Kievan Rus' was a medieval East Slavic state from the late 9th to mid 13th century. It began when Swedish Vikings known as Varangians established control over trade routes in the region. The first ruler was Rurik, who established Novgorod as his capital in 864. Under Prince Oleg, Kiev became the capital in 882. The kingdom reached its height under Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century when Christianity was adopted and a legal code established. However, regional powers grew as Kiev declined, and the state fragmented in the 12th century before being conquered by Mongols in 1240.

1. History of Russia
Lecture # 1
Kievan Rus'

2. Kievan Rus' was a
medieval polity in
Eastern Europe, from
the late 9th to the mid
13th century

6. Foundation
of the Kievan state

7. In the early 9th
century, the Rus was
a group of Swedish
Vikings

8. The name Rus, like the Finnish
name for Sweden (Ruotsi), is
derived from an Old Norse
term for "the men who row"
(rods-) as rowing was the main
method of navigating the
rivers of Eastern Europe

9. Engaging in trade, piracy and
mercenary activities, Varangians
roamed the river systems and
portages of Gardariki, as Rus'
lands were known in Norse sagas.
They controlled the Volga trade
route, connecting Baltic to the
Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper trade
route

11. Volga trade route, Dnieper trade route

12. Rurik first came to
Staraya Ladoga in 862
and then moved his
capital to Novgorod in
864

19. The kingdom of the Kievan
Rus' was officially founded by
Prince Oleg . In 882, Oleg
deposed Askold and Dir
subordinating Kiev directly to
himself and choosing it as the
capital city.

20. Sviatoslavs' decade-long
reign over Rus' was marked
by rapid expansion through
the conquest of the Khazars
of the Pontic steppe, and
Invasion of the Balkans.

22. By the end of his short
life, Sviatoslav carved
out for himself the
largest state in Europe

23. Vladimir the Great
Vladimir's most notable
achievement was the
Christianization of
Kievan Rus', a process
that began in 988.

24. Vladimir's choice of Eastern
Christianity
1) Constantinople dominated the
Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's
most vital commercial route, the
River Dnieper.
2) the Eastern Church had a liturgy
written in Cyrillic and a corpus of
translations from Greek that had been
produced for the Slavic peoples.

25. Yaroslav the Wise
Russkaya Pravda
was the legal code of
Kievan Rus'

26. The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–
1015) and his son Yaroslav I the Wise
(1019–1054) constituted the "Golden
Age" of Kiev, which saw the
introduction of Christianity and the
creation of the first East Slavic written
legal code, the Russkaya Pravda
("Justice of Rus").

28. Kievan Rus' was not
only the largest
contemporary
European state in terms
of area but also
culturally advanced.

29. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
1045—1052

30. Nikolsky Cathedral
1113

32. Annunciation of Ustyug

35. Birchbark Literacy from Medieval Rus

37. Ostromir Gospels

38. The gradual
disintegration of the
Kievan Rus' began in the
11th century, after the
death of Yaroslav the
Wise.

39. The position of the Grand Prince
of Kiev was weakened by the
growing influence of regional
clans.
The decline of Constantinople —
a main trading partner of Kievan
Rus', played a significant role in
the decline of the Kievan Rus'.

40. A period of political fragmentation,
decentralization, and
dynastic struggle among the
northern princes, which extended
from about
1100 to 1237, and was called
the Appanage period of Russian
history.

43. The position of the Grand Prince
of Kiev was weakened by the
growing influence of regional
clans.
The decline of Constantinople —
a main trading partner of Kievan
Rus', played a significant role in
the decline of the Kievan Rus'.

45. The Fourth Crusade

46. A local oligarchy ruled Novgorod;
major government decisions were made
by a town assembly, which also elected
a prince as the city's military leader. In
1136 in Novgorod was established a
republican form of government -
elective monarchy. Since then
Novgorod enjoyed a wide degree of
autonomy although being closely
associated with the Kievan Rus.

47. Novgorod Kremlin

48. In the northeast, Slavs from the Kievan
region colonized the territory that
eventually became the Grand Duchy of
Moscow. The city of Rostov the oldest
centre of the northeast, was supplanted
first by Suzdal and then by the city of
Vladimir, which become the capital of
Vladimir-Suzdal'. The combined
principality of Vladimir-Suzdal asserted
itself as a major power in Kievan Rus' in
the late 12th century.

49. Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir

50. To the southwest, the
principality of Halych had
developed trade relations with
its Polish, Hungarian and
Lithuanian neighbours and
emerged as the local successor
to Kievan Rus'.

51. Church of St. Panteleimon

52. Kievan Rus'
disintegrated under
the pressure of the
Mongol invasion of
1237–1240