Background
editThe origins of the Rus' are debated. One group of scholars supports the "Normanist theory", which credits the Vikings with founding the first Russian state near Novgorod, in the early ninth century, then expanded south to Kiev. This theory considers the Vikings to have been the ruling class of the Rus'.[1] Another group supports the "Anti-Normanist theory", which purports that the East Slavic populace in the Novgorod and Kievan regions were near the point of political consolidation before the arrival of the Vikings, and that the Vikings only had a minor impact on domestic development as a result of their place in the Druzhina (Slavic mercenary retinues). Much of the controversy is due to the lack of primary evidence during the Rus' formative era. The most extensive source known is the Russian Primary Chronicle, which is semi-legendary, written two centuries after the events within it, and probably held some kind of contemporary political agenda. Despite the limitations of the Primary Chronicle, the Scandinavian names of early individuals are partially corroborated by extant Byzantine sources, which has led most scholars to postulate that the Vikings played leading political, military, and economic roles in the formation of Kievan Rus, even if some Slavic political entities predated the Viking arrival.[2]
The Rus' organized multiple raids on Byzantium, drawing forces from themselves, subject or allied Slavs, or mercenaries. These forces were transported down the Dnieper and then across the Black Sea, utilizing hundreds of small and medium sized ships. They led a series of raids against Constantinople, in 860, 907, and 941. Despite wreaking devastation in the environs of the capital city, they never succeeded in taking the city itself. The Byzantines bought off the Rus' with commercial concessions multiple times, to prevent raids, with the treaties of 907, 911, and 945.[2]
Paphlagonian expedition of the Rus'(830s)
editThe Byzantines first came into contact with the Rus' in 839. The contact is attested in the Life of St. George of Amastris, a hagiographic work whose dating is debated.[3]
Siege of Constantinople (860)
edit
On 18 June 860,[a] at sunset, a fleet of about 200 Rus' vessels[b] sailed into the Bosporus, and began to pillage the suburbs of Constantinople (Old East Slavic: Tsarigrad, Old Norse: Miklagarðr). The Rus' set homes on fire, and killed the residents. Patriarch Photius urged the populace to pray to Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) to save the city.[7] After devastating the suburbs of the capital, they passed into the Sea of Marmora and raided the Isles of the Princes, plundering dwellings and monasteries, and slaughtering the inhabitants. The Rus' took twenty-two of the servants of the former Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople, who was in exile there, and brought them aboard their ships before cutting them into pieces with axes.[8]
The timing of the attack was very much in the Rus's favor. At the time of the Rus' attack, the Byzantine Empire was struggling to repulse the Abbasid incursion into Asia Minor, and Byzantine Emperor Michael III himself had just left Constantinople, leading troops to Asia Minor in the beginning of June 860, to launch a counter-attack on the Abbasids.[9] The attack came as a surprise to the Byzantines, and was as sudden and unexpected "as a swarm of wasps", in the words of Photius. The exceptional timing of the attack has led some scholars to conclude that the Rus' had known that Constantinople and other nearby areas would be vulnerable at that time, demonstrating that communication and trade between Byzantium and the Rus' continued in the 840s and 850s, after the initial contact in 839.[3]
The Rus' continued to loot the area until 4 August 860, when Patriarch Photius thanked heaven for miraculously relieving the city from the dire threat of the Rus'. Photius' writings provide the earliest known example of the usage of the name "Rus" (Rhos, Greek: Ῥῶς) in a Greek source. Previously all inhabitants of lands to the north of the Black Sea were referred to as "Tauroscythians". Photius' writings on the Rus' contain reports that they had no central leader, and that they lived in an undefined distant northern land. Photius refers to them also as Greek: ἔθνος ἄγνωστον, which has been translated both as "unknown people" and "obscure people". The preference for the translation of "obscure people" is due to the earlier contacts between the Rus' and the Byzantines.[10]
The writings of Photius do not offer any clue as to why the Rus' chose to withdraw on 4 August. Later sources attribute the Rus' retreat to the quick return of Emperor Michael III. According to contemporary Byzantine sources, Michael and Photius dipped the robe of the Theotokos into the sea, and thereafter a tempest arose and dispersed the barbarian fleet. Later Byzantine accounts say that Michael III hurried to the church at Blachernae, and led a procession along the Theodosian Walls, using the robe of the Theotokos in the procession. After this point, the accounts follow the contemporary sources, saying that the relic was dipped into the sea, after which a great wind arose and wrecked the Rus' ships.[3]
Rus'–Byzantine War (907)
editRus'–Byzantine War (941)
editRus'–Byzantine War (970–971)
editRus'–Byzantine War (1024)
editRus'–Byzantine War (1043)
editAfter Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Rus' learned about the death of a Rus' merchant who had been visiting Constantinople, he launched a military expedition against Byzantium, sending an army led by his son Vladimir to attack Constantinople. His invasion force was defeated in a naval battle in 1043, and peace was made in 1046. Neither country's contemporary sources adequately explain the reasoning for the war, leading scholars to create several hypothese.[11] Almost all scholars agree that the news of the death of the Rus' merchant was the immediate trigger for the war, sending Yaroslav into a rage, however the exact context is debated. Some scholars, such as M. V. Levchenko, put forth the theory that the underlying causes were the increasingly restrictive trade policies the Byzantines had toward the Rus'. Others believe that it was due to a long, but usually peaceful, attempt by Rus' to remove themselves from being dominated by Byzantine influence, which flared up into violence suddenly.
References
editPrimary sources
edit- Chronicon by Symeon the Metaphrast.
- Chronicon Venetum et Gradense by John the Deacon.
- Life of St. George of Amastris by an unknown author.
Citations
edit- ^ Hupchick 2017, pp. 19–20.
- ^ a b Hupchick 2017, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Turnbull 2004, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Vasiliev 1925, p. 145.
- ^ Vasiliev 1925, p. 25.
- ^ Logan 1992, p. 188.
- ^ Logan 1992, p. 190.
- ^ Vasiliev 1925, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Vasiliev 1925, p. 188.
- ^ Vasiliev 1925, p. 187.
- ^ Martin 2007, p. 51.
- ^ Martin 2007, p. 52.
Bibliography
edit- Hupchick, Dennis P. (2017). The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies. Springer. ISBN 9783319562063.
- Logan, F. Donald (1992). The Vikings in History. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415083966.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2004). The Walls of Constantinople: AD 324-1453. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 9781841767598.
- Vasiliev, Alexander (1925). The First Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860. Mediaeval Academy of America. OCLC 704460417.
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