Who is Svyatoslav the Brave? The main battles of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich.
Name: Svyatoslav Igorevich (Svyatoslav Rurikovich)
Date of Birth: 942
Age: 30 years
Date of death: 972
Activity: military leader, statesman
Family status: was married
Svyatoslav Igorevich: biography
Prince of Novgorod and Kiev Svyatoslav Igorevich ruled the Russian state from 944 to 972. The ruler is known for his military campaigns and conquests, battles against the Bulgarian state and Byzantium.
Svyatoslav became the only son of Prince Igor and Princess Olga. The exact date of birth of the future ruler is still not known. According to the Ipatiev list, Svyatoslav Igorevich was born in 942 (some sources indicate 940). There is no record of the event in the Laurentian list. This raises a lot of questions among researchers, since the information is contradictory. In literary sources, the year 920 is stated, but historians consider this a fiction, not the truth.
The upbringing of the prince's son was entrusted to the Varangian Asmud, who emphasized basic skills. Young Svyatoslav received knowledge that was useful in military campaigns: the art of combat, the management of horses, a rook, swimming, the skill of disguise. Another mentor, the governor Sveneld, was responsible for the military art. The first data about Svyatoslav, which can be seen in the Russian-Byzantine treaty of Prince Igor, began to appear in 944. A year later, the prince dies.
The death of the ruler led to the dissatisfaction of the Drevlyans about the collection of too much tribute. Since Svyatoslav Igorevich is still a child, the reins of government are transferred to his mother, Princess Olga. A year after the murder of her husband, Olga goes to the lands of the Drevlyans. As befits the head of state, 4-year-old Svyatoslav begins the battle with his father's squad. The young ruler won the battle. The princess forced the Drevlyans to submit. To prevent such tragedies from happening in the future, the regent introduces a new system of government.
The annals say that in childhood Svyatoslav Igorevich did not part with his mother and constantly lived in Kiev. Scientists have found evidence of the incorrectness of this judgment. The Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus recounted the following:
“Monoxyls coming from outer Russia to Constantinople are one of Nemogard, in which Sfendoslav, son of Ingor, archon of Russia, sat.”
Researchers believe that Svyatoslav moved to Novgorod at the request of his father. There was a mention in the annals of Olga's visit to Constantinople. At the same time, they talk about the future prince, without naming the title of Svyatoslav Igorevich.
Beginning of the reign
The Tale of Bygone Years says that the first campaign of Svyatoslav Igorevich happened in 964. The main goal of the ruler was to strike at the Khazar Khaganate. The prince did not become distracted by the Vyatichi, who met along the way. The attack on the Khazars fell a year later - in 965. The chronicle says the following about this:
“In the summer of 6473 (965) Svyatoslav went to the Khazars. Having heard, the Khazars went out to meet him with their prince kagan and agreed to fight, and Svyatoslav the Khazars defeated them in the battle, and took their city and the White Tower. And he defeated the yases of the icasogs.
Interestingly, a contemporary of Svyatoslav presents events in a different way. Ibn-Khaukal argued that the prince dealt with the Khazars later than the time indicated in the annals.
A contemporary recalled other military actions against the Volga Bulgaria, but such information is not available in official sources. Here is what Ibn Haukal said:
“Bulgar is a small city, there are no numerous districts in it, and it was known for being a port for the states mentioned above, and the Rus devastated it and came to Khazaran, Samandar and Itil in the year 358 (968/969) and set off immediately after to the country of Rum and Andalus ... And al-Khazar is a side, and there is a city in it called Samandar, and it is in the space between it and Bab al-Abwab, and there were numerous gardens in it ... but then the Rus came there, and not there are no grapes or raisins left in that city.”
In 965 Svyatoslav Igorevich arrives in Sarkel-on-Don. Several battles were required to conquer this city. But the ruler did not celebrate the victory for long, as Itil appeared on the way - main city Khazar Khaganate. The conqueror got one more settlement - Semender. This glorious city is located on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
The Khazar Khaganate fell before the onslaught of Svyatoslav, but this was not enough for the ruler. The prince tried to win back and secure these lands. Soon Sarkel was renamed into Belaya Vezha. According to some reports, in the same years, Kiev received Tmutarakan. It is believed that it was possible to hold power until the beginning of the 980s.
Domestic politics
The domestic policy of Svyatoslav Igorevich was active. The ruler set himself the goal of strengthening power by attracting military squads. Politics did not attract the young prince, so there were no special changes in the internal activities of the state during the years of Svyatoslav's reign.
Despite the dislike internal affairs Russia, Svyatoslav Igorevich made some adjustments. In particular, he formed a new system for collecting taxes and taxes. V different parts The Old Russian state organized special places - graveyards. Here they collected money from the inhabitants. Svyatoslav Igorevich was able to overcome the Vyatichi, who now and then rebelled against the ruler. During the campaign, the prince pacified the violent people. Thanks to this, the treasury began to replenish again. Despite the work in this direction, Princess Olga took on most of the concerns.
The wisdom of the reign of the Grand Duke is manifested after the birth of sons. Svyatoslav Igorevich needed to put faithful and devoted people on the thrones in different cities. In Kiev, Yaropolk ruled, in Novgorod - Oleg became Prince of Drevlyansky.
Foreign policy
Foreign policy became the passion of the young prince. On his account, several major wars - with the Bulgarian kingdom and Byzantium. Many versions in history have these important events for Russia. Historians settled on two variations of the struggle against the Bulgarian kingdom. The first opinion was that it all started with a conflict between Byzantium and the Bulgarian kingdom. In this regard, the Byzantine emperor turned to Svyatoslav Igorevich for help. It was his soldiers who were supposed to attack Bulgaria.
The second opinion lies in the fact that Byzantium tried to weaken the Kiev prince, since the ruler was able to conquer their lands. And there was no peace in the Byzantine state: the ambassador who arrived at Svyatoslav decided to plot against his emperor. He persuaded the Russian prince, promised him Bulgarian lands and treasures from the treasury of Byzantium.
The invasion of Bulgaria took place in 968. Svyatoslav Igorevich managed to overcome opponents and conquer Pereyaslavets, located at the mouth of the Danube. Relations with the Byzantine state began to deteriorate gradually. In the same year, the Pechenegs raided Kiev, so the prince had to urgently return to the capital of Russia. In 969, Princess Olga, who was engaged in internal politics states. This prompted Svyatoslav Igorevich to attract children to the board. The prince did not want to stay in the capital:
“I don’t like to sit in Kiev, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - for there is the middle of my land, all good things flow there: from the Greek land, gold, curtains, wines, various fruits; from the Czech Republic and from Hungary silver and horses; from Russia, furs and wax, honey and slaves.
Despite the fact that it was the Byzantine government that organized the raid on the Bulgarians, the latter turned to them for help in the fight against Svyatoslav. The emperor thought for a long time what to do, but then decided to strengthen his state with a dynastic marriage. At the end of 969, the sovereign dies, and John Tzimisces ascended the throne. He did not allow the Bulgarian son and the Byzantine maiden to get engaged.
Painting "Meeting of Svyatoslav with John Tzimisces". K. Lebedev, 1916 Realizing that Byzantium is no longer an assistant, the authorities of the Bulgarian state decide to conclude an agreement with Svyatoslav Igorevich. Together the rulers go against Byzantium. Military tension between the empire and the Russian state grew. Gradually, troops were brought up to the fortresses. In 970 there was an attack on Byzantium. On the side of Svyatoslav were the Bulgarians, Hungarians and Pechenegs. Despite the serious advantages in terms of the number of military men, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was defeated in a pitched battle.
The painting "The Trinity of Svyatoslav's Vigilantes after the Battle of Dorostol in 971". Henryk Semiradsky A year later, the troops regained strength and again began to raid the Byzantine state. Now the rulers are in battle. Again the fighters of Byzantium were more successful. They captured the Bulgarian king and crept up to Svyatoslav. In one of the battles, the prince was wounded. After that, the Byzantine emperor and the Russian ruler sat down at the negotiating table. Svyatoslav Igorevich leaves Bulgaria, but restores trade relations with Byzantium. Now the eastern part of the Bulgarian state submits to the emperor. Western regions gained independence.
Personal life
Military campaigns became the main goal of the life of Svyatoslav Igorevich. The personal life of the prince was developing successfully. The ruler became the father of three sons - Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir. The care of the internal politics of the state fell on the shoulders of the young sons, while the father conquered new territories.
The painting "Grand Duke Svyatoslav kissing his mother and children upon his return from the Danube to Kiev". I. A. Akimov, 1773 In the official documents of that time there is no information about the wife who gave birth to two eldest sons. It is known about Vladimir's mother. The woman was not married to the prince, but was a concubine.
Death and memory
The biography of Svyatoslav Igorevich ends in March 972. The prince could not remain at the mouth of the Dnieper. Together with the army, the ruler tried to get through the ambush of the Pechenegs. This was a disastrous mistake, as the weakened fighters fell at the hands of the nomads. The Pechenegs brutally dealt with Svyatoslav:
“And Kurya, the prince of the Pechenegs, attacked him; and they killed Svyatoslav, and cut off his head, and made a cup out of the skull, encasing the skull, and then they drank from it.
During the reign, the prince expanded the territory of the state and received the nickname Brave. Svyatoslav is so called in historical references. The memory of Svyatoslav Igorevich lives to this day. The image of the warrior prince was used in fiction, art. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first monument "Svyatoslav on the way to Tsar-grad" appeared. Sculptures are located in Kiev and Ukrainian regions.
A peculiar photo is available on the Internet. According to the descriptions of the contemporaries of the prince, the masters created a portrait: a man of medium height, snub-nosed, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, a long mustache, a strong nape and a broad chest.
The future Prince Svyatoslav was born into the family of Prince Igor and Olga and received a Slavic name, but was distinguished by the Varangian spirit of a pagan. Having hardly matured, he gathered a fearless fighting squad around him and went out with it in search of prey and eternal glory.
Prince Svyatoslav made many successful glorious campaigns during the life of Princess Olga. He went to the Oka, subjugating the Vyatichi, who at that time paid tribute to the Khazars, and then went to the Khazars themselves, defeating their kingdom and capturing the main settlements - the cities of Itil and Sarkel. At the same time, Svyatoslav managed to defeat the tribes of the Circassians and Yases in the Kuban, as well as to seize the territories on the Azov coast and in the mouths of the Kuban.
In addition, Prince Svyatoslav was able to penetrate the Volga, devastate the lands of the Kama Bulgarians and capture their main city of Bolgars. In a word, Svyatoslav managed to defeat and ruin all the eastern neighbors of Kievan Rus, who were part of common system Khazar state. From now on, only Russia was the main force in the Black Sea! However, the fall of the Khazar kingdom was able to sufficiently strengthen the nomadic Pechenegs. Now they had at their disposal all the southern Russian steppes that had previously been occupied by the Khazars.
Coming back to Kiev after military campaigns to the East, Prince Svyatoslav receives an invitation from the Greeks to come and help them in the war with the Danube Bulgarians. The prince, having gathered many soldiers, was able to conquer Bulgaria, remaining in the city of Pereyaslavets, on the Danube, considering the occupied lands to be the property of Kievan Rus.
During this period, the envoys of the princess get to Svyatoslav and inform the prince that until Kiev was besieged by the Pechenegs, and Olga herself and her grandchildren barely escaped from the enemies and sent them to her son with reproaches. Returning, the princely squad drove the nomads into the steppe, but did not stay for a long time. However, the princess asked her son not to leave until she died.
After burying his mother, the prince gathered an army and left for Bulgaria, leaving his sons to reign in Kiev. But the Greeks did not want to let Svyatoslav into Bulgaria and began hostilities in which Byzantium won.
Forced to sign a truce with the Greeks, Prince Svyatoslav went back home, but his army was captured in the Dnieper rapids and killed. The last pagan Russian prince was also killed there.
After the death of the prince, a period of civil strife and struggle for power began in Kiev.
OK. 942 - 972
Prince of Novgorod (945-964) and Grand Duke of Kievan Rus (964-972). The son of a princely couple - Igor Stary and Olga. He became famous for his campaigns against the Khazars, Danube Bulgaria and the war with Byzantium.
Svyatoslav Igorevich - biography (biography)
Svyatoslav Igorevich (c. 942-972) - the ruler of the Old Russian state. Formally, he began to reign in Kievan Rus, as a child, from 946 after the death of his father, Prince Igor the Old, but until 964, the leadership of the country was completely in the hands of his mother, Princess Olga. After reaching the age of majority, Prince Svyatoslav spent almost all his time on campaigns, spending little time in the capital. Princess Olga was still mainly involved in state affairs, and after her death in 969, Svyatoslav's son, Yaropolk.
Svyatoslav Igorevich lived a short (about 28 - 30 years old), but bright life and occupies a special and to some extent controversial place in Russian history. Some see him only as a hired squad leader - a romantic "last Viking" who seeks glory and prey in foreign lands. Others - a brilliant commander and politician, whose activities were completely determined by the strategic interests of the state. The political results of Svyatoslav's numerous campaigns are also assessed radically differently in historiography.
First battle
The birth of a son named Svyatoslav to the princely couple - Igor and Olga, is reported in the annals in connection with the conclusion of their marriage. True, due to the unclear date of the last event, the question of the year of Svyatoslav's birth remains controversial. Some chronicles call 942. Apparently, this date is close to reality. Indeed, in the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 944, Svyatoslav was already mentioned, and in the annalistic description of the battle of Olga’s troops with the Drevlyans in 946, it was he, still a child (apparently at the age of 3-4 years), who symbolically began this battle by throwing a spear towards the enemy. The spear, flying between the horse's ears, hit the horse's legs.
We learn about the later life of the young Svyatoslav Igorevich from the works of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus. The emperor of the Romans wrote about him that he "sat" in Novgorod under Igor. Some scholars, for example, A. V. Nazarenko, given the "infant" age of Svyatoslav during the life of Igor, believe that this happened later - during the reign of Olga. However, the Russian chronicles also report about Svyatoslav himself, how in 970 he “planted” his young son Vladimir to reign in Novgorod.
According to the news of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Svyatoslav was part of Olga's embassy to Constantinople in 957. According to historians, Princess Olga wanted to conclude a dynastic marriage between her son and daughter Byzantine emperor. However, this was not destined to happen, and the Roman Empire ten years later met with Svyatoslav in a completely different role.
Russian cheetah
Under 964, the Tale of Bygone Years speaks of Svyatoslav as a young, but already very serious warrior. The description of the prince of Kiev became a textbook: he fought a lot, was fast, like a pardus, did not carry carts on campaigns, slept in the open air, ate meat baked on coals. Before attacking foreign lands, he warned the enemy with his famous message: “I want to go against you!”.
Researchers have long concluded that this description goes back to the oldest retinue tradition about the first Russian princes, but the comparison of Svyatoslav with a pardus (cheetah) finds parallels in the description of the exploits of Alexander the Great in Greek sources.
It is curious that the "book" cheetah was distinguished not so much by the speed of running (according to tradition, other animals claimed this role), but by the suddenness of the jump, the attack on its prey. The textual analysis of the passage in all chronicle lists allowed the famous philologist A. A. Gippius to conclude that the chronicler’s combination of fragments of tradition with “bookish” elements led to a certain distortion of the meaning of this famous passage about Svyatoslav. The colorful comparison of the prince with the fastest of mammals meant not the speed of movement, but the surprise of the attack and the movement of light. However, the meaning of the entire chronicle passage also speaks of the latter.
The struggle for the "Khazar legacy"
Under 965, the Tale of Bygone Years sparingly remarks on the campaign of Svyatoslav Igorevich against the Khazars. In a battle with an army led by the Khazar Khagan, the Russian prince won, after which he also took one of the most important fortresses of the Khaganate - Sarkel (Belaya Vezha). The next step was the victory over the Alans and Kasogs.
In historiography, as a rule, Svyatoslav's successes in the eastern campaign were highly appreciated. For example, academician B. A. Rybakov compared this campaign of the Russian prince with a saber strike. Undoubtedly, he contributed to the conversion of the western lands of the Khazar Khaganate into the zone of influence of Russia. In particular, in the following year, 966, Svyatoslav subjugated the Vyatichi, who had previously paid tribute to the Khazars.
However, consideration of this situation in a broader political context allowed researchers, in particular, I. G. Konovalova, to come to the conclusion that Svyatoslav's further movement to the east had only relative success. The fact is that in the second half of the X century. The Khazar Khaganate was rapidly weakening, and all the strong neighboring powers - Khorezm, Volga Bulgaria, Shirvan and the Oghuz nomads - joined the struggle for its "inheritance". The fighting of Svyatoslav did not lead to the consolidation of Russia in the Lower Volga and did not at all open, as some historians wrote earlier, the way to the East for Russian merchants.
The miscalculation of the Byzantine emperor
In 967, Svyatoslav Igorevich intervened in a major international political game. At this time, relations between the Byzantine Empire and Germany and Bulgaria, which were friendly to each other, escalated. Constantinople was at war with Bulgaria, and was in complex, protracted negotiations with Germany. Fearing a Russo-German rapprochement and fearing for the safety of his Crimean possessions after Svyatoslav's successful war against the Khazars, the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros Phocas played the "Russian card". He decided to weaken both Bulgaria and Russia at the same time and sent his confidant, the patrician Kalokira, to Kiev with 15 centiaries (about 1500 pounds) of gold with the task of inducing Svyatoslav to march on Danube Bulgaria.
Svyatoslav took the gold, but was not at all going to be a pawn in the hands of the Byzantines. He agreed, as he understood the advantageous strategic and commercial importance of this region. The commander made a trip to Bulgaria and won a number of victories. But after that, contrary to the will of Constantinople and despite the proposals of new generous gifts, the Russian prince remained on the Danube, making Pereyaslavets his residence.
"Russian" war Tzimisces
Having received, as a result of their mistake, an even stronger rival instead of Bulgaria in their neighborhood, Byzantine diplomacy made a lot of efforts to remove Svyatoslav from the Danube. Historians believe that it was Constantinople that “organized” the Pecheneg raid on Kiev in 968. The chronicler conveys the bitter words of the people of Kiev to Svyatoslav that he, they say, is looking for foreign land and takes care of it, and left his land to the mercy of enemies. The Russian prince barely made it to Kiev with his retinue and drove the steppe people away.
Already in the next 969, Svyatoslav told his mother and the boyars that he “didn’t like” Kiev, he wanted to live in Pereyaslavets, where “the middle of his land” and where “all good things flow down.” And only the illness and death of Olga suspended his immediate departure. In 970, having left his son Yaropolk to reign in Kiev, Svyatoslav Igorevich returned to the Danube.
The new emperor John Tzimisces, who came to power in Byzantium, at first tried to force Svyatoslav out of the Danube region through negotiations and an offer of rich compensation. The Russian prince refused, and a mutual exchange of threats began. The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, a contemporary of these events, wrote that Svyatoslav even threatened the emperor to pitch his tents at the gates of Constantinople. Military operations began, which, apparently, did not give an advantage to either side. In the summer of 970 peace was concluded. As it turned out, not for long.
In the spring of 971, John Tzimiskes treacherously violated the truce and, with huge forces, quite unexpectedly for the Russian prince, attacked his troops scattered over the Bulgarian cities. Leaving city after city, Svyatoslav found himself besieged in Dorostol. Both Russian and Byzantine sources report the heroism of Russian soldiers and Svyatoslav personally, shown under Dorostol. After one of the sorties of the Russians, the Greeks on the battlefield found among the bodies of the fallen Russian soldiers and the bodies of women. Who they were - Russians or Bulgarians - remains a mystery to this day. The long siege, despite the famine and deprivation of the Russians, did not bring success to the Greeks. But she did not leave hope for victory and Svyatoslav.
The conclusion of peace became inevitable. After the signing of a peace treaty in the summer of 971, Svyatoslav undertook to surrender Dorostol, honorably leave it with an army and weapons, but had to leave Bulgaria.
The Danube war of the Russian prince Svyatoslav made such an impression on the Greeks that it entered the folklore of the Byzantines as the “Russian” war of Tzimiskes. So the Byzantinist S. A. Kozlov, based on the analysis of the texts of a number of sources, suggested that the heroic songs or short stories about the feats of arms of the Byzantine emperors of the cycle of legends and about Svyatoslav are reflected in heroic songs or short stories.
Son of great Eurasia
After the signing of the peace, a meeting took place between two prominent historical figures - John Tzimiskes and Svyatoslav. Thanks to the story of Leo Deacon, we know how the Russian prince looked at this meeting. Unlike the luxuriously dressed emperor and his retinue, Svyatoslav and his people were dressed quite simply. The Russians rushed on the boat, and Svyatoslav sat on the oars and also rowed like the rest, "no different from his entourage."
Svyatoslav Igorevich was of medium height, with bushy eyebrows and blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, but with a thick long mustache. The head was completely shaved, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down, as Leo the Deacon believed, - a sign of the nobility of the family. In one ear was gold earring with pearls. His clothes were white and differed only in cleanliness from the clothes of his entourage. The figurative description of Svyatoslav by Leo the Deacon left a deep mark both in the perception of his contemporaries and in the memory of his descendants. “The spitting image of a Cossack on the Kiev table,” wrote the famous Ukrainian historian M. Grushevsky about him. In the guise of a typical Cossack ataman, Svyatoslav entered the art of modern and contemporary times.
but modern research It is quite convincingly proved that both such a hairstyle and the wearing by men of one earring in the ear were examples of prestigious fashion and the military subculture of the Eurasian nomads in the early Middle Ages, which were very willingly adopted by the elite of settled peoples. And Svyatoslav, as well as possible, fits the words of O. Subtelny about him: a Slav by name, a Varangian by a code of honor, a nomad by way of life, he was the son of great Eurasia.
Who is to blame for the death of Svyatoslav?
After the conclusion of peace with Byzantium, Svyatoslav, according to the Russian chronicle, went to the Dnieper rapids. Sveneld, the governor of the prince, advised him to bypass the rapids on horseback, and not go on boats. But Svyatoslav did not listen to him. The path was blocked by the Pechenegs, and the prince was forced to spend the winter in Beloberezhye. Having survived an extremely hungry winter, Svyatoslav with his people in the spring of 972 again moved to the rapids. The Pechenegs, led by Khan Kurei, attacked his squad. They killed Svyatoslav, and made a bowl out of his skull, shackling him.
The death of Svyatoslav, or rather, the question of who warned or persuaded the Pechenegs, has long been controversial in historiography. Despite the fact that the Russian chronicle says that the Pechenegs were persuaded by the Pereyaslav Bulgarians, the opinion prevails in science that the attack of the steppes was organized by Byzantine diplomacy. Constantinople, they say, could not allow Svyatoslav to return home alive.
However, in last years there were other points of view on the causes of the death of the Russian prince. The well-known Polish historian A. Paron proves that the Pechenegs actually showed independence, perhaps they avenged the defeat near Kiev in 968. The peace treaty of 971 gave the Greeks the opportunity to normalize relations with Kiev and return them to the level at which they were in Olga's times. Therefore, Constantinople was not interested in the death of the Russian prince.
According to the opinion of the historian N. D. Russev, Svyatoslav himself hesitated at the thresholds, because he was waiting for Sveneld to return from Kiev with new squads. The Russian prince was going to return back to Bulgaria, he longed for revenge, but he did not want to return to Kiev. Svyatoslav was no longer expected there. In Kiev, his son Yaropolk had already entered into force, where a strong boyar opposition had formed against him, which did not need the Danube lands. And Svyatoslav preferred the Danube to Russia.
Will serve as a chalice for edification ...
Indirectly, the fact that Svyatoslav really did not intend to return to Kiev can be evidenced by ... a cup from his skull. In a number of late Russian chronicles - Uvarovskaya, Ermolinskaya, Lvovskaya, etc., there are additions to the episode of the Tale of Bygone Years about the death of Svyatoslav, concerning the inscription on the fateful cup. They differ slightly from each other, but their general meaning boils down to the fact that Svyatoslav, wanting someone else's, ruined his own. In the Lviv Chronicle, it is even specified that he killed because of his great insatiability.
The fact that such a bowl really existed is evidenced by an entry in the Tver Chronicle dated to the 11th-12th centuries that “... this bowl is still kept in the treasury of the Pecheneg princes.” Did the unfortunate Svyatoslav have predecessors? The chronicles contain information that in 811 the Bulgarian Khan, pagan Krum, treated Slavic princes from a similar container. In this case, the material was the skull of the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I, defeated by the Bulgarians.
Curious parallel information about the death of Svyatoslav is provided by the Bulgarian chronicle of Gazi-Baradj. It confirms the message of the Russian chronicles that the Pechenegs were in collusion not with the Byzantines, but with the Danube Bulgarians, and contains details about last minutes life of the Kiev prince. When Svyatoslav was captured by him, Kura Khan told him: “Your head, even with a Khin scythe, will not add wealth to me, and I would willingly give you life if you really valued it .... Let your head serve as a cup of drink for the edification of all the overly proud and frivolous.
Svyatoslav is a pagan!
Reading the ancient Russian chronicles, one gets the impression that the chroniclers had an ambivalent attitude towards Svyatoslav. On the one hand, sympathy and pride for the brilliant commander, "Alexander of Macedon of the Russian land", on the other hand, a clear disapproval of his deeds and deeds. The Christian chroniclers especially disapproved of Svyatoslav's paganism.
The Russian chronicles tell that Princess Olga, having been baptized, sought to introduce Christianity to her son. Svyatoslav refused under the pretext that if he alone was baptized, then his squad would mock him. Wise Olga rightly answered this that if the prince is baptized, then everyone will do the same. Researchers have long come to the conclusion that the reason for Svyatoslav's refusal to be baptized, indicated by the annals, is not serious. Olga was right, no one would have dared to argue with the prince. As the researcher A.V. Nazarenko rightly noted, in order to baptize Russia, Olga had to baptize her son, and the whole society would follow him.
However, what is the reason for Svyatoslav's stubborn unwillingness to become a Christian? In the Bulgarian chronicle of Gazi-Baradj there is a curious piece of information about this. When, as a child, Svyatoslav fell mortally ill, and neither Russian nor Byzantine doctors could help him, Olga called the Bulgarian healer Otchi-Subash. He undertook to heal the boy, but as a condition he asked that Svyatoslav not accept Christianity.
And the explanation of the Bulgar chronicler, as we see, looks somewhat folklore. Against this background, the hypothesis of A. V. Nazarenko is extremely interesting. He believes that the reason for Svyatoslav's refusal to be baptized lies in Constantinople, which he visited with his mother in 957. The Byzantine emperor gave two receptions in honor of the Russian princess Olga. At the first reception, "the people of Svyatoslav" were present, where they received much less money as gifts than even the slave Olga. This was a direct challenge to the Russian side, because, for example, in the Russian-Greek treaty of 945, the ambassadors of Svyatoslav were mentioned second after Igor, even before Olga. Apparently, the humiliation of the "people of Svyatoslav", and therefore himself, was caused by the unwillingness of the emperor to marry his daughter to the ruler of the barbarians. "People of Svyatoslav" were offended and were no longer present at the second reception. It is very likely, A. V. Nazarenko believes, that Svyatoslav's refusal of a Greek bride influenced his (and his advisers) decision to remain in paganism.
The Tale of Bygone Years, as if trying to justify Svyatoslav's paganism, "softens" his militancy on the religious issue and says: if someone wanted to be baptized, he did not forbid, but only mocked him. However, in the Joachim Chronicle there is a shocking story about how Svyatoslav, having failed in one of the important battles with the Bulgarians and Greeks, decided that the Christians who were part of his army were to blame for this. Many Christians were executed on his orders. He did not even spare his closest relative Gleb, who was his half-brother or, according to other sources, his cousin.
Adventurer, statesman, spiritual leader
Perhaps the militant paganism of Svyatoslav was due to the special role that he played in the society of his time. It is curious how the perception of the image of this warrior changed in historiography. V scientific literature Initially, the opinion about Svyatoslav prevailed as about the “last Viking”, an adventurer, a hired commander seeking glory in a foreign land. As N. M. Karamzin wrote, he respected the glory of victories more than the public good. The war was the only passion of Svyatoslav, - O. Subtelny echoes him. The Bulgarian researcher G. Tsankova-Petkova called him a "prince-dreamer."
Over time, the reputation of Svyatoslav was established in the scientific world as a wise statesman. Behind his militancy and seemingly unpredictable and spontaneous throws to the East, South and South-West, scientists were finally able, as N. F. Kotlyar writes, to discern a certain system of conducting foreign policy. The Kiev prince resolved issues of relations with other countries by purely military means, he continues, also because, apparently, they could no longer be resolved by peaceful diplomacy.
V Lately hypotheses appeared about the third incarnation of Svyatoslav Igorevich - sacred side the image of a warrior so familiar to us. The very name of Svyatoslav has long been pushing researchers to this interpretation. It belongs to the category of theophoric names and connects two semantic contexts that can indicate two functions of its bearer: sacred (Holiness) and military (Glory). As an indirect confirmation of such an interpretation, one can consider the news of the mentioned Bulgar chronicle: after the miraculous healing, Svyatoslav began to be called Audan - the bearer of sacred priestly functions among the steppe pagans.
A number of arguments about the fulfillment of sacred functions by Svyatoslav were collected by the researcher S.V. Cheroy:
- Appearance of the prince. Similarity with the appearance of the pagan god Perun (long mustache, but no beard);
- In the last battle near Dorostol, according to the story of the Greek author John Skylitsa, Svyatoslav refused to accept a challenge to a personal duel from John Tzimiskes;
- During the battles, Svyatoslav was, apparently, not in the forefront, and even, perhaps, behind his troops. According to the Greek chronicle, a certain Anemas, in order to personally fight Svyatoslav during one battle, had to get ahead and break the enemy line;
- In the Scandinavian sagas there are reports that the kings took their very tiny children into battle, for example, boys of two years old. They were kept in the bosom, like a talisman, they were supposed to bring good luck in battle. And Svyatoslav symbolically began the battle with the Drevlyans, being 3-4 years old.
Bylinny Dunay Ivanovich
Kiev Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich belongs to the category of those historical figures, interest in which will never fade away, and over time, their image will only develop and even acquire new and important "historical" details. Svyatoslav will forever remain in the memory of the Russian people as a legendary hero. Researchers believe that the epic Danube Ivanovich and he, Danube Pereslaviev, are none other than Svyatoslav. And the historical desire of Russia for the Danube has been growing since the time of the legendary Kiev prince. It was he who was a kind of forerunner of the great Russian commanders - P. A. Rumyantsev, A. V. Suvorov, M. I. Kutuzov, I. V. Gurko, M. D. Skobelev and others, who glorified the power of Russian weapons on Balkans.
Roman Rabinovich, Ph.D. ist. Sciences,
specially for the portal
Svyatoslav Igorevich (dr. Russian Svѧtoslav Igorevich). Born in 942 - died in March 972. Prince of Novgorod in 945-969, prince of Kiev from 945 to 972, commander.
According to the ancient Russian chronicles, Svyatoslav was the only son of the Kiev prince Igor and.
The exact year of his birth is not known. According to the Ipatiev list, Svyatoslav was born in 942, but there is no such entry in other lists of the Tale of Bygone Years, for example, Lavrentiev. Researchers are alarmed by the omission of such important information by scribes, although it does not contradict other reports.
In the literature, 920 is also mentioned as the year of birth of Svyatoslav, but this contradicts the known information about the reign of Svyatoslav.
Svyatoslav - the first reliably known Kiev prince with a Slavic name, while his parents had names with presumably Scandinavian etymology.
In the Byzantine sources of the 10th century, his name is recorded as Sfendoslavos (ancient Greek Σφενδοσθλάβος), from which historians, starting with Tatishchev, make an assumption about the combination of the Scandinavian name Sven (Dan. Svend, other Scandinavian Sveinn, modern Swedish Sven ) with a Slavic princely ending -slav.
However, other Slavic names in Svyat- begin with Svent- in a foreign language transmission, for example, the name of Svyatopolk (in the sources of the ancient German Zwentibald - Zventibald, or lat. Suentepulcus - Sventipulk), the prince of Great Moravia in 870-894 years, or the Kiev prince of 1015-1019 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich (lat. Suentepulcus by Titmar of Merseburg).
According to Fasmer's etymological dictionary, the initial part of these names goes back to Praslav. *svent-, which, after the loss of nasal vowels, gives the modern East Slavic holy - holy. Nasal vowels have been preserved to this day in Polish (Polish święty - holy).
In the past, it was noted that the first part of the name Svyatoslav in meaning correlates with the Scandinavian names of his mother Olga and the prince (Old Scandinavian Helgi - saint, other Scandinavian Helga - holy), and the second - the name of Rurik (Old Scandinavian . Hrorekr - mighty glory), which corresponds to the early medieval tradition to take into account the names of other members of the princely family when naming. However, more modern researchers question the possibility of such a translation of names from one language to another. The female version of the name Svyatoslav - Svyatoslav - was worn by the sister of the Danish and English king Knud I the Great, whose mother was from the Polish Piast dynasty.
In 1912, D. V. Mileev conducted excavations on the territory of the Church of the Tithes in Kiev. At the same time, a lead hanging seal was found, on which, in addition to the image of the prince's bident, the Greek spelling of the name Svyatoslav was preserved.
The first mention of Svyatoslav in a synchronous historical document is contained in the Russian-Byzantine treaty of Prince Igor of 944.
Prince Igor Rurikovich, according to the chronicle version, was killed in 945 by the Drevlyans for exacting exorbitant tribute from them. His widow Olga, who became regent with her three-year-old son, went the next year with an army to the land of the Drevlyans. The battle was opened by the four-year-old Svyatoslav: “... [threw] a spear at the Drevlyans, and the spear flew between the ears of the horse and hit the horse on the legs, for Svyatoslav was still a child. And Sveneld [voivode] and Asmud [breadwinner] said: “The prince has already begun; follow, squad, for the prince "(The Tale of Bygone Years).
Igor's squad defeated the Drevlyans, Olga forced them into submission, and then traveled around Russia, building a system of government.
According to the chronicle, Svyatoslav spent all his childhood with his mother in Kiev, which contradicts the remark of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (circa 949): “The monoxyls coming from outer Russia to Constantinople are one of Nemogard, in which Sfendoslav, the son of Ingor, the archon of Russia, sat.”
In Nemogard, Constantine is usually seen as Novgorod, which the sons of the Kiev princes traditionally owned later. Constantine mentions the name of Svyatoslav without a title also when describing Olga's visit to Constantinople (957).
Princess Olga was baptized in 955-957 and tried to convert her son to Christianity. But Svyatoslav remained a pagan to the end, explaining that a Christian would not enjoy the authority of the squad. The chronicler quotes the Apostle Paul: "Christian faith is foolishness for unbelievers."
During Olga’s embassy to Constantinople, her delegation also included “Svyatoslav’s people”, who received even less gifts at the first reception than Olga’s slaves, and were not mentioned at all in the protocol of the second reception. A. V. Nazarenko suggests that one of the goals of Olga’s negotiations was the marriage of Svyatoslav to the Greek princess, and that after the refusal of such a marriage, “Svyatoslav’s people” were offended and left Constantinople after the first reception, and Svyatoslav decided to remain in paganism.
The Western European chronicle of the Continuer of Reginon reports under the year 959 about the ambassadors of Olga, the “Queen of the Rug”, to the King of Germany, Otto I the Great, on the issue of the baptism of Russia. However, in 962 the mission sent by Otto I to Kiev failed due to the resistance of Svyatoslav.
The Tale of Bygone Years tells about the first independent steps of Svyatoslav from 964: When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and he was fast, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, he did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that; he did not have a tent, but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in his head - the same were all his other soldiers. And he sent [messengers, as a rule, before declaring war] to other lands with the words: “I’m coming to you!”.
Appearance of Prince Svyatoslav
Leo the Deacon left a colorful description of Svyatoslav's appearance at his meeting with Emperor Tzimiskes after the conclusion of peace: “Sfendoslav also appeared, sailing along the river on a Scythian boat; he sat on the oars and rowed along with his entourage, no different from them. This was his appearance: of moderate height, neither too tall nor too short, with thick eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above his upper lip. His head was completely naked, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of the nobility of the family; a strong nape, a broad chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate, but he looked gloomy and stern. He had a gold earring in one ear; it was adorned with a carbuncle framed by two pearls. His attire was white and differed from the clothes of his associates only by noticeable cleanliness.
Some details of the description of the appearance of Svyatoslav by Leo Deacon allow for ambiguous interpretation. So, instead of lat. barba rasa - beardless, let's say a translation with a sparse beard, and a tuft of hair can hang not from one, but from two sides of the head. This is exactly how Svyatoslav appears on the pages of S. M. Solovyov’s “History” with a rare beard and two braids.
A flat nose, not a snub nose, is indicated in the first translation into Russian by Popov D.
Noteworthy is the comment of M. Ya. Syuzyumov and S. A. Ivanov regarding the description of the appearance given by the Deacon: “Leo Deacon describes the peace negotiations as if he himself was their eyewitness. But this is hardly the case. He, perhaps, correctly - according to eyewitnesses - draws the appearance of Svyatoslav, but his narrative does not inspire confidence because of his particular predilection to imitate ancient authors. In this case, as shown by Gaze (489), the description of Svyatoslav's appearance resembles the description of Attila by Priscom.
Khazar campaign of Prince Svyatoslav
The Tale of Bygone Years notes that in 964 Svyatoslav "went to the Oka River and the Volga, and met the Vyatichi." It is possible that at this time, when the main goal of Svyatoslav was to strike at the Khazars, he did not subdue the Vyatichi, that is, he had not yet imposed tribute on them.
In 965 Svyatoslav attacked Khazaria: “In the summer of 6473 (965) Svyatoslav went to the Khazars. Having heard, the Khazars went out to meet him with their prince kagan and agreed to fight, and Svyatoslav the Khazars defeated them in the battle, and took their city and the White Tower. And defeated the yas and the kasogs"(The Tale of Bygone Years).
A contemporary of the events, Ibn-Khaukal, refers the campaign to a slightly later time and also reports on the war with the Volga Bulgaria, the news of which is not confirmed by other sources: “Bulgar is a small city, there are no numerous districts in it, and it was known for being a port for the states mentioned above, and the Rus devastated it and came to Khazaran, Samandar and Itil in the year 358 (968/969) and set off immediately after to the country of Rum and Andalus ... And al-Khazar is a side, and there is a city in it, called Samandar, and it is in the space between it and Bab al-Abwab, and there were numerous gardens in it ... but then the Russians came there, and there were no grapes or raisins left in that city.”(Novoseltsev A.P.).
According to one version, Svyatoslav first took Sarkel on the Don (in 965), then conquered Itil and Semender with the second campaign in 968/969. According to another version, there was one big campaign in 965, the Russian army was moving down the Volga and the capture of Itil preceded the capture of Sarkel. Svyatoslav not only crushed the Khazar Khaganate, but also tried to secure the conquered territories for himself. On the site of Sarkel, a Slavic settlement Belaya Vezha appeared. Perhaps, at the same time, Northern Crimea and Tmutarakan passed under the authority of Kiev. There is information that Russian detachments were in Itil until the early 980s.
Under the year 966, after the defeat of the Khazars, the Tale of Bygone Years reports a second victory over the Vyatichi and the imposition of tribute on them.
Bulgarian campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav
In 967, a conflict broke out between Byzantium and the Bulgarian kingdom, the cause of which the sources state in different ways.
In 967/968, the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Foka sent an embassy to Svyatoslav. The head of the embassy, Kalokir, was given 15 centinaries of gold (approximately 455 kg) to send the Rus to raid Bulgaria. According to the most common version, Byzantium wanted to crush the Bulgarian kingdom by proxy, and at the same time weaken Kievan Rus, which, after the annexation of Khazaria, could turn its gaze to the Crimean possessions of the empire.
Kalokir agreed with Svyatoslav on an anti-Bulgarian alliance, but at the same time asked for help to take the Byzantine throne from Nicephorus Foka. For this, according to the Byzantine chroniclers John Skylitsa and Leo the Deacon, Kalokir promised "great, countless treasures from the state treasury", and the right to all the conquered Bulgarian lands.
In 968, Svyatoslav invaded Bulgaria and, after the war with the Bulgarians, settled at the mouth of the Danube, in Pereyaslavets, where "tribute from the Greeks" was sent to him. During this period, relations between Russia and Byzantium were most likely tense, but the Italian ambassador Liutprand in July 968 saw Russian ships in the Byzantine fleet, which looks somewhat strange.
By 968-969, the Pechenegs attacked Kiev. Svyatoslav returned with his cavalry to defend the capital and drove the Pechenegs into the steppe. Historians A.P. Novoseltsev and T.M. Kalinina suggest that the Khazars contributed to the attack of the nomads (although there are reasons to believe that Byzantium was no less beneficial), and Svyatoslav in response organized a second campaign against them, during which Itil was captured , and the opponents of Svyatoslav in Khazaria were finally defeated.
During the stay of the prince in Kiev, his mother, Princess Olga, who actually ruled Russia in the absence of her son, died. Svyatoslav organized the administration of the state in a new way: he put his son Yaropolk on Kiev reign, Oleg - in Drevlyansk, Vladimir - in Novgorod. After that, in the fall of 969, the Kiev prince again went to Bulgaria with an army. The Tale of Bygone Years conveys his words: “I don’t like to sit in Kiev, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - for there is the middle of my land, all good things flow there: from the Greek land, gold, curtains, wines, various fruits; from the Czech Republic and from Hungary silver and horses; from Russia, furs and wax, honey and slaves ".
The chronicle Pereyaslavets has not been accurately identified. Sometimes it is identified with Preslav or referred to the Danube port of Preslav Maly. According to unknown sources (according to Tatishchev), in the absence of Svyatoslav, his governor in Pereyaslavets, voivode Volk, was forced to endure a siege by the Bulgarians.
Byzantine sources sparingly describe Svyatoslav's war with the Bulgarians. His army on boats approached the Bulgarian Dorostol on the Danube and after the battle captured him. Later, the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom, Preslav the Great, was also captured, after which the Bulgarian king entered into a forced alliance with Svyatoslav.
War of Prince Svyatoslav with Byzantium
Faced with an attack by Svyatoslav, the Bulgarians asked for help from Byzantium. Emperor Nikifor Foka, greatly worried about the invasion of the Rus, decided to secure the alliance with the Bulgarian kingdom by a dynastic marriage. The brides from the royal Bulgarian family had already arrived in Constantinople, when, as a result of a coup on December 11, 969, Nicephorus Foka was killed, and John Tzimisces was on the Byzantine throne (the marriage plans never materialized).
In the same year 969, the Bulgarian Tsar Peter I abdicated the throne in favor of his son Boris, and the western committees came out of the power of Preslav. While Byzantium hesitated to provide direct armed assistance to the Bulgarians, their old enemies, they entered into an alliance with Svyatoslav and subsequently fought against Byzantium on the side of the Rus.
John tried to convince Svyatoslav to leave Bulgaria, promising tribute, but to no avail. Svyatoslav decided to firmly establish himself on the Danube, thus expanding the possessions of Russia. Byzantium hastily transferred troops from Asia Minor to the borders of Bulgaria, placing them in fortresses.
In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav, in alliance with the Bulgarians, Pechenegs and Hungarians, attacked the possessions of Byzantium in Thrace. The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon estimated the number of allies at more than 30,000 soldiers, while the Byzantine commander Varda Sklir had at hand from 10 to 12 thousand soldiers. Varda Sklir avoided battle in open field, keeping forces in fortresses.
The army of Svyatoslav reached Arcadiopol (120 km from Constantinople), where the general battle took place. According to Byzantine sources, all the Pechenegs were surrounded and killed, and then the main forces of Svyatoslav were defeated. The Old Russian chronicle tells the events differently: according to the chronicler, Svyatoslav won a victory, came close to Constantinople, but retreated, only taking a large tribute, including on the dead soldiers. According to Syuzyumov M. Ya. and Sakharov A. N., the battle, which the Russian chronicle tells about and in which the Russians won, was separate from the battle of Arcadiopol. It also happened in 970, the Byzantine army was commanded by the Patrician Peter, who was not mentioned at Arkadiopolis, but that part of the Russian army that did not fight together with the allies near Arcadiopol opposed him.
One way or another, in the summer of 970, major hostilities on the territory of Byzantium ceased, Varda Sklir with an army was urgently recalled to Asia Minor to suppress the uprising of Varda Foki. The raids of the Rus on Byzantium continued, so after the successful suppression of the uprising in November 970, Varda Sklir was again transferred to the borders of Bulgaria.
In April 971, Emperor John I Tzimisces personally opposed Svyatoslav at the head of a land army, sending a fleet of 300 ships to the Danube to cut off the retreat of the Rus. On April 13, 971, the Bulgarian capital Preslav was captured, where the Bulgarian Tsar Boris II was captured. Part of the Russian soldiers, led by the governor Sfenkel, managed to break through to the north to Dorostol, where Svyatoslav was with the main forces.
On April 23, 971, Tzimisces approached Dorostol. In the battle, the Rus were thrown back into the fortress, a three-month siege began. The parties suffered losses in continuous skirmishes, the leaders of Ikmor and Sfenkel died among the Rus, the commander John Kurkuas fell among the Byzantines. On July 21, another general battle took place, in which Svyatoslav, according to the Byzantines, was wounded. The battle ended inconclusively for both sides, but after it Svyatoslav entered into peace negotiations.
John Tzimiskes unconditionally accepted the conditions of the Rus. Svyatoslav with an army had to leave Bulgaria, the Byzantines provided his soldiers (22 thousand people) with a supply of bread for two months. Svyatoslav also entered into a military alliance with Byzantium, trade relations were restored. Under these conditions, Svyatoslav left Bulgaria, greatly weakened by the wars on its territory.
The Bulgarian Tsar Boris II laid down the signs of royal power and was elevated to the rank of master by John Tzimisces. All eastern Bulgaria was annexed to Byzantium, only the western regions retained their independence.
Prince Svyatoslav (documentary)
Death of Prince Svyatoslav
Upon the conclusion of peace, Svyatoslav safely reached the mouth of the Dnieper and set off on boats to the rapids. Voivode Sveneld told him: “Go around, prince, the thresholds on horseback, for the Pechenegs are standing at the thresholds.”
Svyatoslav's attempt to climb the Dnieper in 971 failed, he had to spend the winter at the mouth of the Dnieper, and in the spring of 972 he decided to try again. However, the Pechenegs still guarded the Rus. In the battle, Svyatoslav died: “When spring came, Svyatoslav went to the rapids. And Kurya, the prince of the Pechenegs, attacked him, and they killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from the skull, bound him, and drank from him. Sveneld came to Kiev to Yaropolk ”(The Tale of Bygone Years).
The death of Svyatoslav in battle with the Pechenegs is also confirmed by Leo the Deacon: “Sfendoslav left Doristol, returned the prisoners according to the agreement and sailed with the remaining associates, directing his way to his homeland. On the way, they were ambushed by the Patsinaki, a large nomadic tribe that devours lice, carries dwellings with them, and spends most of its life in wagons. They killed almost all [the Ross], killed Sfendoslav along with others, so that only a few of the huge army of the Ross returned unharmed to their native places.
Some historians suggest that it was Byzantine diplomacy that convinced the Pechenegs to attack Svyatoslav. The book of Constantine Porphyrogenitus “On the Governance of the Empire” speaks of the need for an alliance [Byzantium] with the Pechenegs to protect against the Rus and the Hungarians (“Strive for peace with the Pechenegs”), and also that the Pechenegs pose a serious danger to the Rus, overcoming the rapids. Based on this, it is emphasized that the use of the Pechenegs to eliminate the hostile prince occurred in accordance with the Byzantine foreign policy guidelines of that time.
Although the Tale of Bygone Years names Pereyaslavtsy (Bulgarians) as the organizers of the ambush, and John Skilitsa reports that the Byzantine embassy, on the contrary, asked the Pechenegs to let the Rus through.
The Tale of Bygone Years explains Svyatoslav's death by his mother's refusal to baptize him (i.e., the violation of the traditional legal principle of subordination to parental authority): “He did not obey his mother, continuing to live according to pagan customs. If someone does not listen to his mother, he will fall into trouble, as it is said: "If someone does not listen to his father or mother, then he will accept death."
Sons of Prince Svyatoslav
Known sons of Svyatoslav Igorevich:
Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, Prince of Kiev;
Oleg Svyatoslavich, prince of the Drevlyansk;
, prince of Novgorod, prince of Kiev, baptizer of Russia.
History did not preserve the name of the mother of Yaropolk and Oleg, unlike the mother of Vladimir Malusha (Svyatoslav was not officially married to her, she was only a concubine).
John Skylitsa also mentions Spheng, "the brother of Vladimir, the son-in-law of Basileus", who in 1016 helped the Byzantines suppress the uprising of George Tsul in Chersonese. In ancient Russian chronicles and other sources, the name of Sfeng is not found. According to the hypothesis of A. V. Solovyov, this refers not to the brother, but to the son of Vladimir and the grandson of Svyatoslav Mstislav.
The image of Prince Svyatoslav in art
For the first time, the personality of Svyatoslav attracted the attention of Russian artists and poets during Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774, whose actions, like the events of Svyatoslav's campaigns, unfolded on the Danube. Among the works created at that time, it should be noted the tragedy "Olga" by Ya. B. Knyazhnin (1772), the plot of which is based on Olga's revenge for the murder of her husband Igor by the Drevlyans. Svyatoslav appears in it as the main character. Knyaznin's rival N.P. Nikolaev also created a play dedicated to the life of Svyatoslav.
In the painting by I. A. Akimov “Grand Duke Svyatoslav, kissing his mother and children upon his return from the Danube to Kiev”, the conflict between military prowess and loyalty to the family is shown, reflected in Russian chronicles: “You, prince, are looking for a foreign land and take care of it , but left his own, and the Pechenegs almost took us, and your mother, and your children.
In the 19th century, interest in Svyatoslav somewhat decreased. A.F. Veltman’s story “Raina, the Bulgarian Princess” (1843), dedicated to the Bulgarian campaigns, was published by Ioakim Gruev in Bulgarian in 1866 in Vienna, Dobri Voinikov staged the drama “Raina the Princess” in Bulgaria on its basis, and performed illustrations for "Raina ..." (1860-1880) by the artist Nikolai Pavlovich entered the classics of Bulgarian fine art.
A little earlier, the episode with Svyatoslav was included by Veltman in the novel “Svetoslavich, an enemy pet. Wonder of the times of the Red Sun of Vladimir" (1837).
Around 1880, K. V. Lebedev painted a picture illustrating Leo Deacon's description of the meeting between Svyatoslav and Tzimiskes.
At the beginning of the 20th century, E. E. Lansere created the sculpture “Svyatoslav on the way to Tsar-grad”.
In 1910, in memory of the death of Svyatoslav Igorevich, a memorial sign was erected at the Dnieper threshold of Nenasytetsky. It is a cast-iron memorial slab (about 2 m² in area) mounted on a massive granite boulder. The boulder is crowned with a vase mounted on a stylized antique column. This is one of the rarest surviving pre-revolutionary monuments dedicated to Ancient Russia.
The poems of Velimir Khlebnikov and Valery Bryusov, the historical novel "Svyatoslav" (1958) by the Ukrainian writer Semyon Sklyarenko, and the story "The Black Arrows of Vyatich" by V.V. Kargalov are dedicated to Svyatoslav. The image of Svyatoslav was created by Mikhail Kazovsky in his historical novel The Empress's Daughter (1999).
In Alexander Mazin's novels "A Place for a Battle" (2001) (the end of the novel), "Prince" (2005) and "Hero" (2006) is described in detail life path Svyatoslav, starting from the battle with the Drevlyans in 946, and ending with death in the battle with the Pechenegs.
In the novel by Sergei Alekseev “I know God!” the life path of Svyatoslav, his struggle with the Khazar Khaganate and death on the Dnieper rapids are described in detail.
The image of Svyatoslav is popular in neo-pagan literature and art. In 2003, the publishing house "White Alvy" published a book by Lev Prozorov "Svyatoslav Khorobre. I'm coming for you!" In subsequent years, the book was reprinted several times.
Svyatoslav Igorevich is dedicated to the musical album “Following the Sun” (2006) by the pagan metal band Butterfly Temple. The Ivan Tsarevich bands and the Ukrainian pagan metal band Dub Buk released albums with the same name - "I'm coming at you!". The album is dedicated to the victory of Svyatoslav over the Khazar Khaganate. The image of Svyatoslav is used in the song “In the Early Morning” by the Kalinov Most group. The group "Reanimation" dedicated a song to the death of the prince called "The Death of Svyatoslav". Also, the pagan metal band Pagan Reign dedicated the song "Epic about Svyatoslav" to the image of Svyatoslav.
The portrait of Svyatoslav is used in the emblem of the ultras of the Kiev football club "Dynamo", the name "Svyatoslav" is also used by the printed edition of the fans of Kiev "Dynamo".
Director Yuri Ilyenko in 1983 made a feature film "The Legend of Princess Olga", in the role of Svyatoslav - Les Serdyuk.
S. V. Perevezentsev
Svyatoslav Igorevich (d. 972) - son of Prince Igor the Old and Princess Olga, Russian commander, Grand Duke of Kiev from 964
The first time the name of Svyatoslav is mentioned in the annals under 945. As a child, he took part in his first battle. It was at that time when Princess Olga, together with her retinue, went to war with the Drevlyans in order to avenge her murdered husband, Prince Igor. In front of the Kiev squad, Svyatoslav was sitting on a horse. And when both troops converged - Kiev and Drevlyans, Svyatoslav threw a spear towards the Drevlyans. Svyatoslav was very small, so the spear did not fly far - it flew between the horse's ears and hit the horse in the leg. But the Kiev governors said: "The prince has already begun, let's follow, squad, for the prince." Such was the ancient custom of the Rus - only the prince could start the battle. And no matter what age the prince was.
Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was brought up as a warrior from childhood. Svyatoslav's teacher and mentor was the Varangian Asmud, who taught the young pupil to be the first in battle and hunting, to hold fast in the saddle, to control the boat, to swim, to hide from enemy eyes both in the forest and in the steppe. Svyatoslav was taught military art by another Varangian - the chief Kiev governor Sveneld.
While Svyatoslav was growing up, Olga ruled the principality. Since the mid 60s. X century, you can count the time of the beginning of the independent reign of Prince Svyatoslav. The Byzantine historian Leo Deacon left a description of him: medium height, with a broad chest, blue eyes, thick eyebrows, beardless, but with a long mustache, only one strand of hair on his shaved head, which testified to his noble origin. In one ear he wore an earring with two pearls.
But Svyatoslav Igorevich was not like his mother. If Olga became a Christian, then Svyatoslav remained a pagan - both in public life and in everyday life. So, most likely, all the sons of Svyatoslav were from different wives, because the pagan Slavs had polygamy. For example, Vladimir's mother was the housekeeper-slave Malusha. And although the housekeeper, who held the keys to all the princely premises, was considered an important person at court, her son-prince was contemptuously called "robichich" - the son of a slave.
Many times, Princess Olga tried to teach her son the Christian faith, saying: “I have known God, my son, and I rejoice, if you know, you will rejoice.” Svyatoslav, however, did not obey his mother and excused himself: “How can I alone accept a new faith if my squad starts laughing at me?” But Olga loved her son and said: “God's will be done. If God wants to have mercy on my family and the Russian people, then he will put in their hearts the same desire to turn to God that he gave me. And so saying, she prayed for her son and for all Russian people every night and every day.
In different ways, mother and son understood their duties as rulers of the state. If Princess Olga was preoccupied with saving her principality, then Prince Svyatoslav sought glory in distant military campaigns, not caring in the least about Kievan Rus.
The chronicle tells of Svyatoslav as a true warrior. He spent the night not in a tent, but on a horse blanket, with a saddle in his head. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or boilers with him, did not boil meat, but thinly sliced horse meat or beef, or the meat of wild animals, roasted it on coals and ate it like that. His warriors were just as hardy and unpretentious. On the other hand, Svyatoslav's squad, not burdened with convoys, moved very quickly and appeared in front of the enemy unexpectedly, instilling fear in them. And Svyatoslav himself was not afraid of his opponents. When he went on a campaign, he always sent a warning message to foreign lands: "I want to go against you."
Prince Svyatoslav made two big campaigns. The first is against Khazaria. In 964, Svyatoslav's squad left Kiev and, having risen along the Desna River, entered the lands of the Vyatichi, one of the large Slavic tribes who at that time were tributaries of the Khazars. The Kiev prince ordered the Vyatichi to pay tribute not to the Khazars, but to Kiev, and moved his army further - against the Volga Bulgarians, Burtases, Khazars, and then the North Caucasian tribes of Yases and Kasogs. This unprecedented campaign continued for about four years. Winning in all battles, the prince crushed, captured and destroyed the capital of the Khazar Khaganate, the city of Itil, took the well-fortified fortresses Sarkel on the Don, Semender in the North Caucasus. On the shores of the Kerch Strait, he founded an outpost of Russian influence in this region - the city of Tmutarakan, the center of the future Tmutarakan principality.
In 968, Svyatoslav went on a new military expedition - against the Danube Bulgaria. Kalokir, the ambassador of the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Phocas, persistently called him there, hoping to push two peoples dangerous to his empire in a war of extermination. For the help of Byzantium, Kalokir gave Svyatoslav 15 centinaries (455 kilograms) of gold. The Russian prince was obliged to come to the rescue of the allied power under an agreement concluded with Byzantium in 944 by Prince Igor. Gold was a gift that accompanied the request for military assistance.
Svyatoslav with a 10,000th army defeated the 30,000th army of the Bulgarians and captured the city of Malaya Preslava. Svyatoslav called this city Pereyaslavets and declared it the capital of his state. He did not want to return to Kiev.
The Bulgarian Tsar Peter entered into a secret alliance with Nikifor Foka. He, in turn, bribed the Pecheneg leaders, who agreed to attack Kiev in the absence of the Grand Duke. But the arrival of a small army of governor Pretich, taken by the Pechenegs for the advance detachment of Svyatoslav, forced them to lift the siege and move away from Kiev.
Svyatoslav had to return with part of the squad to Kiev. He defeated the Pecheneg army and drove it to the steppe. After that, he announced to his mother: “It is not pleasant for me to sit in Kiev. I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube. There is the middle of my land. Everything good flows there: from the Greeks - gold, fabrics, wines, various vegetables; from Czechs and Hungarians - silver and horses, from Russia - furs, wax and honey.
Three days later, Princess Olga died. Svyatoslav divided the Russian land between his sons: he put Yaropolk to reign in Kiev, sent Oleg to the Drevlyansk land, and Vladimir to Novgorod. He himself hastened to his possessions on the Danube.
Here he defeated the army of Tsar Boris, captured him and took possession of the whole country from the Danube to the Balkan Mountains. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav crossed the Balkans, took Philippol (Plovdiv) by storm and reached Arcadiopol. His squads had only four days to travel across the plain to Tsargrad. Here the battle with the Byzantines took place. Svyatoslav won, but lost many soldiers and did not go further, but, having taken "many gifts" from the Greeks, he returned back to Pereyaslavets.
In 971 the war continued. This time the Byzantines prepared well. The newly trained Byzantine armies moved to Bulgaria from all sides, many times outnumbering the Svyatoslav squads standing there. With heavy fighting, fighting off the pressing enemy, the Russians retreated to the Danube. There, in the city of Dorostol, the last Russian fortress in Bulgaria, cut off from their native land, Svyatoslav's army was under siege. For more than two months, the Byzantines besieged Dorostol.
Finally, on July 22, 971, the Russians began their last battle. Gathering the soldiers before the battle, Svyatoslav uttered his famous words: “So we will not disgrace the Russian land, but we will lay our bones here. For the dead do not know shame, and if we run, we will be covered with shame. So we will not run, but we will become strong, and I will go ahead of you. If my head lies down, then decide for yourself how you should be. And the soldiers answered him: "Where your head lies, there we will lay down our heads."
The battle was very stubborn, and many Russian soldiers died. Prince Svyatoslav was forced to retreat back to Dorostol. And the Russian prince decided to make peace with the Byzantines, so he consulted with the squad: “If we don’t make peace and find out that we are few, then they will come and besiege us in the city. And the Russian land is far away, the Pechenegs are fighting with us, and who will help us then? Let's make peace, because they have already pledged to pay tribute to us - that's enough for us. If they stop paying tribute to us, then again, having gathered a lot of soldiers, we will go from Russia to Tsargrad. And the soldiers agreed that their prince was speaking correctly.
Svyatoslav began peace negotiations with John Tzimiskes. Their historical meeting took place on the banks of the Danube and was described in detail by a Byzantine chronicler who was in the emperor's retinue. Tzimiskes, surrounded by close associates, was waiting for Svyatoslav. The prince arrived on a boat, sitting in which he rowed along with ordinary soldiers. The Greeks could distinguish him only because the shirt he wore was cleaner than that of other warriors and by an earring with two pearls and a ruby worn in his ear. Here is how an eyewitness described the formidable Russian warrior: “Svyatoslav was of medium height, neither too tall nor too small, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, a flat nose and a thick long mustache hanging on his upper lip. His head was completely bare, only on one side of it hung a strand of hair, signifying the antiquity of the family. The neck is thick, the shoulders are broad and the whole body is rather slender. He seemed dark and wild."
Having made peace with the Greeks, Svyatoslav, together with his retinue, went to Russia along the rivers in boats. One of the governor warned the prince: "Go around, prince, the Dnieper rapids on horseback, for the Pechenegs are standing at the thresholds." But the prince did not listen to him. And the Byzantines informed the nomadic Pechenegs about this: “The Russians will go past you, Svyatoslav with a small squad, taking from the Greeks a lot of wealth and captives without number.” And when Svyatoslav approached the rapids, it turned out that it was absolutely impossible for him to pass. Then the Russian prince decided to wait it out and stayed for the winter. With the beginning of spring, Svyatoslav again moved to the rapids, but was ambushed and died. The chronicle conveys the story of Svyatoslav's death in this way: "Svyatoslav came to the thresholds, and Kurya, the Pecheneg prince, attacked him, and killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from the skull, fettered him, and drank from it." So Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich perished. It happened in 972.
A brave and skillful commander, Svyatoslav did nothing to streamline state affairs either in his principality or in the conquered territories. No wonder he wanted to leave Kiev and settle in Pereyaslavets on the Danube: “I don’t like to be in Kiev,” Svyatoslav said, “I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - there is the middle of my land.” And the people of Kiev saw this unwillingness of Svyatoslav to take care of his state. In 968, when Kiev was besieged by the Pechenegs, and Svyatoslav was on another campaign, the people of Kiev sent a reproachful message to the prince: “You, prince, are looking for someone else’s land and take care of it, but you left your own ... Don’t you feel sorry for your fatherland?”
As already mentioned, Svyatoslav in 970, before going to Danube Bulgaria, divided Kievan Rus between his sons: Yaropolk got Kiev, Oleg - Drevlyane land, and Vladimir - Novgorod. This division of the principality into destinies was carried out clearly according to the ethno-state principle - along the borders of the already existing tribal unions of Polyan-Rus, Drevlyans and Ilmen Slovenes. As can be seen from the very fact of separation, these tribal unions retained a certain independence during the reign of Svyatoslav. And after 970 on the spot relatively united state in fact, three principalities arose, headed by the three sons of Svyatoslav. It is interesting that the Krivichi and their cities of Smolensk and Polotsk are not mentioned at all. The fact is that, apparently, already in the middle or in the second half of the X century. Krivichi (or part of them) separated from Kiev. In any case, as subsequent events will show, in Polotsk in the 70s. 10th century had its own princely dynasty.
In general, this decision of Svyatoslav marked the beginning of a kind of "specific period" in Russian history - for more than five hundred years, Russian princes will divide the principalities between their brothers, children, nephews and grandchildren. Only at the end of the XIV century. Dmitry Donskoy bequeaths to his son Vasily the Grand Duchy of Moscow as a single "homeland". But specific relations will continue after the death of Dmitry Donskoy for another 150 years - in the middle of the 15th century. Muscovite Russia will be struck by a real “feudal war”, Ivan III at the end of the 15th century and his grandson Ivan IV in the middle of the 16th century will fight against the specific princes.
The specific principle of dividing the Russian principalities, of course, was based on objective reasons. At first, as under Svyatoslav, ethno-state factors played an important role, later economic, political and even personal factors (rivalry between princes) would come to the fore. Here it must be taken into account that in Kievan Rus, power was transferred according to the principle of "seniority" - the eldest in the family. But already in the second half of the 11th century, there were so many princes and family relations became so confused that the rights to this or that reign, and even more so to the title of Grand Duke, could only be clarified by force. That is why Russia was struck for a long five hundred years by constant and endless princely strife.
Of course, it must be taken into account here that the local veche self-government of cities and lands also played a significant role in the political life of Russia, which could refuse to accept this or that prince or, on the contrary, invite a prince who seemed to have no rights to this table. Similar cases happened more than once and also became the causes of new strife. And the first strife happened already between the sons of Prince Svyatoslav.
