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Most historians tend to agree with the Primary Chronicle that the Varangians organized the native settlements into the political entity of [[Kievan Rus']] in the 880s and gave their name to the land. However, many Russian scholars are opposed to this theory of [[Germanics|Germanic]] influence, and have suggested alternative scenarios for this part of Eastern European history. [[Russian historiography]] includes a number of [[Anti-Normanist theories]], antagonistic to the [[Normanist theory]] of a Scandinavian origin of Varangians. For example, according to Yu. Shilov, Varangians ('' Vargi'') were supposed to be a tribe of [[Baltic]] [[Slavs]] without roots to Norse Vikings.<ref name="Sources of Slavic Civilisation">Yuri Shilov, ''Sources of Slavic Cyvilisation'', [[Osoznanie, Moscow, 2008]], ISBN 978-5-98967-006-0.</ref> While the dispute continues, the event of Rurik's arrival in 862 to Northern Russia on the request of its peoples, known as the ''Invitation of the Varangians'' ({{lang-ru|Призвание Варягов}}), continues to be regarded as the traditional starting point of [[Russian history]].
Most historians tend to agree with the Primary Chronicle that the Varangians organized the native settlements into the political entity of [[Kievan Rus']] in the 880s and gave their name to the land. However, many Russian scholars are opposed to this theory of [[Germanics|Germanic]] influence, and have suggested alternative scenarios for this part of Eastern European history. [[Russian historiography]] includes a number of [[Anti-Normanist theories]], antagonistic to the [[Normanist theory]] of a Scandinavian origin of Varangians. For example, according to Yu. Shilov, Varangians ('' Vargi'') were supposed to be a tribe of [[Baltic]] [[Slavs]] without roots to Norse Vikings.<ref name="Sources of Slavic Civilisation">Yuri Shilov, ''Sources of Slavic Cyvilisation'', [[Osoznanie, Moscow, 2008]], ISBN 978-5-98967-006-0.</ref> While the dispute continues, the event of Rurik's arrival in 862 to Northern Russia on the request of its peoples, known as the ''Invitation of the Varangians'' ({{lang-ru|Призвание Варягов}}), continues to be regarded as the traditional starting point of [[Russian history]].

==Islamic world==
[[Image:Funeral of russian noble by Siemiradzki.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Ship burial]] of a [[Rus (people)|Rus]] chieftain as described by the [[Arab]] traveler [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]] who visited [[Kievan Rus]] in the 10th century.<br>[[Henryk Siemiradzki]] (1883)]]
{{Further|Volga trade route|Caspian expeditions of the Rus'}}
Initially, the Rus' appeared in [[Serkland]] in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the [[Volga trade route]], selling furs, honey, and slaves. Hoards of 9th century [[Baghdad]] minted silver coins have been found in [[Sweden]], particularly in [[Gotland]]. The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged [[Gorgan]], in the territory of present day [[Iran]], and the adjacent areas, taking slaves and goods. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by [[Khazar]] [[Muslims]] in the [[Volga Delta]], and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes on the middle [[Volga]].

During their next expedition in 943, the Rus' captured [[Barda, Azerbaijan|Barda]], the capital of [[Arran (Azerbaijan)|Arran]], in the modern-day Republic of [[Azerbaijan]]. The Rus' stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of [[dysentery]] among the Rus' that forced them to depart with their spoils. [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav]], prince of [[Kiev]], commanded the next attack, which destroyed the [[Khazars|Khazar]] state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established the Rus's hold on the north-south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea taking place in 1041 by [[Ingvar the Far-Travelled]].


==Byzantine Empire==
==Byzantine Empire==

Revision as of 03:42, 15 April 2012

Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route (in red) and the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks (in purple). Other trade routes of the eighth–eleventh centuries shown in orange.

The Varangians or Varyags (Old Norse: Væringjar; Swedish: Väringar; Greek: Βάραγγοι, Βαριάγοι, Varangoi, Variagoi; Russian and Ukrainian: Варяги, Varyagi / Varyahy; Belarusian: Варагі, Varahi) was the name given by Greeks and East Slavs to Vikings,[1][2][3][4] who between the 9th and the 11th centuries ruled the medieval state of Rus', and formed the Byzantine Varangian Guard.[5][6]

According to the 12th century Kievan Primary Chronicle, a group of Varangians known as the Rus' settled in Novgorod in 864, under the leadership of Rurik. Before Rurik, the Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity. Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882, and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Ruriks descendants.[7][8] The name of the Rus' is the origin of the name Russia.

Engaging in trade, piracy and mercenary activities, Varangians roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki, as the areas north of the Black Sea were known in the Norse sagas. They controlled the Volga trade route (Route from the Varangians to the Arabs), connecting Baltic to the Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper trade route (Route from the Varangians to the Greeks) leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople.[9] Those were the critically important trade links at that time, connecting Dark Age Europe with wealthy and developed Arab Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire;[10] via those routes most of the silver coinage came from the East to the West. Attracted by the riches of Constantinople, Rus' Varangians initiated a number of Rus'-Byzantine Wars, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least from the early 10th century many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army, comprising the elite Varangian Guard (the personal bodyguards of Byzantine Emperors). Eventually most of them, both in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from paganism into Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the 988 Christianization of Kievan Rus'. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age, the influx of Scandinavians to Rus' stopped, and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.

Etymology

Guests from Overseas, Nicholas Roerich (1899).

Greek Várangos and Old East Slavic varęgŭ are derived from Old Norse væringi, originally a compound of vár "pledge" and gengi "companion", i.e. "a sworn person" or "a foreigner who has taken service with a new lord by a treaty of fealty to him, or protégé".[11][12] Some scholars seem to assume a derivation with the common suffix -ing-.[13] Yet, this suffix is inflected differently in Old Norse, and furthermore, the word is attested with -gangia- in other Germanic languages in the Early Middle Ages: Old English wærgenga, Old Frankish wargengus, Langobardic waregang.[14] The reduction of the second part of the word is parallel to that seen in Old Norse foringi "leader" = Old English foregenga, Gothic fauragangja "steward".[15][16]

Kievan Rus'

Main articles: Rus' Khaganate, Kievan Rus', Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and Volga trade route
The Invitation of the Varangians by Viktor Vasnetsov: Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor arrive in Staraya Ladoga.

Having settled Aldeigja (Ladoga) in the 750s, Scandinavian colonists played an important role in the early ethnogenesis of the Rus' people and in the formation of the Rus' Khaganate. The Varangians (Varyags, in Old East Slavic) are first mentioned by the Primary Chronicle as having exacted tribute from the Slavic and Finnic tribes in 859. It was the time of rapid expansion of the Vikings in Northern Europe; England began to pay Danegeld in 859, and the Curonians of Grobin faced an invasion by the Swedes at about the same date.

Due largely to geographic considerations, it is often argued that most of the Varangians who traveled and settled in the eastern Baltic, Russia and lands to the south came from the area of modern Sweden .[17]

In the 9th century, the Rus' operated the Volga trade route, which connected Northern Russia (Gardariki) with the Middle East (Serkland). As the Volga route declined by the end of the century, the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks rapidly overtook it in popularity. Apart from Ladoga and Novgorod, Gnezdovo and Gotland were major centres for Varangian trade.[18]

Longships Are Built in the Land of the Slavs , Nicholas Roerich (1903).

According to the Primary Chronicle, in 862, the Finnic and Slavic tribes in the area of Novgorod rebelled against their Varangian rulers, driving them overseas back to Scandinavia, but soon started to conflict with each other. The disorder prompted the tribes to invite back Varangians "to come and rule them" and bring peace to the region. Led by Rurik and his brothers Truvor and Sineus, the invited Varangians (called Rus') settled around the town of Holmgård (Novgorod). The Primary Chronicle twice names Rus' among the other Varangian peoples, including Swedes, Normans, Angles, Gutes[19] (Normans was an Old Russian term for Norwegians, while Angles may be interpreted as Danes). In some places the chronicle mention Slavs and Rus' as different groups, but other places it mixes them.

Under the leadership of Rurik's relative Oleg, the Rus' Varangians expanded southwards by capturing Kiev from the Khazars, founding the medieval state of Rus'.[7] Attracted by the riches of Constantinople and the Arab world, Rus' Varangians initiated a number of Rus'-Byzantine Wars, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. Meanwhile, descendants of Rurik expanded the Russian state and unified the local tribes. Contact with the Byzantine Empire increased, culminating in the 988 Christianization of Kievan Rus' during the reign of Vladimir the Great.

As was the case with the Norse influence in Normandy and the British Isles, Varangian culture did not survive in the East. Instead, the Varangian ruling classes of the two powerful city-states of Novgorod and Kiev were gradually slavicised by the end of the 11th century.[20] However, the successor descendants of Rurik were the ruling dynasty of medieval Rus', the successor principalities of Galicia-Volhynia (after 1199), Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the founders of the Tsardom of Russia.[21] The name of the Varangian Rus became that of the land modern Russia and the ethnonym of its population.[22][23] Russia is thus the only surviving state outside Scandinavia which was founded by Norse people.

Most historians tend to agree with the Primary Chronicle that the Varangians organized the native settlements into the political entity of Kievan Rus' in the 880s and gave their name to the land. However, many Russian scholars are opposed to this theory of Germanic influence, and have suggested alternative scenarios for this part of Eastern European history. Russian historiography includes a number of Anti-Normanist theories, antagonistic to the Normanist theory of a Scandinavian origin of Varangians. For example, according to Yu. Shilov, Varangians ( Vargi) were supposed to be a tribe of Baltic Slavs without roots to Norse Vikings.[24] While the dispute continues, the event of Rurik's arrival in 862 to Northern Russia on the request of its peoples, known as the Invitation of the Varangians (Russian: Призвание Варягов), continues to be regarded as the traditional starting point of Russian history.

Islamic world

Ship burial of a Rus chieftain as described by the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan who visited Kievan Rus in the 10th century.
Henryk Siemiradzki (1883)
Further information: Volga trade route and Caspian expeditions of the Rus'

Initially, the Rus' appeared in Serkland in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. Hoards of 9th century Baghdad minted silver coins have been found in Sweden, particularly in Gotland. The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged Gorgan, in the territory of present day Iran, and the adjacent areas, taking slaves and goods. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by Khazar Muslims in the Volga Delta, and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes on the middle Volga.

During their next expedition in 943, the Rus' captured Barda, the capital of Arran, in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan. The Rus' stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of dysentery among the Rus' that forced them to depart with their spoils. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established the Rus's hold on the north-south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea taking place in 1041 by Ingvar the Far-Travelled.

Byzantine Empire

Further information: Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks and Christianization of Rus'
Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the 11th century chronicle of John Skylitzes.

The earliest Byzantine record of the Rus' may have been written prior to 842. It is preserved in the Greek Life of St. George of Amastris, which speaks of a raid that had extended into Paphlagonia. Contemporary Byzantine presence of the Rus are the mentioned in the Frankish Annals of St. Bertin. These relate that Emperor Louis the Pious' court at Ingelheim, in 839, was visited by a delegation from the Byzantine emperor. In this delegation there were two men who called themselves Rhos (Rhos vocari dicebant). Louis enquired about their origins and learnt that they were Swedes. Fearing that they were spies for their brothers, the Danes, he incarcerated them.

In 860, from Kiev, that the Rus under Askold and Dir launched their first attack on Constantinople. The result of this initial attack is disputed, but the Varangians continued their efforts as they regularly sailed on their monoxyla down the Dnieper into the Black Sea. The Rus' raids into the Caspian Sea were recorded by Arab authors in the 870s and in 910, 912, 913, 943, and later. Although the Rus had predominantly peaceful trading relations with the Byzantines, the rulers of Kiev launched the relatively successful naval expedition of 907 and the abortive campaign of 941 against Constantinople, as well as Sviatoslav I's large-scale invasion of the Balkans in 968–971.

These raids were successful in the sense of forcing the Byzantines to re-arrange their trading arrangements; militarily, the Varangians were usually defeated by the superior Byzantine forces, especially in the sea and due to the Byzantines' use of Greek fire.

Varangian Guard

Main article: Varangian Guard
Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the Skylitzis Chronicle.

The Varangian Guard (Greek: Τάγμα των Βαράγγων, Tágma tōn Varángōn) were a part of Byzantine Army and personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperors from the 9th to the 14th centuries. Initially the guard was composed of Varangians who came from in the Kievan Rus.

The guard was first formed under Emperor Basil II's after 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' and union with Vladimir I of Kiev, who sent 6,000 men to Basil as a part of military assistance agreement. Basil's distrust of the native Byzantine guardsmen, whose loyalties often shifted with fatal consequences, as well as the proven loyalty of the Varangians, many of whom served in Byzantium even before, led the Emperor to employ them as his personal guard. Over the years, new recruits from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway kept a predominantly Scandinavian cast to the organization until the late 11th century. So many Scandinavians left to enlist in the guard that a medieval Swedish law from Västergötland stated that no one could inherit while staying in "Greece" — the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire.[25] In the eleventh century, there were also two other European courts that recruited Scandinavians:[26] Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið).[26]

Composed primarily of Scandinavians for the first 100 years, the guard began to see increased inclusion of Anglo-Saxons after the successful invasion of England by the Normans. By the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Byzantine Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and "others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans". The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples shared with the Vikings a tradition of faithful (to death if necessary) oath-bound service, and after the Norman Conquest of England there were many fighting men who had lost their lands and former masters and looked for a living elsewhere.

The Varangian Guard not only provided security for the Byzantine Emperors, but participated in many wars involving Byzantium and often played a crucial role, since they were usually used at the critical moments of a battle. By the late 13th century Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by Byzantines, though the guard operated until at least mid-14th century and in 1400 there were still some people identifying themselves as "Varangians" in Constantinople.

References

  1. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Varangian
  2. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/427466/Oleg
  3. ^ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Varangian
  4. ^ http://snl.no/v%C3%A6ringer
  5. ^ Milner-Gulland, R. R. Atlas of Russia and the Soviet Union. Phaidon. p. 36. ISBN 0714825492. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Schultze, Sydney (2000). Culture and Customs of Russia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 5. ISBN 0313311013. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ a b Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus. Brill Publishers. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9004138749. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  8. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512998/Rurik-Dynasty
  9. ^ Stephen Turnbull, The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324–1453, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1-84176-759-X.
  10. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=H8R9LKwsM8AC&pg=PA7&dq=vikings+baghdad&hl=no&ei=NEnETdXJE8Tk4gbl8qWpBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFsQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=vikings%20baghdad&f=false
  11. ^ H.S. Falk & A. Torp, Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1911, pp. 1403–4; J. de Vries, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1962, pp. 671–2; S. Blöndal & B. Benedikz, The Varangians of Byzantium, 1978, p. 4
  12. ^ Etymonline.com. "Varangian". Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  13. ^ Hellquist 1922:1096, 1172; M. Vasmer, Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1953, vol. 1, p. 171.
  14. ^ Blöndal & Benedikz, p. 4; D. Parducci, "Gli stranieri nell’alto medioevo", Mirator 1 (2007)in Italian, English abstract
  15. ^ Falk & Torp, p. 1403; other words with the same second part are: Old Norse erfingi "heir", armingi "beggar", aumingi "beggar", bandingi "captive", hamingja "luck", heiðingi "wolf", lausingi / leysingi "homeless", cf. Falk & Torp, p. 34; Vries, p. 163.
  16. ^ S. Bugge, Arkiv för nordisk filologi 2 (1885), p. 225
  17. ^ Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram, and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires. Cambridge University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-521-82992-5. p. 13–14.
  18. ^ A massive majority (40,000) of all Viking-Age Arabian coins found in Scandinavia were found in Gotland. In Skåne, Öland and Uppland together, about 12,000 coins were found. Other Scandinavian areas have only scattered finds: 1,000 from Denmark and some 500 from Norway. Byzantine coins have been found almost exclusively in Gotland, some 400. See Arkeologi i Norden 2. Författarna och Bokförlaget Natur & kultur. Stockholm 1999. See also Gardell, Carl Johan: Gotlands historia i fickformat, 1987. ISBN 91-7810-885-3.
  19. ^ Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus. BRILL. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9004138749. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. "Viking". Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  21. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. "Rurik dynasty". Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  22. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Russia
  23. ^ Collins English dictionary. "Rus". Harper Collins. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  24. ^ Yuri Shilov, Sources of Slavic Cyvilisation, Osoznanie, Moscow, 2008, ISBN 978-5-98967-006-0.
  25. ^ Jansson 1980:22
  26. ^ a b Pritsak 1981:386

Bibliography

Rus' Varangians

Varangian Guard

  • Buckler, Georgina. Anna Comnena: A Study. Oxford: University Press, 1929.
  • Blondal, Sigfus. Varangians of Byzantium: An Aspect of Byzantine Military History. Trans. by Benedikt S. Benedikz, Cambridge: 1978. ISBN 0-521-21745-8.
  • Davidson, H.R. Ellis. The Viking Road to Byzantium. London: 1976. ISBN 0-04-940049-5.
  • Enoksen, Lars Magnar. (1998). Runor : historia, tydning, tolkning. Historiska Media, Falun. ISBN 91-88930-32-7.
  • Jansson, Sven B. (1980). Runstenar. STF, Stockholm. ISBN 91-7156-015-7.
  • English Refugees in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian Guard and Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness by Nicholas C.J. Pappas for De Re Militari.org

See also

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