The Origin Of Rus', Volume 1: Old Scandanavian Sources Other than the Sagas

967 Pages·1981·20.092 MB·English

by  Omeljan Pritsak

THE ORIGIN OF RUS’
VOLUME ONE
Old Scandinavian Sources
other than the Sagas
Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
Monograph Series
Editorial Board
Omeljan Pritsak, Editor-in-Chief
Ihor Sevcenko
Paul R. Magocsi, Managing Editor
Committee on Ukrainian Studies
Edward Keenan
Horace G. Lunt
Richard E. Pipes
Omeljan Pritsak, Chairman
Ihor Sevcenko
Adam Ulam
Wiktor Weintraub
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Omeljan Pritsak
THE ORIGIN OF RUS’
VOLUME ONE
Old Scandinavian Sources
other than the Sagas
Distributed by Harvard University Press
for the
Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute 1981
Publication of this volume was made possible through the generous support of
the outstanding friends of Harvard, Yaroslav and Olha Duzey. It is the first in a
decade-long series of publications commemorating the millennium of Christianity
in Rus-Ukraine, 988-1988.
Copyright © 1981 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
ISBN 0-674-64465-4
Library of Congress Catalog Number 80-53799
Printed in the United States of America
The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute was established in 1973 as an integral
part of Harvard University. It supports research associates and visiting scholars who
are engaged in projects concerned with all aspects of Ukrainian studies. The Institute
also works in close cooperation with the Committee on Ukrainian Studies, which
supervises and coordinates the teaching of Ukrainian history, language, and literature
at Harvard University.
Contents
Preface xv
Abbreviations xxiii
part one General Introduction 1
chapter 1 Exposition to the Entire Work: The Origin of Rus' 3
The Acrimonious Debate between the Normanists and the
Anti-Normanists 3
Proposed Concept and Methodology 8
The Franks 9
The Nomads, Sedentary Empires and the Merchants 10
The Anglo-Saxons 20 '
The Frisians 21
The Vikings and the Værings 22
The Rise of Intercontinental Trade 23
The Jewish Rädäniya and the Non-Jewish Traders from Rutenicis
( > Rodez) 24
The Emerging Economic Area of Mare Balticum 26
The Rus Kaganate 28
The Pacification of the Avars and the Moravian Mission 29
The Rise of the Christian Kievan Rus’ State and of R*us Historical
Consciousness 30
chapter 2 Introduction to Volumes One and Two:
The Cultural Setting: The West 34
Two Periods of Old Norse Literature 34
The First Period 38
Mythology and Epics of the Germanic Peoples 40
Skaldic Poetry and Runic Inscriptions 49
The Intermediate Period 51
chapter 3 Introduction to Volumes One and Two:
The Cultural Setting in the East 53
The Contacts between the Germanic and Steppe Peoples 53
v
vi Contents
The Bosporus Kingdom and Late Hellenism 56
The Tripartite System of Old Turkic Mythology 73
Ôôinn's Reform of the Futhark 86
chapter 4 Introduction to Volumes One and Two:
Historiography of Old Scandinavian Sources
Pertaining to Eastern Europe 93
part two Poetry and Myth as Historical Sources 105
chapter 5 The Eddaic Poems and Their Manuscript Tradition 107
The Poetic Edda 107
The Snorra Edda 111
Anglo-Saxon Heroic Poetry 112
The Fight at Finnsburg 112
Beowulf 113
Widsith 113
Eastern European Names in the Eddaic Poetry 114
The Poetic Edda 114
The Snorra Edda 116
chapter 6 From Myth to Epic and History: The Helgi Cycle 119
The Helgi Cycle 119
Helgi and the Ylfingar 123
Helgi and the Two Haddingjar 139
Oleg the Seer and Oleg “The Grand Prince of Rus’” 142
chapter 7 From Myth and History to Epic: The Migrational
Myth and Two Historical Transplantations 154
The Migrational Myth 154
King Snio 155
Lotha Knut’s Transplantation of Peoples 159
chapter 8 From Myth to Epic and from History to Myth:
HadingusIHaddingjar and the Norse Attack on
Constantinople in 860 164
The Myth of the Maritime Adventure (The Divine Twins) and
Its Germanic Re-Creations 164
Saxo's Hellespont 170
The Rus’ian Attack on Constantinople in 860 174
One or Two Attacks? 174
Askold and Dir 175
The Viking King Bjçrn 176
Contents vii
The Viking Hasting 178
Hasting and Bjçrn = Askold and Dir 181
chapter 9 From History to Myth and Epic: Hnaef and Hnabi/
0nevus. New Approach to the Fight at Finnsburg
and Old Danish Conogardia 183
chapter 10 The Transposition of History into Epic:
The Battle of the Goths and the Huns 188
The Source Basis 188
The Structure of the Hervararsaga 188
The Sámsey Poetry 193
Widsith and the Battle of the Goths and the Huns 195
The Pula in the Battle of the Goths and the Huns 197
Harvaôa Fjçll and Graf-á 199
Proper Names in the Saga 200
Ethnic and Geographic Names in the Battle of the Goths and the Huns 206
Reiö-Gotaland and Garôariki in the Hervararsaga 214
The Genesis of the Hervararsaga 220
The Battle of the Goths and the Huns as a Historical Source 224
chapter 11 Snorri's “Gelehrte Urgeschichte":
Has it a Historical Basis? 226
Snorri’s Gelehrte Urgeschichte 226
ÔÔinn, Kingship, and the Royal Family Tree 232
Tyrkir, Tyrkland and Tyrkjakonungr 236
Vanakvisl and Vanaheimr/Vanaland 242
Svíjjjóó in Mikla eÔa kalda 244
ÂsgarÔr/Tyrkland, Troy, and T”mutorokan’ 245
Godheimar 249
chapter 12 The Poetry of the Skalds. Skaldic Poetry as a
Historical Source 251
Skaldic Poetry 251
Individual Works and Their Data 255
Skaldic Poetry’s Vistas on Eastern Europe 298
part three The Runic Inscriptions 303
chapter 13 The Runic Inscriptions in Younger Futhark 305
Runic Inscriptions as a Historical Source 305
Ninth Century Inscriptions 309
viii Contents
The Götland Inscriptions 311
The Sparlösa and Kälvesten Inscriptions 311
The Rök Inscription (Götland) 313
The Danish and Norwegian Inscriptions 316
The Inscriptions from Old Ladoga, Daugmale, and Great Novgorod 316
The Pre-Jelling Inscriptions 317
Runic Inscriptions from 940 to 1000 319
Danish Inscriptions 321
The Jelling Inscriptions 321
Manx Inscriptions 325
Norwegian Inscriptions 325
The Pilgârds Inscription 326
Runic Inscriptions from 1000 to 1100 327
Danish Inscriptions 327
Norwegian Inscriptions 333
Inscriptions from Jämtland 337
Swedish Inscriptions 337
Gotland’s Inscriptions 343
East European Inscriptions 347
The Structure of a Swedish Runic Inscription of the Eleventh Century 349
chapter 14 The Geographical Vistas of the Runic Inscriptions 356
General Designations for Foreign Countries 356
East European Place Names 359
Finland and Tafæistaland 359
ailati, *0yland = “Aland (?)’’ 359
Estonia 362
Latvia 363
Rus’ 365
AustrvegR 365
Garôar 366
Risaland 368
RiuskR 368
Hölmgarör 369
Garór/Garôar “Kiev,’* Vitaholm, and Vstaholm 371
Aifur and the Berezan’ Inscription 373
The Blçkumenn 373
The Byzantine Empire 374
The Death of Varangians and Other Norsemen in Byzantium 377
Travelers to Greece 379
The East: Jórsala, Særkland and Karusm 381
Geographic Names Used as Proper Names 382
Contents ix
chapter 15 The Varangians at Home and Abroad 385
General Observations 385
larlabanki and His Clan 388
Pôrstæinn and His Varangian Retinue in Rus’ during the 1050’s 395
FroygæiRR’s Retinue in the Baltic Areas 397
chapter 16 Jakun, the Varangian King of the Year 1024 404
chapter 17 Yngvarr hinn viôfyrli and His Campaign in
Sœrkland (1041) 423
Who Was Yngvarr hinn viôfçrli? 423
An Arabic Source for Rus' Expeditions to the Caucasus 434
The Expedition to Khwärizm 443
The Message of the Ingvarr’s Stones 451
chapter 18 Merchant Guilds in Eleventh-Century Sweden 461
part four The Laws as a Historical Source
chapter 19 The Old Scandinavian Laws
The Legal Literature of the Old Northmen 467
The Provincial Laws 470
Norway 470
Reference to Eastern Europe 471
Sweden 471
The Gautar 473
Reference to Eastern Europe 475
Gotland 475
Denmark 476
Iceland 479
“A rmenian " Bishops 479
Tiundargjald and the Travelers to Rus ’ 481
The Municipal Laws 483
Birka Laws and Rus’ 485
Hirô Laws 488
CHAPTER 20 The Old Frisian Laws 490
The Lex Frisionum 490
The Common Old Frisian Laws 491
The Basic Common Old Frisian Laws 492
The Seventeen Statutes 492
The Twenty-four Constitutions 493
The Common Frisian Wergeld Chapter 496
X Contents
The General Statutes 496
The Synod Laws 498
Two Legendary Stories about Frisian Liberties 499
The Law of Magistrates 501
part five Old Icelandic Geographic Literature 503
chapter 21 Human Geography in the Religious Literature 505
Translational Religious Literature: Scitia = “Sweden the Great” 505
The Itinerary Literature 510
The Icelandic Mappa Mundi of about 1150 or 1250 514
chapter 22 Human Geography in the Encyclopedic Collections 517
The Climates 5 to 7 and the Old Norse Name for Caspian Sea 517
A Biblical Genealogy of Nations 520
Sons of Shem 520
Sons of Japhet 523
Descriptions of Europe 529
Information on Eastern Europe: A General Review 530
A Listing of the Baltic Lands 538
Remarks on Wendland, ReiÖgotaland and Hunaland 538
Redactions 1 and 2 on Eastern Europe 539
The Redaction 2 on Northern Europe 541
An Old Scandinavian List of Rivers 545
part six Old Scandinavian Chronicles and Annals 551
chapter 23 The Danish Chronicles and Annals 553
The Development of Historical Writing 553
The Danish Chronicles 557
The Lists of Danish Kings 558
The Latin Annals 561
Eastern Europe in the Danish Chronicles and Annals 565
chapter 24 The Icelandic Annals 568
The Development of Annalistic Work 568
Eastern Europe in the Icelandic Annals 574
Preliminary Conclusion 579
chapter 25 Preliminary Conclusions 581