Origin and biography of Rurik

The figure of Rurik is one of the most important andmysterious in Russian history. It was he who initiated the statehood of the Eastern Slavs. There are few reliable facts about this prince. Researchers are still arguing about where he came from.

The call of the Varangians to Novgorod

In the IX century numerous tribal alliances of the Slavs andFinns were dependent on the Varangians - German pagans, who lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula. For a short period they managed to expel the interventionists and stop paying tribute. However, the local tribes immediately began to fight among themselves. The world could begin only with the appearance of legitimate power.

The most important source for the Rurik era is"The Tale of Bygone Years." It contains information that the union of the Ilmen Slovaks, Meri and Krivichi invited him to reign in Novgorod. It happened in 862 year.

Biography Rurik suited everyone. This man was a compromise figure. The prince from behind the sea was not a protege or a supporter of any group. Some sources indicate that the Novgorodians and their neighbors considered the most diverse candidates: from Khazars to glades. Nevertheless, the choice fell precisely on the Varangian (that is, the Viking).

Rurik and his brothers

The delegation of the Slavs went to the sea. Rurik also took with him two of his brothers: Sineus (ruled on Beloozero) and Truvor (went to Izborsk). When they died, their allotments again went to the Novgorod prince. Biography Rurik before his appearance in Russia is almost unknown and mostly based on conjectures. Nevertheless, there is accurate information that he had his own squad. It was she who became the support of the new government and ensured order in the Novgorod land. In exchange for protection of the population, the prince was given the right to collect taxes.

It is interesting that some sources contradictto each other in where Rurik actually ruled. For example, the Laurentian Chronicle says that his first residence was Ladoga. In Novgorod, the prince appeared only after the death of his two younger brothers. In addition, under his authority were the land of Krivichi, the main city of which was Polotsk. In the east of this state were Finnish tribes. They lived in Rostov, Murom and neighboring lands.

Governing body

Biography Rurik as the prince of Novgorod is notwas distinguished by bright events. The only exception can be considered unrest in the capital, when residents, dissatisfied with the rule of the Varangian, rebelled against him in 864. Their leader was Vadim the Brave. He and his main comrades-in-arms were killed by Rurik. Because of the fragmentary and incomplete information about these unrest, some historians either regard them as fiction, or are associated with later events. Nikon's chronicle, narrating about the uprising of the Novgorodians against the power of the Varangians, was compiled in the 16th century and, of course, could be unreliable. This episode is a vivid example of how much the biography of Rurik is vague and little studied.

He died in 879, leaving the onlyson of Igor. The power in Novgorod passed to Oleg - or a relative, or ally of Rurik. The new prince was the regent with the growing heir. Already in three years, Oleg captured Kiev, where he moved his capital. Later, Igor and his descendants were ruled there. So there was an ancient Russian state, whose princes were representatives of the Rurik dynasty. The last of its representatives - Fyodor - died in 1598, being the Moscow Tsar.

Origin

Prince Rurik, a brief biography of whicha fierce controversy is raised, it was not fixed in the annals and other documents before his calling by the Slavs. Researchers often associate it with Vikings. Most often in the scientific literature mentioned Danes or Swedes, which could belong to the Novgorod prince Rurik (862-879). The biography of this king is vague, which produces numerous hypotheses about its origin.

Norman theory

In the Old Russian sources in the description of RurikThe word "Varangian" is used, which indicates its Scandinavian or Norman origin. In the 9th century, the inhabitants of these regions excited all of Christian Europe with their ruthless raids. Some of them seized land on the continent and built themselves into a common feudal system, simultaneously taking Christianity.

Many historians believe that Rurik is RörikThe Jutland. It was a famous Danish king. He fought with the Carolingians for Friesia. Perhaps he was also a vassal of the Frankish prince for a while, since coins with the image of Lothar were minted with him. In the late 1950s he tried to take Jutland, but failed. A little later he fought with the western Slavs-Vendians, who lived on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Supporters of the idea that Rurik is Rörik, as an argument of their rightness, is led by the fact that in the Western annals the mention of this king disappears from about the date when the Varangian began to rule in Novgorod. This hypothesis remains unproven and is often the subject of controversy. Rurik, whose brief biography is almost unknown, does not even have a documented grave.

Slavic and Baltic theories

There are theories that the Varangians,called on Russia, were named representatives of the West Slavic tribe of vagra. If this is so, then Prince Rurik, whose biography does not refute and does not prove this version, may have been a distant tribe of the inhabitants of Novgorod.

Another close assumption to this theorymade a great Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. He considered Rurik to be a descendant of the Prussians, the Baltic people, who lived in the territories of present-day Poland and Lithuania. In legends of the Germanic Slavs from the same lands, there were tales of three brothers called to distant Novgorod. This was reassured, the representative of which could be Prince Rurik. A brief biography of this person does not allow us to accurately determine his ethnicity. In addition, it is difficult to calculate the year of his birth.