Any
study of the origins of the Slavs is fraught with problems, not least
because those origins are extremely obscure and open to interpretation
(and a great deal of misunderstanding). Various myths and legends are
bandied around as fact, and various facts are openly misinterpreted,
sometimes for nationalist or ideological reasons. Getting to the core
of truth under these circumstances is extremely difficult, and even
the most basic appraisal of Slavic origins will be subject to much
doubt and debate. Due to the minefield of problems that can develop
from the smallest statement, any exploration of Slavic origins may
be wordier than almost any other, and is covered in detail in the
accompanying feature (see link, right). Only basic details are
included in this introduction in order to provide a framework for
the timeline below.
It
is generally accepted that Slavic origins are tied in with those of
Indo-Europeans (IEs) in general, and especially with the
migrations of the Yamnaya horizon. Initially the proto-Slavs were
closely related to the
proto-Balts, and
both seem to have been far less mobile than most other IE groups.
Their initial lack of movement is explained by their not being located
along the main migration paths. As a result they failed to join the
general
West Indo-European
migration (see the map link, right, for general locations of the various
tribes in Europe of the first centuries BC and AD).
Eventually,
a dividing line did emerge between two halves of this forest-dwelling
population, forming the basis for proto-Slavs (to the south) and
proto-Balts (to the north). This long isolation may also account for some
peculiar aspects of Baltic and Slavic religion (see feature link). The
southward group gradually expanded further southwards in the direction of
the northern Black Sea coast, while the northward group gradually migrated
further northwards. A possible pressure point for this division and
subsequent drift could have been, at least in part, the divergent
migratory route of the
proto-Germanics
on their way towards
Scandinavia which
may have interrupted the isolation of the forest-dwellers. The
proto-Germanics seem not to have had much to do with them though,
not culturally or linguistically, at least. This can be proven by
the lack of a presence of the cult of Rte in Baltic and Slavic culture.
Just why these two groups - R1a Y-chromosome satem speakers just
like the
Indo-Iranians
- did not have the otherwise widespread Rte cult can be explained by
their very isolation in the forests to the north of the Pontic-Caspian
steppe.
The Balto-Slavic division itself took place around 2500 BC, towards
the end of the Indo-European migrationary period, after which the
Balts carried on drifting northwards until they reached the
south-eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. The Slavs themselves generally
remained incubated in forest territory well above the northern coast
of the Black Sea (largely falling within modern northern
Ukraine,
plus the southern edges of
Russia and
Belarus).
The precise location of the proto-Slavic homeland is little more than
conjecture. Most estimations centre on a region bounded by the River
Bug to the west, the Pripjat to the north, the Don to the east (feeding
into the Sea of Azov on the
Crimea's eastern coast),
and the Dnieper to the south.
The
Slav name first appeared in the historical record in the form of 'Sclavenes',
although even today there is no agreement on etymology. It was first
attested, almost simultaneously, by Procopius of Caesarea (in Greek) and
Jordanes (in Latin), although Ptolemy had already mentioned the otherwise
obscure Souobenoi and Stauanoi in the mid-second century AD.
Old Church Slavonic first records 'Slaviane' in tenth-century texts which
were produced in imperial
Bulgaria, but these
are preserved only in much later manuscripts. Many linguists are now of
the opinion that the name was initially a Slavic self-designation for an
individual group on the sixth-century Danubian frontier with the
Eastern Roman empire, which
would mean that it had to have been derived from a place name, much like
other ethnic Slavic names with an '-ene' ending. Theories about the name
deriving from Slavic words for 'fame' or 'word' are now largely discredited
(and for a more detailed examination of the Slav name, see the feature link,
right).
Jonas
of Bobbio's Life of Saint Columbanus and the Chronicle of
Fredegar are the first Latin sources to mention Sclavenes under
another name - 'Wends'. This was also noted in various other forms (some
of them far older), including Veneti,
Venedi, or Winedi
(see feature link for more), but ascribing to the Venedi any Slavic
heritage is a mistake. The Venedi were in place along the Vistula and
elsewhere in that region long before the Slavs began to migrate out of
their original incubation zone (or were forced out by various external
occupations such as those of the
Huns and
Avars). The Wends were
not Slavs, but they did come to be dominated by Slavs after the fourth
century. Frankish
and Eastern Roman chroniclers perhaps didn't appreciate this complication,
lumping them all together so that, in written works, Wends were Slavs
and Slavs were Wends. Only once Slavic assimilation was complete were
they all Slavs.
The Avars did indeed play a vital role in the development of the Slavs.
There is general agreement among western scholars that the Avars were
instrumental in the introduction of Slavs into the historical record.
Just as the Huns caused the Germanic peoples (along with the Iranian
Alani) to migrate and to
develop new political groups, so too did the Avars cause the Slavs to
move and to develop. In fact it would seem to be the Avars who were
responsible for initiating any Slavic outward movement at all, after
which they began to head west, south-west, and north for the most part.
The east saw far less Slavic intrusion in the early centuries, perhaps
with the
Volga Bulgars providing too solid a frontier for them to cross.
(Information by Peter Kessler & Edward Dawson, with additional information
from the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages-Online
(Supplement to LexMA-Online), from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language:
How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World,
David W Anthony, from The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Jordanes,
from Geography, Ptolemy, and from External Links:
The Slavs and the Avars, Omeljan Pritsak, and the
Linguistics Research Centre, University of Texas at Austin and the
College of Liberal Arts, and the
College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences (personal sites) at the University of Florida, and
Brepolis
Medieval Encyclopaedias Online, and
History of the Langobards, Paul the Deacon (Full Text), and
The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks to
Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link
to download or access it).)
c.1300s BC
The proto-Baltic
sphere becomes divided into several zones of influence during the Bronze
Age. The western zone is under the influence of the Central European
metallurgical centre. In the eastern or continental zone, amid the forests
which extend from eastern
Lithuania and
Latvia to the upper Volga
basin, the people retain an archaic character, with some influence from
their proto-Slav neighbours in southern
Russia. This division continues
throughout the remaining prehistoric period, with the eastern Balts being in
active contact with the Finno-Ugrians,
Cimmerians,
proto-Scythians, and
early Slavs.
This image shows Cimmerians battling early Greeks - prior to
the advent of accepted 'Classical' Greece - with the mounted
Cimmerians warriors apparently being accompanied by their dogs
(republican Romans did much the same thing)
c.1200s BC
From an early date, certainly before their existence is recorded - and
the 1200s BC has been mentioned as a likely period - a large proportion of
the early Slavs in the Middle Dnieper basin fall under the domination of
the Scythians. The
Finno-Ugric tribes and the eastern
Balts living in the forested
areas to the north remain outside the orbit of strong Scythian influence.
7th cent BC
The Pomeranian
culture cultivates cereal crops, but imports from the south are generally
lower than with the preceding
Lusatian culture.
Warfare seems unlikely as an adequate reason as the region produces less
hill forts now than the Lusatian had done. Pomeranian culture is probably
influenced by the
Germanic groups of
southern Scandinavia,
at least in part, while a theory based on recent DNA evidence suggests
the emergence of a pre-Slavic/Germanic mix which culturally influences
the later Western Slavs.
625 BC
Herodotus says that Huwaxshatra of
Media
reigns for forty years including the period in which his people are dominated
by the Scythians, but
virtually all historians agree that what is meant is forty years excluding
the Scythian domination. At the beginning of his reign, Huwaxshatra is
considered a vassal of the Scythians until he throws off their yoke in 625
BC.
The Scythian ruler, Madys, and his fellow leaders are massacred by the Medians
while his defeated people flee back into Scythia, abandoning their former
territory to the south of the Caucuses Mountains. Once there they begin the
reconquest and renewed domination of the 'lesser' Scythian tribes. Presumably
included amongst this number are the Slavs.
600 - 500 BC
The Scythians reach the
southern borders of the western
Baltic lands, seemingly due
to their becoming involved in wars against the
Persians who are invading Scythia from the south. Herodotus describes
these wars in Book IV of his history, these being the earliest surviving
written records concerning the history of Eastern Europe at the end of the
sixth century BC. Apparently, though, the Scythians do not succeed in
penetrating farther north largely, it would seem, thanks to Baltic
resistance.
This map attempts to show the Scythian lands at their
greatest extent, failing to extend northwards thanks
to the Balts (click or tap on map to view full sized)
Allusions to some tribal names may be regarded as references to the Baltic
and Finno-Ugric tribes. Herodotus describes an expedition undertaken by the
Persian King Darius against the Scythians in 515 BC. He mentions and
approximately locates the seats of the
'Neuri', 'Androphagi',
'Melanchlaeni', 'Budini', and other tribes living to the north of Scythia.
The Neuri dwell beyond the Scythian farmers who inhabit the land to their
south, at a distance of a three day journey towards the east and an eleven
day voyage up the Dnieper, starting from Hylae on the Black Sea.
From this it appears that the land of the 'Scythian farmers' occupies the
lower and middle Dnieper basin. From the archaeological point of view, this
land coincides with the distribution of the Chernoleska culture which, while
strongly influenced by the Scythians, shows clear continuity with the preceding
culture in Podolia and the middle Dnieper basin, known by the names Bilogrudovka
for the Late Bronze Age, Komarov for the Middle Bronze Age, and Bilopotok for
the Early Bronze Age. For over a millennium this culture had persisted until
the Scythians had destroyed it by conquest. There can be no other explanation
than that the 'Scythian farmers' and their predecessors are the ancestors of
the Slavs.
2nd century BC
The changeless life of the eastern
Baltic tribes in the Dnieper
basin is disturbed by the appearance of the Zarubintsy culture, assumed to
be Slavs (the name originates in Zarubinec Cemetery to the south of Kiev on
the River Dnieper, excavated in 1899). The Zarubintsy people invade the lands
of the the Milograd people along the River Pripet and up the Dnieper and its
tributaries, and the southern territories which are inhabited by the people
of the Plain Pottery culture.
21 BC - AD 1
The Quadi end their southwards
migration by settling in Moravia
and what is now western
Slovakia, alongside the
far more numerous Marcomanni
to their immediate west. Early Slavic tribes can be found to the north-east of
them, but in this period they remain small and unimportant.
The landscape of western Slovakia offers a dramatic contrast
in landscape, making the region protectable, but also very
verdant and productive
c.8 - 6 BC
Various Germanic tribes
can be located within the area of the
Przeworsk culture at
this time, including the Lugii,
Vandali, and
Venedi. The
Burgundians are also linked
to the region prior to their migration. Arguments have existed for some time
over whether the Przeworsk is the result of Germanic, Slavic, or
Celtic influence. The
truth is probably that all three contribute. The Lugii especially are known
to cross the boundary between Germanic and Celtic, while little is known of
the Slavs except that they first emerge between southern
Poland and western
Ukraine.
c.140s
Ptolemy, who writes in the mid-second century, mentions two tribes in the
form of the Souobenoi and Stauanoi, both of which have been
interpreted as possibly the oldest historical attestations of Slavs. Both
tribes are otherwise obscure but, given Ptolemy's diligence in recording
other groups on the far side of the Vistula, it is likely that they are
genuine.
c.200
A tentative footing for the origins of the
Croats comes with the earliest
mention of the name as Horovathos (modern Hrvatske/Hrvat or Hrvati/Horvat)
which can apparently be traced on two stone inscriptions in Greek, dating
from around AD 200. These are placed in the seaport of Tanais on the Sea
of Azov (now part of Crimea).
One of the confluents to the River Don near the region of Azov is still
called Horvatos. This area is close enough to the proto-Slav homeland in
what is now northern Ukraine
to make a proto-Croat presence feasible.
c.376
The last ruler of the
Ostrogoths
for generations to remain free of
Hunnic vassalage, Vinithar
leads the free remnants of his people to Pannonia where they apparently
resist the Huns for a few brief years. Associated with Vinithar by Jordanes
are the second of three great groups of professional warriors, an early
Slavic tribal polity known as the Antes (the others being the
Venedi and the
yet-to-be-instituted Sclaveni warriors, the later Slavs).
In the face of an unstoppable and destructive Hunnic invasion,
the final act of the Ostrogothic King Ermanaric was a (probable)
ritualistic death ceremony in which he ended his own life
Once free of Gothic control, the Antes expand across the Black Sea coast
from an area to the north of the lower Danube across to the sea of Azov.
Also in the fourth century, and most likely towards its end, West Slavs
begin to migrate into Bohemia
and Moravia, a process that is more or less completed by the sixth century.
5th century
The strong cultural centre of the
Baltic tribes, with influences
extending across north-eastern Europe, comes under threat from around the
end of the fourth century or in the early part of the fifth century, as
eastern Slav expansion reaches the Baltic lands in what is now western
Russia. The gradual
influx of Slavs continues right up until the twelfth century and
onwards.
The earliest stages of the Slavic expansion northwards is still being
established in a satisfactory manner by actual archaeological finds. It
seems that the area between Kiev and Novgorod is occupied in consecutive
waves by different tribal groups between the fifth and eighth centuries.
Early traces of Slavs - identified with the Krivichis Slavics - in the
north are found in the area of Pskov, east of
Estonia and
Latvia and south of Lake
Peipus in the basin of the River Velikaja.
West Slavs first enter central
Poland and
Galicia towards the later
part of the century, filling the void left by the greater part of the
departed eastern Germanic
tribes in regions such as Lusatia and Silesia. Masuria is also reoccupied
after parts of it have been abandoned by the
Vidivarii and
their preceding
Willenberg culture
ancestors, with the West Baltic tribe of the
Galindians moving
in. They and the newly-arriving Slav populations are still neighboured to
the north by surviving Vidivarii populations which are gradually subjugated.
Slavs occupied areas of Europe that had previously been home
to the Germanic Vandali and the Celtic Naharvali before them,
including the rolling hills of Silesia
c.488 - 525
The region around Carinthia
is settled by tribal Slavs. There is no overall regional control, and Carinthia
soon becomes a border zone between the
Avars and the
Bavarii during the sixth and
seventh centuries.
550/551
The Kutrigurs are enlisted
as allies by the Gepids, whose
kingdom is now under threat by the
Langobards and
Eastern Romans.
Emperor Justinian immediately brings into action his own allies, the
Utigurs, cousins of the
Kutrigurs, and the Kutrigurs are forced to abandon their mission and return
to defend their homeland on the north-western shore of the Black Sea.
Thurisind of the Gepids is forced to contract the Sclaveni (a general
name for the early Slav arrivals in the Balkan region) as backups,
ferrying them across the Danube.
At the same time, the
Gothic writer Jordanes,
a bureaucrat in the Roman capital of Constantinople, completes his sixth
century work, entitled Getica. Among many other things, it provides
an account of the origins of the Sclavenes or Sclaveni (Slavs, but various
translations produce the two different plural suffixes seen here).
In relation to them he mentions two other kinds of professional warriors,
the Antes (an early Slavic tribal polity) and 'Venethi' or 'Venethae'. The
latter are the Venedi,
who are probably undergoing a gradual absorption by newly-arriving Slav
groups. The Antes are linked with King Vinitharius of the
Ostrogoths. No
specific deeds with regard to the Sclaveni are ascribed to any Gothic ruler,
showing that they are essentially a post-Gothic institution.
6th century
The West Slavs of Poland gradually
subjugate the remaining Germanic
and Baltic populations in the
north of the region. It is in the early part of this century that isolated
remains from cultures influenced by
Rome last appear, mostly
the remnants of Germanic tribes that have traded directly or obliquely with
the former empire. Germanic populations survive in
Pomerania. The Polans occupy
the central region of Greater Poland, and during this century a dominant if
largely undocumented kingship appears to emerge.
The legendary brothers, Lech, Czech and Rus, were the eponymous
founders of the Polish, Czech and Russian nations, shown here in
Viktor Vasnetsov's 'Warriors', 1898
6th century
Much of Thuringia's
original territory is lost to incursions by the
Avars and Slavs. Further Slav
groups in Central Europe probably absorb the
Lugii tribe, subsequent to its
defeat by Rome.
Slavs also migrate into the area around the Caucuses, to the north and east
of the Black Sea, to merge with
proto-Bulgarians who have
been there since the fifth century. A little farther west, more Slavs settle
to eventually form Serbia. The
GermanicWarini are crushed by the
Franks in 595 and
are apparently assimilated by subsequent Slav settlers in the region who
themselves are called the Varnes, adopting the name of the people they now
dominate.
The northern Slavic expansion does not immediately wipe out the eastern
Balts. They persist in smaller
and larger enclaves for many centuries. It is highly probable that before the
Slavic Krivichis, Dregovichs, and Radimichs come to dominate the upper Dnieper
basin, there exists a Baltic population whose culture is particularly closely
related to the Lets in what is
now eastern Latvia.
7th century
The Baltic tribes enjoy what
could be termed a 'second golden age', buoyed by rapidly-expanding Viking
trade networks which are reaching far the west and deep into Eastern Europe
to establish contacts with the
Byzantine empire
at Constantinople. It's not all peaceful trade, however. The Vikings see the
Balts as a viable target for raids, little realising at first how good are
the Balts at defending their territories and even striking back at Viking
targets. To the south the Slavs also pose a threat, but the well-equipped
cavalry of the southern Baltic tribes, especially it must be assumed the
Galindians and
Yotvingians,
serves to prevent the Slavs from penetrating into core Baltic lands.
c.623 - 658
The
'Slav
Kingdom' of
Carinthia,
Hungary, and
Moravia is formed, stretching
from the borders of the
Frankish empire in
the west along to Moravia in the east. The Eastern Alpine Slavs join this
kingdom by 626. Although its short history is very cloudy - as are its exact
borders - it seems to follow the line of the Danube almost from its westerly
beginnings to a point east of which it turns south towards the
Balkans. The kingdom does not
survive the death of its only ruler, instead fragmenting into a Slav principality
in Carinthia (Austria), while the
Avars resume control of
Hungary.
The modern southern Austrian region of Carinthia marked
the upper edge of the Adriatic hinterland, and the
southern borders of Samo's seventh century Slav kingdom,
one of the earliest Slav states to appear
c.626 - c.641
Slavs which include the Croats
are invited by
Byzantine Emperor Heraclius to help him fight the
Avars. The Croats receive
their present-day lands to settle as a reward, with further Slav groups
also settling Slovenia.
The Slav presence in Dalmatia and
Istria leads to the
destruction of churches, and
Pope John IV, a
Dalmatian, is forced to pay large sums of money to free prisoners. The
relics of some of the more important Dalmatian saints are interred in
Rome.
c.634
Towards the end of the life of Dagobert I of
Austrasia, possibly around
AD 634, he appoints one Hruodi to command the River Main region from its
capital at Würzburg. For almost a century now, Franks have been settling
along the course of the Main, gradually securing more territory towards
the east. Early in the seventh century, Slavs begin settling to the
north-east, so Hruodi's appointment is an attempt to stabilise this
eastern area of Austrasia that is gradually becoming known as
Franconia.
646
Despite his mental illness and the regency being provided by his adoptive
brothers, Aione leads the forces of
Benevento against Slavic
raiders who attack Siponto on the Adriatic coast. During the clearance
operation, his horse falls into the defensive pit that has been dug around
the Slavic camp and Aione is surrounded and killed.
662
The Fredegarii Chronicon records that in Pannonia (part of which
now forms
Khorushka's
territory), a dispute arises between the
Avars and a large, migrant
population of around nine thousand
Bulgars.
Under the leadership of a Prince Alcioka, the Bulgars seek help from the
Bavarii
but are almost entirely slaughtered on the orders of the
Frankish King
Dagobert. Something like seven hundred survivors enter the marca
Vinedorum, the land of the Slavs, and meet its ruler, one Duke Valuk
('Wallucum ducem Vinedorum', possibly linked to the
Slav
Kingdom).
This map shows Frankish domination around AD 800, but
Khorushka's approximate borders are still visible, with
Bavaria and the Avars engulfing them on either side
(click or tap on map to view full sized)
c.664/666
Around AD 666, King Grimoald of the
Lombards faces perhaps
the biggest threat to his kingship while he is fighting the
Eastern Romans in
the Mezzogiorno. Having left Duke Lupus of Friuli as his regent in the north,
the duke now revolts, usurping Grimoald's authority. Grimoald is forced to
return, and Lupus is thoroughly defeated and his duchy devastated by cooperative
attacks by the Avars. Grimoald
then hunts down Lupus' son, Arnefrit, and his Slav allies (quite possibly those
of
Khorushka), and defeats them in battle at Nimis. Arnefrit dies during the
battle and Grimoald gifts the duchy of Friuli to Wechthari. The new duke is
an inveterate enemy of the Slavs, and almost immediately defeats a Slav raid
from Khorushka (as outlined by Paul the Deacon and sometimes attributed to
the year 664).
8th century
The Venedi
gradually disappear between the sixth and eighth centuries. Pressure
from Germanic groups
to their west, but more especially from migrating Slavs from the east
see them assimilated. The northernmost parts of their territory are
absorbed by various natives which include the
Prussians and
Lithuanians. The
majority of the north is slowly amalgamated by early
Poland.
Thanks to that assimilation, Germans largely see the new Slav masters
of the Venedi as being of the same group, and the Venedi name is
transferred to them (although they don't use it to describe themselves).
In the German tongue they are called Wends (Wenden or Winden), while
further south the early
Carinthians and
Styrians (later to form
part of Austria) refer
to them as Windische. This helps to show just how great a territory
had been settled by the Venedi in the millennium or more of their
settlement east of the Vistula.
The vocabulary of the proto-Slavic language shows signs of adoption from
multiple sources, with evidence of loan words from
Indo-European
languages of Eastern Europe. Naturally the Venedi have been suggested as
one of those sources. Given the probable origins of the Slavs between the
rivers Bug and Dnieper (the latter of which runs through
Belarus and Kiev
in Ukraine before draining
into the Black Sea), the two groups have probably interacted long before
the Slavs now become dominant, in much the same way as Germans and
Gauls
interacted across the Rhine in the second and first centuries BC.
A personification of the early Wends was presented by a gospel
book of 990 which showed them as the Sclavinia (early Slavs,
of which the westernmost groups were known as Wends), plus
Germania, Gallia, and Roma, all of whom were bringing tribute
to Holy Roman emperor Otto III
Across the eighth and ninth centuries, Slavic tribes migrate and settle
in the region of Pomerania,
occupying the territory between the Oder and the Vistula. They number at
least ten tribes, two of which are the
Pyritzans and the
Volinians. To the east
of them are Baltic peoples,
while to the west are the Veleti group of
Celtic tribes that
are rapidly becoming Slavicised, and the Obrodrites. Vast woodlands separate
the Pomeranians from the
Poles to their south,
as this latter group of Slavs begins to form small states.
The
Veleti Union has formed on the western edge of
Pomerania, on the
southern coast of the Baltic Sea and the western bank of the Oder, in
modern north-eastern
Germany. The name is the same as 'Galati' (see feature link for details),
but without the 'w' to 'gw' to 'g' shift that long ago produced Galati.
Instead this 'Veleti' is either the original 'w' pronunciation (which
seems most likely) or a
Belgic-style 'w'
to 'v' pronunciation. What this 'Veleti' means is that the
Venedi and other
Celts in this region are recorded not by tribal name but by ethnic
identity. These Celtic descendants eventually adopt Slavic speech before
being incorporated into the German
empire.
9th century
From the beginning of the Slavic expansion to the formation of the three
Slavic states, Novgorod, Ryazan, and
Kiev, in the ninth
century and even several centuries later, there are considerable numbers
of Balts in what is now
Belarus and in
the west of greater Russia.
The process of Slavonisation which had begun in prehistoric times continues
into the nineteenth century.
In 830 the
Great Moravian kingdom is established along the River Morava by
the Slavic leader Mojmír. Mojmír's successors expanded it to include
today's Bohemia,
Slovakia, southern
Poland and western
Hungary. The kingdom finds
itself at the crossroads between the
Germanic
people in the west and
Byzantium
in the east. Out of this kingdom is formed the duchy of
Bohemia-Moravia.
In 862 the Swedish
Viking, Rurik, founds the Viking 'Rus' state with his headquarters at
Novgorod with a population made up of eastern Slav, Finno-Ugric, and
Baltic people. This is soon followed by the rise of the Old Russians
(Eastern Slavs ruled by a Scandinavian nobility) as the dominant regional
force. Trading centres such as Grodno, Volkovosk, and Novogorodok are
founded by the Rus on the former territories of the
Lithuanians and the
Yotvingians.
Tradition states that in AD 862 Rurik was invited to rule
at Novgorod, with other Rus princes at Izborsk and Beloozero,
and in 882 Oleg seized Kiev at the heartland of Eastern Slavic
tribal lands (click or tap on map to view full sized)
By this time the Slavic tribes on what will become Russian soil are fairly
well established and stable. The Polyanians inhabit the open country on
the west bank of the Dnieper between Teterev and Ros', with the Ulichs
and the Tiverians as their southern neighbours toward the Bug and Dniester.
On the other, eastern shore of the Dnieper, between the Desna and the Sula,
are the Severians beyond whom, to the north-west, are the Viyatihs on the
southern course of the Oka. The Radimichs are located along the Sozh', and
the Krivichis on the upper Volga and the watershed between the latter and
the Dvina.
North of the Polyanians, the Dregovichs occupy the wooded country to the
south of the Pripet', while beyond the Dregovichs to the north are Lithuanian
and Finno-Ugric tribes which lay between the Niemen and Dvina. The settlers
about Lake Il'men' are the only ones to employ the characteristic name of
Slavs (Slovene).
945
A Swedish Viking
called Ragnvald Olafsson establishes himself as head of the principality
of Polotsk, a vassal Slav
state within Kievan
Rus territories, to the south-east of Pskov (within modern
Belarus). This
makes it one of the earliest Eastern Slav states.
c.955
A Slavic principality emerges on the island of
Rügen, the
largest island belonging to modern
Germany. The island
had been settled by
GermanicRugii in the first millennium
AD, probably from Scandinavia. Slavs had arrived in the seventh century, mixing
with the Germanic population which remained after the Migration Period had
seen many of their peoples head southwards. The Slavic principality fully
emerges at the same time as
Pomerania to the immediate
south-east is being Germanised.
The Danish conquest of Rügen in 1168 ended more than a millennium
of independence for the native people - a possible combination of
Celts, Germanics, and Slavs - pulling down their gods in the
process
1169
As the conclusion of the destructive events of 1167,
Kiev is sacked by the
forces of Andrey Bogolyubskiy of
Vladimir-Suzdal.
The seat of the grand prince of the Rus is moved to Vladimir while Kiev
is gifted with a ruler named Gleb, younger brother of Andrey Bogolyubskiy.
This ends Kiev's pre-eminence as the principle city of the Rus, but perhaps
the greatest of all Slav states will rise from the ashes, centred in
Moscow.
