Rurik

{{Further|Calling of the Varangians}}

{{See also|Rurik dynasty#Genealogical issues}}

The earliest mention of Rurik is contained in the Primary Chronicle, traditionally ascribed to Nestor and compiled in {{circa|1113}},{{cite book |last=Langer |first=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=145 |edition=Second}} which states that East Slavic and Finnic tribes in 860–862 (including the Chuds, Slovenes, Krivichs, Meryans and Ves) "drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves".{{cite book |last=Mägi |first=Marika |title=In Austrvegr. |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |location=Boston |isbn=9789004363816 |pages=207}} Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite the Varangians, led by Rurik, to reestablish order. Rurik came along with his younger brothers Sineus and Truvor and a large retinue.{{cite book |title=The Oxford illustrated history of the Vikings |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [England] |isbn=9780192854346 |pages=138–139}}

• {{cite book |last1=Ketola |first1=Kari |last2=Vihavainen| first2=Timo |title=Changing Russia? : history, culture and business |date=2014 |publisher=Finemor |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-9527124017 |pages=1 |edition=1.}}
• {{cite book |last=Dixon-Kennedy |first=Mike |title=Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=9781576070635 |pages=232}}

According to the chronicle, Rurik was one of the Rus', a Varangian tribe. Most historians believe that the Rus' were of Scandinavian origin,{{cite book |last=Wickham |first=Chris |title=Medieval Europe |date=2016 |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300208344 |pages=175}}

• {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Gwyn |title=A history of the Vikings |date=1984 |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192801340 |pages=246 |edition=Revised}} more specifically from what is currently coastal eastern Sweden around the eighth century.{{cite web |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-vikings-at-home/ |title=The Vikings at home |date=24 September 2012 |work=History Extra |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=4 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504155730/https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-vikings-at-home/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/ |title=Kievan Rus |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |first=Joshua J. |last=Mark |date=3 December 2018 |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414072503/https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite encyclopaedia |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vikg/hd_vikg.htm |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |title=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: The Vikings (780–1100) |first=Jean |last=Sorabella |date=October 2002 |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=23 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423235801/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vikg/hd_vikg.htm |url-status=live }} According to the prevalent theory, the name Rus{{'}} is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row", from an older name for the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vFRug14ui7gC&pg=PA1|title=The Varangians of Byzantium|last=Blöndal|first=Sigfús|date=1978|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521035521|page=1|access-date=2 February 2014|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031004/https://books.google.com/books?id=vFRug14ui7gC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}Brink, Stefan. "Who were the Vikings?', in [https://books.google.com/books?id=wuN-AgAAQBAJ The Viking World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414030955/https://books.google.com/books?id=wuN-AgAAQBAJ|date=14 April 2023}}, ed. by Stefan Brink and Neil Price (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 4–10 (pp. 6–7).

Sineus established himself at Beloozero, and Truvor at the town of Izborsk. Truvor and Sineus died shortly after the establishment of their territories,{{cite book |last=Langer |first=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=176 |edition=Second}}{{cite book |last=Dixon-Kennedy |first=Mike |title=Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=9781576070635 |pages=232}} and Rurik consolidated these lands into his own territory, extending his rule in northern Russia. Askold and Dir, followers of Rurik who were sent to Constantinople, seized Kiev before launching an attack recorded in Byzantine sources for the year 860.{{cite book |last=Duczko |first=Wladyslaw |title=Viking Rus: studies on the presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe |date=2004 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004138742 |pages=204}}

The Laurentian Codex of 1377, which contains the oldest surviving version of the Primary Chronicle, states that Rurik first settled in Novgorod ("newtown"), while the Hypatian Codex of the 1420s states that Rurik first settled in Ladoga, before moving his seat of power to the newly founded city of Novgorod, a fort built not far from the source of the Volkhov River, where he stayed until his death.{{cite book |title=The Cambridge history of Russian literature |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521425674 |pages=12–13 |edition=Rev.}}{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Gwyn |title=A history of the Vikings |date=1984 |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192801340 |pages=246 |edition=Revised}}{{cite book |last1=Somerville |first1=Angus A. |title=The Viking age : a reader |last2=Mcdonald |first2=Andrew R. |date=2020 |isbn=9781487570477 |edition=Third |location=Toronto |pages=282}}

Rurik is said to have remained in power until his death some time in the 870s.{{efn|name=death}} On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor, for he was very young. Oleg moved the capital to Kiev (by murdering the then-rulers and taking the city) and founded the state of Kievan Rus', which was ruled by Rurik's successors (his son Igor and Igor's descendants). The state persisted until the Mongol invasion in 1240.

{{further|Rurikids}}

Rurik does not appear in the regnal list in the opening section of the Hypatian Codex (compiled {{circa}} 1425); the list of knyazi ("princes") of Kiev starts with "Dir and Askold", followed by "Oleg", and then "Igor".{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=36}}

The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus', and ultimately the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598, and numerous noble families claim male-line descent from Rurik. The last Rurikid to rule Russia as tsar was Vasily IV,Raffensperger, Christian and Ingham, Norman W.. "Rurik and the First Rurikids", The American Genealogist, 82 (2007), 1–13, 111–119. who reigned until 1610 and was from the House of Shuysky. The Romanovs were also related to the descendants of Rurik through marriage. The descendants of the princely families allegedly inherited from Rurik are still living.{{Cite web |last=Kalmistopiiri |first=julkaissut |date=27 October 2021 |title=Ruhtinas ja ruhtinaan pojat – paljastavatko geenit Venäjän perustajana pidetyn Rurikin alkuperän? |url=https://kalmistopiiri.fi/2021/10/27/ruhtinas-ja-ruhtinaan-pojat-paljastavatko-geenit-venajan-perustajana-pidetyn-rurikin-alkuperan/ |access-date=3 September 2022 |website=KALMISTOPIIRI |language=fi |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926095759/https://kalmistopiiri.fi/2021/10/27/ruhtinas-ja-ruhtinaan-pojat-paljastavatko-geenit-venajan-perustajana-pidetyn-rurikin-alkuperan/ |url-status=live }}

The king Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki reigned in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1673; a member of the House of Wiśniowiecki, who traditionally traced their descent to the Gediminids, recent studies side with a Rurikid origin of the House of Zbaraski and its cadet branches including the House of Wiśniowiecki.[https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=31441 Księstwa Rzeczpospolitej: państwo magnackie jako region polityczny]{{cite book |last=Кралюк |first=Петро |title=Півтори тисячі років разом - Спільна історія українців і тюркських народів |date=4 April 2020 |publisher=Glagoslav Publications |isbn=978-966-03-8155-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lXqDwAAQBAJ&dq=Вишневецькі+Гедиміновичів&pg=PT266 |language=uk}}

{{main|Rorik of Dorestad|Anti-Normanism}}

Image:Rorik by H. W. Koekkoek.jpg, as conceived by H. W. Koekkoek (1912)}}]]

The name Rurik is a form of the Old Norse name Hrœrekr.Omeljan Pritsak, "Rus{{'"}}, in [https://books.google.com/books?id=d-XiZO8V4qUC Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426163702/https://books.google.com/books?id=d-XiZO8V4qUC |date=26 April 2023 }}, ed. Phillip Pulsiano (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 555–56. Rorik of Dorestad was a member of one of two competing families reported by the Frankish chroniclers as having ruled the nascent Danish kingdom at Hedeby. He may have been a nephew of king Harald Klak. He is mentioned as receiving lands in Friesland from Emperor Louis I. He plundered neighbouring lands: he took Dorestad in 850, attacked Hedeby in 857, and looted Bremen in 859, while his own lands were ravaged in his absence. The Emperor was enraged and stripped him of all his possessions in 860. After that, Rorik disappears from western sources for a considerable period of time. In 862, according to Russian sources, Rurik arrived in the eastern Baltic and built the fortress of Ladoga. Later he moved to Novgorod.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Rorik of Dorestad reappeared in Frankish chronicles in 870, when his Friesland demesne was returned to him by Charles the Bald. In 882, Rorik is mentioned as dead (without a specific date of death).{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} The Primary Chronicle places the death of Rurik of Novgorod in 879,{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=40}} three years earlier than the Frankish chronicles. According to western sources, the ruler of Friesland was converted to Christianity by the Franks.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The idea of identifying Rurik of Rus' with Rorik of Dorestad was revived by the anti-Normanists Boris Rybakov and Anatoly H. Kirpichnikov in the mid-20th century,Kirpichnikov, Anatoly H. "Сказание о призвании варягов. Анализ и возможности источника". Первые скандинавские чтения, СПб; 1997; ch. 7–18. but Alexander Nazarenko and other scholars have objected to it.Nazarenko, Alexander. "Rjurik и

Riis Th., Rorik", Lexikon des Mittelalters, VII; Munich, 1995; pp. 880, 1026.

File:Calling of varangians 01.jpg|Calling of the Varangians miniature in the Radziwiłł Chronicle (15th century)

File:Rurik titularnik.jpg|Image of Rurik in the "Tsar's titularnik" (1672)

File:Prizvanievaryagov.jpg|{{center|Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor arrive at Ladoga. Painted by Viktor Vasnetsov ({{c.}} 1913)}}|alt=Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor arrive at Ladoga. Painted by Viktor Vasnetsov (c. 1913)

File:A01 Prizvanie varyagov.jpg|{{center|The Varanginas Rurik, Sineus and Truvor are approached by messengers from the east. Drawn by Fyodor Bruni ({{c.}} 1839)}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |date=2022 |title=The Rise and Demise of the Myth of the Rus' Land |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/58585/9781802700565.pdf |location=Leeds |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |pages=107 |isbn=9781802700565 |access-date=1 February 2023}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Ostrowski |first=Donald |date=2018 |title=Was There a Riurikid Dynasty in Early Rus'? |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/css/52/1/article-p30_2.xml |journal=Canadian-American Slavic Studies |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=30–49 |doi=10.1163/22102396-05201009}}

{{Commons category|Rurik}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Princes of Novgorod

Category:Founding monarchs

Category:830s births

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:870s deaths

Category:Year of death uncertain

Category:Rurikids

Category:Varangians

Category:9th-century monarchs in Europe

Category:European people whose existence is disputed

Category:Primary Chronicle episodes