Who was Rurik? Having answered this question, we will also answer the question “where did the Russian land come from”. Historians have been breaking spears over this issue for centuries, giving various arguments in favor of one theory or another.
Dane
According to the first version, “our” Rurik is Rorik of Jutland, the Danish king from the Skjöldung dynasty, descending from Odin himself. Rorik is mentioned in the Frankish chronicles, where he is called the ruler of Dorestad and several Frisian lands in 841-873. In the Xanten annals it is also called "the plague of Christianity."
The first version of the identity of “our” Rurik and Danish Rorik was expressed by pastor H. Hollman in his work “Rustringia, the original fatherland of the first Russian Grand Duke Rurik and his brothers. Historical experience”, published in 1816. After 20 years, professor at the University of Dorpat Friedrich Kruse also identified Rurik with Rorik of Jutland.
Among Russian scientists, Nikolai Timofeevich Belyaev was the first to write about the identity of these historical figures in his work "Rorik of Jutland and Rurik of the Primary Chronicle", published in Prague in 1929. As evidence of the correctness of the theory, the scientist cites temporary gaps in the Frisian chronicles (863-870) and the corresponding references to Rurik of Novgorod in Russian chronicles.
Also, as an argument, a close correspondence of the archaeological layers of the Jutland city of Ribe and Ladoga to Rurik's time is given.
Among modern Russian scientists, the Danish version of Rurik's origin was supported by Boris Rybakov, Gleb Lebedev, Dmitry Machinsky and others.
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Swede
Second version: Rurik was Swedish. This hypothesis has no more evidence than the previous one. According to her, Rurik is the Swedish king Eirik Emundarson. It is mentioned by the Icelandic skald Snorri Sturluson in The Circle of the Earth.
Skald describes a ting (popular gathering) in 1018 that took place in Uppsala. One of its participants recalls King Eirik, saying that he went on campaigns every summer and conquered different lands: Finland, Kirjalaland, Eystlaind, Kurland and many lands in Austrland.
In the sagas Finland was called Finland, Kirjalaland - Karelia, Eistland - Estonia, Kurland - Courland, Austrweg - the Eastern Route ("from the Varangians to the Greeks"), Austrland were called the lands that later became Russian.
However, according to Russian chronicles, Rurik was called to rule, and did not come with a campaign of conquest. Secondly, in The Tale of Bygone Years, the Swedes are not considered Varangians. "Varyazi" and "Svei" are considered different peoples: "Afetovo bo and that knee: Varyazi, Svei, Urman, Gotha, Rus …".
Thirdly, Eirik and Rurik are all still different names. They are translated in different ways. Erik (Eric, Erik) means in translation from the ancient Germanic "rich in honor", Rurik (Ro / rik) - "glorious nobility".
Slav
According to the anti-Norman theory, Rurik is "from ours, from the Slavs." There are two versions of the Slavic origin of the ancestor of Russian statehood.
According to the first version, Rurik was the leader of the Obodrit Slavs (Polabian Slavs), the son of Gotleib, an encouraging prince who died in 808. This hypothesis explains the origin of the coat of arms of Rurik - a generic tamga with a diving falcon, since the falcon was the tribal symbol of the Obodrit Slavs (in West Slavic - "rereg / rarog").
According to the genealogy of Friedrich Chemnitz (XVII century), Rurik and his brothers were also considered the sons of the already mentioned Gotleib. Sivar and Truar are named there as Rurik's brothers. Significantly, the memory of Rurik, the son of Gottleyb, remained in those places (northeastern Germany) for a long time. The Frenchman Xavier Marmier, traveling in those places in the middle of the 19th century, wrote about Prince Rurik.
The second Slavic version speaks of the origin of Rurik from the Baltic island of Ruyan, which today is called Rugen. The origin of Rurik from here can be explained by the very name "Rus" (the version with encouragement does not explain this). For the same Mercator in "Cosmography" the island of Ruyan is called "Ruscia".
Historian Nikolai Trukhachev also noted that in Western sources the inhabitants of Ruyan are repeatedly referred to as Rusyns or Ruthenians.
Also typical for the island of Ruyan was the cult of the white horse, its traces have been preserved in Russian folklore, as well as in the tradition of installing "skates" on the roofs of huts.
Chechen
In 2007, the newspaper "Chechen Society" published an article by the historian Murtazaliev. It tells that the Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Normans and Russia are one people.
Further it is "proved" that since the Rus are also identified with the Alans, and the Alans with the Chechens, it means
“The Russians were not just anyone, but Chechens. It turns out that Rurik and his squad, if they are really from the Varangian tribe Rus, then they are pure-blooded Chechens, moreover, from a royal family and spoke their native Chechen language.
Murtazaliev ends the article as follows: “Still, I would like Chechen scientists not to stop at what has been achieved, but to develop in this direction, given that many want to“warm their hands”on Chechen history against logic, ignoring all moral obstacles. All this throws our people away year after year, decades, and maybe hundreds of years ago."
Who is he?
The question of who Rurik really was (and whether he was at all) is one of the "eternal" questions of Russian historiography. The scientific polemics between Normanists and anti-Normanists continues, but, according to historian Igor Danilevsky, by and large, it is empty, since Rurik is already a legendary character.
Until the end of the 15th century, none of the Russian princes called themselves "Rurikovich", and the history of the scientific dispute on the identification of Rurik dates back to a later time - to the 18th century, when German historians led by Gerard Miller, who worked in Russia at the invitation of government, the so-called "Norman theory" was put forward.
Mikhail Lomonosov then sharply criticized this theory. In 1761, he wrote a note to the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, where he wrote that there is no evidence that Rurik and his squad came from Scandinavia, and not from other regions close to Novgorod.
The people-tribe Rus, according to Lomonosov, could not have originated from Scandinavia under the influence of the expansion of the Vikings-Normans. First of all, Lomonosov opposed the thesis about the backwardness of the Slavs and their inability to independently form a state.