An outline, era by era

Kievan Rus' and the Grand Duchy of Moscow

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

Kievan Rus' was a loose federation of East Slavic principalities ruled by the Rurikid dynasty, with Kyiv as its leading city. It took shape in the late 800s and 900s, along the river routes that linked the Baltic and the Black Sea, and it reached its height in the 11th century. In 988 its ruler Vladimir adopted Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium, which shaped the religion, writing and culture of the region. Today Ukraine, Belarus and Russia all trace parts of their heritage to this state.

After Kyiv declined in the 12th century and the Mongols conquered the Rus' lands in 1237 to 1240, power shifted to the north-east. There the small town of Moscow became the seat of a princely line. As vassals of the Mongol Golden Horde, the Moscow princes collected tribute, won the title of grand prince and gathered neighbouring lands. In 1480 Ivan III ended Mongol overlordship, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow became the core of the later Russian state.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Rus' attack Constantinople and trade with Byzantium

    Event

    What happened

    In 860 a fleet of the Rus' appears before Constantinople and raids its surroundings. In 911 and 945 Rus' princes make written treaties with the Byzantine emperors that regulate trade and the status of Rus' merchants in the city. The treaties name Rus' envoys with Scandinavian-sounding names.

    The rest is history

    These records show a Rus' elite with Scandinavian roots, in contact with Byzantium by the 9th century. Trade along the river routes, in furs, slaves and silver, gave the princes the wealth to build a state. Contact with Constantinople also prepared the later turn to Byzantine Christianity. Scholars still debate how far the early Rus' were Scandinavian and how fast they blended with the Slavs.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113, including the treaties of 911 and 945.Preserves the texts of the Rus'-Byzantine treaties.
    2. BookFranklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman, 1996.

  2. Olga's rule and Sviatoslav's campaigns

    Event

    What happened

    After her husband Igor is killed in 945, Olga rules Kyiv for her young son Sviatoslav and reorganises the collection of tribute. She visits Constantinople in the 950s and is baptised. Sviatoslav later campaigns against the Khazars and into Bulgaria, and dies in 972 in an ambush by the Pechenegs.

    The rest is history

    Olga's baptism did not convert Rus', but it showed the court looking toward Christianity. Sviatoslav's wars broke the Khazar state and strained relations with Byzantium. His death led to a war between his sons, from which Vladimir emerged as ruler of Kyiv around 980.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113.
    2. BookMartin, Janet. Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

  3. Vladimir's conversion to Christianity

    Event

    What happened

    Around 988 Prince Vladimir of Kyiv accepts baptism and marries Anna, sister of the Byzantine emperor Basil II, after sending troops to support Basil against a rebellion. He orders the pagan idols of Kyiv cast down and the people baptised in the Dnieper. A church hierarchy under Byzantine Orthodoxy is set up.

    The rest is history

    The conversion tied Rus' to the Byzantine church and to Slavonic-language worship and writing. Churches, monasteries and the first schools followed. Historians debate the exact date and the details, but 988 is the traditional year. Kyiv's Saint Sophia cathedral was begun in the 1030s.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh j let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113.The main account of the conversion.
    2. BookPoppe, Andrzej. The Rise of Christian Russia. London: Variorum Reprints, 1982.

  4. Yaroslav the Wise and the law code

    Event

    What happened

    Yaroslav takes Kyiv in 1019 after a struggle among Vladimir's sons and rules until 1054. He builds Saint Sophia in Kyiv, marries his children into royal houses across Europe, and is linked to the first Rus' law code, the Russkaya Pravda. Before his death he divides the realm among his sons.

    The rest is history

    His reign marks the peak of Kyivan power. His division of lands by seniority among his sons caused rivalry as the dynasty grew. By the late 11th century princes were fighting one another, and the Council of Liubech in 1097 tried to settle the quarrels by letting each prince keep his own inheritance.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryRusskaya Pravda. Old East Slavic law code, 11th to 12th centuries, surviving in later manuscripts.
    2. BookFranklin, Simon. Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c. 950-1300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

  5. The Mongol conquest of the Rus' lands

    Event

    What happened

    In 1223 Mongol forces defeat Rus' princes at the Kalka River. In 1237 Batu Khan invades Riazan and Vladimir-Suzdal, and in December 1240 his army takes Kyiv. The Rus' principalities become tributaries of the Golden Horde, based on the lower Volga.

    The rest is history

    The conquest wrecked Kyiv and ended its leadership. The princes had to travel to the khan's court to receive their charters. Novgorod escaped invasion but paid tribute, while the south-west fell under Lithuanian and Polish influence. The north-east, including Moscow, took the lead in the following centuries.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNovgorod First Chronicle. Old East Slavic chronicle, 13th century and later copies.
    2. BookHalperin, Charles J. Russia and the Golden Horde. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.

  6. Alexander Nevsky and the Mongol yoke

    Event

    What happened

    Alexander of Novgorod defeats the Swedes on the Neva in 1240 and the Livonian Knights at Lake Peipus in 1242. As grand prince of Vladimir from 1252, he submits to the Mongols and accepts their census and tribute.

    The rest is history

    His policy of cooperation with the Horde kept the north-east free of further invasion and became a model for later princes. The battles were smaller than later tradition made them. The Orthodox Church later honoured him as a saint.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNovgorod First Chronicle. Old East Slavic chronicle, 13th century and later copies.
    2. BookFennell, John. The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. London: Longman, 1983.

  7. Moscow rises under Daniil's heirs

    Event

    What happened

    Moscow appears in the chronicles in 1147 and becomes the seat of a branch line founded by Daniil, a son of Alexander Nevsky, around 1283. His descendant Ivan I, called Kalita, wins the right from the khan to collect tribute for the Horde around 1328. The metropolitan of the Church moves his seat to Moscow at about the same time.

    The rest is history

    Collecting tribute let Moscow grow rich and buy or take lands from rivals such as Tver. Having the metropolitan in the city gave Moscow religious prestige. Under Dmitry Donskoy, the Rus' defeated a Mongol force at Kulikovo in 1380, though the Horde sacked Moscow in 1382 and tribute resumed.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNikon Chronicle. Russian chronicle compilation, 16th century, drawing on earlier records.
    2. BookMartin, Janet. Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

  8. Ivan III and the end of Mongol rule

    Event

    What happened

    Ivan III, grand prince from 1462, annexes Novgorod in 1478 and refuses tribute to the Horde. In 1480 his army and that of Khan Akhmat face each other at the Ugra River, and the khan withdraws without a battle. Ivan also marries Sofia Palaiologina in 1472 and later uses the title of tsar in some dealings.

    The rest is history

    The standoff at the Ugra is traditionally taken as the end of Mongol overlordship, though the process was gradual. Moscow had by then absorbed most of the Rus' principalities of the north-east. Ivan's successors built on this to form the Russian state.

    Sources

    1. BookMartin, Janet. Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
    2. BookFennell, John. Ivan the Great of Moscow. London: Macmillan, 1961.

  9. Rurik and the calling of the Varangians

    Origin story

    The legend

    The Slavic and Finnic tribes of the north, tired of quarrelling, say: our land is great but has no order, come and rule over us. Three Varangian brothers, Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, arrive with their kin. Rurik settles at Novgorod, and his line comes to rule Rus'.

    The rest is history

    This is told in the Primary Chronicle, written in Kyiv about 250 years after the supposed date of 862. It was likely shaped to give the ruling dynasty a legitimate origin. Archaeology confirms a Scandinavian presence at Staraya Ladoga and Gorodishche near Novgorod in the 9th century. Rurik himself may be a real figure, but the brothers look like literary tidying, and the dispute over Norse versus Slavic origins has run for centuries.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113.
    2. BookFranklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman, 1996.

  10. Vladimir chooses a religion

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Vladimir sends envoys to examine the faiths of the Volga Bulgars, the Germans, the Jews and the Greeks. He rejects Islam, saying that Rus' cannot be without drink. In Constantinople his envoys attend a service in Hagia Sophia and report that they did not know whether they were in heaven or on earth.

    The rest is history

    The tale comes from the Primary Chronicle, written about 120 years after the events, and reads as a literary story rather than a record. Vladimir's real motives were most likely political, including the alliance with Basil II. The chronicle story still shows how later Rus' writers saw the beauty of Byzantine worship as the reason for the choice. Hagia Sophia, built in 537, was indeed the grandest church of the age.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113.
    2. BookCross, Samuel Hazzard, and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor, trans. The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1953.

  11. Oleg's shield on the gates of Constantinople

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Prince Oleg sails against Constantinople in 907 with a huge fleet. The Greeks chain their harbour, so he puts his ships on wheels and sails them overland with the wind. Terrified, the Greeks pay tribute, and Oleg hangs his shield on the city gate. Later the wise Oleg is said to die from the bite of a snake that comes from his dead horse's skull.

    The rest is history

    The 907 campaign appears only in the Primary Chronicle, and no Byzantine source mentions it, so historians doubt it. The treaty of 911 is better evidence of real dealings with Byzantium. The horse and snake story is a folk motif found also in Scandinavian sagas. Pushkin later made it famous in his 1822 ballad.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Povest' vremennykh let). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled at Kyiv, c. 1113.
    2. BookFranklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman, 1996.

  12. Moscow as the Third Rome

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, and Moscow, it is said, took its place as the Third Rome, the last Orthodox empire: two Romes have fallen, a third stands, and a fourth there shall not be. Muscovite rulers are often said to have held this as an official state doctrine.

    The rest is history

    The phrase comes from a letter by the monk Filofei of Pskov to Grand Prince Vasily III, written in the 1510s or 1520s, after Ivan III's time. It was a religious appeal, not a state programme, and historians doubt it was official policy then. It was taken up much more by later writers. Ivan III's marriage to Sofia Palaiologina and his use of the double-headed eagle did show interest in Byzantine prestige.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLetters of the monk Filofei (Philotheus) of Pskov to Vasily III, early 16th century.
    2. BookPoe, Marshall T. A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1476-1748. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000.

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