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What Was Kievan Rus’ to the Vikings?
In the late 900s, the future king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, is driven from his home by the treachery of his half-cousin, who rules the land. His flight takes him across the world of the Vikings, placing him in some of the most colorful events and places of that time. The second part of Olaf’s story is told in my latest novel Sigurd’s Swords, which finds Olaf in the historical kingdom of Kievan Rus’, or, in the Old Norse tongue, Gardariki, serving his maternal uncle as a household warrior.
From the feedback I’ve received, it’s clear that more is known of the Vikings in England, France and Ireland, and that fewer readers know about this place called Kievan Rus’ or Gardariki – a place that will eventually become what is now called Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine – or the important role it played in the Viking story. Hopefully this post will help shine a bit more light on that bygone land.
At roughly the same time as the mostly Danish and Norwegian raiders were headed west for gold and slaves and land, raiders from what is now called Sweden headed east on the Austvegr, or the East Way. By the late 700s, those raiders (known as Rus or Varangians) knew most of the Baltic coastline, having fought skirmishes as far east as Estonia. Their exploits now took them farther, into the land of the Slavic tribes and down the riverways of what is today Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine.
The Russian Primary Chronicle tells it this way. In AD 859, the “Varangians from beyond the sea imposed tribute upon the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians, the Ves', and the Krivichians.” The following year, “the tributaries of the Varangians drove them back beyond the sea and, refusing them further tribute, set out to govern themselves.”
Sometime in AD 861 or 862, the Varangians were back, this time at the invitation of the same Eastern Slavic tribes. “There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us and judge us according to the Law." They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Russes. The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichians, and the Ves' then said to the people of Rus', "Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us." They thus selected three brothers, with their kinsfolk, who took with them all the Russes and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod;..."
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| Rurik and the Slavs |
Historians have long doubted that the Slavs did indeed invite the Rus back. Be that as it may, by AD 862, the Rus were in control of the Volkhov River from Lake Lagoda to Lake Ilmen, and they had no desire to stop there. The land was rich in furs, honey, beeswax, and slaves, and the Scandinavians were hungry to see what else they could find. Over the subsequent decades, Rurik and his descendants pushed east and south, eventually reaching the Black and Caspian Seas. They battled with tribes in and beyond their borders, such as the Magyars, Bulgars, and Pechenegs. They erected settlements that eventually grew into great towns, such as Novgorod and Kyiv. By the late 900s, their trading empire stretched from Birka in the north to the great walled city of Constantinople in the south. But that is where their expansion stopped.
Though the Rus continued to consolidate their power, organize themselves within their borders, and grow wealthy off of trade with the southern kingdoms, they failed to break the might of Constantinople, which used a combination of statecraft, bribery, marriages, and proxy wars to keep the Rus at bay. By the 1100s, internal power struggles among the ruling class and the decline of Constantinople further weakened the state. At the end of the 12th century, Kievan Rus’ fragmented even further, into roughly twelve different principalities and the power of the Rus dissolved.
I have long been fascinated by Kievan Rus’ for the dangers it presented to Viking adventurers, for its colorful leaders and their thirst for power, and for the part it played in the Viking story. My novel, Sigurd’s Swords, takes place in the 900s, which was a particularly tumultuous time in that kingdom – a time of expansion and wealth and warring, as well as a time still shrouded in mystery. It is into that setting that I ventured with my characters Olaf and his friends Torgil and Turid, and one that I feel richer for exploring.
© Eric Schumacher
About Sigurd’s Swords
From best-selling historical fiction novelist, Eric Schumacher, comes the second volume in Olaf's Saga: the adrenaline-charged story of Olaf Tryggvason and his adventures in the kingdom of the Rus.
AD 968. It has been ten summers since the noble sons of the North, Olaf and Torgil, were driven from their homeland by the treachery of the Norse king, Harald Eriksson. Having then escaped the horrors of slavery in Estland, they now fight among the Rus in the company of Olaf's uncle, Sigurd. It will be some of the bloodiest years in Rus history. The Grand Prince, Sviatoslav, is hungry for land, riches, and power, but his unending campaigns are leaving the corpses of thousands in their wake. From the siege of Konugard to the battlefields of ancient Bulgaria, Olaf and Torgil struggle to stay alive in Sigurd's Swords, the riveting sequel to Forged by Iron.
Available on Amazon worldwide
in print and eBook formats: https://mybook.to/sigurdsswords
About Eric
email: Eric Schumacher
Eric Schumacher (1968 - ) is an American historical novelist who currently resides in Santa Barbara, California. He has written extensively about the Viking Age, including five novels following the lives of two Norwegian kings: Hakon the Good and Olaf Tryggvason. You can follow Schumacher by joining his newsletter, or by following him on his website, on Amazon, BookBub or GoodReads.
Twitter @DarkAgeScribe
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