How the first princes appeared — Varangians, trade, tribute, Rurik, Oleg, Kyiv

Among these travellers were the Scandinavians whom the eastern sources called Varangians. In the west they are usually known as Vikings. They were warriors, but they were also merchants, sailors and adventurers. Some came for trade, some for war, and some simply looking for a new place in which to make their fortune. They did not arrive in an empty country. Local peoples already lived along the rivers and controlled the settlements and the trade. But the Scandinavians brought something that was useful in this world: experienced warriors who could travel quickly by river and fight far from home.

This helps explain why princes began to appear in the lands of the future Rus’. A prince was not simply a king sitting in a palace and giving orders to everyone around him. He depended on his companions and warriors, his druzhina, who fought for him and expected a share of the wealth that came from war and tribute. A successful prince could protect a town, lead a raid, settle disputes and collect payments from the surrounding population. The more people and towns he could bring under his authority, the stronger he became.

The old Russian chronicle tells the beginning of this story with the arrival of a Scandinavian ruler named Rurik. According to the Primary Chronicle, in the year traditionally given as 862, several northern tribes invited the Varangians to rule them. The famous story says that they looked for a prince who could bring order among them, and Rurik came with his followers.

A prince was not simply a king sitting in a palace and giving orders to everyone around him.

We should be careful with this story. The chronicle was written down much later, and historians still debate how much of the story can be taken as a literal account of what happened in the ninth century. Rurik himself may have been a real historical figure, but the details of his story are much less certain. What matters for us is that the chronicle remembered the beginning of Rus’ as a time when Scandinavian princes became closely connected with the political life of the eastern Slavic lands.

Rurik is traditionally associated with Novgorod in the north. But the most important city for the new state was farther south.

That city was Kyiv.

Kyiv stood on the Dnieper, in a place where the great river could connect the north with the Black Sea. Whoever controlled Kyiv could take part in the trade between the lands of the north and Constantinople. It was therefore worth much more than an ordinary town. It was a place from which a ruler could control people, goods and the river route itself.

The chronicle tells us that after Rurik’s death, power passed to his relative Oleg, who ruled on behalf of Rurik’s young son Igor. Oleg then travelled south with his warriors. When he reached Kyiv, two local rulers, Askold and Dir, were in control of the city. According to the story, Oleg did not attack the city at once. Instead, he hid his warriors and approached Askold and Dir as if he were only a traveller. When they came out to meet him, Oleg revealed his soldiers and claimed that they were not the true rulers of Kyiv. He then took the city for himself and made it the centre of his realm.

Whether the scene happened exactly as the chronicle describes it, we cannot know. But the larger story is easy to understand. The northern lands and the southern Dnieper route were becoming part of the same political world, and Kyiv was the place that could hold them together.

This is how the story of Rus’ begins: not with a country that already existed and simply received its first king, but with many peoples, settlements and trading routes slowly becoming connected. The rivers made movement possible. Trade brought wealth. Warriors gave ambitious rulers power. And Kyiv, standing on the great road to the south, became the city around which this new state began to grow.