And Predslava. Fell victim to civil strife.

Biography

Prince of Kyiv

The date of birth and mother of Yaropolk are unknown (however, Tatishchev suggests that the mother of him and Oleg Drevlyansky was a certain Ugric princess Predslava, mentioned in the treaty with Byzantium of 945). His name was first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years in 968, when, during the Pecheneg raid on Kyiv, Princess Olga locked herself in the city with 3 grandchildren, one of whom was Yaropolk.

Historian Konstantin Bogdanov wrote:

The reign of Yaropolk was a time of diplomatic contacts with the German Emperor Otto II: Russian ambassadors visited the emperor at the congress of princes in Quedlinburg in December 973. According to the German “Genealogy of the Welfs”, a relative of the emperor, Count Kuno von Eningen (the future Duke of Swabia Conrad I) married his daughter to "King of the Rugians". According to one version, Cunegonde became the wife of Prince Vladimir after the death of his wife, the Byzantine princess Anna. Another version connects the engagement of Kuno's daughter to Yaropolk. The reign of Yaropolk is also associated with the minting of the first coins of the Old Russian state found by historians, reminiscent of Arab dirhams - the so-called "Yaropolk pseudo-dirhams"(a little more than 10 copies are known).

Other independent chronicles may also testify to the baptism of Yaropolk after the death of his father Svyatoslav, who had a negative attitude towards Christianity.

Civil strife and death

In 977, an internecine war broke out between Yaropolk and his brothers, the prince of the Drevlyan land Oleg and the Novgorod prince Vladimir. Yaropolk, following the persuasion of the governor Sveneld, attacked Oleg's possessions. Oleg died in the fight for the Drevlyan city of Ovruch. He fell from a bridge while fleeing from the Kyiv squad and was crushed in the fortress ditch by other soldiers and horses. The chronicle presents Yaropolk lamenting the death of his brother, killed against his will. After the news of the beginning of civil strife, Vladimir fled from Novgorod "beyond the sea", and Yaropolk became the ruler of the entire Old Russian state.

In 978, Vladimir returned to Rus' with the Varangian army. First he recaptured Novgorod, then captured Polotsk and then moved on to Kyiv. Surrounded by Yaropolk was a traitor, voivode Blud, who entered into an agreement with Vladimir. Blud persuaded Yaropolk to leave Kyiv and take refuge in the fortified city of Rodna on the Ros River. After a long siege, famine began in Rodna. Blud assured Yaropolk that he should enter into negotiations with Vladimir, who did not intend to cause him any harm. In turn, the youth Varyazhko convinced his prince Yaropolk not to go to Vladimir, since Yaropolk faced inevitable death. The latter did not heed the warnings of his youth, but Blud still managed to convince him to enter into negotiations with Vladimir. When Yaropolk arrived to negotiate with his brother, two Varangians “they lifted him up with swords under their bosoms”.

Family and Children

In modern culture

Notes

1. The Tale of Bygone Years dates his death to 980. However, “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Vladimir” by Jacob Mnich, which used sources that have not reached us, indicates that Vladimir Svyatoslavich began to rule in Kyiv on June 11, 978. Since the dates in the “Tale of Bygone Years” in this period are relative, and also taking into account the antiquity of the sources of “Memory and Praise,” historians now consider the date given by Jacob Mnich to be more reliable. See more details. Karpov A. Yu. Vladimir the Holy. - 1997. - pp. 87-88.
2. Tatishchev V.N. "Russian History", part 2, chapter 4, note 148
3. , With. 111.
4. According to the 11th century chronicler Lampert of Hersfeld: “973: Emperor Otto the Elder, together with the Younger, came to Quedlinburg and celebrated Holy Easter there on March 23. Ambassadors of many nations arrived there with rich gifts, namely the Romans, Greeks, Beneventos, Italians, Hungarians, Danes, Slavs, Bulgarians and Russians.":
5. Genealogy of Welfs, 4
6. Nazarenko A.V. Rus' and Germany in the 70s of the 10th century // Russia Mediaevalis. 1987. Vol. 6(1). pp. 38-89;

Yaropolk Svyatoslavich
Reign: 972-978

Years of life: 945-978

He was the eldest son of Grand Duke Svyatoslav I Igorevich. Grand Duke of Kyiv (972-978). Nothing is known about Yaropolk's mother.

Name Yaropolk consists of 2 parts. Yaro- (ardent in the concept of “bright, sparkling”) and -regiment (regiment in Old Church Slavonic means “people, crowd”), that is, the name is interpreted as “shining among the people.”

Yaropolk Svyatoslavich briefly about his relatives

During his father's frequent campaigns, Yaropolk lived with his grandmother, Princess Olga in Kyiv. The name of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich was first mentioned in 968 in the “Tale of Bygone Years”, when during the Pecheneg raid on Kyiv, Princess Olga locked herself in Kyiv with three grandchildren, one of whom was Yaropolk.

At this time, Yaropolk turned 11 years old. The boyars from his entourage were able to assure the boy that Prince Oleg, his brother, who ruled at the behest of his father in the Drevlyansky land, had insulted him by killing the son of one of his close associates Yaropolk Svyatoslavich. It was from then on that irreconcilable enmity began between the two brothers. In 977, when Yaropolk was 16 and Oleg was 15 years old, Yaropolk set out on a campaign against his brother’s domain, following the slander of vovevoda Sveneld.

During this war, Oleg Svyatoslavich died. During the retreat to his capital Ovruch, Oleg was pushed into a common ditch in a general stampede and he was crushed in the ditch by falling horses. The chronicle writes that Yaropolk greatly lamented the death of his brother, who was killed against his will.
After these events, Yaropolk became the ruler of all Kievan Rus.

Yaropolk Svyatoslavich - foreign and domestic policy

The reign of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich was a time of diplomatic contacts with Otto II, the German emperor. There is information that Yaropolk was engaged to Cunegonde, a relative of the emperor. The Nikon Chronicle testifies that ambassadors from the pope from Rome came to Yaropolk Svyatoslavich.

The Joachim Chronicle reports a certain sympathy of Yaropolk for Christianity: “Yaropolk was a meek and merciful man to everyone, loving Christians, and although he himself was not baptized for the sake of the people, he did not forbid anyone... Yaropolk is not loved by people, because he gave Christians great freedom.”

The second brother of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, Vladimir, having learned about the civil strife and its consequences, fled from his inheritance - Novgorod. But he could not forgive the death of his brother and in 980 he returned to Rus' with the Varangian squad. First he conquered Novgorod, then he took Polotsk and then moved on Kyiv, intending to besiege it.

Murder of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich

In the immediate circle of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich there was a traitor, voivode Blud, who entered into an agreement with Vladimir. The voivode persuaded Prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich to leave Kyiv and take refuge in the fortified city of Rodnya on the river. Ros. Vladimir besieged him in Rodna as well. After a long siege, famine began in the city, and this forced Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, under pressure from Blud, to begin negotiations with his brother Vladimir.

When Yaropolk came to negotiate with Vladimir, 2 Varangians “raised him with their swords under their bosoms.” The Tale of Bygone Years dates the death of Yaropolk and the enthronement of Vladimir to the year 980. And an earlier historical document “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir” (Life of Prince Vladimir from the monk Jacob) gives the exact date of Vladimir Svyatoslavich’s reign—June 11, 978. Historians, based on specific chronological information, recognize that the second date is more likely. Most likely, the murder of Prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich occurred on June 11.

Son of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich

Yaropolk was married to a former Greek nun, who was kidnapped for him by his father during one of his many campaigns. After the death of Yaropolk, Prince Vladimir took her as a concubine, and soon the Greek woman gave birth to a son, Svyatopolk - the child of “two fathers” (as it was written in the chronicle).

From historical sources of those years, it is not entirely clear whether the widow was pregnant before the death of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, or became pregnant by Vladimir Svyatoslavich after she was captured. According to indirect evidence, Prince Svyatopolk still considered Yaropolk his father, and hated Vladimir (it is known that Svyatopolk took Yaroslav Vladimirovich’s “stepmother and sisters” hostage, and this would be strange if Svyatopolk also considered himself one of Vladimir’s heirs).

Grand Duke of Kyiv (972-978)

short biography

Yaropolk Svyatoslavich(Old Russian Yaropolk Svtoslavich; d. June 11, 978) - Grand Duke of Kiev (972-978), eldest son of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich and Predslava. Fell victim to civil strife.

Prince of Kyiv

The date of birth and mother of Yaropolk are unknown (however, Tatishchev suggests that the mother of him and Oleg Drevlyansky was a certain Ugric princess Predslava, mentioned in the treaty with Byzantium in 945). His name was first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years in 968, when, during the Pecheneg raid on Kyiv, Princess Olga locked herself in the city with 3 grandchildren, one of whom was Yaropolk.

Yaropolk's father, Prince Svyatoslav, before leaving for the war with Byzantium, entrusted Yaropolk with the administration of Kiev in 970. After the remnants of the Russian squad led by Sveneld brought news of the death of Prince Svyatoslav in the battle with the Pechenegs at the Dnieper rapids to Kyiv in the spring of 972, Yaropolk became the prince of Kyiv. Svyatoslav's other sons, Oleg and Vladimir, ruled the remaining parts of the Old Russian state.

Historian Konstantin Bogdanov wrote:

Probably, the brothers had a rather difficult relationship from the very beginning. They were born from different mothers and were later raised separately. Each of them had their own relatives and mentors, to whose advice they listened much more often than they should have. Later, the lack of mutual sympathy and trust between the brothers played a fatal role with them. The ambitions of the mentors only aggravated the discord that began in their childhood souls and became stronger with age.

The reign of Yaropolk was a time of diplomatic contacts with the German Emperor Otto II: Russian ambassadors visited the emperor at the congress of princes in Quedlinburg in December 973. According to the German “Genealogy of the Welfs”, the emperor’s relative Count Kuno von Eningen (the future Duke of Swabia Conrad I) married his daughter to "King of the Rugians". According to one version, Cunegonde became the wife of Prince Vladimir after the death of his wife, the Byzantine princess Anna. Another version connects the engagement of Kuno’s daughter to Yaropolk. The reign of Yaropolk is also associated with the minting of the first coins of the Old Russian state found by historians, reminiscent of Arab dirhams - the so-called "Yaropolk pseudo-dirhams"(a little more than 10 copies are known).

According to the Nikon Chronicle, ambassadors from Rome from the pope came to Yaropolk. Yaropolk’s sympathies for Christianity are reported in the controversial Joachim Chronicle, known from the extracts of the historian V.N. Tatishchev:

“Yaropolk was a meek and merciful man to everyone, loving Christians, and although he himself was not baptized for the sake of the people, he did not forbid anyone... Yaropolk is not loved by people, because he gave Christians great freedom.”

Other independent chronicles may also testify to the baptism of Yaropolk after the death of his father Svyatoslav, who had a negative attitude towards Christianity.

Civil strife and death

In 977, an internecine war broke out between Yaropolk and his brothers, the prince of the Drevlyan land Oleg and the Novgorod prince Vladimir. Yaropolk, following the persuasion of the governor Sveneld, attacked Oleg’s possessions. Oleg died in the fight for the Drevlyan city of Ovruch. He fell from a bridge while fleeing from the Kyiv squad and was crushed in the fortress ditch by other soldiers and horses. The chronicle presents Yaropolk lamenting the death of his brother, killed against his will. After the news of the beginning of civil strife, Vladimir fled from Novgorod "beyond the sea", and Yaropolk became the ruler of the entire Old Russian state.

Murder of Yaropolk. Hood. B. A. Chorikov.

In 978, Vladimir returned to Rus' with the Varangian army. First he recaptured Novgorod, then captured Polotsk and then moved on to Kyiv. Surrounded by Yaropolk was a traitor, governor Blud, who entered into an agreement with Vladimir. Blud persuaded Yaropolk to leave Kyiv and take refuge in the fortified city of Rodna on the Ros River. After a long siege, famine began in Rodna. Blud assured Yaropolk that he should enter into negotiations with Vladimir, who did not intend to cause him any harm. In turn, the youth Varyazhko convinced his prince Yaropolk not to go to Vladimir, since Yaropolk faced inevitable death. The latter did not heed the warnings of his youth, but Blud still managed to convince him to enter into negotiations with Vladimir. When Yaropolk arrived to negotiate with his brother, two Varangians “they lifted him up with swords under their bosoms”.

The Tale of Bygone Years dates the death of Yaropolk and the reign of Vladimir to 980. An earlier document “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir” (Life of Prince Vladimir from the monk Iakov Chernorizets) gives the exact date of his reign - June 11, 978. Based on a number of chronological considerations, historians recognize the second date as more likely. Most likely, the murder of Yaropolk occurred on June 11.

In 1044, Yaropolk’s nephew, Yaroslav the Wise, ordered the bones of uncles Yaropolk and Oleg to be dug out of the grave, their remains to be baptized (an act prohibited by Christian canons) and reburied next to Vladimir in the Tithe Church in Kyiv.

5th Grand Duke of Kyiv
972 - 978

Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (d. June 11, 978) - Grand Duke of Kiev (972-978), eldest son of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich.

The etymology of the name is characteristic of the word formation of Slavic princely names: it consists of 2 parts, Yaro- (ardent in the sense of “bright, sparkling”) and -polk (regiment in Old Slavic “people, crowd”), that is, the name means approximately “shining among the people "

Prince of Kyiv

Yaropolk's date of birth and mother are unknown. His name was first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years in 968, when, during the Pecheneg raid on Kyiv, Princess Olga locked herself in the city with 3 grandchildren, one of whom was Yaropolk.

Yaropolk's father, Prince Svyatoslav, before leaving for the war with Byzantium, entrusted Yaropolk with the administration of Kiev in 970. After the remnants of the Russian squad led by Sveneld brought news of the death of Prince Svyatoslav in the battle with the Pechenegs at the Dnieper rapids to Kyiv in the spring of 972, Yaropolk became the prince of Kyiv. Svyatoslav's other sons, Oleg and Vladimir, ruled the remaining parts of Kievan Rus.

Grand Duke Yaropolk Svyatoslavovich. Vereshchagin V

The reign of Yaropolk was a time of diplomatic contacts with the German Emperor Otto II: Russian ambassadors visited the emperor at the congress of princes in Quedlinburg in December 973. According to the German “Genealogy of the Welfs,” a relative of the emperor, Count Kuno von Eningen (the future Duke of Swabia, Conrad I), married his daughter to the “king of the Rugians.” According to one version, Cunegonde became the wife of Prince Vladimir after the death of his wife, the Byzantine princess Anna. Another version connects the engagement of Kuno’s daughter to Yaropolk.

The reign of Yaropolk is also associated with the minting of the first own coins of Kievan Rus, reminiscent of Arab dirhams - the so-called “pseudo-dirhams of Yaropolk” (a little more than 10 copies are known).

According to the Nikon Chronicle, ambassadors from Rome from the pope came to Yaropolk. Yaropolk’s sympathies for Christianity are reported in the controversial Joachim Chronicle, known from the extracts of the historian V.N. Tatishchev:

“Yaropolk was a meek and merciful man to everyone, loving Christians, and although he himself was not baptized for the sake of the people, he did not forbid anyone... Yaropolk is not loved by people, because he gave Christians great freedom.”

Civil strife and death.

In 975, an internecine war broke out between Yaropolk and his brothers, Prince of the Drevlyans Oleg and Prince of Novgorod Vladimir. Yaropolk, following the persuasion of the governor Sveneld, attacked Oleg’s possessions. While retreating to his capital Ovruch, Oleg was crushed in a ditch by falling horses. The chronicle presents Yaropolk lamenting the death of his brother, killed against his will. After the news of the beginning of civil strife, Vladimir fled from Novgorod “overseas”, so Yaropolk became the ruler of all Kievan Rus.

In 978, Vladimir returned to Rus' with the Varangian army. First he recaptured Novgorod, then captured Polotsk and then moved on to Kyiv. Surrounded by Yaropolk was a traitor, governor Blud, who entered into an agreement with Vladimir. Blud persuaded Yaropolk to leave Kyiv and take refuge in the fortified city of Rodnya on the Ros River. After a long siege, famine arose in Rodna, which forced Yaropolk, under pressure from Blud, to enter into negotiations with Vladimir. When Yaropolk arrived to negotiate with his brother, two Varangians “raised him with their swords under their bosoms.”

Murder of Yaropolk. Illustration by B. Chorikov.

The Tale of Bygone Years dates the death of Yaropolk and the reign of Vladimir to 980. An earlier document “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir” (Life of Prince Vladimir from the monk Iakov Chernorizets) gives the exact date of his reign - June 11, 978. Based on a number of chronological considerations, historians recognize the second date as more likely. Most likely, the murder of Yaropolk occurred on June 11.

Yaropolk left a widow, a former Greek nun, kidnapped for him by his father during one of his campaigns. Vladimir took her as a concubine, and she soon gave birth to a son, Svyatopolk the Accursed, the child of “two fathers.” According to the chronicle, it is not entirely clear whether the widow was pregnant before the death of Yaropolk, or became pregnant by Vladimir after being captured. According to indirect data, Svyatopolk the Accursed considered himself the son and heir of Yaropolk, and Vladimir - a usurper (for example, he took the “stepmother and sisters” of Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise hostage, which would be strange if Svyatopolk considered himself also Vladimirovich).

In 1044, Yaropolk’s nephew, Yaroslav the Wise, ordered the bones of uncles Yaropolk and Oleg to be dug out of the grave, their remains to be baptized (an act prohibited by Christian canons) and reburied next to Vladimir in the Tithe Church in Kyiv. If Yaropolk was baptized during his lifetime, which could only have happened shortly before his death, then seventy years later they no longer remembered it.

***

History of Russian Goverment

Rus' that was-2. Alternative version of history Maximov Albert Vasilievich

YAROPOLK, OLEG AND VLADIMIR

YAROPOLK, OLEG AND VLADIMIR

So, Sveneld, returning from Bulgaria, calmly goes to Kyiv, where, influencing Yaropolk, the eldest son of Svyatoslav, he seizes power in the country on his behalf. According to TV, Svyatoslav had three sons: Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir. Soon, in the battle between the troops of Yaropolk and his other brother, Oleg, the latter dies.

The chronicle reports that the Drevlyan prince Oleg Svyatoslavich had previously killed Sveneld's son Lyut while hunting, which was the reason for the hostilities. An interesting detail: Oleg was a Drevlyan prince, and it was because of the Drevlyan tribute that Igor died. I think that, perhaps, the fighting here began precisely because of the tribute. Sveneld probably already considered the Drevlyan lands his patrimony, sent his son Lyut there with an army, and Oleg, defending his rights, killed him.

According to AB, after the death of Oleg, Svyatoslav’s NEPHEW Vladimir, who ruled in Novgorod = Yaroslavl, “was frightened and fled overseas.” In this case, it should be considered an escape to Tmutarakan. But what caused such panic fear? Yaropolk, according to the chronicle, did not conflict with his brother (on TV) Vladimir, and the case with Oleg was special, there was a good reason - the murder of Lyut. If we accept the alternative version that Vladimir is not Yaropolk’s brother, but only a cousin, and even then not one hundred percent, since their grandfather Igor had several wives, then the situation becomes noticeably clearer: if Yaropolk did not spare his half-brother Oleg, then his half-brother there is something to fear.

The word “native” is not chosen by chance. There is little information about Oleg Svyatoslavich. The chronicles consider Oleg to be the average among the brothers. But according to AB, Vladimir is not Yaropolk’s brother at all, and is much older than him. Is Oleg Yaropolk’s brother?

The Polish historiographer Bartosz Paprocki in 1593 referred to some “Russian and Polish annals” he had. Paprocki was talking about the origins of the noble Moravian family of the Gerotins. According to the Pole, the ancestor of the Zherotinov family was a certain Russian prince, who was the son of Prince Kolga Svyatoslavich and, accordingly, the nephew of Prince Yaropolk. This certain prince was sent to the Czech Republic by his father (i.e. Kolga) out of fear of Yaropolk, at whose hands Kolga soon died. Without a doubt, we are talking about Prince Oleg=Kolga.

So, Oleg had a son, probably from a noble Czech woman. Oleg clearly knew about the danger that threatened him, but according to the chronicle (i.e. on TV), Oleg’s death was quite accidental, and Yaropolk was very worried about the death of his brother. But Oleg, according to Paprocki’s message, not only feared for his life, he also feared for his son! And this already says only one thing: Yaropolk wanted to destroy ALL his relatives, the entire top of the ruling family, which is why at the same time Vladimir was so “scared and fled overseas.”

But was Oleg really Yaropolk’s brother? In those days, morals were harsh, but still not so harsh as to kill infants (and on TV, Oleg’s son could only be a baby) children of siblings. But was Oleg's son a baby? How old could he be? To do this, we need to go back to the childhood of Prince Svyatoslav.

In 946, Olga goes to take revenge on the Drevlyans for their murder of Prince Igor. Her son “Svyatoslav threw a spear at the Drevlyans, and the spear flew between the horse’s ears and hit the horse’s legs, for Svyatoslav was still a child.” How old could Svyatoslav be? According to chronicles, Svyatoslav was born in 942. Well, the four-year-old prince could just throw (albeit half a meter, but he could) a spear before the start of the battle. In this case, Oleg - the second son of Svyatoslav - could have been born at best in 959 (and then with an incredible stretch), and Oleg died in 977, already having a son. The time chain is so unnaturally tense that it is difficult not to notice it. Well, there was no way Oleg could have been a father at that time. Or... he was not Svyatoslav’s own son. Maybe that’s why he was afraid of Yaropolk? Not his own brother, but some kind of jelly water. And for Sveneld he was a complete stranger, just like Vladimir.

Three years after the death of Oleg, Vladimir with the assembled squad reclaims Novgorod and then, having included warriors from the Slavs, Chuds and Krivichi into the squad, he goes against Yaropolk in Kyiv. Then I can quote words from the book by Franklin and Shepard “The Beginning of Rus': 750-1200”: “... even if we assume that he managed to persuade the Slavs and Finno-Ugrians to go with him on such a long campaign, Vladimir had little chance of overthrowing Yaropolk... Vladimir did not dare to approach Kyiv closer than Dorogozhychi, a few kilometers north of the city.” But for some reason Yaropolk is running. Was it not because young Yaropolk fled that Vladimir was not his younger, and also semi-legal, brother, as the chronicles testify (TV), but the eldest in their princely family (according to AV)? And, therefore, Vladimir had more rights to power than Yaropolk.

At the end of this story, Yaropolk was killed, and the chronicle does not tell what happened to Sveneld. He probably either died or fled to his Pecheneg allies, where he died of old age.

According to The Tale of Bygone Years, Vladimir’s mother was Malusha, Princess Olga’s housekeeper. According to the Nikon Chronicle: “Volodimer was from Malka, Olzhina’s housekeeper. And Volodymyr was born in Budutino; tamo Olga sent her away in anger, the village was eva tamo, and dying she gave St. Mother of God." That is, Vladimir was born in Budutino, where Olga sent Malusha in anger.

In the “Tale...” it is said: “Malusha was Dobrynya’s sister; his father was Malk Lyubechanin.” Historians suggest that we are talking about the Drevlyan prince Mal, who killed Prince Igor. Malusha (Malka) is undoubtedly considered a Slav. While not denying this opinion, I will nevertheless note that it is still not so and indisputable. The above fragment from the Nikon Chronicle allows us to consider, albeit with a stretch, the village of Budutino as the birthplace of Malushi.

“... in Budutino vesi...”: here the word “all” is a small village, but the whole was also called the Finno-Ugric people who lived in the area of ​​Ladoga and White Lake. This phrase, under some circumstances, can be understood to mean that Budutino is a village of the Vesi people. However, Malusha could also be a Volga Bulgar. The ruler of Bulgaria, who ruled in the 10th century, was called Almush. Compare: Malusha and Almusha. If this is so, then it is not surprising that it was Vladimir who began to be called Kagan. If he is the grandson or rather great-grandson of Almush, the Bulgar Kagan, then it is clear how he received this title. How true this is is probably impossible to determine.

One of the versions of Fomenko and Nosovsky should be noted here. The word "malik" (MLK) means "king", from which it may follow that Malusha's father Malk (Mal) Lyubchanin simply means "king", and Malusha herself is a queen or princess. With this approach, her father’s nickname is interpreted differently. Lyubchanin can no longer mean that it belongs to the city of Lyubech, but can sound like “beloved king.”

According to our chronicles, Malusha had a brother, Dobrynya, who became a famous governor of Vladimir and a Novgorod mayor. If on TV Malusha was a slave, a concubine to Svyatoslav, and this follows from the chronicles, then how unenviable must have been the fate of her brother, the son of the Drevlyan prince Mal, who killed Prince Igor, Svyatoslav’s father? For a long time I was confused by the figure of Dobrynya; there was something popular, unreal here. And here the ancient Polish historian Strykovsky discovered: “There was a noble guest in Novgorod, Kaplushka Malets, who had 2 daughters, Malusha and Dobrynya. From this Malusha, former treasurer under Olga, Svyatoslav’s son Vladimir was born.” Strykovsky used some intermediate chronicles, which said that Dobrynya was Malusha’s sister. Well, everything falls into place. There was no brother Dobrynya, all these were inventions of those who boldly corrected our history, like the fiction that Vladimir was the son of Svyatoslav.

Finally, for some reason it is believed that since Malusha is Olga’s housekeeper, that means she is a slave. Meanwhile, the housekeeper is, in our times, something like a presidential manager. The housekeeper kept the keys to storerooms full of goods, and Olga could not trust everyone with this. Tatishchev was right when he wrote that “the rank of housekeeper at court was great.”

So, who is Malusha? A Bulgarian princess, a merchant's daughter, Olga's housekeeper, or just some kind of slave? And most importantly: is she even Vladimir’s mother? Alas, it is almost impossible to get to the truth in this matter. Although you should try, more on that below. But let’s resolve the issue now about the probable age of Prince Vladimir’s mother.

According to the traditional version of the story, Malusha is the daughter of the Drevlyan prince Mal, or in other words Malka Lubchanin. Prince Mal was killed by Olga in 946, when Svyatoslav was still very young. This led to the conclusion that Malusha could have been the same age as Svyatoslav, that is, she was born no earlier than 940, unless, of course, Svyatoslav did not like older women. But such a conclusion contradicts the information from the Saga of Olav Tryggvason.

This saga talks about King Valdamar, who rules in the East in Gardariki. His mother was so weak from old age that they carried her into the ward. Vladimir ruled in Novgorod from 972 to 980. Did a forty-year-old (as it turns out on TV) woman look like such an old woman? If Vladimir was born in the early forties (and this follows according to AB), then by 980 Vladimir’s mother could have been about sixty years old, if not more. According to Tatishchev, Svyatoslav was born in 920. But, perhaps, we were talking about the birth of Prince Igor this year not of Svyatoslav, but of another son, named Uleb, the future father of Prince Vladimir (this is according to AV).

The “Chronicle of Pereyaslavl-Suzdal” claims that Prince Vladimir, who died in 1015, lived for 73 years, therefore, he was born in 941–942, which is perfectly consistent with the alternative version of history and is in clear contradiction with TV. As you can see, not everything was cleared out of the chronicles when they were edited.

That is, the Joachim Chronicle, on the evidence of which Tatishchev wrote his “Russian History,” simply confused the two sons of Prince Igor: the nameless one (Uleb), whose son was Vladimir according to AB, and Svyatoslav. For example, Tatishchev says that Svyatoslav was married to Predslava, the daughter of the Hungarian king. For some reason, our historians consider this news to be fiction (there is no such princess in the Hungarian chronicles). The fact that Hungarian sources report nothing about her is not at all strange: sources are usually stingy with information about women. But the Slavic name of the Hungarian woman is surprising. Nevertheless, the fact that Predslava could be the wife of Svyatoslav was confirmed by one of the Russian chronicles. Should we believe this?

The name Predslav appears in the list of ambassadors of Prince Igor in the treaty with the Greeks and is sixth in a row. Here the hypothesis has already been put forward that this Predslava may have been the wife of Igor, the nephew of Prince Igor. The role of this prince, forgotten by history, was supplanted by the bright personality of Svyatoslav. This Igor, under the name Ikmor among Greek authors, died in Svyatoslav’s Balkan campaign, and the name of his wife Predslava was transferred by chroniclers to Svyatoslav’s entourage.

From the same agreement between Igor and the Greeks it turns out that Uleb’s wife was a certain Sfandra, who, it turns out, should be Vladimir’s mother. What about Malusha? Alas, the chronicle information about her is most likely a later invention. But Malusha is nevertheless a historical person, she was simply “transported” to earlier times. By the way, the same thing was done with Rogneda, whom we will talk about in the next chapter.

Malushi's full name is Malfrida. The Tale of Bygone Years, under the year 1000, reports, without connection with any events, that a certain Malfrida passed away. And, by the way, he adds that “Rogneda, Yaroslav’s mother, also died that same summer.” There are no more events under this year, just as there is no more news in the “Tale ...” about a woman named Malfrida. But Tatishchev, based on the Joachim Chronicle, reports that Malfrida was the wife of Prince Vladimir and bore him a son, Svyatoslav. We are talking about Svyatoslav, who was killed by Svyatopolk the Accursed. Pay attention to Tatishchev's combination of names: Vladimir - Malfrida - Svyatoslav. Replacing the ponderous name Malfrida with the more affectionate Slavic Malusha, we get the combination Vladimir - Malusha - Svyatoslav. Does this remind you of anything? On TV we have a combination of Svyatoslav - Malusha - Vladimir. People are different, but the name is common.

I am afraid that readers have become completely entangled in the tangle into which the right-wingers have turned our history. Therefore, if I add a few more strange and confusing chronicle messages, I think it won’t become any more difficult for you. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, Vladimir had four sons from Rogneda: Izyaslav, Mstislav, Yaroslav and Vsevolod, and from another, nameless wife - Svyatoslav and for some reason Mstislav again. One Mstislav is clearly superfluous. In another list of Vladimir’s sons, “The Tale...” among 12 sons names Mstislav only once. In the chapter dedicated to Yaroslav the Wise, this paradox of the chronicle will be examined. The conclusion there is this: Mstislav is not the brother of Izyaslav and his brothers, but of Svyatoslav, but Malfrida (not Rogneda!) is the mother not of Svyatoslav, but of Izyaslav and his brothers.

Why did the Joachim Chronicle call Malfrida the mother of Svyatoslav? To answer this question, it should be taken into account that the Joachim Chronicle is one of the first versions of Russian chronicles, but by no means the first. This is an option that, for a number of reasons, turned out to be a dead end, but it existed for a long time and, naturally, was rewritten several times. “The Tale...” took something from its original version, and some was later introduced into it from the “Tale...” itself.

The Joachim Chronicle calls Malfrida the mother of Svyatoslav (one of the sons of Prince Vladimir), but in those days the chronicler monks still remembered that the Tmutarakan prince Mstislav was Svyatoslav’s brother. At the same time, they needed to declare Mstislav the brother of Yaroslav the Wise. So Prince Mstislav appeared on the pages of the “Tale...” twice, from two different mothers. This error ended up uncorrected in the “Tale...”. When editing the Joachim Chronicle, the mistake was taken into account, and a separate mother was invented for Mstislav - named Adil.

Having thus combined the names of Malfrida and Svyatoslav (Vladimirovich), the rulers of history made a duplicate of these names, receiving Malusha, the concubine of Prince Svyatoslav and the mother of Vladimir.

It has already been said here that Prince Svyatoslav, the son of Prince Igor, was allegedly married to a Hungarian princess named Predslava. The name is not Hungarian at all. And here is what “The Tale of Bygone Years” writes about the events of 1015: “The accursed and evil Svyatopolk killed Svyatoslav, sending him to the Ugrian Mountain when he fled to the Ugrians.” Why did Svyatoslav Vladimirovich flee to Hungary? Most likely, he was married to a Hungarian princess, but not to Predslava. Predslava is the wife of Igor-Ikmor and had nothing to do with the Ugric princesses.

Thus, information about the Hungarian princess Predslava, to whom Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was allegedly married, appeared by merging two event-legends that the first chroniclers still remembered. This is the memory of Predslava, Igor’s wife - the nephew of Prince Igor, who died in the Bulgarian campaign, and information that Svyatoslav Vladimirovich was married to a Hungarian princess.

What was the further fate of Predslava? No one knows this, just as no one knows the details of her life. “The Tale of Bygone Years” writes about Rogneda, “whom he settled on Lybid, where the village of Predslavino is now located.” Isn’t this village named after the widow of Igor-Ikmor, who received the village as a “pension”?

We have finished reviewing the history of Rus' during the times of the first Rurikovichs. But it would be more correct to call this dynasty the Igorevichs. Rurik did not exist in Rus'. This is just a phantom of the Bulgarian Prince Boris. And the chronicler Oleg, who ruled, according to the chronicles, while Igor, the “son” of Rurik, was small, also turned out to be “molded” by the ancient chroniclers from two historical characters: the Hungarian prince Almos and the prince (voivode) of the Rus Oleg.

Starting with Igor, all the heroes of ancient Russian history are already real. However, much in their biographies is quite distorted. The chroniclers “forgot” about Uleb, the eldest son of Prince Igor. Uleb is the father of Prince Vladimir, the baptist of Rus'. But it would be more correct to call Vladimir the baptist of Rus' according to the Greek rite. Vladimir, as you can see, turned out to be not the son of Prince Svyatoslav at all, but his nephew. And Oleg, the prince’s second son, is also not Svyatoslav’s son. Who he is, one can only speculate about this. Maybe the son of Igor-Ikmor, who died along with Prince Svyatoslav in the Bulgarian campaign? Well, given his age, this is quite possible, and the name Oleg could have been given to him in honor of his grandfather, the governor Prince Igor.

Svyatoslav, as you can see, did not die at the hands of the Pechenegs, but was killed in one of the battles of his Bulgarian campaign. After his death, power in Rus' passed to his son Yaropolk, who enters into mortal combat with his “brothers” Oleg and Vladimir. Oleg dies at the hands of Yaropolk, but Yaropolk himself soon dies, having lost the battle for power to Vladimir, from whom all the other princes in Rus' went. And among them is his son Yaroslav, nicknamed the Wise.