The Earliest States of Eastern Europe

The article evolves on the role of people called Chud’ in the multiple formation processes of the medieval Kiev-Rus’ state, as it is indicated by the latest archaeological finds and interpretations, as well as according to early written sources.

Archaeological evidence in the area of present-day Estonia indicated two different culture spheres, sometimes called Coastal Estonia and Inland Estonia. The north-eastern coast of the country – the district of Virumaa – was a kind of transformation area that culturally, however, seems to have had closer links with the inland districts. Coastal and Inland Estonia differed not only archaeologically, but also linguistically and anthropologically, and were very likely treated as regions with different ethnic groups in the Viking Age.

Archaeological evidence in certain areas in the eastern and especially north-eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea demonstrated close cultural contacts with Eastern Sweden as early as in the eighth century. This system of shared culture values characterised mainly a warrior sphere and mainly coastal districts, while inland districts possessed different material culture. The evaluation of archaeological situation around the northern part of the Baltic is hindered by Balto-Finnic burial customs in the sixth – mid-tenth centuries, which did not foresee grave goods or even archaeologically traceable graves. However, some parts of this region were marked with abundant dirham finds and complexes consisting of hill-forts and adjacent settlements. Several of them, particularly the ones situated along Estonian coasts, were probably directly connected with internationally relevant communication routes, called Austrvegr in Old Norse sagas. In the second half of the tenth century, when artefacts, again, appeared in graves, it became clear that the grave goods of Coastal-Estonian warriors were hardly possible to distinguish from Gotlandic or Central Swedish ones.

According to Russian chronicles, a people called Chud’ was among the ones who in the ninth century paid tribute to the Varangians, and later invited Rus’ to rule over their country. In the parts of Russian chronicles depicting the time up to the late tenth century, Chud’ seem to occupy a special place, often creating a kind of parallelism with Rus’. The existence of coastal and inland culture spheres in present-day Estonia enables us to suggest that the ethnonym Chud’ was only used for the inhabitants of Inland Estonia and Virumaa, which might have been considered as belonging to the Garðaríki dominion in the ninth and tenth centuries.

The situation changed around 1000 AD when the Chud’, who had earlier been considered allies in Russian chronicles, now appeared as enemies. This change coincided with major alterations in Baltic Sea communication and cultural landscape, but also with an abrupt cessation of Scandinavian influence in Kiev-Rus’.

Keywords:

Viking Age communication, Finnic peoples, Austrvegr, Chud’, Rus’

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