Alfred Nicolas Rambaud

“ Sviatoslaf left three sons: Iaropolk at Kief, Oleg ruler of the Drevlians, Vladimir at Novgorod. In the civil wars which followed, and which recall the bloody Merovingian anarchy, Iaropolk slew Oleg, and in his turn died by the hand of Vladimir. He fell in love with Rogneda, Iaropolk's betrothed, and demanded her in marriage from the Varangian Rogvolod, who ruled over Polotsk. The princess answered, that she would never marry the son of a slave, in allusion to Vladimir's mother having been a servant, though he himself had always been treated by his father as his brother's equal. ”

“ From a political point of view, the influence of Byzantine Christianity was bound in the long run to cause a complete revolution. For what was a Russian prince, after all, but the head of a band, surrounded by the men of his droujina, and in a sense a foreigner to the land he governed and on which he levied tribute? Properly speaking, a Russian prince had no subjects. The natives might always expel him—his droujinniki were always free to forsake him. ”

“ Vladimir Monomachus charged his children to receive strangers hospitably, because, says he, they have it in their power to give you a good or evil reputation. The hospitality of primitive peoples may often be explained by their need of merchants and foreigners. Pagan Slavs were only obliged to help those of the same association; warriors, the members of the same droujina; peasants, those of the same commune; merchants or artisans, those of the same artel. Christianity enjoined benevolence to all the world, without hope of reward in this life. ”

“ His wars with the Patzinaks are recorded by Nestor with all kinds of episodes borrowed from the epic poetry. There is the Russian champion who tears in pieces the furious bull, or stifles a Patzinak giant in his arms; there are the inhabitants of Bielgorod, who, having been reduced to famine by the barbarians, let down into wells two large caldrons, one full of hydromel and the other of meal, to make the Patzinaks believe these were natural productions of the soil. We see in the popular songs of what a marvellous cycle of legends Vladimir has become the centre ”

“ The raising of taxes was always very arbitrary. Nestor's account of the death of Igor is a lively picture of the political customs of the time; we might imagine ourselves reading a page of Gregory of Tours about the sons of Clovis, for example the expedition of Thierry in Arvernia. “In the year 945 the droujina of Igor said to him, ‘The men of Sveneld are richly provided with weapons and garments, while we go naked; lead us, prince, to collect the tribute, so that thou and we may become rich.’ Igor consented, and conducted them to the Drevlians to raise the tribute. ”

“ Under Iaroslaf, Kief reached the highest pinnacle of splendor. He wished to make his capital the rival of Constantinople; like Byzantium, she had her cathedral and her Golden Gate. The Grand Prince also founded the monastery of Saint Irene, of which only a few ruins now remain, and those of Saint George and the Catacombs, the latter made illustrious by the virtues of its first superiors, Saint Theodosius and Saint Antony. He repaired the church of the Dîme, and surrounded the city with ramparts. The population began to increase, and the lower town to grow at the feet of the upper. ”

“ Though this literature was partly the fruit of Byzantine decay, we may perceive how it implanted fresh ideas in the mind of a young nation, and would largely influence the moral life of the individual, and public and family life. We shall see up to what point Russian society of the Middle Ages was modelled on the examples afforded by this literature. Finally, it must not be forgotten that Christianity brought music in its train to a people whose music was highly primitive, and architecture to a people who had absolutely none. ”

“ An empire one and indivisible, resting on a standing army, a hierarchy of functionaries, a national clergy, and a body of jurisconsults,—such was the Roman Empire, and such it revived in the monarchies of the 17th century. ”

“ Social conditions from the 9th to the 12th century were as unequal as in the West. The droujina of the prince, which speedily absorbed all the Slav and Finn chiefs, constituted an aristocracy. Still we must distinguish in it those who were only simple guards or gridi (girdin among the Scandinavians) , the mouges or men (vir in Latin, baron in French) , and the boyards who were the most illustrious of all. The freemen of the Russian soil were “the people” or lioudi. The gosti or merchants were not at this period a class apart ”

“ Union of Russia Splendor of Kief Varangian-Russian society at the time of Iaroslaf Progress of Christianity Social, political, literary, and artistic results The Clovis and Charlemagne of the Russians: Saint Vladimir and Iaroslaf the Great (972–1054) Vladimir (972–1015) —Conversion of the Russians The Slav tribes owe their organization to a twofold conquest—a military conquest which came from the North, and an ecclesiastical conquest which came from the South. The Varangians sent them chiefs of war, who welded their scattered tribes into a nation ”

“ The Monastery of the Catacombs, with the incorruptible bodies of its ascetics and thaumaturges, some of whom bricked themselves up while living, in the cell which was to be their sepulchre, draws annually, and especially at the Assumption, 50,000 pilgrims. ”