Russia Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Kievan Rus' === {{Main|Rus' Khaganate|Kievan Rus'|List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine}} [[File:Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png|thumb|[[Kievan Rus']] after the [[Council of Liubech]] in 1097]] The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of [[Varangians]], the [[Vikings]] who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic [[From the Varangians to the Greeks|to the Black]] and [[Volga trade route|Caspian]] Seas. According to the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', a Varangian from the [[Rus' people]], named [[Rurik]], was elected ruler of [[Novgorod]] in 862. In 882, his successor [[Oleg of Novgorod|Oleg]] ventured south and conquered [[Kiev]], which had been previously paying tribute to the [[Khazars]].<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Rurik's son [[Igor of Kiev|Igor]] and Igor's son [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav]] subsequently subdued all local [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the Khazar Khaganate,<ref>{{cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii|author-link=Serhii Plokhy |title=The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2006 |page=13 |isbn=978-0-521-86403-9}}</ref> and launched several military expeditions to [[Paphlagonian expedition of the Rus'|Byzantium]] and [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus'|Persia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Obolensky |first=Dimitri |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumslavs0000obol |title=Byzantium & the Slavs |date=1971 |isbn=978-0-88141-008-2 |pages=75–108 |publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=[[Francis Donald Logan|Logan, Donald F.]] |url=https://archive.org/details/vikingsinhistory00loga |title=The Vikings in History|edition=2nd |date=1992 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-08396-6 |page=201 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the 10th to 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The reigns of [[Vladimir the Great]] (980–1015) and his son [[Yaroslav the Wise]] (1019–1054) constitute the [[Golden Age]] of Kiev, which saw [[Christianisation of Kievan Rus'|the acceptance of]] Orthodox Christianity from [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]], and the creation of the first East Slavic written [[legal code]], the ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]''.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> The age of [[feudalism]] and decentralisation had come, marked by constant in-fighting between members of the [[Rurik dynasty]] that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]] in the north-east, the [[Novgorod Republic]] in the north, and [[Galicia-Volhynia]] in the south-west.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> By the 12th century, Kiev lost its pre-eminence and Kievan Rus' had fragmented into different principalities.<ref name="Channon-1995"/> Prince [[Andrey Bogolyubsky]] sacked Kiev in 1169 and made [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]] his base,<ref name="Channon-1995">{{cite book |last1=Channon |first1=John |title=The Penguin historical atlas of Russia |date=1995 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=0140513264 |page=16}}</ref> leading to political power being shifted to the north-east.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Led by Prince [[Alexander Nevsky]], Novgorodians repelled the invading [[Swedes]] in the [[Battle of the Neva]] in 1240,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Battle of the Neva |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Neva |access-date=22 June 2021 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329054701/https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Neva |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as the [[Northern Crusades|Germanic crusaders]] in the [[Battle on the Ice]] in 1242.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ostrowski |first=Donald |year=2006 |title=Alexander Nevskii's "Battle on the Ice": The Creation of a Legend |journal=[[Russian History (Brill journal)|Russian History]] |volume=33 |pages=289–312 |doi=10.1163/187633106X00186 |jstor=24664446 |number=2/4}}</ref> Kievan Rus' finally fell to the [[Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'|Mongol invasion]] of 1237–1240, which resulted in the [[Siege of Kiev (1240)|sacking of Kiev]] and other cities, as well as the death of a major part of the population.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> The invaders, later known as [[Tatars]], formed the state of the [[Golden Horde]], which ruled over Russia for the next two centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPwX2dW-V6sC&pg=PA7 |title=Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History |date=1987 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-20445-5 |page=7 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813152923/https://books.google.com/books?id=kPwX2dW-V6sC&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> Only the Novgorod Republic escaped foreign occupation after it agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> Galicia-Volhynia would later be absorbed by [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] and [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Poland]], while the Novgorod Republic continued to prosper in the north. In the northeast, the Byzantine-Slavic traditions of Kievan Rus' were adapted to form the Russian autocratic state.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page