"Varyago-Russian question", "Varangian question", "Norman problem", "Norman theory" - all these words define one of the acutely polemical knots of Russian historical memory. We have already addressed this topic and saw that the often misunderstood imperative of patriotism forces people to bring into the public space a dispute that has been going on in science for a couple of centuries. And the further he goes, the more clearly it is clear that the removal of the dispute outside the framework of science leads to unacceptable vulgarization and distorts reality.
Normans and anti-Normans - how did the controversy arise?
Who are the "Normanists", "Anti-Normanists", "Neo-Normans" and "Neo-Antinormans"? This dispute arose in the 18th century at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, where the German academicians G. Z. Bayer, G. F. Miller and A. L. Schlözer, the Varangian question at all stages of its existence suddenly turned out to be associated with burning political and national problems. M. A. Alpatov describes the emergence of the Norman theory in the following way: “The shadows of two compatriots - Rurik and Karl XII - hovered over those in whose eyes this question was born. Poltava Victoria crushed the ambitions of the Swedish conquerors of the time of Charles XII, the Norman theory, which elevated the Russian statehood to Rurik, dealt a blow to the national ambitions of the Russians from the historical flank. It was an ideological revenge for Poltava. Covered with the dust of centuries, the ancient tale of the Varangians found a new life,became the sharpest modern plot. […] The Varangian question, therefore, was born not in Kiev in the chronicle times, but in St. Petersburg in the 18th century.
It arose as an anti-Russian phenomenon, and arose not in the field of science, but in the field of politics. The man who fired the first "shot" in this battle was Bayer. " But Alpatov is overly politicizing and also distorts the picture. In the writings of the German academicians, in fact, one can see a truly academic attitude towards the ancient Russian history, based on the study of sources. But, as Alpatov himself clearly formulated, “the main written source on which the entire medieval history of Rus rests, the Tale of Bygone Years, resolves the issue positively, - the Varangian prince Rurik was certified as the creator of the Russian state, and over the centuries - up to before Tatishchev - this was considered an immutable truth."
Many attempts have been made to present an integral picture of this scientific struggle, but the review by V. A. Moshin, published in 1931 in the Prague journal "Slavia", remains undoubtedly the best. Moshin writes that representatives of the first direction agree on the issue of the Scandinavian origin of Russia, but differ:
1. On the question of the ancient homeland of "Rus":
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- a) the majority of Normanists recognize the tradition of the chronicles as true and are looking for the homeland of the called Rus in the seaside Swedish region of Upland;
- b) others believe that Russia is a Norman tribe, which, long before 860, moved to the southern shore of Lake Ladoga and from here was called by the Slavs;
- c) the third adjoin the second, but the banks of the Neman or the Western Dvina are considered the place of the initial settlement of the Normans in Eastern Europe;
- d) the fourth placed the first Norman newcomers to the middle Volga;
- e) the fifth suggested that Rurik and his brothers were descendants of the Scandinavians who stayed on the continent after the resettlement of their relatives to the Scandinavian Peninsula;
- f) the sixth assert that the Normans appeared in Eastern Europe in several stages, as separate colonization ramparts, at different times and from different regions;
- g) the seventh consider the appearance of the Normans in Russia as a long and wide process of Norman colonization, spreading from Scandinavia throughout Eastern Europe by its river routes.
2. On the question of the method of founding the Russian state:
- a) some believe in a vocation,
- b) others consider the Russians to be the conquerors of the Slavic tribes.
3. On the question of chronology:
- a) some believe the chronicles,
- b) others suggest an earlier time of the appearance of Rus in Eastern Europe.
4. And, finally, they diverge in the linguistic interpretation of the names "Rus" and "Varangians".
Much more disagreement exists between anti-Normanists:
- Some, rejecting in general any historical value of the chronicle tradition, consider Russia to be the autochthonous Slavic people of southern Russia.
- Others, in the same way, consider Russia to be Slavs, but, respecting the authority of the chronicler, they admit the possibility of vocation and by the called-up Varangians they mean the Baltic Slavs.
- Still others see in Russia - the Finns from the Volga.
- The fourth are Finns from Finland.
- Fifths derive the Russian name from the Lithuanians.
- Sixth - from the Magyars.
- Seventh - from the Khazars.
- Eighth - from the ready.
- Ninths are from Georgians.
- The tenths are from the Iranians.
- The eleventh ones are from the Japhetids.
- The twelfths are from some unknown tribe.
- The thirteenths are from the Celts.
- The fourteenths are from Jews.
“And it is quite possible that soon we will have to read about the origin of Rus from the island of Rhodes, from Rhodesia, or, perhaps, from the Solomon Islands,” Moshin wrote. And he was not far from the truth - in our time, such concepts are also spread.
So, the problem has been posed, socially significant overtones have also been clarified. The polarity is indicated.
False alternative
All this scientific and pseudo-scientific struggle was, to a certain extent, a brake on the study of the true nature of Russian-Scandinavian relations during the formation of the ancient Russian state. Back in 1939, E. A. Rydzevskaya spoke about the need to overcome the very opposite of Normanism and anti-Normanism. She believed that it is possible to correctly and objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of both directions, which, in her opinion, have receded into the past of Russian historiography, the use of what was positive in them, and complete independence from them in further work.
It can be noted, however, that social reflection almost always lags behind scientific reflection.
In the gradual formation of a new approach to the Varangian problem in domestic science, a huge contribution was made by V. T. Pashuto, a scientist whose analysis of written sources (those on which Normanism was formed) made it possible to develop the view on the role of the Varangians in the formation of the Old Russian state, which he adheres to today day most of the researchers: “A look at Ancient Russia as an ethnically heterogeneous state that grew out of a confederation of reigning lands headed by the Slavic nobility makes it possible to more accurately assess the relationship of the Ancient Russian state with the countries of Northern Europe. […] Sources testify to the activity of the Norman immigrants in Russia at first (up to the 10th century) as unlucky hostile "findrs". Then, as mercenaries, princes, warriors, merchants,diplomats, they played a certain role in the construction of the huge and multilingual Old Russian state by the Slavic nobility."
Pashuto recognizes the unification of Russia under the rule of the princes of the Varangian dynasty, but points out that before this unification, Russia was a confederation of 14 reigns that grew up on the lands of the former tribes. The presence of such reigns was noted not only in Ancient Rus, but also among the Pomor Slavs, Prussians, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. These princes and their alliances could perish as a result of external conquest (as in Prussia, Estonia, Latvia); could reflect an external conquest and unite into an independent state headed by the princes of their own dynasty (as in Lithuania), or by inviting a prince from outside (as in Russia). But the use of foreign institutions in this process of uniting the reigns is, according to Pashuto, of secondary and subordinate importance.
According to L. Klein and his students, Slavic-Varangian relations in the 9th-10th centuries were much more complex and covered various aspects of the life of the Eastern European tribes: trade with the East and West, and joint military campaigns, and the development of crafts, and internal trade. … The authors rightly emphasize that the study, first of all, of these relations will make it possible to truly understand the important processes associated with the formation of the Old Russian state.
Twenty-five years have passed since this article was published. But the further identification and systematization of "Norman antiquities" in the ancient Russian territory does not stop. Finds and assemblages of Scandinavian origin are found in graves of complex composition in the Yaroslavl Volga region, South-Eastern Ladoga region, and the Upper Dnieper region. The main chronicle centers related to the "Varangian problem" - Ladoga, Ryurikovo settlement near Novgorod, Novgorod, Izborsk, Beloozero, Rostov, Polotsk are also subjected to systematic research. The Varangian presence on the Old Russian territory is becoming more and more evident. But at the same time, the inconsistency of the concept of "colonization" of Upper Russia by the Scandinavians, and even more so of its "Norman conquest", is becoming more evident.
No matter how surprised we were, the first summaries of the "Norman antiquities of Russia" were made not by our scientists, but, so to speak, by an "outside observer" - the Norwegian researcher Anna Stalsberg. In recent years, the classification of various types of Scandinavian objects found on the territory of Ancient Rus was carried out by the Swedish archaeologist Ingmar Jansson. In general, the systematization of categories and classes of finds is a necessary condition for an objective analysis of Russian-Scandinavian relations based on archaeological material. To date, such work has been done on Russian treasures of the 9th-13th centuries, on ancient Russian weapons, on certain categories of jewelry and bone carving craft. The numismatic material is also systematized, and this is what happens.
Archaeological breakthrough and written sources
The geographical distribution of the Scandinavian finds is very revealing. It speaks of the special importance for the Russian-Scandinavian relations of the waterways crossing Eastern Europe. As it turns out, the earliest international trade relations were established along the Volga Route, which connected both the Slavs and Scandinavians with the countries of Central Asia and the Near East. Initially, the entire system of Eastern European waterways was oriented towards the Volga.
Two directions of eastern trade were especially significant: Ladoga - Volga and Western Dvina - Dnepr - Volga. Ladoga and Gnezdovo are located on them - the centers in which the Varangian presence is most clearly traced.
Having emerged as an intrastate highway, the meridional Volkhov-Dneprovsky route by the second half of the 10th century acquired great international importance. It is he who is known as the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
The chronology of the "Norman antiquities" makes it possible to clarify the periodization of the Russian-Scandinavian relations of the 9th-11th centuries developed in recent years. It is very important that the conclusions of different researchers agree in principle on this issue. Thus, the chronological scheme proposed by E. A. Melnikova and V. Ya. Petrukhin is quite consistent with the more fractional scale of G. S. Lebedev, which takes into account changes in Russian-Scandinavian interaction every 25-30 years.
Within the framework of the first period (until the middle of the 9th century), the following stages are distinguished: 750-830s (the first contacts of the Varangians with the Slavs), 840-850s (aggravation of relations, "expulsion of the Varangians"). The second period, from the second half of the 9th to the first half of the 10th century, includes the following stages: 860-880s ("calling of princes", stabilization of relations with the Vikings in Upper Russia, the addition of the system of international routes), 880-910s (participation of the Varangians in the unification of the Old Russian state), 910-950s (gradual assimilation of the Varangians, the use of temporary hired contingents of Scandinavian soldiers). The third period, the middle - the second half of the 10th century, the consolidation of early feudal statehood both in Ancient Rus and in the Scandinavian countries: 960s - 970s (restructuring of the track system, the decline of the Volga highway after the campaigns of Svyatoslav,the growing role of the Dnieper route, completely controlled by the Old Russian state). The fourth period, the end of the 10th - the first half of the 11th century, includes the following stages: 980-1016 years (military mercenaries, dynastic ties), 1016-1054 (ties acquire the character of interstate relations of the Middle Ages). Like any charts, both of the chronological tables I have cited are rather arbitrary, but still there are facts behind them and with their help the picture reconstructed by historians is made more concrete.both of the chronological tables cited by me are rather arbitrary, but still there are facts behind them and with their help the picture reconstructed by historians is made more concrete.both of the chronological tables cited by me are rather arbitrary, but still there are facts behind them and with their help the picture reconstructed by historians is made more concrete.
As archeology multiplies its data, quantity gradually turns into quality, and archaeological material makes it possible to set and solve new problems. At the same time, written sources, as the methods of their analysis are improved, can be read in a new way, and this makes it possible to reveal the actual information contained in them.
The most indicative in this regard is the revision of the chronicle "legend about the vocation of the Varangians." After the works of A. A. Shakhmatov, who showed that the legend of the vocation is an artificial late insertion, full of conjectures, some researchers refused to see it as a reflection of any real facts. But not all. Others, like MN Pokrovsky, believed that it was “safest” to adhere to the text of the chronicle. The legend thus turned into a historically accurate news. So, A. N. Kirpichnikov, I. V. Dubov and G. S. Lebedev's "calling of Rurik" is considered as a thoughtful action that allowed to regulate relations throughout the Baltic, and Rurik himself is identified with the small Danish king Rurik of Jutland, following the fantastic hypothesis of a century and a half ago Fr. Kruse.
And yet, the revision of the legend in the comparative historical aspect and in the context of early medieval diplomacy makes it possible to establish the historical basis of its individual elements. Another V. T. Pashuto noted the probable reliability of that part of the legend, which contains Old Russian legal vocabulary - "row" and "right" - reflecting the conditions under which the Scandinavian king was invited to reign.
E. A. Melnikova and V. Ya. Petrukhin, analyzing the messages of the "Tale of Bygone Years" about the treaties of Russia, about the regulation of relations with the Varangians, as well as comparing the practice of treaties with the Scandinavian kings in England and France, came to the conclusion about the reality of the "number" Varangian legend. In their opinion, he came to the compiler of the "Tale of Bygone Years" in the oral tradition. The chronicler's appeal to the legend of his vocation corresponded to the tasks of an early historical description.
The "row" consisted of representatives of several Slavic and Finnish tribes (the nobility, which was the top of the Novgorod inter-tribal confederation) with the leaders of a military detachment; The "row" provided for the transfer of supreme power to them on the territory of these tribes; The “possession” of the invitees was limited by the condition “to judge by right”, i.e. be guided by local legal regulations.
"Ryad" was also supposed to include the conditions of detention and provision of the Varangians, the prince and his squad. The origins of the "series" of the Varangian legend can be traced in the Old Russian veche practice.
The question of names and titles
Linguistic research related to the "Norman problem" has been actively conducted in recent years. Thus, the question of probable Old Swedish lexical borrowings from the Old Russian language has been studied. It was possible to establish their scarcity, as well as the connection with the life of the retinue and trade relations. The Scandinavian toponymy of Ancient Rus was analyzed. It was found that the toponyms preserved in the monuments of the Old Scandinavian writing and related to the Old Russian cities are focused on the phonetic appearance of geographical self-names.
It seems that the question of the name “Rus” also finds a convincing solution. Private, belonging to the field of historical ethnonymy, for more than two centuries it was included as one of the central ones in the broad problem of the origin of the Old Russian state, and sometimes replaced it. A series of works by E. A. Melnikova and V. Ya. Petrukhin largely clarifies this complex issue.
The emergence of the word "rus" is timed by researchers to the early zone - from the middle of the 8th century. - Slavic-Fenno-Scandinavian contacts.
They also traced its evolution from an ethnosocial term used to designate the Scandinavians - through the name of the polyethnic grand ducal squads of the period of the formation of the Old Russian state - to the name of the Old Russian early medieval nationality.
The term "rus" has undoubtedly undergone a certain transformation, traces of this are visible in the PVL itself. In the cosmographic introduction to the PVL, which speaks of the division of land between the sons of Noah, Russia belongs to Japheth's allotment, among the Scandinavian tribes "Varyazi", "Svei", Normans and Rus. These are clearly Scandinavians. In another place (year 898), where the author will talk about the peoples who adopted the Slavic script, he will already mention Rus among them (Moravans, Czechs, Poles, glades, whom we call Rus …). This is already a Slavic "Rus".
By now, Russian historians have accepted a rather complex scheme for the development of this word proposed by Elena Melnikova and Vladimir Petrukhin. The word "rus" appeared, in their opinion, early (in the middle of the eighth century) in the zone of contacts of the Slavic, Finnish and Scandinavian peoples. It developed from (1) a term with a predominance of ethnic meaning, which served to designate the Scandinavian (Swedish) rowers (merchants and warriors), then through (2) an ethnic and social term denoting the Scandinavian detachment (squad) of Rurik and Oleg, the first rulers of Northern Russia, and further through (3) a social term defining a multiethnic retinue of the Kiev princes, to (4) the name of the ancient Russian state, and, accordingly, (5) the name of the ancient Russian medieval people.
The Scandinavians (to be more precise, the Swedes), summoned by the peoples of the north-west of Russia, were called "Rus", but the chronicler places this Rus among other groups of peoples called the Varyaz (plural from "Varangians").
The word "rus" mentioned in the sources of the ninth century is considered older than the word Varangian (cf.: Old Norse Væringi, plural Vringjar; Greek Βάραγγοι, Arabic ورنك, Varank), first appearing in the Byzantine chronicle in 1034 g.
In PVL, the Varangians were at first the enemies of “Rus”, and then they became the squad of Prince Igor, in 941, when the prince “sent messengers for many Varangians across the sea, inviting them to attack the Greeks”. Up to this point, the PVL consistently identifies the Vikings with Russia. The original meaning of the word “Varangian” is defined as “a warrior by a vow, bound by an oath” (from the ancient Norse várar “pledge, oath, guarantee”). According to Melnikova and Petrukhin, the term did not originate in Scandinavia or Byzantium, but in the Scandinavian environment of Ancient Rus. Igor entered into an agreement with his mercenaries, defining the conditions of their service, which gave rise to their self-name.
The name "Varangians" meant Scandinavian mercenaries (which differed from "Rus", the princely squad), and was used for all "overseas" Scandinavians.
In Byzantium, it first served as a designation for the emperor's famous Varangian guard, but gradually the term became the name for all Scandinavian mercenaries in the service of the emperor.
