| Kyivan Rus' |
Back to Timeline Kyivan Rus' Establishment of Kyiv Prince Oleh |
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Kyivan Rus'
Kyivan Rus' was the early, mostly East Slavic state dominated by the city of Kyiv from about 880 to the middle of the 1200's. Kyivan Rus' is considered a predecessor state of three modern East Slavic nations: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Kyivan Rus', although sparsely populated compared to Western Europe, was the largest contemporary European state in terms of area. Kyivan Rus' was also one of the most culturally advanced. At the time when only a few European monarchs could spell their name, most children in Kyiv were literate. The economy of the Kyivan state was based on agriculture and on extensive trade with Byzantium, Asia, and Scandinavia. 
Kyivan Rus' was not able to maintain its position as a powerful and prosperous state, in part because of the amalgamation of disparate lands under the control of a ruling clan. As the members of that clan became more numerous, they identified themselves with regional interests rather than with the larger patrimony. Thus, the princes fought among themselves, frequently forming alliances with outside groups such as the Polovtsians, Poles, and Hungarians. During the years from 1054 to 1224 no fewer than 64 principalities had a more or less ephemeral existence, 293 princes put forward succession claims, and their disputes led to 83 civil wars. The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980-1015) and his son Yaroslav I the Wise (1019-1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kyiv, which saw the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity and the creation of the first East Slavic written legal code the Russkaya Pravda. Establishment of Kyiv One of the oldest legends of the Kyivan Rus' states that three Polianian brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv together with their sister Lybid founded a town on the hilly banks of the Dnipro River and named it after the oldest brother Kyi - Kyiv. The banks of the Dnipro River were populated by a variety of East Slavic tribes: the Polianians, the Derevlianians, the Severians, the Ulychians, the Volhynians etc. The city is believed to have been founded in the 5th century as a trading post in the land of Early East Slavs. Its convenient location midway down the Dnipro River helped to develop trade with the inhabitants of the Black Sea coast as well as favored agricultural development. During its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. It gradually acquired eminence as the center of the East Slavic civilization, becoming in the tenth to twelfth centuries a political and cultural capital of Kyivan Rus'. 
Prince Oleh 
Many things are unclear about Oleh. Some sources say he was Prince Ihor's guardian and regent in Novgorod the Great, others say he was a client-prince who served as Igor's army commander. Some say he was a relative of Riuryk, others not. Even the year he died is contested, 912 or 922 or maybe even later. Despite all this confusion there are things that are certain. Prince Oleh was a Varangian ruler who moved the capital of Rus from Novgorod the Great to Kyiv and, in doing so, founded the powerful state of Kievan Rus. This was acomplished by sailing down the Dnieper River with a force of Varangians, Slavs, and Finns and gradually capturing Smolensk, Liubech, and finally Kyiv. He had Kyiv's rulers Askold and Dyr killed, and proclaimed himself prince of Kyiv. Next, Oleh extended his rule over the Derevlianians, Siverianians, Radimichians, and Polianians, but he did not succeed in turning the Ulychians and Tivertsians into tributaries. Oleh's campaigns against the Khazars were less successful, but they ended Khazar domination in the middle Dnieper region. Oleh's most successful land and sea campaign against Byzantium was in 907, which resulted in the acquisition of extensive commercial privileges for Kyivan Rus' merchants in the Byzantine Empire. A second treaty, signed in 911 by 15 of Oleh's envoys and the Byzantine emperors Leo VI, Alexander, and Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, regulated the noncommercial aspects of Kyivan Rus'-Byzantine relations. The confusion comes from opposing historical documents. According to East Slavic chronicles, he was a supreme ruler from 879 to 912, which dates do not comply with the Schechter Letter mentioning the activities of certain khagan HLGW of Rus in the 940s. Some scholars consider Oleh's Byzantine campaign and Oleh himself to be an invention of the chroniclers, but they concede the likelihood that a treaty was signed by a Kyivan prince and Byzantium in 911. The reliability of the Primary Chronicle has been accepted by most scholars. Contemporary historiographers, however, differentiate between the legendary Oleh the Seer of the Primary Chronicle and the Oleh of Rus' who negotiated a favorable treaty with Byzantium. In folk oral literature the legend of Oleh as a ruler with supernatural powers endured,thus the name Oleh the Seer.
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