The Geopolitical Context of the Rus’ Raid on Seville

Authors

  • Evgenii Shinakov Ivan Petrovsky Bryansk State University
  • Andrei Fedosov Ivan Petrovsky Bryansk State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2022.101

Abstract

The article offers a possible explanation for the raid of the Rus’ on Seville in 844 and also attempts to compare this event with the embassy of the Rus’ to Constantinople and Ingelheim, and with their raid on Amastris. These events, taken as a part of a complex geopolitical picture of the “long middle” of the 9th century, show the origin and nature of the emerging group of the Rus’ people. This period started with the renewed Muslim onslaught on Europe through the Byzantine holdings in Asia Minor and Italy in the 820s–830s, and finished in the middle of the 860s with the Byzantine victory over the Abbasids. Other important events of this time were the Great Schism; victories of the Byzantine Orthodoxy over Catholicism and heretics in Great Moravia, Bulgaria and Asia Minor; and the first baptism of the Rus’. This geopolitical background was complemented by the collapse of the Carolingian Empire and the beginning of the German Drang nach Osten. During this time, a small group who identified itself as the
Rus’ first in 838, came into being. Its main goal was to explore new trade routes to the Muslim world bypassing Khazaria. However, eventually they discovered an opportunity of pillaging Byzantium and its allies in Andalusia. The result of their actions, which were probably coordinated form one center in Southern Denmark, was their acquisition of “homeland” in the North of Eastern Europe: a land that was given its accidentally emerged name “Rus’”.

Keywords:

the Rus’ people, the raid on Seville, eastern sources, “the island of the Rus’”, geopolitics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

Author Biographies

Evgenii Shinakov, Ivan Petrovsky Bryansk State University

Dr. Sci. (History), Professor

Andrei Fedosov, Ivan Petrovsky Bryansk State University

Senior Lecturer

References


References

Aleksandrov A. A. O rusakh na Zapade i na Vostoke: ot Ingel’khaima do mogilevskogo klada. Gistarychna-arkheolagichny zbornik, 1997, no. 12, pp. 17–22. (In Russian)

Aleksandrov A. A. Ostrov rusov. Stratum. Peterburgskii arkheologicheskii vestnik. St Petersburg, Kishinev,1997, pp. 222–224. (In Russian)

Andreev I. B”lgarskite khanove i tsare VII–ХIV vek. Istoriko-khronologichen spravochnik. Sofia, Petr Baron Publ., 1994, 216 p. (In Bulgarian)

Arbman H. Birka I. Die Graber. Tafeln. Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri-Aktiebolag, 1940, 310 s.

Arne T. J. Birkagraven nr 632 och keisar Theofilos’ mynt. Forvannen , nr. 41. Oslo, 1946, ss. 216–232.

Avdusin D. A. Gnezdovskaia ekspeditsiia. Kratkie soobshcheniia o dokladakh i polevykh issledovaniiakh instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury, 1952, no. 44, pp. 93–103. (In Russian)

Dashkov S. B. Imperatory Vizantii. Moscow, Krasnaia ploshchad’ Publ., 1996, 369 p. (In Russian)

Domanovskii A. M. Prichini nechislennosti znakhidok vizantiiskikh monet na territorii Davn’oi Rusi IX–X st.: pogliad z Vizantii. Drevnosti. Khar’kovskii istoriko-arkheologicheskii ezhegodnik. Khar’kov,NMC MD Publ., 2004, pp. 70–75. (In Ukrainian)

Duczko W. Rus wikingow. Historia obesnosci Skandynawow we wczesnosredniowiecznej Europie Wschodniej.Warsaw, TRIO Publ., 2007, 252 s.

Franklin S., Shepard J. The Emergence of Rus. 750–1200. London, New York, Longman, 1996, 450 p.

Iamanov V. E. Rorik Iutlandskii i letopisnyi Riurik. Voprosy istorii, 2002, no. 4, pp. 127–137. (In Russian)

Istrin V. A. 1100 let slavianskoi azbuki. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, 192 p. (In Russian)

Kalinina T. M. Arabskie uchenye o nashestvii normannov na Sevil’iu v 844 g. Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy. Materialy i issledovaniia, 1999 g. Moscow, IVI RAN Press, 2001, pp. 190–210. (In Russian)

Khennig R. Nevedomye zemli, vol. 2. Moscow, Inostrannaia Literatura Publ., 1961, 519 p. (In Russian)

Kuzenkov P. V. Pokhod 860 g. na Konstantinopol’ i pervoe kreshchenie Rusi v srednevekovykh pis’mennykh istochnikakh. Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy. 2000 g. Problemy istochnikovedeniia. Moscow, Vostochnaia Literatura Publ., 2003, pp. 3–172. (In Russian)

Lebedev G. S. Epokha vikingov v Severnoi Evrope i na Rusi. St Petersburg, Evraziia Publ., 2005, 640 p. (In Russian)

Lebedev G. S. Epokha vikingov v Severnoi Evrope. Istoriko-archeologicheskie ocherki. Leningrad, Leningrad State University Press, 1988, 286 p. (In Russian)

Marzheret Zh. Sostoianie Rossiiskoi imperii i velikogo kniazhestva Moskovii. Rossiia XV–XVII vv. glazami inostrantsev. Leningrad, Lenizdat Publ., 1986, pp. 225–286 (In Russian)

Nefedova N. K. Kuda ezdili drevnie rusy — v Andaluziyu ili Anatoliyu? Sovetskoe vostokovedenie, 1958, no. 4, pp. 113–115. (In Russian)

Nosov E. N., Plokhov A. V., Khvoshchinskaia N. V. Riurikovo gorodishche. Novye etapy issledovanii. St Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin Publ., 2017, 288 p. (In Russian)

Priselkov M. D. Russko-vizantiiskie otnosheniia v IX–XII vv. Voprosy drenei istorii, 1939, no. 3, pp. 98–109.(In Russian)

Raffensperger C. Rеimagining Europe. Kievan Rus in the Medieval World, 988–1146. Cambridge, London, Harvard University Press, 2012, 329 p.

Ravdina T. V. Pogrebeniia X–XI vv. s monetami na territorii Drevnei Rusi. Katalog. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, 150 p. (In Russian)

Rybakov B. A. Rus’ i strana “Andalus” v IX–X vv. Sovetskoe vostokovedenie, 1958, no. 4, pp. 116–119. (In Russian)

Rydzevskaia E. A. Kholm v Novgorode i drevne-severnyi Holmgardr. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi Akademii istorii material’noi kul’tury. Vol. II. Petrograd, [s. n.], 1922, pp. 105–112. (In Russian)

Shepard J. The Rhos guests of Louis the Pious: whence and wherefore? Early Medieval Europe, 1995, no. 4, pp. 41–60.

Shinakov E. A. Gosudarstvogenez Rusi v otechestvennoi istoriografii serediny XI — nachala XVII v. Vestnik of Briansk State University, 2015, no. 3 (26), pp. 137–149. (In Russian)

Shinakov E. A. Tri pervykh upominaniia rusov (rosov) kontsa 30-kh — nachala 40-kh gg. IX v. v mezhdunarodnom aspekte. Vestnik of Briansk State University, Istoriia. Pravo. Literaturovedenie. Iazykoznanie,2014, no. 2, pp. 158–165. (In Russian)

Shinakov E. A., Dzhambov I. Х. Bolgarskie aspekty “posol’stva khakana rosov” v 838–839 gg. Sbornik zas”vmestnata muzeino-arkheologicheska ekspeditsiia. Vol. 1. Plovdiv, Plovdivskii Universitet “Paisii Hilendarski” Press, Briansk, Brianskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet Press, 2013, pp. 10–12. (In Russian)

Shinakov E. A., Zaitsev V. V., Piskunov V. O. Vizantiiskie monety konttsa IX — serediny XI v. v Srednem Podesen’e kak istochnik sotsiologicheskikh rekonstruktsii. Stratum Plus. Arkheologiia i kul’turnaia antropologiia, 2018, no. 6: Balansy istorii: tsennosti i sredstva, pp. 151–166. (In Russian)

Shpilev A. G. O simvolicheskom znachenii vizantiiskikh monet Krasnikovskogo klada kontsa X v. iz Kurskoi oblasti. Russkii sbornik. Issue 6. Briansk, Kursiv Publ., 2011, pp. 66–68. (In Russian)

Shumilov E. N. Severnoe poberezh’e Maloi Azii kak ob”ekt ekspansii i torgovli v IX–X vv. Evropa: Mezhdunarodnyi al’manah, vol. XIII, no. 1–2. Tyumen’, 2014, pp. 28–33. (In Russian)

Sotnikova M. P., Spasskii I. G. Tysiacheletie drevneishikh monet Rossii. Svodnyi katalog russkikh monet X–XI vekov. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1983, 239 p. (In Russian)

Treadgold W. The Byzantine Revival 780–842. Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1988, 519 p.

Vasiliev A. A. The Russian attack on Constantinople in 860. Cambridge, The Medieval Academy of America, 1946, 245 p.

Vinogradov A. E. K lokalizatsii naroda Rhos Bertinskikh annalov. Lokus: liudi, obshchestvo, kul’tura, smysly,2020, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 28–39. (In Russian)

Zorin A. V., Shpilev A. G. Kaganat russov i “strana slavian”: Vostochnaia Evropa v IX stoletii (opyt istoricheskoi rekonstruktsii). Russkii sbornik. Trudy kaf. оtechestvennoi istorii drevnosti i Srednevekov’ia BGU,vol. 12, issue 5. Briansk, Kursiv Publ., 2009, pp. 110–129. (In Russian)

Downloads

Published

2022-07-01

How to Cite

Shinakov, E., & Fedosov, A. (2022). The Geopolitical Context of the Rus’ Raid on Seville. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 67(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2022.101

Issue

Vol. 67 No. 1 (2022)

Section

History of Russia

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.