Rus' people, Norsemen who gave their name to the lands of Russia

(Jody Gray): Our ancestors from Russia; begins here (in this Blog Post) when our 28th GGM Anne of Kiev marries our Capetian 28th GGF Henry I, King of the Franks at the cathedral of Reims on May 19, 1051. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Kiev Anne of Kiev.

After the death of his first wife, Matilda of Frisia, King Henry searched the courts of Europe for a suitable bride, but could not locate a princess who was not related by blood by the papal laws against consanguinity. In 1049, he sent an embassy to distant Kiev, which returned with Anne. By French standards, she was a suitable bride because of her rank, because she was not related to Henry, and because she came from family known for its fertility. She was crowned queen of France immediately after the service. She fulfilled the usual roles of queen: managing the royal court and household, supervising the upbringing of the royal children and protector of churches and convents. Knowledgeable in politics, she was appointed a member of the royal council and participated in governing France; she accompanied Henry on his inspection travels around France. Many French documents bear her signature, written in old Slavic language; many of Henry's decrees bear the inscription "With the consent of my wife Anna"; there appear to be no other cases in French history, when Royal decrees bear such inscriptions. Pope Nicholas II, wrote this to her: "Honorable lady, the fame of your virtues has reached our ears, and, with great joy, we hear that you are performing your royal duties at the very Christian state with commendable zeal and brilliant mind." When Henry died on 8/4/1060, their son Philip I was eight years old; during his minority Anne acted as Regent of Paris, with Count Baldwin V of Flanders as her co-regent in accordance with the will of Henry I -she was the first queen of France to serve as regent.
Here's an interesting "traditional story" involving Anne: Count Ralph IV of Valois, repudiated his wife Eleanor de Montdidier for adultery in order to marry Anne in 1062; he abducted Anne when she was hunting and brought her to Crepy-en-Valois and they were married. Pope Alexander II issued an investigation which resulted in their marriage being declared invalid and Ralph to being excommunicated in 1061; there's no record of Anne being excommunicated, but by 1065 she's apparently no longer present at court. Her son, Philip I is now thirteen and considered old enough to rule without a regency government. Ralph died in 1074. Anne died in 1075 and was buried at Villiers Abbey, La Ferte-Alais, Essone. All subsequent French kings were her progeny.
linkpath=pages%5CA%5CN%5CAnnaYaroslavna.htm AnnaYaroslavna.

Anne's homeland, Kiev, Russia and her ethnicity; she was of the Rurik dynasty aka Rurikids a dynasty founded by Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year AD 862. Origins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus%27_people  Rus’ people; an early medieval group of people who gave their name to the lands of Russia, Ruthenia, and Belarus... Norsemen who had relocated "from over sea", first to northeastern Europe, creating an early polity that finally came under the leadership of Rurik. Later, Rurik's relative Oleg captured Kiev founding Rus', academically known as Kievan Rus'. The descendants of Rurik were the ruling dynasty of Rus'. Theory has it that the name Rus', like the Finnish name for Sweden (Ruotsi), is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe... According to the earliest East Slavic record, the Primary Chronicle, the Rus' were a group of Varangians who lived, along with other groups like Swedes and Gutes, on the other side of the Baltic Sea, in Scandinavia and as far as the land of the English and the French. They were first expelled, then invited to rule the warring Slavic and Finnic tribes of Novgorod... Later, the Primary Chronicle tells us, they conquered Kiev and created the state of Kievan Rus'.

Ship burial of a Rus chieftain described by Fadlan -painting by Henryk Siemiradzki (1883)

Muslim diplomat and traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who visited Volga Bulgaria in 922, described the Rus' in terms said to suggest Norsemen: "I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy... Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife... by him at all times. The swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort. Each woman wears on either breast a box of iron, silver, copper or gold; the value of the box indicates the wealth of the husband. Each box has a ring from which depends a knife. The women wear neck rings of gold and silver. Their most prized ornaments are green glass beads. They string them as necklaces for their women." -Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings.

The Varangians left a number of rune stones in their native Sweden that tell of their journeys to what is today Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and Belarus. Many remain as historical evidence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurik_dynasty  Rurik Dynasty. Rurik and his brothers founded a state that later historians called Kievan Rus'. By the middle of the 12th century, Kievan Rus' had dissolved into independent principalities, each ruled by different branches of the Rurik dynasty. The dynasty followed agnatic seniority [patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons] and the izgoi principle [collateral succession, rather than linear succession, with the throne being passed from youngest brother and then to cousins down to the fourth in succession in a generation before it was passed on to the eldest member of the senior line so long as his father had held the Kievan throne]. The Rurik dynasty underwent a major schism after the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, dividing into three branches on the basis of descent from three successive ruling Grand Princes... The Rurikids ruled until 1598 and the Time of Troubles, following which they were succeeded by the Romanovs. They are one of Europe's oldest royal houses, with numerous existing cadet branches. As a ruling dynasty, the Rurik dynasty held its own in some part of Russia for a total of 21 generations in male-line succession, from Rurik (died 879) to Feodor I of Russia (died 1598), a period of more than 700 years. (Jody Gray): Anne of Kiev was the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise; his father 30th GGF Vladimir the Great was the great-grandson of Rurik, the founder of the Dynasty. This wikipedia web page contains a Family tree chart with links; I'm going to use it to follow my family lineage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurik Rurik, Prince of Ladoga (862-879). A legendary Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty, which ruled Kievan Rus. The 12th century Primary Chronicle states that Chuds, Eastern Slavs, Merias, Veses, and Krivichs "drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves". Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite the Varangians, led by Rurik, to reestablish order... After his death in 879, his successors moved the capital to Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus', which persisted until the Mongol invasion in 1240.

Genetic investigation. According to the FamilyTreeDNA Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project, Rurik appears to have belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup N1c1, based on testing of his modern purported male line descendants; it is not widely found in Scandinavian countries, but is overwhelmingly found among Baltic and Finnish ethnicities... the closet relatives of the Rurikid haplotype are found in coastal Finland, but Jaakko Hakkinen with the University of Helsinki has later argued that the Rurikid N1c1 lineage can in fact be traced back to Scandinavia. Rurik had issue Igor; he was succeeded by Oleg; who was likely Rurik's brother-in-law; entrusted by Rurik to take care of both his kingdom and his young son Igor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_of_Novgorod Oleg of Novgorod. Oleg 'the Seer', Grand Prince of Rus' (879-912). Oleg is credited with moving the capital of Rus' from Novgorod the Great to Kiev, laying the foundation of the powerful state of Kievan Rus'. Oleg d. 912 (no known issue); he was succeeded by Igor, son of Rurik. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_of_Kiev Igor of Kiev. Igor I, Prince of Rus' (914-945). Primary Chronicle: On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor', for he was very young. (880-882) Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians; arrived before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison; he went on and captured Lyubech and set up a garrison... He came to the hills of Kiev, where Askold and Dir reigned. He hid his warriors and went forward bearing the child Igor... he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor, the prince's son, and requesting that they should come forth to greet them as members of their own race; they came and Oleg said to them "You are not princes nor even of princely birth, but I am of princely birth." They were killed and buried there... Igor twice besieged Constantinople, in 941 and 944, he concluded with the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII a favorable treaty (945) -the text of which the chronicle has preserved. In 913 and 944 the Rus' plundered the Arabs in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian expeditions of the Rus', but it remains unclear whether Igor had anything to do with these campaigns.

Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. His wife, Olga of Kiev, avenged his death by punishing the Drevlians. The Chronicle blames his death on his own excessive greed, indicating that he tried to collect tribute for a second time in a month. As a result, Olga changed the system of tribute gathering in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe. Note: Constantin Zuckerman drastically revised the chronology arguing that Igor actually reigned for three years, between the summer of 941 and his death in 945...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev Sviatoslav I. 'the Brave', Grand Prince of Kiev (945-972) -son of Igor. b. ca 942. His mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav reached maturity (963).

Description of Sviatoslav by Leo the Deacon: was a blue-eyed male of average height but of stalwart build... he shaved his blond head and his beard but wore a bushy mustache and side-lock as a sign of his nobility. He preferred to dress in white... He wore a single large gold earring bearing a carbuncle and two pearls.
Sviatoslav was famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He also conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars, and at time was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars. His decade-long reign over the Kievan Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe, and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital in 969 from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube. Due to his abrupt death in ambush, his conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among among his three sons, resulting in two of them being killed. Legacy. Sviatoslav has long been a hero of Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian patriots due to great military successes. 11/7/2011 Ukrainian fisherman Sergei Pjankow fished up a one metre long frankish sword from the waters of the Dnieper not far from the spot where Svyatoslav is believed to have been killed in 972. The handle is made out of four different metals including gold and silver; it's very possible that it belonged to Sviatoslav.

Sviatoslav’s expansion of Kievan Rus’ (972) at the beginning in red, his expansion in orange

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaropolk_I_of_Kiev Yaropolk I. Prince of Rus' (972-980) -eldest son of Sviatoslav I. Yaropolk was given Kiev by his father Sviatoslav I, who left on a military campaign against the Danube Bulgars. Soon after Sviatoslav's death, however, civil war began between Yaropolk and his brothers; (976) Oleg was killed and Yaropolk became sole ruler of Rus'. Yaropolk's brother Vladimir fled to Scandinavia where he raised an army of Varangians. In 980 Vladimir returned and besieged Rodnya and starved Yaropolk into negotiations; after leaving Vladimir's headquarters, Yaropolk was ambushed by two Varangians and killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_the_Great Vladimir. 'the Great', Grand Prince of Kiev (980-1015) b. ca. 958 -son of Sviatoslav I and Malusha (unknown origin). Vladimir's father was prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty. After the death of his father in 972, Vladimir, who was then prince of Novgorod, was forced to flee to Scandinavia in 976 after his brother Yaropolk had murdered his other brother Oleg and conquered Rus'. In Sweden, with the help from his relative LadejarlHåkon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, he assembled a Varangian army and reconquered Novgorod from Yaropolk. By 980 Vladimir had consolidated the Kievan realm from modern-day Ukraine to the Baltic Sea and had solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarian, Baltic, and Eastern nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988 and Christianized the Kievan Rus'.    Born in 958, Vladimir was the natural son and youngest son of Sviatoslav I of Kiev by his housekeeper Malusha. Malusha is described in the Norse sagas as a prophetess who lived to the age of 100 and was brought from her cave to the palace to predict the future. Malusha's brother Dobrynya was Vladimir's tutor and most trusted advisor. Hagiographic tradition of dubious authenticity also connects his childhood with the name of his grandmother, Olga Prekrasa, who was Christian and governed the capital during Sviatoslav's frequent military campaigns. His place of birth is identified by different authors either as Budyatychi(modern Volyn Oblast, Ukraine) or Budnik (modern Pskov Oblast, Russia).

  Transferring his capital to Pereyaslavets in 969, Sviatoslav designated Vladimir ruler of Novgorod the Great but gave Kiev to his legitimate son Yaropolk. After Sviatoslav's death in 972, a fratricidal war erupted in 976 between Yaropolk and his younger brother Oleg, ruler of the Drevlians. In 977 Vladimir fled to his kinsman Haakon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, collecting as many Norse warriors as he could to assist him to recover Novgorod. On his return the next year, he marched against Yaropolk. On his way to Kiev he sent ambassadors to Rogvolod (Norse: Ragnvald), prince of Polotsk, to sue for the hand of his daughter Rogneda (Norse: Ragnhild). The high-born princess refused to affiance herself to the son of a bondswoman, so Vladimir attacked Polotsk, slew Rogvolod, and took Ragnhild by force. Polotsk was a key fortress on the way to Kiev, and capturing Polotsk and Smolensk facilitated the taking of Kiev in 978, where he slew Yaropolk by treachery and was proclaimed knyaz of all Kievan Rus.

   Although Christianity spread in the region under Oleg's rule, Vladimir had remained a thoroughgoing pagan, taking eight hundred concubines (along with numerous wives) and erecting pagan statues and shrines to gods. He may have attempted to reform Slavic paganism by establishing the thunder-god, Perun, as a supreme deity.         Open abuse of the deities that most people in Rus' revered triggered widespread indignation. A mob killed the Christian Fyodor and his son Ioann… people came to regard these two as the first Christian martyrs... Immediately after the murder of Fyodor and Ioann, early medieval Rus' saw persecutions against Christians, many of whom escaped or concealed their belief.    However, Prince Vladimir mused over the incident long after, and not least for political considerations. According to the early Slavic chronicle called Tale of Bygone Years, which describes life in Kyivan Rus' up to the year 1110, he sent his envoys throughout the civilized world to judge first hand the major religions of the time, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and Byzantine Orthodoxy. They were most impressed with their visit to Constantinople… The result is described by the chronicler Nestor. Of the Muslim Bulgarians of the Volga the envoys reported there is no gladness among them, only sorrow and a great stench. He also reported that Islam was undesirable due to its taboo against alcoholic beverages and pork. Vladimir remarked on the occasion: "Drinking is the joy of all Rus'. We cannot exist without that pleasure.” Ukrainian and Russian sources also describe Vladimir consulting with Jewish envoys and questioning them about their religion, but ultimately rejecting it as well, saying that their loss of Jerusalem was evidence that they had been abandoned by God. His emissaries also visited Roman Catholic and Orthodox missionaries. Ultimately Vladimir settled on Eastern Orthodox Christianity. In the churches of the Germans his emissaries saw no beauty; but at Constantinople, where the full festival ritual of the Byzantine Church was set in motion to impress them, they found their ideal… If Vladimir was impressed by this account of his envoys, he was even more attracted by the political gains of the Byzantine alliance.

   In 988, having taken the town of Chersonesos in Crimea, he boldly negotiated for the hand of emperor Basil II's sister, Anna. Anna Porphyrongenita (963-1011) was the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Romanos II and the Empress Theophano; never before had a Byzantine imperial princess... married a barbarian... Vladimir was baptized at Chersonesos, taking the Christian name of Basil out of compliment to his imperial brother-in-law; the sacrament was followed by his wedding to Anna. Returning to Kiev in triumph, he destroyed pagan monuments and established many churches, starting with a church dedicated to St. Basil, and the Church of the Tithes (989). Anna participated actively in the Christianization of Rus: she acted as the religious adviser of Vladimir and founded a few convents and churches herself.

      Arab sources, both Muslim and Christian, present a different story of Vladimir's conversion…. In 987,Bardas Sclerus and Bardas Phocas revolted against the Byzantine emperor Basil II. Both rebels briefly joined forces, but then Bardas Phocas proclaimed himself emperor on 14 September 987. Basil II turned to the Kievan Rus' for assistance, even though they were considered enemies at that time. Vladimir agreed, in exchange for a marital tie; he also agreed to accept Christianity as his religion and to Christianize his people. When the wedding arrangements were settled, Vladimir dispatched 6,000 troops to the Byzantine Empire, and they helped to put down the revolt.

   In 1014 his son Yaroslav the Wise stopped paying tribute. Vladimir decided to chastise the insolence of his son and began gathering troops against him. Vladimir fell ill, however, most likely of old age, and died at Berestovo, near Kiev. The various parts of his dismembered body were distributed among his numerous sacred foundations and were venerated as relics. Note: there are many memorials for Vladimir; this one, Vladimir as symbol of Ukrainian nationalism: “St Volodymyr - Ruler of Ukraine, 980-1015” erected by Ukrainians in Great Britain in 1988 to celebrate the establishment of Christianity in Ukraine by Vladimir in 988.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_life_and_children_of_Vladimir_I Family life and children of Vladimir I.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogneda_of_Polotsk Rogneda of Polotsk. Rogneda is the Slavic name for Ragnhild, whose father Ragnvald (Slavic: Rogvolod) came from Scandinavia and established himself at Polatsk in the mid-10th century… In or about 980, Vladimir, on learning that she was betrothed to his half-brother Yaropolk I of Kiev, took Polotsk and forced Rogneda to marry him. Having raped Rogneda in the presence of her parents, he ordered them to be killed, along with two of Rogneda’s brothers… Rogneda gave him several children… A later chronicle tells a story, most likely taken from  Norse saga, of Rogneda plotting against Vladimir and asking her elder son, Izyaslav, to kill him. As was the Norse royal custom, she was sent with her elder son to govern the land of her parents, i.e. Polotsk. Izyaslav’s line continued to rule Polotsk and the newly founded town of Iryaslavl until the Mongol invasion. After Vladimir converted to Christianity and took Anna Porphyrogeneta as his wife, he had to divorce all his previous wives, including Rogneda… she entered the convent and took the name Anastasia. Around 1825 Kondraty Ryleev wrote a narrative poem entitled Rogneda. This poem became a literary source for her portrayal in the nationalist Russian opera Rogneda by Alexander Serov, which premiered in 1865.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaroslav_the_Wise Yarslav the Wise. 29th GGF Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Russia, known as Yaroslav the Wise; Christian name, George (Yuri) after Saint George. b. ca 978 d. 1054.

Parents: Rogneda of Polotsh, Varangian Grand Prince Vladimir the Great; Yaroslav was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his father’s death in 1015. Subsequently, his eldest surviving brother, Sviatopolk I of Kiev, killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev. Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Varangian mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the Grand Prince of Kiev in 1019. Under Yaroslav the codification of legal customs and princely enactments was begun, and this work served as the basis for a law code called the Russkaya Pravada (“Rus Truth [Law]”). During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus’ reached the zenith of its cultural flowering

and military power. Spouse: Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden (1001-2/10/1050), was a Swedish princess and a Grand Princess of Kiev. Daughter of Swedish King Olof Skotkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites. M: 1019. Daughter, Anne of Kiev married Henry I. of France; she was said to be his most beloved daughter. He died 2/30/1054, Vyshhorod, Ukraine. Buried in the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.

Principalities in the Kievan Rus’ (1054-1132)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingegerd_Olofsdotter_of_Sweden Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden. 29th GGM Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden, Grand Princess of Kiev,

also known as Irene, Anna and St. Anna (1001-2/10/1050), was a Swedish princess and a Grand Princess of Kiev. Daughter of Swedish King Olof Skotkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites. M: 1019. Buried in the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod.  Ingegerd was later declared a saint, by the name of St. Anna, in Novgorod and Kiev. The reason was that she initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev as well as the local version, the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, along with many good doings. She was buried at Holy Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. The illustration (on the right) is a fresco at Saint  Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. Ingegerd initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (groundbreaking 1045, completed 1050) that was supervised by her husband, who styled himself tsar. She also initiated the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. They had six sons and four daughters, the latter of whom became Queens of France, Hungary, Norway, and (arguably) England. Son, Vladimir is best remembered for building the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Novgorod.    

Saint Sophia’s Cathedral

Originally the cathedral was a burial place of the Kievan rulers including the cathedral's founder Yaroslav I 'the Wise', although only his grave survived to this day. The first foundations were laid in 1037 or 1011, but the cathedral took two decades to complete. According to Dr Nadia Nikitenko, an historian who has studied the cathedral for 30 years, the cathedral was founded in 1011, under the reign of Yaroslav's father, Grand Prince of Kievan Rus', Vladimir the Great. Recognition: Seven Wonders of Ukraine -World Heritage List.

https://en.wikipedia. Varangians. (Old Norse; Greek) was the name given by Greeks and East Slavs to Vikings, who between the 9th and 11th centuries ruled the medieval state of Kievan Rus’, settled among many rivers in Russia and formed the Byzantine Varangian Guard. According to the 12th century Kievan Primary Chronicle, a group of Varangians known as the Rus’ settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik.

  ...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 (between the Varangians and the Arabs), connecting the Baltic to the Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper and Dniester trade route (between the Varangians and the Greeks) leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople. Those were the critically important trade links at the time, connecting Medieval Europe with wealthy and developed Arab Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire.

Other Resources:
NOVA - The Vikings - DVD $11.99 (Amazon.com). This riveting two-hour special investigates a new image of the Vikings that goes far deeper than their savage stereotype as raiding marauders. Faithful replicas of their magnificent ships, life-like computer animation and fascinating recreations reveal the Vikings as canny merchants, expert shipbuilders, superb artisans, and bold colonizers of lands that lay beyond the edge of the known world.

Blog Post: Timeline, earliest Dynasties in Europe (687-ca. 987) end of Carolingian Dynasty.

http://gray-adamsfamily.blogspot.com/2017/02/timeline-earliest-dynasties-in-europe.html

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