnieper is derived from Sarmatian (Iranian) Dānu apara "the river far away"), shows the ancient existence of Kiev.[9]

  • Bozh (Bož, Boz), (died c. 376 CE)

Bozh was a prince of Antes, the east Slavic people (slavized Sarmatians[citation needed]) who inhabited the territories between the Dniester River and the middle Dnieper River, near the present-day city of Kiev.[10] He was killed by Winithar (Viniþa-harjis, "Veneti-killer"), prince of Ostrogoths, soon after the Hunnic invasion which took place in c. 376.

Alyp-bi, son of Balambér aka Bülümer, was the khan of the Western Huns who was buried on Kuyantau mountain (current Kiev).

According to some Slavic historians (i.e. Alexander Veltman), the ancient Koueve or Kievans from folk legends entered the Gothic history under the name Kwäne, Quene, Choani, Cunni, Chuni, and in the end Hunni; the town of Kiev got the name Kiänugard, Kuenagard, Konagard, Kunagard, Hunugard.[11]

  • Kyi (legendary)

According to Slavophiles, Kyi ruled since 430, one of the dates attributed to the legendary founding of Kiev in 482, although that date relates to Kovin on the Danube in Serbia. Some historians speculate that Kyi was a Slavic prince of eastern Polans in the 6th century. Kyi's legacy along with Shchek's is mentioned in the Book of Veles, authenticity of which, however, is disputed.

  • Oleg (Oldegar) (8th century)

Oleg, an apocryphal Kiev voivode, probably of Danish or Swedish origin, under the overlordship of the Khazar Khaganate.

Bravlin was a Varangian prince or chieftain, who led a Rus' military expedition to devastate Crimea, from Kerch to Sugdaea, in the last years of the 8th century.

  • Dir (Dyri) (c. 838–882)

According to some Russian historians (i.e. Gleb S. Lebedev), Dir was a chacanus of Rhos (Rus' khaqan).[3] Thomas Noonan asserts that one of the Rus' "sea-kings", the "High king", adopted the title khagan in the early 9th century.[12] Peter Benjamin Golden maintained that the Rus' became a part of the Khazar federation, and that their ruler was officially accepted as a vassal kagan of the Khazar Khaqan of Itil.[13]

Some western historians (i.e. Kevin Alan Brook) suppose that Kiev was founded by Khazars or Magyars, both Turkic peoples. Kiev is a Turkic place name (Küi = riverbank + ev = settlement).[14] At least during the 8th and 9th centuries Kiev functioned as an outpost of the Khazar empire (a hill-fortress, called Sambat, "high place" in Old Turkic). According to Omeljan Pritsak, Constantine Zuckerman and other scholars, Khazars lost Kiev at the beginning of the 10th century.[15][16]

Rurik Dynasty [edit]

The Rurikids were descendants of Rurik (Rørikr), a Varangian pagan chieftain, according to the FamilyTreeDNA Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project, Rurik appears to have belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup N1c1, based on testing of his modern male line descendants.[17] But while genetically related to the later Baltic Finnic peoples, the Rurikids do not possess the DYS390=24 mutation associated with the Finnic languages, theirs remaining the ancestral DYS390=23 (which is also found among West Finns), with the Rurikid haplotype itself (all values considered) more closely associated with [North] Germanic speakers (Varangians).[6]

All the rulers of Kievan Rus' before the conversion of Vladimir I and all the country to Christianity are Pagan rulers, except Olga of Kiev. In the period between the 2nd half of the 13th century and the 2nd half of the 14th century, princes of Kiev were forced to accept Mongol/Tatar overlordship.

Portrait Name Born-Died Ruled From Ruled Until
Rurik titularnik.jpg Rurik I, founder of the dynasty. c. 830 – 879 864 879
Oleg of Novgorod.jpg Oleg the Seer (Helgi),[18] Varangian konung of Holmgård (Novgorod) and Kønugård (Kiev) ?–912 882 912
Igor the Old.jpg Igor I (Ingvar), the son of Rurik I ?–945 912 945
St Olga by Nesterov in 1892.jpg St.Olga (Helga) (regent), was baptized by Emperor Constantine VII but failed to bring Christianity to Kiev ?–969 945 962
Svyatoslav.jpg Sviatoslav I (Sven),[19] the first true ruler of Rus' who destroyed the Khazar Khaganate and united all of the Rus' principalities under the Kiev throne 942–972 962 972
Yaropolk murder.jpg Yaropolk I (Jaropolk),[20] supposedly was baptised into Catholicism, and then was murdered by two Varangians 958 (960?)–980 972 980
St. Volodymyr.jpg Vladimir I the Great (Valdamarr), son of Sviatoslav I and Malusha, his early rule is characterized by a staunch pagan reaction but in 988 he was baptized into Orthodoxy and successfully converted Kievan Rus' to Christianity 958–1015 980 1015
Sviatopolk silver srebrenik.jpg Sviatopolk I the Accursed (Sventopluk),[21] son of Yaropolk I and a Greek nun 980–1019 1015 1019
Bilibin yaroslav.jpg Yaroslav I the Wise (Jarizleifr), son of Vladimir the Great (Valdamarr) and Rogneda of Polotsk (Ragnhild), Prince of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod, and Grand Prince of Kiev; during his reign Kievan Rus' reached the pinnacle of its power 978–1054 1019 1054
Minskizjaslav.jpg Iziaslav I of Kiev, son of Yaroslav and Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden, first time 1024–1078 1054 1068
Usiasłaŭ Połacki (Čaradziej). Усяслаў Полацкі (Чарадзей).jpg Vseslav I of Polotsk, son of Bryachislav of Polotsk and unknown mother, a brief ruler during Iziaslav's official reign 1039–1101 1068 1069
Minskizjaslav.jpg Iziaslav I of Kiev, second time 1024–1078 1069 1073
Izbornik.jpg Sviatoslav II of Kiev (on picture, first from right), son of Yaroslav and Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden 1027–1076 1073 1076
Minskizjaslav.jpg Iziaslav I of Kiev, third time, first King of Rus' (Pope Gregory VII sent him a crown from Rome in 1075) 1024–1078 1076 1078
Vsevolod yaroslavich.jpg Vsevolod I of Kiev, son of Yaroslav and Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden 1030–1093 1078 1093
Sviatopolk II of Kiev, son of Iziaslav I and Gertrude of Poland 1050–1113 1093 1113
Vladimir Monomakh.jpg Vladimir II Monomakh, son of Vsevolod I and Anastasia of Byzantium, he is considered to be the last ruler of the united Kievan Rus' 1053–1125 1113 1125
Mstislav I of Kiev (Tsarskiy titulyarnik).jpg Mstislav I the Great, known as Harald in the Norse Sagas, son of Vladimir II and Gytha of Wessex, after his reign Kievan Rus' fell into recession starting a rapid decline 1076–1132 1125 1132
Yaropolk II of Kiev.jpg Yaropolk II, brother of Mstislav I. 1082–1139 1132 1139
Viacheslav I, brother of Yaropolk II and Mstislav II. First time. 1083–1154 1139 1139
Vsevolod Ol'govich.jpg Vsevolod II, married Maria, sister of Mstislav I, Yaropolk II and Viacheslav I. ?–1146 1139 1146
CvKnyazIgor.jpg Igor II, brother of Vsevolod II. ?–1147 1146 1146
Ізяслав II Пантелеймон.jpg Iziaslav II, son of Mstislav I and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden. First time 1097–1154 1146 1149
Dolgorukiy titularnik.jpg Yuri I Dolgorukiy, first time 1099–1157 1149 1151
Viacheslav I, Second time, jointly with Iziaslav II 1083–1154 1151 1154
Ізяслав II Пантелеймон.jpg Iziaslav II, second time, jointly with Viacheslav I. 1097–1154 1151 1154
Rostislav Mstislavich.jpg Rostislav I, brother of Iziaslav II. First time 1110–1167 1154 1154
Izyaslav III.jpg Iziaslav III, grandson of Sviatoslav II. First time. ?–1162 1154 1155
Dolgorukiy titularnik.jpg Yuri I Dolgorukiy, second time. 1099–1157 1155 1157
Izyaslav III.jpg Iziaslav III, second time. ?–1162 1157 1158
Rostislav Mstislavich.jpg Rostislav I, second time. Jointly with Iziaslav III in 1162. 1110–1167 1158 1167
Izyaslav III.jpg Iziaslav III, third time, jointly with Rostislav I. ?–1162 1162 1162
Mstislav Izjaslavich.jpg Mstislav II, son of Iziaslav II and Agnes of Germany. First time. ?–1172 1167 1169
Gleb, son of Yuri Dolgorukiy. First time. ?–1171 1169 1169
Mstislav Izjaslavich.jpg Mstislav II, second time. ?–1172 1170 1170
Gleb, second time. ?–1171 1170 1171
Vladimir III, son of Mstislav I the Great. 1132–1173 1171 1171
Michael I, half-brother of Gleb. ?–1176 1171 1171
Roman I, son of Rostislav I and Agnes of Swabia. First time. ?–1180 1171 1173
Bolshoe Gnezdo.JPG Vsevolod III the Big Nest, brother of Michael I. 1154–1212 1173 1173
Rurik II, brother of Roman I. First time. ?–1215 1173 1173
Sviatoslav III, son of Vsevolod II. First time. ?–1194 1174 1174
Yaroslav II, son of Iziaslav II. First time. ?–1180 1174 1175
Roman I, second time. ?–1180 1175 1177
Sviatoslav III, second time. ?–1194 1177 1180
Yaroslav II, second time. ?–1180 1180 1180
Rurik II, second time. ?–1215 1180 1182
Sviatoslav III, third time. ?–1194 1182 1194
Rurik II, third time. ?–1215 1194 1202
Igor III, son of Yaroslav II. First time. ?–? 1202 1202
Rurik II, fourth time, jointly with Roman II and Rostislav II (until 1205). ?–1215 1203 1205
Roman Mstislavich , Roman of Halych, Roman the Great.jpg Roman II the Great, son of Mstislav II. In his first time ruled jointly with Rurik II and Rostislav II (until 1205). 1160–1205 1203 1205
Rostislav II, son of Rurik II. Ruled jointly with his father 1204–1206 and with Roman II 1204–1205. 1173–1214 1204 1206
Rurik II, fifth time, jointly with his son Rostislav II. ?–1215 1206 1206
Vsevolod IV the Red, son of Sviatoslav III. His baptismal name was "Daniil" (Daniel). First time. ?–1212 1206 1207
Rurik II, sixth and last time. ?–1215 1207 1210
Vsevolod IV the Red, second time. ?–1212 1210 1212
Igor III, second time. ?–? 1212 1214
Mstislav III, son of Roman I. ?–1223 1214 1223
Vladimir IV, brother of Rostislav II. 1187–1239 1223 1235
Iziaslav IV, a member of Rurik dynasty, descendant of Rurik I. 1186–? 1235 1236
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (Spas Nereditsi).jpeg Yaroslav III, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. First time 1191–1246 1236 1238
Michael of Chernigov 1688.jpg Michael II, son of Vsevolod IV. First time. 1185–1246 1238 1239
Rostislav III, son of Michael II. 1210–1262 1239 1239
Daniil-halitsky.jpg Daniel, son of Roman II the Great. 1201–1264 1239 1240
Michael of Chernigov 1688.jpg Michael II, second time. 1185–1246 1241 1243
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (Spas Nereditsi).jpeg Yaroslav III, second time 1191–1246 1243 1246
Alexander Newski.jpg St. Alexander Nevsky, son of Yaroslav III. 1220–1263 1246 1263
Yaroslav Yaroslavich in Novgorod.jpeg Yaroslav IV, brother of Alexander. 1230–1271 1263 1271
Lev Danylovich of Halych.PNG Lev, son of Daniel. 1228–1301 1271 1301
Volodymyr-Ivan Ivanovich ?–? 1301 ?
Stanislav Ivanovich 1228–1301 ? 1321

Princes of Kiev (in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ) [edit]

After the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Kiev and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Franklin, Simon and Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. Longman History of Russia, ed. Harold Shukman. Longman, London. ISBN 0-582-49091-X
  2. ^ Garipzanov, Ildar (2006). The Annals of St. Bertin and the Chacanus of the Rhos. University of Bergen
  3. ^ a b Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. ISBN 90-04-13874-9
  4. ^ Dunn, Dennis J. (2004). The Catholic Church and Russia: Popes, Patriarchs, Tsars and Commissars. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 1. ISBN 0-7546-3610-0. 
  5. ^ DNA Testing of the Rurikid and Gediminid Princes
  6. ^ a b Stratification of Y-haplogroup N1c, Jaakko Häkkinen. August 5, 2010. University of Helsinki.
  7. ^ Kendrick, T. D. (2004). A History of the Vikings. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-486-43396-X. 
  8. ^ a b Stone, David R. (2006). A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0-275-98502-4. 
  9. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2000). The Ukrainians. Unexpected Nation. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08355-6
  10. ^ Magosci, Paul Robert (1996). A History of Ukraine. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7820-6.
  11. ^ Spevák, Tomáš (2006). The Kievans and the Past of Europe
  12. ^ Noonan, Thomas (2001). The Khazar Qaghanate and Its Impact On the Early Rus' State: The translatio imperii from Itil to Kiev. Nomads in the Sedentary World, Anatoly Mikhailovich Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds. p. 76-102. Richmond, England: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1370-0
  13. ^ Golden, Peter Benjamin (1982). The Question of the Rus' Qaganate. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. pp. 77-92
  14. ^ Brook, Kevin Alan (1996-2009). An Introduction to the History of Khazaria
  15. ^ Pritsak, Omeljan (1981). The origin of Rus. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
  16. ^ Zuckerman, Constantine (2007). The Khazars and Byzantium - The First Encounter. In The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives - Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium, eds. Peter Benjamin Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas, pp. 399-432. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  17. ^ Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project - News
  18. ^ Sveerne
  19. ^ Leszek Moczulski, Narodziny Międzymorza, p.475, Bellona SA, Warszawa 2007, ISBN 978-83-11-10826-4
  20. ^ Ярополк is modern Ukrainian, Jaropełk is Polish, Jaropluk is Czech, Jaropelkas is Lithuanian, Iaropelkos is Greek, Jaropolk is German and Swedish.
  21. ^ The Old Slavonic is Свѧтопълкъ in the Cyrillic alphabet, the modern Ukrainian is Святополк, Polish is Świętopełk, Czech is Svatopluk, and Slovak is Svätopluk. Reconstructed, his name is Sventopluk. More commonly, his name is given in its Latin and Frankish equivalents: Suentopolcus, Suatopluk, Zventopluk, Zwentibald, Zwentibold, Zuentibold, or Zuentibald.
  22. ^ http://izbornyk.org.ua/dynasty/dyn40.htm
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grand_Prince_of_Kiev&oldid=552459468"