Kievan Rus' facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kievan Rus' Русь
882–13th century
Kievan Rus, 11th century
Capital	Kiev
Common languages	Old East Slavic
Religion	Slavic Paganism Orthodox Christianity
Government	Monarchy
Grand Prince of Kiev
• 882–912	Oleg
Legislature	Veche, Prince Council
History
• Established	882
• Disestablished	13th century
Currency	grivna
ISO 3166 code	RU

Kievan Rus' (also Kyivan Rus) was a medieval state in Europe. It was from the late 9th to the mid 13th century. It broke apart under the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240.

History

Painting of the Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir

The state was called "land of the Rus' ". The name "Kievan Rus' " was used in the 19th century to mean the time when the center was in Kiev (Kyiv). The early part of the state is sometimes known as the "Rus Khaganate".

The history of Rus' proper begins in 882. This is when the capital was moved from Novgorod to Kiev. This was after Varangians (Vikings), who were called Rus, freed this slavic city from the Khazars' tribute. According to Russian historiography, the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what has become known as Kievan Rus' was Prince Oleg (882–912).

The sacking of Suzdal

The state reached its most powerful in the mid 11th century. Its lands went south to the Black Sea, east to the Volga, and west to the Kingdom of Poland and to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The reigns of St. Vladimir (980-1015) and his son Iaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity and the creation of the first Slavic written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda. Kievan Rus' reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the Rus' Justice, shortly after his death.

The various East Slavic principalities were brought together in the Russian Empire in the 18th century. The modern East Slavic states of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia all get their identity from the early medieval state.

Final disintegration

Principalities of Kievan Rus' 1054-1132

The state finally disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of Rus', fragmenting it into smaller states which paid tribute to the Golden Horde (the so-called Tatar Yoke). In the late 15th century, the Muscovite Grand Dukes began taking over former Kievan territories and proclaimed themselves the sole legal successors.

On the western periphery, Kievan Rus' was succeeded by the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. These territories are now part of modern central Ukraine and Belarus. Due to the fact of the economic and cultural core of Rus' being located on the territory of modern Ukraine, Ukrainian historians and scholars consider Kievan Rus' to be a founding Ukrainian state.

On the north-eastern periphery of Kievan Rus', traditions were adapted in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality that gradually gravitated towards Moscow. Russian historians consider Kievan Rus the first period of Russian history.

Images for kids

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  An approximate ethno-linguistic map of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century: Five Volga Finnic groups of the Merya, Mari, Muromians, Meshchera and Mordvins are shown as surrounded by the Slavs to the west; the three Finnic groups of the Veps, Ests and Chuds, and Indo-European Balts to the northwest; the Permians to the northeast the (Turkic) Bulghars and Khazars to the southeast and south.

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  The Invitation of the Varangians by Viktor Vasnetsov: Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor arrive at the lands of the Ilmen Slavs.

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  Rus', 1015–1113

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  East-Slavic tribes and peoples, 8th–9th centuries

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  Rus' under the walls of Constantinople (860), the Radziwiłł Chronicle
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  Princess Olga's avenge to the Drevlians, Radziwiłł Chronicle

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  Madrid Skylitzes, meeting between John Tzimiskes and Sviatoslav

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  Rogneda of Polotsk, Vladimir I of Kiev and Izyaslav of Polotsk

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  Ivan Eggink's painting represents Vladimir listening to the Orthodox priests, while the papal envoy stands aside in discontent.

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  The Golden Gate, Kyiv

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  The Nativity, a Kievan (possibly Galician) illumination from the Gertrude Psalter

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  A 1139 map of the Grand Duchy of Kiev, where northeastern territories identified as the Transforrest Colonies (Zalesie) by Joachim Lelewel

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  Lilac borders: Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, one of the successor states of Kievan Rus'

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  Administering justice in Kievan Rus, by Ivan Bilibin

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  Ship burial of a Rus' chieftain as described by the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who visited north-eastern Europe in the 10th century. Henryk Siemiradzki (1883)

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  The field of Igor Svyatoslavich's battle with the Polovtsy, by Viktor Vasnetsov

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  Druzhina

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  Model of the original Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev; used on modern 2 hryvni of Ukraine

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  Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk (rebuilt in the mid-18th century after destruction by Russian army)

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  Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, mid-11th century

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  Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir, 1160

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  Map of 8th- to 9th-century Rus' by Leonard Chodzko (1861)

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  Map of 9th-century Rus' by Antoine Philippe Houze (1844)

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  Map of 9th-century Rus' by F. S. Weller (1893)

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  Map of Rus' in Europe in 1000 (1911)

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  Map of Rus' in 1097 (1911)

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  Map of 1139 by Joachim Lelewel (1865)

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  Fragment of the 1154 Tabula Rogeriana by Muhammad al-Idrisi

See also

In Spanish: Rus de Kiev para niños