Perhaps this is the most mysterious person in the history of Ancient Russia. No one knows where he came from, how he lived and where he died. But, if you believe the "Tale of Bygone Years", it was this Varangian who became the founder of the Russian state, and it was from him that the dynasty that ruled our land went until the end of the 16th century. So let's figure out who Rurik was and how he became famous besides the fact that he became the ancestor of the great princes.
The first Russians
By the way, before the arrival of Rurik, Russians did not live in Russia. How do you feel about this statement? But this is really so.
The concept "Russian", like the name of the land itself - Russia, appeared precisely thanks to the vocation of the Varangians in the 9th century. This is how The Tale of Bygone Years describes it: “And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still other Gotlandians - like that. Chud, Slovenia, Krivichi and all said to Russia: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come to reign and rule over us. " And three brothers with their families were elected, and took all Russia with them, and came, and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed … "So that until that moment the Slavic and Finno-Ugric peoples, although they were united into a single state, each was called in its own way: Slovenia, Drevlyans, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Chud, Meraya, Murom,perm, all and others. Then all these tribes began to be denoted by a single word - Russians.
Well, about who the Rus are, among historians, disputes still do not stop.
Scandinavian king …
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One of the legends says that Rurik, Sineus and Truvor are the grandchildren of Prince Gostomysl from his daughter Umila, who invited them to accept his power. But even that doesn't explain where the brothers came from. After all, Umila could be the wife of both a Slavic prince and a Scandinavian king. The Joachim Chronicle indicates that Rurik is the son of a Varangian prince from Finland, whose wife was the daughter of Gostomysl. However, some historians dispute the authenticity of this text.
The only thing we learn from Nestor, the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, is that the Russians came from across the sea. This gave rise to the assumption that they were Vikings who came from Scandinavia.
A similar version was one of the first developed in the 18th century by German scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer, Gerard Friedrich Miller and Friedrich Heinrich Strube de Pyrmont. The supporters of the Norman theory support their arguments by the fact that most of the names of the Rus called to reign have a clear ancient Germanic origin: Rurik, Truvor, Askold, Dir. Even Oleg, Olga and Igor are formed from the Scandinavian Helgs, Helga and Ingvar. The German version was also confirmed by archaeologists.
During excavations in Staraya Ladoga, as well as on the site of the Rurikov Settlement founded by the Russians, many items that belonged to the Vikings were discovered: elements of military ammunition, iron torcs (neck decorations) with Thor's hammers, bronze pendants with runic inscriptions, a silver figurine of a Valkyrie. All this dates back to the 9th-10th centuries. In addition, many noble warriors of that time were buried in burial mounds, and such funeral rites were also characteristic of the Vikings. Among the possible prototypes of the legendary prince Rurik, historians name the Danish Viking Rorik of Jutland from the Skjeldung dynasty and the Swedish king Eirik Emundarson.
In the same 18th century, Mikhail Lomonosov objected to the Normanists, claiming that the Russians came from the Slavic lands.
He considered them Prussians who lived on the eastern-southern shores of the Varangian (Baltic) Sea. In this case, the Russians could also appear “from overseas”. There is also a version that the summoned Varangians came from the Polabian Slavs - encouraging. By the way, their largest city was called Rerik and was located on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
A Slavic version of the origin of the Varangians-Rus, a couple of centuries before Lomonosov, was expressed by the Austrian historian, adviser to the ambassador to Moscow Russia, Baron Sigismund von Herberstein. He wrote: "The Russians summoned their princes rather from the Vagrs, or Varangians, than handed over power to foreigners who differ from them in faith, customs and language." In principle, this is quite logical, because, as the same "Tale of Bygone Years" describes, on the eve of Rurik's vocation, the Slovenes, Krivichi, all the strangers expelled the foreigners from their lands "and did not give them tribute."
After that, would the tribes again invite the invaders that had just been expelled?
As for the Scandinavian names of Rurik's warriors, because of the proximity to the Germans, the Slavs living on the Baltic coast could easily have become fashionable to call their children foreign names. The same applies to the Scandinavian items found by archaeologists. Firstly, active trade was already going on in the Baltic Sea at that time, secondly, various elements of life and culture were often borrowed by neighboring peoples, and thirdly, the Vikings were often hired to various rulers as vigilantes.
They could well be in the service of Rurik.
Vadim against Rurik
The "Tale of Bygone Years" says that Rurik and his brothers came to reign in 862, after which he himself sat in Novgorod, and Sineus and Truvor settled in Beloozero and Izborsk. But two years later, both brothers died, and all power went to one Rurik. Practically nothing is said about what he did after that in The Tale, but it is said in the Joachim Chronicle given by the nobleman Vasily Tatishchev. It says that “Rurik, after the death of his brothers, possessed all the land, having no war with anyone. In the fourth summer of his reign he moved from the old to the Great New City to Ilmen. " Where the prince lived before this, the chronicle does not specify. But there is an indication of that in the Ipatiev Chronicle: "… And cut down the city of Ladoga." As mentioned above, archaeological excavations in Staraya Ladoga confirmed the presence of Varangians there in the 9th century. It turns outthat Rurik and his retinue first settled in Staraya Ladoga, and only a few years later moved to Novgorod - to Ilmen. There the prince settled down in a Slovenian fortress, now known as the Rurik's castle mound. There is a version that it was in that place that Veliky Novgorod used to be located. After all, the modern city was founded later, and its center is located two kilometers north of the Rurik settlement.
In the Nikon Chronicle, there are references to the fact that not all Novgorodians were satisfied with the rule of the Varangians. Rurik demanded more and more tribute from the townspeople, and this led to a conflict with the local nobility. Vadim the Brave became the head of the rioters. But the Varangians gained the upper hand and killed the rebels. However, Tatishchev, referring to the Joachim Chronicle, argued that Vadim, like Rurik, was one of the grandsons of Gostomysl and claimed legal rights to the throne, for which he suffered. There is another version: the Russian historian Igor Froyanov suggested that Vadim the Brave could be a local prince, who was overthrown by Rurik, who simply seized power. And some historians generally believe that there was no conflict among the Varangians in Novgorod, and the story with Vadim was borrowed from a later period - the life of Yaroslav the Wise.
Ancient texts tell little about the personal life of Prince Rurik. It is only known that he had a beloved wife, Efanda, the daughter of the prince of Urman, who gave birth to Rurik's heir, the son of Igor. There is also a version that the prince had other wives and children, but practically no information about them has survived. Is that the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 944 includes Igor Rurikovich's nephews - Igor and Akun.
Nothing is said in the ancient texts about how the life of the great Varangian ended. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" only the date of his death is named - 879, and it is also mentioned that Rurik handed over the throne to his relative Oleg, since Igor was still too young. The Joachim Chronicle says that before his death "the great Rurik was very sick and began to faint." The place of burial of the prince is also unknown to us. In oral legends, a legend has been preserved that Rurik, in a sarcophagus lined with gold plates, was lowered to the bottom of Lake Ladoga, presumably near the Secret Tower of the Ladoga Fort. But studies of the bottom of the lake gave no results. There is also a version that the prince rests in the Korela fortress, which is located on the territory of Priozersk. According to another legend, Rurik laid down his head in a battle near the Luga River in a place,known as Peredolsky Pogost (Novgorod region).
This seems to be true, since it is there that the largest mound of medieval Europe - Shum-Gora - rises. A similar one could only have been created over the remains of a very noble person. The excavations of this burial have not yet been carried out.
So, perhaps, it is in the depths of Shumgora that answers are hidden that can shed light on the personality of the legendary prince, from whom the Russian land went?
Oleg GOROSOV