Rus\' of Kiev

Origins until the golden age of Kiev

The Rus' of Kiev (delivery like Rouss with an S wet; КиївськаРусь , Kyivs' ka Ukrainian Rus' in ) is a State which existed on the territory of current the Ukraine and the part of Western Russia, the countries of which it constitutes the original hearth. Rus' of Kiev also constituted home base of what will become initially the Grand Duchy of Moscovie and then the Russia ( Rossïya ), by taking again the Greek name of Rus' .

This State was the Slavic country Eastern, centered on the town of Kiev (Ru: Ки́ев, Kiev ; the U.K.: Ки́їв, Kyiv ), starting from 860 approximately until the middle of the 12th century. The reigns of Holy Vladimir (980 - 1015) and of his son Iaroslav Wise the (1019 - 1054) constitute the golden age of this civilization, which saw the adoption of the Orthodoxie and the creation of the first legal code the Rousskaïa Pravda (the truth Ruthène).

At the 9th century, Kiev was taken with the Khazars by the Varègue Oleh (in Russian Oleg) - i.e. a Viking . Located on lucrative commercial roads, Kiev quickly succeeds in becoming the center of the powerful State of the Rus' kiévienne. At the 11th century, the Ruthénie (often called Russia kiévienne ) was geographically the greatest State of Europe. Into 988, under the reign of Vladimir Large the (in Volodymyr Ukrainian), a Christian missionary, Cyrille, converts the aristocracy kiévienne (the majority varègue) and the majority of the population. Under the reign of Iaroslav Wise the, the prestige of the State kiévien reaches its apogee: it extends from the Baltique to the Black Sea and from the confluence of the Oka with the the Volga until the Carpates. Iaroslav was a large builder, it is him which made build celebrates it cathedral Holy-Sophie in Kiev, and a large legislator. The right, education, architecture and art ruthene will know an impressive revival under its reign.

A territory of convergences but also of regional oppositions

But to the 12th century, of the conflicts among the various principalities of Rus' led the State kiévien to the decline. Between 1054 and 1224, pas less than 64 principalities, of more or less transitory existence, were listed. Kiev was ransacked by the Tchernigoviens, the Volhyniens, the Mongolian Coumans and the with. Thereafter, the principalities ruthenes recognized the sovereignty of the Mongols. The Mongolian authority was very cruel and the people often fled towards other countries like the Poland or the Hungary.

See too

List of the sovereigns of Kiev

External bond

See the article of Iaroslav Lebedynsky, part-time lecturer to INALCO, on Internet, Clio library in free access:

Be-X-old: КіеўскаяРусь

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