EARLY MEDIEVAL RUSSIA

VARANGIANS
(750 - 1036 CE)
Vaeringjar (Old Norse, “Sworn Men”),
Varangoi (Greek,  “Foreign Companions”), Varjazi (Arabic)
Gardariki (Old Norse,  “Kingdom of the Cities”)

KIEVAN RUS’
(930 - 1283 CE)
Rus’ (Old Norse), Rusi (Old East Slavic) (both, “Rowers”)
Kievskaya Rus’ (Russian, “Kievan Rus”),
Rusiskaja Zemlja (Old East Slavic, “People of Rus’-land”)
Russia (Latin), Ruzzia (Old High German), Rhôs (Greek),
Ruthenia (Medieval Latin) (all,  “Rus’-land”)

REPUBLIC OF NOVGOROD
(1020 - 1283 CE)
Novgorodskaja Zeml’a (Old Church Slavonic)

 

This gallery and these notes are devoted to the armies of Early Medieval Russia. According to the Primary Russian Chronicle (Old Church Slavonic, Povêstî Vremenînyhû Lêtû)—a compilation of early Slavonic chronicles, Byzantine annals, native legends, and Norse sagas compiled by the Kievan monk, Nestor the Chronicler (ca. 1056-1114 CE)—the Baltic and Slavic tribes of northwestern Russia had been paying tribute to the Varangians (i.e., Vikings) since the early ninth century CE. In 860 CE, these Baltic and Slavic tribes invited the Varangians to send a prince (Old East Slavic, knyazî, Old Church Slavonic, knez, Russian, knyaginya) to rule over them. Three brothers were sent—Rurik, Truvor, and Sineus—together with a following of húskarlar (Old Norse, “House-men,” i.e., armed retainers), and they established dominion over the Chuds, Krivichians, Merians, and Ves (all Finnic peoples), as well as several unidentified groups of “Slavs.” Rurik’s two brothers both died within two years, leaving Rurik with de facto sole authority (ca. 862 CE). Rurik (862-879 CE) had established himself at the Varangian outpost of Gorodische (Old Norse, Holmgarthr), on the Volkhov River (which empties into the Baltic Sea), although after the death of his brothers he also laid claim to their outposts—Beloozero (modern Belozersk) and Izborsk. According to Nestor (and verified by modern archeology), there were already numerous groups of Varangian adventurers that had established outposts along Russia’s great waterways, using these rivers to raid and trade with the Finns, East Slavs, Byzantines (via the Dniester, Dnieper, and Don rivers and the Black Sea), and the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad (via the Volga River and Caspian Sea), and independent bands of Varangians continued to ply these waterways until 1036 CE (some took service with the Byzantines as the Varangian Guard, ca. 874-1259 CE).

Although Rurik is the founder of the Rurikid Dynasty (862-1598 CE), the early Medieval state of Russia did not coalesce until the prince Oleg/Helgi (879-912 CE) conquered many of the southern Viking outposts (ca. 880-882 CE), Igor/Ingvar (914-945 CE) consolidated his dominion over the East Slavic tribes of northwestern Russia (i.e., the Ilmen, Polochans, Krivichs, Vyatichs/Viatichians, Radimichs/Radimichians, and Dregovichs/Dregovichians), and Sviatoslav/Svyatoslav I (945-972 CE) drove the Khazars from Kiev, made it his capital, and declared himself grand prince (Old Church Slavonic, veliki knez). Sviatoslav greatly expanded Rurikid hegemony into southern Russia and the Ukraine, adding the territories of the East Slavic Siverians/Zeriuanians, Drevlyans/Drevlians, Polanians, Ulichs/Uliches, Tiverians, Dulebes/Buzhans/Volhynians, and Byeloravatians, and he formed an alliance with the Turkic Pechenegs/Patzinaks, Cumans/Polovtsy, Torkils, Berends, and Kipchaks against the Khaganate of Khazaria and its Bulgar and Magyar vassals. These allies helped Sviatoslav to wrest the northern reaches of the Pontic steppe (Russian, pole) from the Khazars. Vladimir I (980-1015 CE) established close ties between Kiev and Constantinople, leading to rich political, economic, and religious interplay between the Byzantine Empire and the Grand Principality of Kiev that essentially put the finishing touches on the ethnogenesis of the early Russians—after consulting his council (duma) of nobles (boyarin), Vladimir sent envoys to the Muslim Volga Bulgarians, the Jewish Turks in Khazaria, the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire in Germany, and the Orthodox Byzantine imperial court in Constantinople, and when they returned with their reports he and his duma decided that an alliance with the Byzantines would be most advantageous (politically, economically, culturally). Vladimir had himself baptized in the Eastern Rite of Christianity in order to make himself acceptable to the Byzantine emperor, Basil II Boulgaroktonos (Greek, Basil “the Bulgar-slayer,” 960-1025 CE), who then agreed to a marriage alliance. Vladimir married Anna Porphyrogenita (Greek,  Anna “Born in the purple,” a Byzantine title that signified the purest imperial blood), who became the Grand Princess-consort of Kiev (veliki knyaginya). The Christianization of the early Russians proceeded apace (ca. 988-1071 CE), and the Cyrillic alphabet was adapted by the Byzantine missionary monks Cyril and Methodius to accommodate the Old East Slavic language, resulting in the creation of Old Church Slavonic, which became a kind of lingua franca amongst the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe throughout the Middle Ages. The Grand Principality of Kiev reached its greatest geographical extent and cultural influence under Iaroslav/Yaroslav I (978-1010 CE)—at that time the grand prince of Kiev ruled the principlaities of Novgorod (northwestern Russia), Rostov-Suzdal (northeastern Russia), Smolensk (central Russia), Ryazan (northeastern Russia), Seversk (eastern Russia), Pereyaslavl (southeastern Russia), Polotsk (northern Belarus), Turov-Pinsk (southern Belarus), Chernigov (northeastern Ukraine), Volhynia (northwestern Ukraine and eastern Poland), and Galitsiya (western Ukraine and southeastern Poland), as well as the satellites of Belaya Vezha (North Caucasus), Oleshky (southern Ukraine), and Drevliany (western Ukraine). Most of these principalities had princes in some way connected to the Rurikid Dynasty. Kiev remained the seat of the grand princes until the early eleventh century, when Kievan Rus’ experienced a period of fragmentation (ca. 1010-1223) that saw a reduction in the prestige of the grand princes, the growing independence of the principalities of Novgorod (a republic after 1020 CE), Vladimir (formerly Rostov-Suzdal), and a rebellion (with Polish support) by the Volhynian prince, Roman Mstislavic (1168-1170 CE), that saw the foundation of the Kingdom of Halych-Volhynia (1199-1349 CE) (combining Galitsiya and Volhynia). Despite its loss of political preeminence, Kiev remained one of the most important Russian states, and the whole period is often referred to as that of Kievan Rus’ (Russian, Kievskaya Rus’).

The Mongol conquest of Russia (ca. 1223-1240 CE) was a calamity of epic proportions. The Mongols first conquered the Kipchaks and Cumans/Polovtsy/Polovtsi (ca. 1220-1224 CE), Turkic peoples that had taken over much of the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries CE. Some Cumans were driven west (eventually settling in Hungary), while the remainder joined the Kipchaks as auxiliaries in the Mongol hordes that went on to annihilate the Emirate of Volga Bulgaria (ca. 1223-1236 CE)(see my Huns, Bulgars, Avars gallery) and to force the submission of the Kingdom of Alania (ca. 1238-1239 CE) (see my Western Aryan Nomads gallery). The leader of the Mongols’ western expedition, Batu Khan (grandson of Temujin Chinggis Kha’an), first sent envoys to Yuri/Georgy II of Vladimir (at that time, the grand prince) demanding his submission (November 1237 CE), but he refused, treating the Mongol envoys with disdain. Batu then moved into the principality of Vladimir (the easternmost Russian territory at that time) with 35,000 Mongol warriors and 40,000 Turkic auxiliaries (an army called the Altan Ordu, the  “Golden Horde”), routed the forces of Yuri at the Battle of the Sit River (4 March 1238 CE), and stormed Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, and Vladimir. Mstislav “the Bold,” prince of Galitsya/Halych, and Mstislav III Romanovich, prince of Kiev, drew together the remaining Russian princes and formed an alliance with the Cumans, but the coalition army came to grief at the hands of the Mongol general Subitai at the Battle of the Kalka River (31 May 1223 CE). The Mongols then divided into numerous battle groups and wreaked havoc throughout Russia (as much as 7% of the population was killed, amounting to close to 500,000 Russian casualties)—almost all of the major cities were stormed, sacked, and razed to the ground. Kiev fell in December 1240 CE. By that time the Mongols were in firm control of the whole country, with the sole exceptions of Novgorod and Pskov, both of which benefited greatly from the Mongols’ failure to penetrate the great northern forests (although both ultimately submitted and became tributary states of the Golden Horde). The Russians recovered under Mongol suzerainty (often referred to in Russian sources as “the Tatar yoke”; Tatar being the Russian name for the Mongols), but the social, political, and military systems of Kievan Rus’ were stunted until at least the end of the thirteenth century, when the rise of Muscovite Russia (1223-1547 CE) saw the processes of cultural evolution spring into motion again (as a result of population recovery, economic development, and political consolidation).    

Prior to the arrival of the Varangians, Russia was inhabited by a disparate collection of tribal groups in the northern forests, along the river systems and lakes, and around the vast Pripet Marshes of southern Belarus. I deal with some of these groups in more depth elsewhere (see my Finns, Balts, and Ugrians gallery), so I’ll keep my comments here brief. The northern forests and Baltic coast were mostly the domain of the Finno-Ugric peoples—Finns and Balts along the Baltic coast, Finns in much of northern Russia from Karelia and Murmansk in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east, and Ugrians to the south and east of the Urals. The East Slavs probably originated in and around the Pripet Marshes, but by the Early Medieval Period they had spread throughout Russia and Ukraine (absorbing remnant populations of East Germanic and Sarmato-Alan peoples along the way), mostly by migrating along the vast river systems of the region, and their timber-palisaded settlements (gorod) were strung along the regional trade routes (many of the early Varangian outposts were established near these Slavic gorod, or Varangian leaders took over various gorod, in either case assimilating with the local Slavs). Generally, the Finno-Ugric peoples were semi-nomadic hunters, trappers, and fisherfolk, although along the Baltic coast the Balts and Finns had developed timber-palisaded settlements similar to the Slavic gorod, and like the Slavs they lived mainly as agro-pastoralists. Consequently, the domains of the northern and eastern Finno-Ugric peoples had very low population density. Not much is known of the early Finno-Ugric military systems—the northern and eastern Finns generally operated in loose skirmishing bands of light infantry (open-order skirmishers, mostly unarmored, wielding javelins and bows, supplemented with knives and axes), while the western Finns and Balts generally fielded better-equipped formations similar in character to ancient Germanic warbands (open-order shock infantry, mostly unarmored, armed with spears, swords, axes). The Ugrians had a reputation for ferocity, but seem to have been armed, armored, and organized along similar lines to the northern and eastern Finns. All groups could field better-equipped elites (i.e., tribal chiefs and their retinues), many of whom adopted cavalry warfare by the Early Medieval Period. Some (e.g., the Magyars and Mordvins) eventually developed horse-based nomadism (probably under the influence of the Turks) and fought primarily as cavalry. As mentioned, the northern and eastern Finns and Ugrians were generally very lightly equipped (mostly unarmored javelinmen and bowmen), while western Finnic and Baltic warriors were often more-heavily equipped, in part due to their greater access to German and Scandinavian equipment via the Baltic trade networks.

We know a little more about the early pre-Russian East Slavs. The primary social components of Slavic communities were the clan (rid) and tribe (zadruga). Although there were definitely tribes of East Slavs whose lifestyle was similar to that of the Finno-Ugric peoples, many of the East Slavs had developed an agrarian culture, more stratified social structures, and they were integral to the development of regional trade networks (as mentioned above, they spread throughout Eastern Europe along the great river systems, and these same rivers ultimately became the highways along which most long-distance trade traveled). An elite class of warlords (knyazî), tribal leaders (bolyarin), cultic priests, and traders had emerged by the Early Medieval Period. Turkic Jewish merchants (radaniya) from the Khaganate of Khazaria to the south provided the East Slavs with access to the rich markets of the Byzantine and Abbasid empires (timber, furs, amber, walrus tusks, grain, and slaves headed south; luxury goods, silver, and military equipment flowed north). The elites would have had a mix of equipment acquired through trade and war with the Varangians, Magyars, Bulgars, Avars, and Khazars, and some (especially in the forest-steppe transition zones) had developed cavalry (although, unlike the Magyars and Mordvins, none of the East Slavic peoples had developed cavalry warfare that could match the Turkic peoples). Under normal circumstances, the retinues of the elites (druzhina) would have been the only men under arms, but in times of war they were backed up by tribal militias (voi) of primarily spear-armed infantry (some helms, large rectangular wooden shields, knives, and a scattering of axes). As has been mentioned, Varangian merchant-raiders had entered the Russian landscape via the Baltics and spread throughout the land along the same river systems used by the Slavs—when exactly these adventurers first arrived is a matter of debate, although by the time Rurik was said to have settled in Gorodische (mid-ninth century CE) the Varangians were already integrated into the local trade networks and had several more-or-less permanent trading outposts. The Varangians provided the Balts, Finns, and East Slavs with access to the Baltic trade networks linking Russia with Germany and Britain (western and northern military equipment was especially prized). Until the early eleventh century, there was a steady inflow of Viking adventurers that plied the waterways of Russia and more or less maintained their north Germanic and Scandinavian identities, but there were also those that settled down alongside the Balts, Finns, and Slavs (the Rus’), and by virtue of their martial prowess, mobility, and access to wide trade networks they were able to form strong alliances with the Slavic elites. Initially, these men would have been little different from the other Varangians, but by the early tenth century CE the rich interplay between the Varangian and East Slavic cultures, as well as the influence of the Finno-Ugric and Turkic peoples, saw the emergence of a new culture that combined Scandinavian and East Slavic elements. Militarily, the Varangian influence was felt most amongst the elite retinues, although the growing importance of tribal militias led to the development of a substrata of Slavic leaders (voivodes), and the growing towns could also provide their own militias recruited from the minor craftsmen, laborers, and peasants (polk, “towmsmen,” and smerdy, “peasants”). These militias had a more formal organizational structure than the rural tribes, and apparently could field significant forces that were divided into decimal-based units (a unit of 100 men was a sotski, commanded by a sotnia; and ten units of sotniks made up a tysiatsky, commanded by a tysiacha). The strength of the towns is also reflected in the building of stronger walled fortresses (kremlin), and the development of councils (veche), composed of the most important members of the local gentry (muzhi), capable of driving out princes that did not heed their advice or respect their prerogatives.

The Turkic peoples of the southern steppes had always had a strong influence by virtue of their military strength and cultural sophistication, but militarily early Rus’ armies had little in common with the Turks and were composed primarily of a combination of heavy infantry druzhiniks (mail and scale-clad spear, sword, and axemen), fierce tribal militias (mostly axe, spear, and bow-armed mixed infantry skirmishers), and town militiamen (a combination of spearmen called kopejshchiks, and bowmen called luchniks), although there were some mounted druzhina and muzhi (medium cavalrymen armed with spear, sword, and axe) and mounted skirmishers (strelets), especially in the southern and eastern regions (Rostov-Suzdal/Vladimir, Ryazan, Chernigov). The Turkic influence accelerated greatly in the eleventh century CE, when Sviatoslav drove the Khazars from Kiev (this was the Khazars’ tribute collection center for the East Slavs) and extended Rus’ hegemony onto the northern fringes of the Pontic-Caspian steppes. Sviatoslav managed to gain ascendancy over the Khazars in part through strategic alliances with the Magyars, Alans, and Turkic groups from further east—the Torkils, Berends, Cumans, Pechenegs, and Kipchaks. The Khaganate of Khazaria collapsed by the mid-eleventh century CE, leading to a tumultuous half-century in which the Magyars, Alans, Rus’, and Turks vied for control of the western steppes (ultimately, the Magyars moved west to Hungary, the Pechenegs moved into the north Balkans, the Cumans settled on the Pontic steppe, and the Kipchaks dominated the steppes from the North Caucasus in the west to modern Kazakhstan in the east). This provided the princes of the Rus’ with ample opportunity to recruit Turkic mercenaries (mainly Torkils and Berends at first, then Cumans and Kipchaks later), and many were settled in the border regions to protect the new Russian frontier. These Turkic cavalrymen became known as “Black-hats” (Turkic, karakalpaki, Old Church Slavonic, chernye klobuki), after their traditional Turkic caps (kalpaks). The situation did not always work in the Russians’ favor, however, some Turkic groups gave up their horses and set themselves up in inaccessible places (islands, marshes, etc.) from which they operated like brigands (brodniki)—sometimes hiring out to local princes as muscle, sometimes preying on the nearby towns and peasantry. The influence the Turks had on the druzhiniks was profound, and by the twelfth century most of the major princely retinues operated as quasi-Turkic composite cavalry (i.e., combining the functions of lancers and horse archers), although with the establishment of close ties between Russia and Byzantium (early twelfth century CE) the Rus’ seem to have created their own system of cavalry that eschewed Turkic practices in favor of Byzantine practices (i.e., static volleys of arrows, followed by a charge into close combat, rather than the Turkic hit-and-fade tactics), although Turkic-style equipment remained popular. The princely retinues also grew in size, being divided into the prince’s personal retinue of companions (malaia drugy) and armed retainers (grid drugy)—the size of each druzhina varied with the wealth and power of the prince. Princes were not feudal lords in the western sense. Although they were often landowners, and could call on peasant militias to support their retinues (peasant militias edged out tribal levies by the end of the thirteenth century CE), and they were the titular heads of state of the federated towns that were the heart of the Rus’ system of principalities (knyazhestva), their origins as essentially itinerant river-raiders and traders combined with their newfound mobility on horseback to create a very peripatetic class of rulers that spent most of their time traveling between the various towns and outposts under their sway to collect tribute (these circuits became known as poliudie, and were often designed to bring a prince and his retinue into various regions when it was most lucrative). The towns collected rent and taxes, but they and the peasants had to provide the princes with a percentage of their profits or goods that sometimes looks a lot like protection money, since the princes and retinues were more than willing to chastise non-payers and were not above raiding the economic interests of neighbors. Governors (posadniki) were sometimes appointed to oversee the activities of important towns, but the more powerful town councils were usually able to maintain a degree of independence. Theoretically, everyone was subject to the customary laws (zakon) compiled by the Kievan court in the tenth century and codified by Yaroslav’s commissioning of the Russkaya Pravda (“Russian Justice”) code in the eleventh century, but these were heavily influenced by the oral treaties and oaths (ryad) that had bound the original Varangian/Rus’ rulers and the Slavic chiefs together, so that Kievan Rus’ is best seen as a very loosely federated state (i.e., a confederacy) in which the Kievan grand princes were gradually reduced in status to a prima inter pares (Latin, “first among equals”). Indeed, by the time of the Mongol Conquest, the title of grand prince had become virtually elective (the title was conferred on the strongest prince by his colleagues), meaning that Kiev was not always the recognized capital.

The only Russian state that did not conform to this system was, ironically, Novgorod. Novgorod was located near Rurik’s original settlement at Gorodische in northwestern Russia. However, from the early eleventh century the merchant interests of Novgorod’s council (veche) were significant enough that it was decided the whims and vagaries of the princes and their retinues were more of a threat than a benefit when left unchecked. As a result, the princes of Novgorod were often little more than hired mercenary captains whose druzhina merely supplemented a stout urban militia backed by Finnic and Ugrian tribal auxiliaries (the Baltic littoral was largely taken away by the Kingdom of Sweden and the Teutonic Order by the end of the twelfth century CE). By the beginning of the twelfth century, Novgorod had forged a vast commercial empire throughout the forests of northern Russia and the forest-taiga transition zone, from the Ural Mountains in the east to Karelia and Murmansk in the west. In addition to the large towns of Novgorod and Pskov, Novgorod maintained a network of trading outposts (pogost) that allowed it to control the flow of goods from the north (timber, furs, walrus ivory, amber, and slaves) to the trading networks and entrepôts of the south. The merchant lords of Novgorod often operated like the Varangians of old, sailing fleets up and down the great river systems of Russia, alternating between acting as merchants and as river-raiders (ushkuyniki). By the end of the twelfth century, urban militias in general were getting better access to arms and armor (locally produced and imported from Byzantium, the Abbasid Caliphate, and Germany). The introduction of the crossbow from central Europe (i.e., Germany) via Novgorod occurred in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, and greatly expanded the tactical abilities of urban militias, although they ultimately proved insufficient in countering the Mongols. Under the Mongols, the town councils in the southern principalities virtually disappeared, replaced by Mongol-appointed governors. Principalities were also consolidated under very few prominent boyar families, whose primary task was to collect taxes to pay the Mongols’ demands for tribute and to provide auxiliaries for the Golden Horde when called upon. To this end, the Russian vassal princes were allowed to recruit armed retainers (no longer called druzhiniks, but thereafter called dvor) that, unlike the old druzhiniks, were not governed by personal codes and amity between lord and retainers, but basically served as mercenaries in his employ. The towns could still field militias (usually simply collectively referred to as polk), although outside Novgorod these militias declined sharply in quality (once again, the Mongols tended to discourage towns from developing stout local defenses).

The figures I’ve used here are from Mirliton’s excellent “Russians of Alexander Nevsky” line, and Steven Hales’ shield and pennon decals really make this a visually stunning army. I originally put this army together in connection to a Battle of Lake Peipus scenario I was developing (a.k.a., the Battle on the Ice), although these figures could be used to portray any Russian army from the late twelfth or early thirteenth centuries (these figures basically represent the culmination of the evolution of the Russian martial system before the Mongol Conquest, and because they’re Novgorodians they haven’t shown the decline in fortunes suffered by the southern regimes). The Battle of Lake Peipus (5 April 1242 CE) was fought between the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (a sub-order of the Teutonic Order), along with Estonian levies and allied Swedish crusaders, and the army of the Republic of Novgorod and Pskov, at that time under the command of the Grand Prince of Vladimir, Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (1221-1263 CE), and his brother, Andrey II Yaroslavich (1222-1264 CE). Although Vladimir was at that time the primary vassal-state of the Mongols in Russia, and Novgorod was a tributary state of the Golden Horde, this army shows that the great northern principality could still muster significant forces (in this case, they won a resounding victory over the western crusaders) and could operate with a high degree of latitude as long as they did not interfere with the Mongols’ strategic priorities.