An Analogy to the Chronicle’s ‘Calling-in of the Varangians’ in the 'Life of St Ansgar'
National Research University Higher School of Economics
For citation: Stefanovich, Petr S. An Analogy to the Chronicle’s ‘Calling-in of the Varangians’ in the Life of St Ansgar // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2024: In memoriam Alexandr V. Nazarenko / Editors of the volume Т.V. Guimon, P.V. Lukin, Е.А. Мelnikova, А.V. Podossinov Мoscow: GAUGN-Press, 2024. S. 1–2.
DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2024-45-1-2
Abstract:
The author of the article draws attention to the story in the Life of St Ansgar about the military campaign of the Swedes against the Curonians, which took place in 854. The Life was written by Ansgar's pupil and successor Rimbert before 876. His information, confirmed by archaeological data, is reliable. The description of the campaign indicates that the Swedes plundered a Curonian city (most likely Grobinya) and besieged another one, Apuole, for a long time. The siege ended with negotiations and recognition of the Swedish dominance by the Curonians. They agreed to the payment of a one-time indemnity and a permanent tribute in the future. The author of the article suggests these events can serve as a historical background for the events described in the ancient Rus’ian story about the ‘calling-in of the Varangians’ which also tells about the interaction of alien Scandinavians with local peoples (‘tribes’) in the middle of the 9th century. The story is not preserved in ancient Rus’ian chronicles in its original form, and the author follows its reconstruction according to the textual investigations of A.A. Shakhmatov. The author emphasizes that in the chronicle, just like in the Life, the main expression of dominance was the right to collect tribute on an ongoing basis.
Like in the Life, the chronicle stated that the population agreed to pay tribute for the sake of ‘peace’ and the author stresses the importance of this concept in archaic perceptions of power and justice. Tributary relations were interpreted and presented by the participants of the events themselves as contractual. At the same time, according to the story of the Life, the establishment of the power of the Swedes over the Curonians was the result of the usage of force, and this casts doubt on the idyllic story of the chronicle about the voluntary ‘calling-in’ of the Varangians by autochthonous peoples. The Life written in the 9th century offers a much more plausible picture of the subjugation of the local population to the Scandinavians than the legendary chronicle story, written no earlier than the beginning of the 11th century. On the whole, the author writes about a similar historical situation described in the Life of Ansgar and the chronicle story (the penetration of the Scandinavians into the Circum-Baltic space), and about analogies in the descriptions of this situation in the life and chronicle (one model of legitimization of relations between the Scandinavians and autochthonous residents using the concept of “peace”).
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