Rus' Khaganate

Rus' Khaganate
c. 830[a]–c. 890s[2]
Common languagesOld East Slavic, Old East Norse
Historical eraEarly Middle Ages
• Established
c. 830[a]
• Disestablished
c. 890s[2]
 Succeeded by
Kievan Rusʹ

Rusʹ Khaganate (Russian: Русский каганат, Russkiy kaganat,[3] Ukrainian: Руський каганат, Ruśkyj kahanat[4][5]), or kaganate of Rus[b] is a name applied by some modern historians to a hypothetical polity suggested to have existed during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern Europe between c. 830 and the 890s.[a][b][2][6]

The fact that a few sparse contemporaneous sources appear to refer to the leader or leaders of Rus' people at this time with the word chacanus, which might be derived from the title of khagan as used by groupings of Asiatic nomads, has led some scholars to suggest that his political organisation can be called a "k(h)aganate".[b] Other scholars have disputed this, as it would have been unlikely for an organisation of Germanic immigrants from the north to adopt such a foreign title.[b] Some historians have criticised the concept of a Rus' Khaganate, calling it a "historiographical phantom",[8] and said that the society of 9th-century Rusʹ cannot be characterised as a state.[9] Still other scholars identify these early mentions of a Rus' political entity headed by a chacanus with the Kievan Rus' state commonly attested in later sources,[c] whose princes such as Vladimir the Great,[11] (r. 980–1015) Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019–1054),[12][13] and perhaps Sviatoslav II of Kiev (r. 1073–1076)[2][11] and Oleg I of Chernigov[2][11] (r. 1097–1115) were occasionally identified as kagans in Old East Slavic literature until the late 12th century.[14][15]

  1. ^ Magocsi, Paul Robert (2010). A History of Ukraine: A Land and Its Peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 61–62.
  2. ^ a b c d Zuckerman 2000.
  3. ^ Galkina, E. S. (Elena Sergeevna) (2012). Русскиĭ каганат : без кхазар и норманнов [Russian Khaganate: without the Khazars and the Normans]. Moscow. ISBN 9785443801643. OCLC 826862812.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Smirnov 1928, p. 118.
  5. ^ Minorsky 1937, p. 427.
  6. ^ К. Цукерман (Constantin Zuckerman), "Перестройка древнейшей русской истории", In: У истоков русской государственности, 2007 (a 2005 conference materials); further elaboration of the 2000 Zuckerman's paper
  7. ^ Duczko 2004, p. 29.
  8. ^ Петрухин (Petrukhin), В. Я. (2014). Русь в IX—X веках. От призвания варягов до выбора веры [Rus' in the 9th–10th Centuries. From the Invitation of the Varangians to the Choice of Faith] (in Russian). Форум : Неолит. pp. 118, 119, 129–131, 277, 288–289, 353. ISBN 9785911346911.
  9. ^ Толочко (Tolochko), А. П. (2015). Очерки начальной Руси [Essays on Early Rus'] (in Russian). Лаурус. ISBN 9785990558304.
  10. ^ Duczko 2004, p. 23.
  11. ^ a b c Ostrowski 2018, p. 310.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pushkinskijdom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Franklin 1991, p. 23, 26.
  14. ^ Halperin 1987, p. 26–27.
  15. ^ Halperin 2022, p. 19.


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