Askold and Dir are the first Christians of the Russian land. Mysterious princes of Kyiv - Askold and Dir
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The Kyiv princes Askold and Dir came to Rus' together with Rurik in 862. For two years they were side by side with the Novgorod prince? however, in 864 they left Novgorod and went to Constantinople to serve the Byzantine king. Going down the river, Askold and Dir on this journey discovered a small city on the banks of the Dnieper River, which, according to the chroniclers, did not belong to anyone. The founders of the city died long ago, and the inhabitants of the city, having no ruler, paid tribute to the Khazars. Askold and Dir captured this city, as well as the lands adjacent to it. This town was called Kyiv. Thus, by 864, a situation arose when the Varangians formed two control centers in Rus': in the north in Novgorod, under the control of Rurik, in the south in Kyiv, ruled by Askold and Dir.
Campaigns against Byzantium
Ancient Byzantium, where they went Kyiv princes Askold and Dir from Novgorod, it was large state, whose service was considered an honor by many. For this purpose, Rurik’s comrades-in-arms left Novgorod, and only the city of Kyiv, encountered on their way, changed their plans. It is worth noting that ancient Byzantium highly valued the capabilities of the Varangians. Northern warriors were gladly accepted into service in the Byzantine army, because their discipline and military qualities were valued.
Having captured Kyiv, princes Askold and Dir became bolder and declared that Byzantium was now an enemy for Kyiv. The Varangians, being experienced sailors, under the command of Askold and Dir, set off along the Dnieper on a campaign against Byzantium. In total, the military escort consisted of 200 ships. It was from this campaign that all subsequent campaigns against Byzantium began.
March on Constantinople
Askold and Dir with their troops descended along the Dnieper into the Black Sea and there besieged the city of Constantinople. The campaigns against Byzantium had just begun; the Greeks for the first time encountered a new enemy at the walls of their city, whom they dubbed the Scythians. The Prince of Byzantium, Michael 3, being on a military campaign at that time, hastily returned to his capital as soon as rumors reached him about the danger looming over the city. In Constantinople itself they did not hope for victory over the Scythians. Here they relied on a miracle, since the forces were unequal. That's what happened. In the temple of the city there was a shrine - the icon “Robe of the Mother of God”, which was considered the intercessor of the city and saved it more than once in difficult situations. Byzantine Patriarch Photius, in front of everyone, lowered the icon into the sea, which was quiet. But literally immediately a terrible storm arose. Almost the entire enemy fleet was destroyed, only a few ships managed to reach Kyiv. Thus, ancient Byzantium was saved from the invasion of Askold and Dir, but the campaigns did not stop there.
Confrontation with Novgorod
In 879, Prince Rurik died, leaving behind a minor heir - Prince Igor, whose guardianship was taken over by his relative Oleg. Having become a ruler, Oleg decided to annex the southern lands to his possessions and set off on a campaign against Kyiv in 882. On the way to Kyiv, Oleg captured the cities of Smolensk and Lyubech. Foreseeing that princes Askold and Dir, who have a large army and are not inferior to him in military skills, would not give up Kyiv without a fight, Prince Oleg, acting on behalf of Igor, resorted to deception. Sailing to Kyiv, he left almost his entire army on the ships, and he introduced himself as a merchant who had arrived from distant countries. He invited the princes of Kyiv to his place. Askold and Dir went to meet the eminent guest, but were captured by Oleg’s soldiers and killed.
So Oleg, on behalf of Igor, began to rule Kiev, saying that from now on Kyiv was destined to be the mother of Russian cities. Thus, for the first time, the northern and southern Russian lands were united within one state, whose name was Kievan Rus.
Those who did not receive control of the cities asked him to go with their relatives to Constantinople to seek their fortune. Askold and Dir set off in the usual way of the Varangians - they sailed along the Dnieper past Smolensk, the city Krivichi, past Lyubech, city northerners, and reached a town unknown to them in a very beautiful area, on the steep bank of the Dnieper. They learned that this city is called Kiev, named after Kiya, who once founded the first settlements here with the brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid. We also learned that the people of Kiev pay tribute Khazars.
Askold and Dir fell in love with this place: they helped the people of Kiev free themselves from the power of the Khazars and themselves began to rule here; They recruited a strong squad from their fellow countrymen and established themselves in this country as the Polyan tribe.
Thus a new thing appeared Russian state on the middle reaches of the Dnieper.
The warlike Askold and Dir did not sit in one place for long: they were accustomed to combat alarms, and it was boring for them peaceful life, and then every now and then they had to hear from experienced people fabulous stories about the wondrous riches of the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, about its extraordinary luxury. They often heard that the Greeks are a weak, pampered people, that they are afraid of war, that they are ready to pay off their enemies with gold rather than meet them in the field or sea with weapons in their hands.
The temptation was very great. Getting to Constantinople was not particularly difficult. Preparations for the trip began. And so the restless, enterprising daredevils gathered with different sides to Askold and Dir, hunters for military pleasures and rich booty, and set off on two hundred boats. It was easy to float along the current of the Dnieper to its very rapids; here it was necessary with considerable difficulty to guide the boats between the stones, and in other places it was necessary to drag them along the ground, and in some places to carry them on the shoulders. Then again the current of the wide Dnieper carried the boats of the squad of Askold and Dir into the Black Sea. In the calm, one had to row across the sea, and with a fair wind, the sails were raised, and light boats quickly glided along the surface of the sea - rushing like sea gulls across its wide expanse.
Askold and Dir's campaign against Constantinople. Drawing from the Radziwill Chronicle, 15th century
The Russians attacked Constantinople by surprise. Emperor Michael III was at that time with an army in Asia, at the eastern borders of the empire. Horror gripped the entire population of the luxurious capital when fugitives from neighboring coastal villages brought terrible news that many Russian boats were sailing towards the capital. They locked the city gates, placed guards in different places along the city wall and in the towers, and sent news of the trouble to the emperor.
The stern northern warriors of Askold and Dir were terrible for the pampered Byzantines. They were tall, zealous and strong people with light brown hair and shaved chins; heavy helmets covered their heads; the chest was protected by chain mail; Over it they threw cloaks, the corners of which were connected at the right shoulder with a cufflink. Stiff bows, sharp feathered arrows, darts, spears, heavy axes (axes) and double-edged swords made up the offensive weapons of these warriors. Large, semicircular shields at the top and pointed at the bottom protected them well from enemy attacks.
The army of Askold and Dir approached Constantinople from the sea, landed on the shore, scattered in detachments throughout the surrounding villages and defenseless outskirts of the capital and, according to the testimony of the Byzantines, began to terribly rage, ruin them, destroy everything with sword and fire. There was no mercy for either the old or the young; neither the cries of children, nor the pleas of mothers - nothing touched the fierce warriors! Despair gripped the capital's residents. The clergy continuously performed prayer services in churches; they were full of people praying. Patriarch Photius spoke sermons. He called the invasion of the squad of Askold and Dir a punishment sent by God for vices and grave sins, in which the population of the capital is mired.
“A cruel and impudent people,” he said, “ruins and destroys everything: fields, homes, herds, women, children, elders, kills everyone with a sword, showing mercy to no one, sparing no one. He, like locusts in a field, like a burning heat, like a flood, appeared in our country and destroyed its inhabitants ... "
The patriarch also pointed out the cowardice of the inhabitants, distraught with fear.
“Don't yell, don't make noise, stop crying, pray calmly, be courageous!” - he admonished them.
But all in vain: fear was stronger than his eloquence! The Russians built a huge rampart near the city walls, reached the top of the wall, and the residents trembled with horror that the enemies were about to break into the city... But this did not happen - Askold and Dir, quite unexpectedly for the besieged, hastily left from under the walls of Constantinople. Whether a storm that arose at sea, or the news of the approach of the emperor with a large army prompted them to do this, is unknown. Long after that, the Greeks retained a legend about this first attack on their capital by the Russians. There is news that around this time some of them accepted Christianity from the Greeks.
Russian chronicles date this campaign of Askold and Dir to 866. But Byzantine sources place the time of the first Russian siege of Constantinople to June 860 with greater certainty.
Oleg shows baby Igor to Askold and Dir. Drawing from the Radziwill Chronicle, 15th century
According to Russian chronicles, Askold and Dir continued to reign in Kyiv after that. But when Rurik, who ruled in Novgorod, died in 879, his successor Oleg (guardian of Rurik’s young son, Igor) moved with a large squad to make conquests in the south. Having taken Smolensk and Lyubech, Oleg approached Kyiv (882). But he was afraid open battle with Askold and Dir, who had many warriors. Oleg left his squad behind and approached Kyiv with several boats, posing as merchants who were going to trade in Constantinople. Without suspecting any malicious intent, Askold and Dir went ashore without strong guards. Then, following a conventional sign, the soldiers hidden in Oleg’s boats rushed at them.
“You are not princes or of a princely family,” Oleg told them and added, pointing to little Igor, who was sitting next to him, “but here is Rurik’s son.”
Death of Askold and Dir. Engraving by F. A. Bruni. Before 1839
Oleg's warriors killed Askold and Dir. They were buried near the bank of the Dnieper on a mountain (to this day one coastal mountain near Kyiv is called Askold’s Grave). And the people of Kiev submitted to the authority of Oleg, who united all of Rus' into one state, except for the tribal land subordinate to the Khazars Vyatichi.
Askold and Dir
Let's start with Askold and Dir: perhaps they are most directly related to Rurik. The chronicler says that these two “close people” of Rurik captured Kyiv in 866. Either the city was then without princes, without warriors, without guards, or at the mere appearance of Askold and Dir, the descendants of Kiy and Shchek rushed to flee... In any case, there is no information about the defense of the city, about resistance. Neither about the resistance of professional warriors, nor about the resistance of the people.
The chronicle tells the story of the capture of Kyiv in an elegiacally simple manner: Askold and Dir asked to go to Constantinople “with their family” (apparently to join the Byzantine army, no less). Well, they were sailing along the Dnieper and saw a town on the mountain. They stopped and asked: “Whose town is this?” They are answered: “There were three brothers, Kiy, Shchek and Horiv, who built this city, but perished, and we sit, their family, paying tribute to the Khazars.” Askold and Dir remained in this city, and many Varangians with them.”
In general, Kyiv was lying on the banks of the Dnieper, Askold and Dir found it and picked it up. Joke? But that’s how it is in the chronicle. Despite the fact that in the same “Tale of Bygone Years” it is written in black and white: after the death of Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv, their descendants reigned near the glades. “And to this day the brothers hold on, increasing their line of reign in the Fields.”
“The Tale...” speaks about the neighboring boyars of “Rurik”, but the northern chronicles consider Askold and Dir to be independent leaders of squads: “And the princes in that summer were on the Rouse lands; From the Varangians there are 5 princes, the first is named Skald [that is, Askold], and the other is Dir, and the third is Rurik...”
In general, the Varangian princes are multiplying, and Rurik is only one of many.
And according to the Novgorod chronicles, Askold and Dir are in no way connected with Rurik. They even came to Rus', to Kyiv, even before the invitation of Rurik himself. In Kyiv they “called themselves princes,” and go and understand what we’re talking about: about the unauthorized proclamation of themselves as princes, to which the chronicle is ironic, or about the legal transformation of the leader of a wandering squad into a prince after the capture of the city...
The northern chronicle of the Novgorod bishop Joachim tells of even more fascinating details, completely absent in other places: about the fierce struggle for power in Novgorod, the flight of part of the Novgorod nobility in the 870s from Rurik to Askold. These stories, however, also correlate with the story in “The Tale...” about the “Vadim rebellion.”
It is this place that is confirmed by another chronicle - “Nikonovskaya”: a late collection compiled from manuscripts that have not reached us.
And “Ioakimovskaya” tells about the history of Kyiv during the reign of Askold. For example, about Askold’s campaigns against the Pechenegs and Bulgarians, about the death of Askold’s son in the war with the Bulgarians. It also tells about campaigns against the Polotsk and Krivichi tribes, and Rurik, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, installed his governors among the Polotsk and Krivichi tribes! But there is not a word about the war between Askold and Rurik in the Tale. And in general, in the “Tale...” Askold himself is the rebellious governor of Rurik... The complete impression is that the chronicle is not telling us, although it is not clear why.
Maybe the chronicler stubbornly does not want to report that in addition to Rurik, there were independent rulers in Rus'? After all, the chronicles were brought together, compiled into a single code under the direct descendants of Rurik?
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Askold Prince of Kyiv (together with Dir)
864 — 882
B. Olshansky. In the summer of 908. Marching to Constantinople
?—882
Askold - Varangian from Rurik’s squad, Prince of Kiev in 864-882. (ruled together with Deer).
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, Askold and Dir were boyars of the Novgorod prince Rurik, who released them on a campaign against Constantinople. They settled in Kyiv, seizing power over the Polans, who at that time did not have their own prince and paid tribute to the Khazars (864).
Russian campaign against Constantinople in 860
Trizna of Russian warriors. Painting by G. Semiradsky.
The names of Askold and Dir in the chronicle are associated with the first campaign of Rus' against Constantinople, dated 866 (probably took place in 860; Byzantine sources report only one leader of the Rus, without naming his name), which was followed by the so-called first baptism of Rus'. It's possible that Christian name Askold was the name of Nikola, since a church was built in honor of this saint on the site of his grave.
Askold and Dir were killed (882) by the Novgorod prince Oleg, who accused them of illegally seizing power, since they were not from the family of Rurik.
According to the First Novgorod Chronicle, the Varangians Askold and Dir are not connected with Rurik, and came to Kyiv before Rurik was invited to Novgorod, but after the Rus' campaign against Constantinople. In Kyiv they called themselves princes and began to fight with the Drevlyans and Uglichs.
The campaign against Constantinople by Askold and Dir in the Radziwill Chronicle, 15th century
Description in later sources
In the 2nd Pskov Chronicle (XV century) it is said that: “And the princes in that summer were on the Rousseau lands; From the Varyagov there are 5 princes, the first is named Skald (that is, Askold), and the other is Dir, and the third is Rurik...”
The Nikon and Joachim chronicles contain information unknown from other sources about the events of the 870s: the flight of part of the Novgorod nobility from Rurik to Askold during the struggle for power in Novgorod, the death of Askold’s son in the fight against the Bulgarians (872), Askold’s campaigns against Polotsk ( 872), Krivichi (where Rurik planted his governors) and Pechenegs (875). The campaign of Rus' against Constantinople (860), attributed by the Tale of Bygone Years to 866, is dated 874-875.
Siege of Constantinople by the Russians led by Askold and Dir. Patriarch Photius and Emperor Michael III touch the surface of the sea with the Robe of the Mother of God. Radzivilov Chronicle.
Besides ancient Russian chronicles, Askold and Dir are mentioned in the work of the 15th century Polish historian Jan Dlugosz (possibly compiled to substantiate Poland's claims to the Kiev inheritance, as opposed to the Moscow Rurikovichs). In his interpretation, Askold was a Polyana prince, a descendant of Kiy, the founder of Kyiv. He was the commander of Prince Dir, who may have removed the latter from the throne and became an autocratic ruler.
Historiography according to Askold
Askold's grave, Ivan Bilibin
In 1919, academician A. A. Shakhmatov connected Prince Askold with the Southern Ilmen region (center Staraya Russa) . According to his hypothesis, Rusa was the original capital of the ancient country. And from this “most ancient Rus'...soon after” 839, the movement of Scandinavian Rus' to the south began, leading to the founding of the “young Russian state” in Kyiv around 840. In 1920, Academician S. F. Platonov noted that future research would collect... best material to clarify and strengthen A. A. Shakhmatov’s hypothesis about the Varangian center on the southern bank of Ilmen. The prominent historian of the Russian diaspora G.V. Vernadsky also connected Prince Askold with Staraya Russa.
B. A. Rybakov put forward a bold assumption about the presence in Ancient Rus'"Askold's Chronicles".
The name Askold, according to most researchers, comes from the Old Icelandic Haskuldr or Hoskuldr. According to another version, the name is local, Slavic roots. B. A. Rybakov believed that the name Oskold could come from the ancient self-name of the Scythians: Skolote.
In 2010, V.V. Fomin considered it possible to admit that with Old Russian Russia (the center of Staraya Russa) “Askold and Dir were connected, forced to leave the Ilmen region as soon as Rurik established himself there, representing Varangian Rus', which first settled in Ladoga”
Dir (in the Ipatiev Chronicle also Dird, ?—882) is a legendary Varangian who, together with Askold, captured Kiev and was killed along with him by the Novgorod prince Oleg.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, he was a boyar of the Novgorod prince Rurik. Together with Askold, they allegedly went down the Dnieper to Kyiv in the land of the glades, which at that time did not have a prince and paid tribute to the Khazars, and settled there as princes. Further, the PVL reports that in 866, under the leadership of Dir and Askold, Rus' made its first campaign against Constantinople (and Byzantine sources indicate that the campaign took place in 860), then around 882, Rurik’s successor, the Novgorod prince Oleg, captured Kyiv and, according to legend, he fraudulently lured Dir and Askold to his boat and killed both of them due to the illegality of their rule due to the lack of princely dignity, introducing them to Igor, the son of Rurik.
Death of Askold and Dir. Engraving by F. A. Bruni, 1839.
According to another hypothesis, Askold and Dir ruled in different time. Mention of Dir is sometimes seen in the message of the Arab geographer al-Masudi (mid-10th century), about a certain powerful Slavic ruler: “The first of the Slavic kings is the king of Dir, he has vast cities and many inhabited countries, Muslim merchants arrive in his land with various kinds of goods." Consequently, Dir could have ruled either after Askold or even before his arrival. According to one version, Dir, mentioned by al-Masudi, ruled after Oleg the Prophet, but was displaced and killed by the legendary Oleg II (who in turn was expelled around 936 cousin Igor Rurikovich). According to this version, the author of the PVL combined the legend about the elimination of Askold by Prince Oleg the Prophet with the legend about the elimination of Dir by the legendary Oleg II. According to another version, Dir reigned in Kyiv before Askold and took part in the campaign of 860. It has been suggested that Dir can be identified with the "king of the Slavs", to whom the Caucasian tribe of the Sanarians turned for help against the Arab caliph in the 850s. This “king of the Slavs” was placed by the 9th century author al-Ya’qubi on a par with the rulers of Byzantium and Khazaria. V.N. Tatishchev, relying on the “Joachim Chronicle,” believed that Askold’s invitation to Kyiv occurred due to the absence of a ruler in the glades, that is, as other historians believe, after the death of Dir. However, Tatishchev himself considered the appearance of Dir to be an error in reading the text of the chronicle.
Death of Askold. Unknown artist late XIX V.
Askold and Dir, allegedly killed by Oleg together, were buried in different places: “And they killed Askold and Dir, took them to the mountain and buried Askold on the mountain, which is now called Ugorskaya, where is now Olmin’s courtyard; on that grave Olma built the Church of St. Nicholas; and Dirov’s grave is behind the Church of St. Irene.” According to one version, this indicates an artificial connection in the chronicle of Askold and Dir, which may have occurred due to an incorrect reading of the Scandinavian spelling of Askold's name - Hoskuldr, or under the influence of local legends about Dir and his grave.
According to another version, “Dir” is the title or nickname of Prince Askold, whose existence is beyond doubt among many. The Soviet historian and Slavic scholar Academician Boris Aleksandrovich Rybakov wrote: “The personality of Prince Dir is not clear to us. One feels that his name is artificially attached to Oskold, because when describing their joint actions, the grammatical form gives us a single, and not a double, number, as it should be when describing the joint actions of two persons.
March on Constantinople.
Having concentrated power in his hands after the death of his brothers, Rurik lived in Novgorod, giving the best warriors the cities of Polotsk in the land of the Krivichi, Rostov in the land of Mary, Beloozero in the land of Vesi, and Murom (the city of the Finnish tribe of the same name on the Oka River) to feed. He allowed Askold and Dir to go on a campaign against Constantinople. Exist different opinions about the origin of Askold and Dir. According to one version, Askold, the Russian Kagan, was a direct descendant of Kiy, the founder of Kyiv. He ruled Kiev together with Dir (or Dmir). According to another version, Dir was the prince of Kyiv, for whom Askold served as a governor. According to the third version, Askold and Dir were warriors and comrades of Rurik.
With a small squad, they went down the Dnieper to Kyiv, stopped at the clearings and began to gather an army. The people of Kiev paid tribute to the Khazars. Askold and Dir promised to free them from tribute and settled in a rich city. The Varangians, led by experienced military leaders, conducted several successful campaigns in the steppe, and the Khazars no longer wanted to demand tribute from the Kievites. Over the four years of active combat life, the squad of Askold and Dir has strengthened significantly. They decided to march on Constantinople.
Preparations for the difficult campaign were completed, and 200 rooks set off in 860. along the Dnieper to the Black Sea. Each boat had 40-50 people.
Sacrifice of Rurik 862.
Engraving by B. Chorikov. XIX century
They chose a very good time for the hike. In Constantinople that year there was neither an army nor Emperor Michael III, who was waging a difficult struggle with the Arabs. Only Patriarch Photius was in the capital, but he did not think about the invasion of the enemy, burdened with state, religious and personal affairs. In the summer of 860, Emperor Michael III went on a campaign against the Arabs. The boats of Askold and Dir hurried to the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
On June 18, 860, the weather was calm and sunny in Constantinople. Suddenly, in the north, a motley spot appeared in the strait, and people froze in horror: the Russian boats cut through the soft wave, approaching the city. The rooks followed exactly the course planned by Askold and Dir. Each knew its place in the ranks. The Russians clearly landed troops, took a low country gate, and scattered across the outskirts. The warriors of Askold and Dir worked harmoniously: they threw everything valuable into the boats, then fire into the houses...
And the Byzantine warriors were preparing for an enemy assault. They really hoped for the high, strong walls of Constantinople.
Having completed the first task of the raid, the Russians approached the city and began to build an embankment. There were too few defenders, and their mood quickly changed. They were close to panic and despair. On the outside, stubborn lovers of other people's goods swarm under the walls. From the inside of the fortress, like from a volcano that suddenly awakens, comes the sound of a panicking Constantinople.
And suddenly the volcano began to subside: something important happened in the city. There, in the Church of Hagia Sophia, Patriarch Photius spoke calmly and firmly. And his speech was strange. He denounced his fellow citizens, recalling how “the Greeks unfairly turned around the visiting Russians” and other sins.
The embankment grew. And the residents of the capital of a world power walked to the temple, from where a confident voice came: “We received forgiveness and did not show mercy to our neighbor. The very joyful ones upset everyone, the glorified ones themselves dishonored everyone... Finally, the time has come to resort to the Mother of the Word, to Her, the only hope and refuge. Let us cry out to her: “Venerable One, save your city as you know!”
The chasuble was lifted from the Blachernae Temple Mother of God, and the people went to Procession. The patriarch and clergy in full vestments, banners, a solemn choir of voices, a line of townspeople and in front - a miraculous robe...
The Russians from below saw people on the fortress wall and the sky, cut off by the edge of the brick wall. People, united by one spirit, moved slowly in the sky...
For several decades in a row, the Slavs went against the Slavs, and they had no unity, there was no powerful support for the spirit that led the Byzantines along the wall. Rurik used his sword to restore order among the Slavs - was it successful? Fear calmed the Slavs slightly, but between the high wall and the Byzantine sky it was different. It was not fear that led the townspeople to the procession.
The Byzantines kept walking and walking along the wall. One mass. The voices of the singers had a magical effect on the Russians. The Russians were not timid. And the state they experienced cannot be called fear. It was more strong feeling. And it wasn’t a feeling at all, but Faith. At that moment, the warriors realized that it was impossible to defeat the people on the wall, just as it was impossible to stop the sun from shining. And when the unhurried procession approached along the edge between the sky and the wall towards the builders of the embankment, one of the Russians screamed, threw down the tool and rushed to the boats, dragging his comrades along with him. No one shot at them, no one chased them. And they ran, ran, as if from fire.
The excited Russians went home...
In 867, as Photius says in a letter to the Pope, the Russian tribe accepted Christian faith. This was one of the tribes that settled in the Black Sea region. However, some historians claim that he was the first in Rus' to adopt Orthodox faith Askold, and therefore many of his squad.
This episode, recorded in the message of the Patriarch of Constantinople, must be kept in mind when discussing the topic of the Baptism of Rus', which took place more than a century after the events described.
Askold and Dir Askold ( Oskold, Skald) And Dir- two warriors of Rurik, who are mentioned in the history of the beginning of the Russian state. Tradition says that Rurik had two “husbands”, A. and D., not related to him, who begged him to go to Tsar-grad with their family (there is news that A. and D. left Rurik out of displeasure, so how he, demarcating the land for his “husbands” with a rope in the volost, or “rope”, deprived A. and D., who left offended). Seeing the town of Kyiv on the Dnieper, paying tribute Khazars, A. and D. remained in it, gathering many Varangians around them, and began to own the land of the glades. We must assume that Kyiv at that time was a brothel Varangians and all sorts of adventurers, which Tmutorokan and Berlad later were. According to some news, many people dissatisfied with Rurik fled here to Kyiv from Novgorod. A. and D. became the leaders of a fairly large gang, and the glades had to obey them. A. and D. fought with the steppe barbarians, with neighboring Slavic tribes - Drevlyans And Uglich , and with the Danube Bulgarians. Having at their disposal a considerable number of military men, A. and D. and their squad undertook a campaign against Byzantium. The Varangian’s cherished thought was fulfilled, and Rus' found itself at the walls of Constantinople, sailing on 200 sailing boats in 866. Here Rus' acquired a glorious name for itself, first noted in Byzantine chronographs. Askold's campaign failed, according to Greek testimonies, due to the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God: a storm that arose broke the Russian boats, and the remnants of the squad returned with their princes back to Kyiv. The Byzantines then reported that some Russians had adopted Christianity and that a bishop had been sent to them from Constantinople. Thus, this campaign brought the first seeds of Christianity to Kyiv: this is how the significance of Kyiv in our history was revealed early on as a result of the clash between Rus' and Byzantium. In 869 † Rurik, leaving the young Igor, transferred the reign to Oleg, as the eldest in his family. Oleg, continuing Rurik's desire to concentrate power, moved to the south with an army made up of all the tribes under his control - Chud, Slavs (Ilmen), Meri, Vesi and Krivichi. The fact that a church was erected on A.’s grave, and Dirov’s grave, as the chronicler testifies, was located behind the church of St. Irina, indicates that A. and D. were Christians. Schlözer ("Oskold und Dir" and "Nestor", translated by Yazykov, vol. II, 15) refutes the opinion of the writers who preceded him. Moroshkin considered A. and D. Khazar governors.
encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb.: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .
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Askold and Dir, the first Kyiv princes mentioned in the chronicles. Entry in the Laurentian corpus (ancient) under different years reports that A. and D., Rurik’s warriors, left him for Constantinople down the Dnieper, took possession of Kiev along the way and ... Biographical Dictionary
ASKOLD AND DIR- (2nd half of the 9th turn of the 9th century?), perhaps the first Russian. Christ princes. According to the Kyiv (?) legend, recorded in brief, the oldest form in the so-called The initial arch of the 90s. XI century (reflected in the NPL Commission List), and in a lengthy, several... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
Askold and Dir- legendary Kyiv princes of the 60s and 80s. 9th century Information about the biography and activities of A. and D. is vague and contradictory. According to widespread chronicle legend, A. and D. Varangians, boyars Prince. Rurik, in 862 they asked him for leave to go to Constantinople... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
Kyiv princes (2nd half of the 9th century). According to chronicles, A. and D. were boyars of Rurik. Around 866, under the leadership of A. and D., Rus' made its first campaign against Constantinople. According to the chronicle, around 882 A. and D. were killed by Novgorod... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Kyiv princes (2nd half of the 9th century). According to the chronicles, under the leadership of A. and D. Rus' made the first campaign against Constantinople even before the so-called. callings of the Varangians, which is complementary. a refutation of the identity of Rus' with the Normans. By… … Soviet historical encyclopedia
- ... Wikipedia
Askold and Dir- Kyiv princes (2nd half of the 9th century). acc. chronicle data, under the foreshadowing. A. and D. Rus' made the first campaign against Constantinople even before the so-called. “callings of the Varangians”, which is revealed. additional refutation of the identity. Rus' with the Normans. According to the chronicle, approx.... ... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary
Askold and Dir- (2nd half of the 9th century - turn of the 9th century) perhaps the first Russian Christian princes. They ruled in Kyiv until it was captured by Prince Oleg. The oldest version represents Askold and Dir as alien Varangians who settled in Kyiv some time later... ... Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference book
Askold and Dir (Radziwill Chronicle) ... Wikipedia
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