for pillage, showed themselves on the frontiers of Russia: these were
the Petchenegs, famous in the Russian, Byzantine, and Hungarian annals,
from the tenth to the twelfth century. They were a nomad people, of
the Turcoman stock, whose only wealth consisted in their lances, bows
and arrows, their flocks and herds, and their swift horses, which they
managed with astonishing address. The only objects of their desires were
fat pastures for their cattle, and rich neighbours to plunder. Having
come from the east they established themselves along the northern shores
of the Black Sea. Thenceforth occupying the ground between the Greek and
the Russian empires, subsidised by the one for its defence, and courted
by the other from commercial motives--for the cataracts of the Dnieper
and the mouths of the Danube were in the hands of those marauders--the
Petchenegs were enabled for more than two hundred years to indulge their
ruling propensity at the expense of their neighbours. Having concluded a
treaty with Igor, they remained for five years without molesting Russia;
at least Nestor does not speak of any war with them until 920, nor had
tradition afforded him any clue to the result of that campaign.
[Sidenote: [920-944 A.D.]]
The reign of Igor was hardly distinguished by any important event until
the year 941, when, in imitation of his guardian, he engaged in an
expedition against Constantinople. If the chroniclers do not exaggerate,
Igor entered the Black Sea with ten thousand barks, each carrying forty
men. The imperial troops being at a distance, he had time to overrun
and ravage Paphlagonia, Pontus, and Bithynia. Nestor speaks with deep
abhorrence of the ferocity displayed by the Russians on this occasion;
nothing to which they could apply fire or sword escaped their wanton
lust of destruction, and their prisoners were invariably massacred in
the most atrocious manner--crucified, impaled, cut to pieces, buried
alive, or tied to stakes to serve as butts for the archers. At last the
Greek fleet encountered the Russian as it rode at anchor near Pharos,
prepared for battle and confident of victory. But the terrible Greek fire
launched against the invaders struck them with such dismay that they fled
in disorder to the coasts of Asia Minor. Descending there to pillage,
they were again routed by the land forces, and escaped by night in their
barks, to lose many of them in another severe naval defeat. By the
confession of the Russian chronicles, Igor scarcely took back with him a
third part of his army.
Instead of being discouraged by these disasters, Igor prepared to revenge
them. In 944 he collected new forces [which included a large number of
Scandinavians collected for this special purpose by Igor’s recruiting
agents], took the Petchenegs into his pay, exacting hostages for their
fidelity, and again set out for Greece. But scarcely had he reached the
mouths of the Danube when he was met by ambassadors from the emperor
Romanus, with an offer to pay him the same tribute as had been exacted
by Oleg. Igor halted and communicated this offer to his chief men, whose
opinions on the matter are thus reported by Nestor: “If Cæsar makes
such proposals,” said they, “is it not better to get gold, silver, and
precious stuffs, without fighting? Can we tell who will be the victor,
and who the vanquished? And can we guess what may befall us at sea? It is
not solid ground that is under our feet, but the depths of the waters,
where all men run the same risks.”
In accordance with these views Igor granted peace to the empire on the
proposed conditions, and the following year he concluded with the emperor
a treaty, which was in part a renewal of that made by Oleg.[3] Of the
fifty names attached on the part of Russia to this second treaty, three
are Slavonic, the rest Norman.
[Sidenote: [948 A.D.]]
Igor, being now advanced in years, was naturally desirous of repose, but
the insatiable cupidity of his comrades in arms forced him to go to war.
From the complaints of his warriors it appears that the Russian, like
the German princes, furnished their faithful band with clothing, arms,
horses, and provisions. “We are naked,” Igor’s companions and guards said
to him, “while the companions of Sveneld have beautiful arms and fine
clothing. Come with us and levy contributions, that we may be in plenty
with thee.” It was customary with the grand prince to leave Kiev every
year, in November, with an army, and not to return until April, after
having visited his cities and received their tributes. When the prince’s
magazine was empty, and the annual contributions were not sufficient,
it became necessary to find new enemies to subject to exactions, or to
treat as enemies the tribes that had submitted. To the latter expedient
Igor now resorted against the Drevlians. Marching into their country
he surcharged them with onerous tributes, besides suffering his guards
to plunder them with impunity. His easy success in this rapacious
foray tempted him to his destruction. After quitting the country of
his oppressed tributaries, the thought struck him that more might yet
be squeezed out of them. With this view he sent on his army to Kiev,
probably because he did not wish to let his voyevods or lieutenants share
the fruit of his contemplated extortions, and went back with a small
force among the Drevlians, who, driven to extremity, massacred him and
the whole of his guard near their town of Iskorost.[i]
THE REGENCY OF OLGA
Olga, Igor’s widow, assumed the regency in the name of her son
Sviatoslav, then of tender age. Her first care was to revenge herself
upon the Drevlians. In Nestor’s narrative it is impossible to separate
the historical part from the epic. The Russian chronicler recounts in
detail how the Drevlians sent two deputations to Olga to appease her
and to offer her the hand of their prince; how she caused their death
by treachery, some being buried alive, while others were stifled in a
bath-house; how she besieged their city of Iskorost and offered to grant
them peace on payment of a tribute of three pigeons and three sparrows
for each house; how she attached lighted tow to the birds and then sent
them off to the wooden city, where the barns and the thatched roofs
were immediately set on fire; how, finally, she massacred part of the
inhabitants of Iskorost and reduced the rest to slavery.
But it was this vindictive barbarian woman that was the first of the
ruling house of Rurik to adopt Christianity.[d] We have seen before how
Christianity was planted in Kiev under the protection of Askold and
Dir, and how the converts to the new religion were specially referred
to in the commercial treaty between Oleg and the Byzantine emperor.
There existed a Christian community at Kiev but it was to Constantinople
that Olga went to be baptised in the presence of the patriarch and the
emperor. She assumed the Christian name of Helena, and after her death
she was canonised in the Russian church. On her return she tried also
to convert her son Sviatoslav, who had by this time become the reigning
prince, but all her efforts were unavailing. He dreaded the ridicule of
the fierce warriors whom he had gathered about himself. And no doubt the
religion of Christ was little in consonance with the martial character of
this true son of the vikings. The chronicle of Nestor gives the following
embellished account of Olga’s conversion:[a]
_Nestor Tells of the Baptism of Olga_
In the year 948 Olga went to the Greeks and came to Tsargorod
(Constantinople). At that time the emperor was Zimischius,[4] and Olga
came to him, and seeing that she was of beautiful visage and prudent
mind, the emperor admired her intelligence as he conversed with her
and said to her: “Thou art worthy to reign with us in this city.” When
she heard these words she said to the emperor: “I am a heathen, if
you wish me to be baptised, baptise me yourself; otherwise I will not
be baptised.” So the emperor and patriarch baptised her. When she was
enlightened she rejoiced in body and soul, and the patriarch instructed
her in the faith and said to her: “Blessed art thou among Russian women,
for thou hast loved light and cast away darkness; the sons of Russia
shall bless thee unto the last generation of thy descendants.” And at
her baptism she was given the name of Helena, who was in ancient times
empress and mother of Constantine the Great. And the patriarch blessed
Olga and let her go.
After the baptism the emperor sent for her and said to her: “I will take
thee for my wife.”
She answered: “How canst thou wish to take me for thy wife when thou
thyself hast baptised me and called me daughter? for with the Christians
this is unlawful and thou thyself knowest it.”
And the emperor said: “Thou hast deceived me, Olga,” and he gave her
many presents of gold and silver, and silk and vases and let her depart,
calling her daughter.
[Illustration: OLGA]
She returned to her home, going first to the patriarch to ask his
blessing on her house and saying unto him: “My people are heathen and my
son, too; may God preserve me from harm!”
And the patriarch said: “My faithful daughter, thou hast been baptised
in Christ, thou hast put on Christ, Christ shall preserve thee as he
preserved Enoch in the first ages, and Noah in the Ark, as he preserved
Abraham from Abimelech, Lot from the Sodomites, Moses from Pharaoh, David
from Saul, the three young men from the fiery furnace, and Daniel from
the lions; thus shall he preserve thee from the enemy and his snares!”
Thus the patriarch blessed her and she returned in peace to her own land
and came to Kiev.
Olga lived with her son Sviatoslav and she repeatedly tried to induce
him to be baptised, but he would not listen to her, for if any one
then wished to be baptised it was not forbidden, but people mocked at
him. And Olga often said, “My son, I have learned wisdom and rejoice;
if thou knewest it, thou too wouldst rejoice.” But he paid no heed to
her, saying: “How should I alone adopt a strange faith, my droujina
(followers, men-at-arms) would mock at me.” She said: “If thou art
baptised, all will do likewise,” but he would not listen to his mother
and persisted in the heathen customs, not knowing that who does not
hearken to his mother shall fall into misfortune, for it is written, he
that does not hearken to his father or mother, let him die the death.[5]
And he was angered against his mother. However, Olga loved her son
Sviatoslav, and said: “God’s will be done! If God wills to have mercy on
my race and on the Russian land, he will put into their hearts to turn to
God, even as He did unto me.” And having thus said, she prayed for her
son and for the people night and day, and she brought up her son until he
was grown to be a man.
SVIATOSLAV; THE VICTORY OF NORTH OVER SOUTH
[Sidenote: [964-971 A.D.]]
Sviatoslav assumed the reins of government in 964, and he ruled only
till 972, but this short period was filled with warlike expeditions. He
crushed the power of the Volga Bulgarians and of the Chazars, and he
incorporated the Viatitchi in the empire--thus destroying the danger ever
menacing from the east, and uniting all the Slavs under one dominion. In
968 he marched--at the instigation of the Greek emperor, who furnished
him the means--with an army of sixty thousand men against the Bulgarians
of the Danube, conquered Pereiaslavl (the location of which is unknown)
and Durostorus (the modern Silistria), and began to form the project of
erecting for himself a new empire on the ruins of the Bulgarian power,
when tidings reached him of a raid of the Petchenegs against Kiev and
of the imminent danger to his mother and children who were beleaguered
in that town. Leaving garrisons in the conquered towns he hurried back
by forced marches and drove the Petchenegs back into the steppe. He
divided his Russian dominions among his three young sons, giving Kiev to
Iaropolk, the land of the Drevlians to Oleg, and Novgorod to Vladimir;
while he himself went back to Bulgaria, for “Pereiaslavl is dear to him,
where all good things meet, fine stuffs, wine, fruits, and gold from
Greece, silver and horses from Bohemia and Hungary, furs, wax, honey, and
slaves from Russia.”
In 970 he conquered Bulgaria and crossed the Balkans with an army of
thirty thousand men. Defeated before Arcadipole (the present Lüle
Burpas), his barbarian followers gave way to their plundering instincts,
ravaged Macedonia, and scattered in all directions, while the emperor
John Tzimiskes was making extensive preparations for their annihilation.
Thus the year 971 was spent. In March of the next year the Russian
garrison was almost annihilated at Pereiaslavl, which the Greeks took
by storm, and only a small remnant reached Sviatoslav. In this hour of
need Sviatoslav exhibited a tremendous energy. By recalling his roving
bands he soon found himself at the head of sixty thousand men, and a
pitched battle was fought. Twelve times the victory wavered from one
side to the other, but finally their lack of cavalry and their inferior
armament decided the day against the Russians, and they were forced back
upon Drster. For three months they held the town against a regular siege,
until, reduced in numbers by hunger and numerous sorties, Sviatoslav
decided on a last desperate effort to break through the Greek lines.
The battle is described in great detail by the Byzantine historians, in
whom Sviatoslav’s bravery excited admiration. Fifteen thousand Russians
were left on the field, the survivors were forced back into Durostorus.
Surrounded on all sides, Sviatoslav sued for peace, and Tzimiskes
granted an honourable retreat to a foe so gallant and withal dangerous.
He renewed with him the old treaties, undertook to supply his army with
provisions on its retreat, and also to induce the Petchenegs to grant a
free passage into Russia. But at the rapids of the Dnieper these sons of
the steppe surprised Sviatoslav and killed him, and only a small remnant
of his force, led by the voyevod Svenedl, reached Kiev.[g][a]
[Illustration: VLADIMIR I
(Died 1015)]
Sviatoslav’s overthrow was, after all, a fortunate event for the Russian
empire. Kiev was already a sufficiently eccentric capital; had Sviatoslav
established the seat of government on the Danube, his successor would
have gone still further; and Rurik, instead of being the founder of a
mighty empire, would have been nothing more than the principal leader of
one of those vast but transient irruptions of the northern barbarians,
which often ravaged the world without leaving behind any permanent trace
of their passage. But in the Greek emperor Tzimiskes, Sviatoslav met
with a hero as pertinacious as himself, and with far more talent, and
the Russians, driven back within the limits of Russia, were compelled to
establish themselves there.[i]
[Sidenote: [977 A.D.]]
Sviatoslav’s death seems to have left no perceptible influence on the
destinies of Russia, for his three young sons were in the undisputed
possession of authority while he and his warriors were fighting for a
new empire in the Balkan peninsula. But his division of Russia among
his sons, as if it were his private estate, soon showed its mischievous
effects. In 977 civil war broke out between Iaropolk, who was at Kiev,
and Oleg, who was in the Drevlian country. The latter was defeated in
battle, and in his flight met death by the breaking down of a bridge
thronged with fugitives. His territory was thereupon annexed by Iaropolk
to his own dominions.
Vladimir, prince of Novgorod, the youngest of the three brothers, now
became alarmed for his own safety and fled across the sea to seek
refuge among the Scandinavian Varangians. After two years he returned
with a numerous force of Norse adventurers, expelled from Novgorod the
voyevods whom Iaropolk had installed there during his absence, and led
his army against Kiev. On his march he conquered Polotsk on the Dvina,
an independent Varangian principality, killing its prince by the name of
Rogvolod (Scand. Rangvaldr) and forcing his daughter Rogneda to marry
him. Iaropolk, betrayed by his chief men, surrendered Kiev without
offering any resistance and finally delivered his own person into the
hands of Vladimir, by whose order he was put to death. Vladimir now
became sole ruler of Russia.
The victory of Vladimir over Iaropolk was achieved with the aid of
Northmen and Novgorodians. It was, therefore, a victory of the Russian
north over the Russian south, of Novgorod, where paganism was still
unshaken, over Kiev, which was permeated with Christian elements.
Vladimir was brought up in Novgorod, and during his two years’ stay in
Sweden he must have become still more strongly impregnated with heathen
ideas. Accordingly we find that no sooner was he firmly seated on his
throne at Kiev than he tried to restore the heathen worship to more than
its pristine strength among the Russian Slavs. Statues of the gods were
erected: Perun, Dashbog, Stribog, Simargla, Mokosh--all of them, with
the exception of Perun, known to us hardly more than by name. Human
sacrifices were introduced, and two Christians, a father and his son, who
resisted this blood-tax, were killed by a fanatical mob--the first and
only Christian martyrs on Russian soil. One is tempted to assume that
the Russian Slavs had originally no representations of the gods, and
that it was their Norse princes who introduced them--at any rate there
is no mention of images before the arrival of the latter; while the mode
of worship introduced by Vladimir bears a bloody character, quite alien
to the eastern Slavs. It is evident that he is making a last effort to
impart to the colourless paganism of his subjects a systematic character
which would enable it to resist the growing new religion.
But the circumstances of this prince soon underwent a change. His Norse
auxiliaries, whose rapacity he could not satisfy, he was soon obliged to
dismiss. According to northern sagas he was even involved in a war with
Sweden, the stronghold of heathenism. His new capital was in constant
commercial intercourse with Byzantium, and the reports that reached him
of its gorgeous worship made a deep impression on the imagination of the
barbarian. But if he was to accept the religion of the Cæsars, he was
determined to do it not as a suppliant, but as a conqueror.[g][a] In what
follows we give in full the circumstantial account of Nestor.
NESTOR’S ACCOUNT OF VLADIMIR’S CONVERSION
[Sidenote: [987 A.D.]]
In the year 987, Vladimir called together his boyars and the elders of
the town, and said to them: “Behold, the Bulgarians have come to me
saying: Receive our law; then came Germans and they praised their laws;
after them came the Jews, and finally came the Greeks, blaming all other
laws, but praising their own, and they spoke at great length, from the
creation of the world, of the history of the whole world; they speak
cunningly, and it is wonderful and pleasing to hear them; they say that
there is another world, and that whosoever receives their faith, even
though he die shall live to all eternity; but if he receive another law
he shall burn in another world amidst flames. What think ye of it, and
what will you answer?”
And the boyars and elders answered, “Thou knowest, prince, that nobody
finds fault with his own, but on the contrary praises it; if thou
desirest to test this matter deeply, send some of thy men to study their
various faiths and see how each one serves God.” And the speech pleased
the prince and all the people; ten wise and good men were chosen and
were told to go first to the Bulgarians and study their faith. So they
went, and coming saw infamous doings, and how the people worshipped in
their mosques, and they returned to their own country. And Vladimir said
to them: “Go now to the Germans, and observe in the same manner, and
afterwards go to the Greeks.” They came to the Germans, and after having
watched their church services, they went on to Tsargorad (Constantinople)
and came to the emperor; the emperor asked them what brought them there,
and they told him all that had happened. When he had heard it, he was
glad and did them great honour from that day. The next day he sent to the
patriarch saying: “There have come certain Russians to study our faith,
prepare the church and thy clergy, and array thyself in thy episcopal
robes that they may see the glory of our God.” When the patriarch heard
this, he called together his clergy and they celebrated the service as
for a great festival, and they burned incense and the choirs sang. And
the emperor went with the Russians into the church and they were placed
in a spacious part so that they might see the beauty of the church and
hear the singing; then they explained to them the archiepiscopal service,
the ministry of the deacons and the divine office. They were filled with
wonderment and greatly admired and praised the service. And the emperors
Basil and Constantine called them and said, “Return now to your country.”
And they bade them farewell, giving them great gifts and showing them
honour.
When they returned to their own country, the prince assembled the boyars
and elders and said to them: “These are the men whom we have sent; they
have returned, let us listen to what they have seen.” And he said: “Speak
before the droujina.” And they said: “First we went to the Bulgarians
and we observed how they worship in their temples, they stand without
girdles, they sit down and look about them as though they were possessed
by the demon, and there is no gladness amongst them, but only sorrow and
a great stench; their religion is not a good one. We then went to the
Germans, and we saw many services celebrated in their temples, but we
saw no beauty there. Then we came to the Greeks, and they took us where
they worship their God, and we no longer knew whether we were in heaven
or on earth, for there is nothing like it on earth, nor such beauty, and
we know not how to tell of it; we only know that it is there, that God
dwells among men, and their service surpasses that of any other land.
We can never forget its beauty, for as every man when he has tasted
sweetness cannot afterwards endure bitterness, so can we no longer dwell
here.” The boyars answered: “If the Greek religion were evil, then thy
grandmother Olga, who was wiser than all men, would not have adopted it.”
And Vladimir replied: “Where then shall we be baptised?” They answered:
“Where thou wilt.” And the year passed by.
[Sidenote: [988 A.D.]]
In the year 988 Vladimir marched with his troops against Kherson, a Greek
town, and the inhabitants shut themselves up in the town. So Vladimir
established himself on the other side of the town, in the bay, at an
arrow’s throw from the town. And the people of Kherson fought hard
against him, but he blockaded the town and they were exhausted, and
Vladimir said to them: “If you do not surrender I will stay three years
if necessary.” But they would not listen to him.
Then Vladimir ranged his men in battle array and commanded them to build
a trench towards the town. And a man of Kherson, by name Anastasius,
threw out an arrow, on which he had inscribed: “To the east of thee lie
springs, the waters of which come into the town through pipes; dig there
and thou shalt intercept the water.” When Vladimir heard this he looked
up to heaven and said: “If this comes to pass I will be baptised.” He
commanded his soldiers to dig above the pipes, and he cut off the water,
and the people, exhausted by thirst, surrendered.
So Vladimir with his droujina entered into the town. And he sent
messengers to Basil and Constantine, saying: “Behold I have conquered
your famous town. I have heard that you have a maiden sister; if you
will not give her to me, I will do with your capital even as I have done
with this town.” The emperors were grieved when this message was brought
to them and sent back the following answer: “It is not meet to give a
Christian maiden in marriage to a heathen. If thou art baptised thou
shalt receive what thou askest, and the kingdom of heaven besides, and
thou shalt be of the same faith as we, but if thou wilt not be baptised
we cannot give thee our sister.”
When he heard this, Vladimir said to the emperor’s messengers, “Tell
your emperor thus: I will be baptised, for I have already inquired into
your religion, and your faith and rites please me well as they have been
described to me by the men whom we have sent.” And when the emperors
heard these words they rejoiced and persuaded their sister, who was
named Anna, and sent to Vladimir saying: “Be baptised and we will send
thee our sister.” Vladimir answered: “Let them come with your sister to
baptise me.” When the emperors heard this they sent their sister with
some dignitaries and priests; and she did not want to go and said: “I am
going like a slave to the heathen, it would be better for me to die.” But
her brothers persuaded her saying: “It is through thee that God shall
turn the hearts of the Russian people to repentance, and thou shalt save
the land of Greece from a cruel war; seest thou not how much harm the
Russians have already done to the Greeks? And now if thou goest not they
will do more harm.” And they persuaded her with difficulty. So she took
ship, kissed her parents, and weeping went across the sea to Kherson.
When she arrived, the people of Kherson came out to greet her, led her
into the town, and took her to the palace. By the will of God Vladimir’s
eyes were then sore and he could not see anything, he was greatly
troubled. And the czarina[6] went unto him saying: “If thou desirest to
be delivered from this malady, be baptised as quickly as possible, or
otherwise thou wilt not be cured.” When Vladimir heard this he said: “If
this is accomplished, truly the God of the Christians is great:” and he
was baptised. The bishop of Kherson after having announced it to the
people, baptised Vladimir together with the czarina’s priests, and as
soon as he laid his hands on him, he saw. When Vladimir perceived how
quickly he was healed, he glorified God, saying: “Now only do I know
the true God.” And when his droujina saw it, many were also baptised.
Vladimir was baptised in the church of St. Basil, which is in Kherson in
the midst of the town, where the people hold their market.
After the baptism Vladimir was wedded to the czarina. And when he had
been baptised the priests expounded to him the Christian faith. After
this Vladimir with the czarina and Anastasius and the priests of Kherson
took the relics of St. Clement and St. Theba, his disciple, as well as
the sacred vessels and relics, and he built a church on an eminence in
the middle of the town, which had been raised with the earth taken from
the trench, and this church still exists. As a wedding present to the
czarina he gave back Kherson to the Greeks, and himself returned to Kiev.
When he came there he commanded all the idols to be overthrown, some to
be chopped in pieces, others cast into the flames. Then Vladimir had the
following proclamation made throughout the town. “Whosoever to-morrow,
rich or poor, mendicant or artisan, does not come to the river to be
baptised, will be as an alien to me.” When the people heard these words,
they came joyfully saying: “If this faith were not good, the prince and
the boyars would not have adopted it.” The next day Vladimir came with
the czarina’s priests and those of Kherson to the banks of the Dnieper,
and an innumerable multitude of people were assembled and they went
into the water, some up to their necks, others to their breasts; the
younger ones stood on the banks, men held their children in their arms,
the adults were quite in the water, and the priests stood repeating
the prayers. And there was joy in heaven and on earth to see so many
souls saved. When they were baptised the people returned to their homes
and Vladimir rejoiced that he and his people knew God. He ordered that
churches and priests should be established in all the towns, and that the
people should be baptised throughout all the towns and villages; then
he sent for the children of the chief families and had them instructed
in book learning. Thus was Vladimir enlightened with his sons and his
people, for he had twelve sons. And he henceforth lived in the Christian
faith.[h]
_The Death of Vladimir the Christian_
The chronicler then goes on to describe the changes wrought in Vladimir’s
character by his conversion: how this prince, who had hitherto been an
oriental voluptuary and maintained in several places numerous harems
with hundreds of wives, suddenly changed into the faithful husband of
his Christian wife; and how he who had murdered his brother (whose wife
he appropriated) and the father and brother of another of his wives, now
became fearful of punishing offenders and criminals lest he commit a sin,
so that it became the duty of his priests to admonish him to enforce
justice and punish the guilty. All this, whether true or false, shows
in what deep veneration the founder of Russian Christianity was held by
subsequent generations.
On the other hand, his acceptance of Christianity does not seem to
have diminished his love of war, which in those days, surrounded as
the agricultural Russians were by semi-nomadic and marauding tribes,
was indeed a social necessity. Throughout his reign he was engaged in
suppressing revolts, reconquering territory lost during the reign of the
weak Iaropolk--Galicia or Red Russia had then been lost to Poland--and
punishing Lithuanians, Volga Bulgarians, and Petchenegs. To secure the
southern frontier against these last, he erected a line of fortifications
at strategical points and transplanted a large number of colonists from
the north to the borders of the steppe.[a]
[Sidenote: [1015 A.D.]]
Vladimir died in 1015, leaving a large number of heirs by his numerous
wives. From the division that he made among them of his states we
learn what was the extent of Russia at that epoch. To Iaroslav he gave
Novgorod; to Iziaslav, Polotsk; to Boris, Rostov; to Gleb, Murom--these
last two principalities being in the Finn country; to Sviatoslav, the
country of the Drevlians; to Vsevolod, Vladimir in Volhynia; to Mstislav,
Tmoutarakan[7]; to his nephew Sviatopolk, the son of his brother and
victim Iaropolk, the principality of Tourov, in the country of Minsk,
founded by a Varangian named Tour, who, like Askold and Rogvolod, was not
of the blood of princes.[j]
This division of the territories of the state among the heirs of the
prince was in entire accord with the ideas of the Norse conquerors, who
regarded their conquests as their private property. It was, moreover,
dictated by the economic conditions of the time. Money being but rarely
employed and all payments being made in service and in kind, it was
indispensable, in making provision for the members of the ruling house,
to supply them with territories and subjects. The immense extent of
Russia, the lack of adequate means of communication, and its subdivision
among a large number of tribes without any national cohesion, were
further reasons for the introduction of this system of government.[a]
SVIATOPOLK IS SUCCEEDED BY IAROSLAV (1019 A.D.)
[Sidenote: [1019 A.D.]]
Sviatopolk, who claimed a divided parentage between Vladimir and
Iaropolk--being the son of the widow of the latter, who on the murder
of her husband was forced to live with the former, she being already
pregnant--was at Kiev when the news of Vladimir’s death arrived. He had
long indulged in a project for seizing the throne, which was favoured in
its formation by the increasing imbecility of his father, whose death
now ripened it into action. His ambitious schemes embraced a plan for
securing the sole monarchy, by obtaining the grand princedom first, and
then by artifice or treachery to put his brothers out of the way, so that
he might thus reorganise under the one head the divided and independent
governments. The moment had now arrived when this violent scheme was
to be put into execution. His brother Boris, who was employed with the
army against the Petchenegs, was the first object of his hate and fear,
because his good qualities had so strongly recommended him, that he
was the most popular of the brothers, and the most likely to gain the
ascendency through the will of the people. There was but one sure method
to get rid of this formidable rival, and Sviatopolk did not hesitate to
adopt it. When the intelligence of his father’s decease reached Boris,
he declared that the throne devolved properly upon the elder brother,
and rejected the unanimous offer of the soldiery to assist in placing
him upon it. This noble insensibility to the general wish alienated his
troops, and exposed him to the designs of his treacherous rival. The
assassins who were commissioned to despatch him found easy access to his
tent, and having first slain a faithful Russian who threw himself before
the person of his master, they soon effected their horrible purpose.
Two other brothers met a similar fate. Gleb was informed by letter that
his father was ill, and desired his return. On his way he was so injured
by a fall from his horse as to be forced to continue his journey in a
litter. In this state he learned that Sviatopolk had issued orders for
his murder, which, tempted probably by the reward, were carried into
effect by his own cook, who stabbed him with a knife in the breast.
Both Gleb and Boris were afterwards sainted, which appears to have been
the last compliment paid by the Russians to their ill-used princes.
These villainies alarmed a third brother, who fled to Hungary; but the
emissaries of the triumphant assassin seized him in his flight, brought
him back to the capital, and put him to death.
The way to the throne was now tolerably well cleared. Sviatopolk I found
no further difficulty in assuming the government of Kiev, and calling in
such of the tributary provinces as his recent excesses either terrified
into submission or reduced within his control. But the most powerful
opponent yet remained to be subjugated.
Iaroslav, prince of Novgorod, alarmed and outraged by the cruelties of
his brother, and apprehending that, unless they were speedily arrested,
they would spread into his own principality, determined to advance upon
Kiev and make war on the usurping fratricide. The Novgorodians, to
whom he was greatly endeared by the wisdom and mildness of his sway,
entered so warmly into the expedition, that the tyrant was driven out of
Kiev without much cost of blood, and obliged to flee for refuge to his
father-in-law, the duke of Poland. At that period Poland was resting from
the ruinous effects of a disastrous and straggling campaign in Germany
which had considerably reduced her power, and curtailed her means of
satisfying the ambition of her restless ruler. The representations of
Sviatopolk rekindled the ardour of the Poles, who, animated as much by
the desire of recovering those provinces which Vladimir had formerly
wrested from Miecelsas, as by the prospect of ulterior aggrandisement,
readily fell into the proposals of the exiled prince to make an attempt
for his restoration to the throne. Boleslav at the head of a powerful
force, advanced into Russia. Iaroslav, however, apprised of the movements
of the enemy, met them on the banks of the Bug, prepared for battle. The
army of Boleslav lay at the opposite side. For some time the invader
hesitated to ford the river under the fire of the Russian soldiers; and
might, probably, have returned as he came, had not a petty occurrence
excited his impetuosity, and urged him forward. A Russian soldier one
day, while both armies lay inactive within sight of each other, stood
upon the bank of the river, and with gesticulations and bold language
mimicked the corpulent size and gait of the Polish duke. This insult
roused the spirit of Boleslav, who, plunging into the water, and calling
on his men to follow, landed in the face of the Russians at the head
of his intrepid troops. A long and well-contested action took place,
and tardily closed in favour of the Poles, who, flushed with victory,
pursued the fugitives to the walls of the capital. Sviatopolk was now
reinstated in his throne, and Iaroslav, disheartened by defeat, made his
way to Novgorod, where, doubtful even of the fidelity of his own people,
he prepared to cross the Baltic in order to get beyond the reach of his
brother. The Novgorodians, however, were faithful, and proved their
attachment to his person by taking down the rigging of the vessels which
had been got in readiness for his departure, and by levying contributions
amongst themselves for the purpose of enabling him to procure auxiliary
troops to assist in the recovery of the grand principality.
[Illustration: IAROSLAV I
(Died 1054)]
In the meantime, Sviatopolk was unconsciously facilitating his own
downfall. After the Poles had helped him to re-establish himself, he
began to feel the oppressive superiority of their presence, and plotted
a base design to remove them. He instigated the inhabitants and the
soldiery to conspire against the strangers, and massacre them in the
midst of their security. Boleslav discovered the plot before it had time
to be carried into execution; and, disgusted at a design so cruel and
treacherous, he resolved to take ample revenge. The capital was plundered
of its accumulated wealth by the incensed Poles, who, but for the
moderation of their leader, would have burned it to ashes; and, loaded
with treasures, they returned towards the Russian frontiers. Sviatopolk
was artful enough to turn the whole transaction to the discredit of his
ally, and thus to rouse the courage of his followers, who were easily
persuaded to take the field against Boleslav. The belligerents met on
the banks of the Bug before the Poles had passed the boundaries. The
battle that ensued terminated in the discomfiture of Sviatopolk, who
now returned with broken fortunes to the capital which he had so lately
entered with acclamations of triumph. This was the opportunity for
Iaroslav to appear with his followers. The usurper’s troops were so
reduced by his late disasters, that he was forced to seek assistance
from the Petchenegs, the hereditary enemies of the country; and they,
tempted by hopes of booty, flocked to his standard to resist the approach
of Iaroslav. The armies met on a plain near the place where Boris had
been assassinated by the command of the fratricide. The coincidence
was fortunate, for Iaroslav, taking a prudent advantage of the
circumstance, employed all his eloquence in describing to his soldiers
the righteousness of the cause in which they were engaged against a
second Cain, the shedder of a brother’s blood. His oration, concluding
with a fervent prayer to the Almighty to nerve his arm, and direct his
sword, so that he might be made the instrument of reparation in so just
a fight, wrought powerfully upon the assembled army, and excited them to
an unexampled display of bravery. The advantage of numbers was on the
opposite side; but such was the courage exhibited by the Novgorodians,
that after a desperate battle, which lasted throughout the whole day,
they succeeded in putting the enemy completely to flight. Sviatopolk took
to horse and fled, but died in a wretched condition on the road.
The zeal and bravery of the Novgorodians were not forgotten by Iaroslav
when he ascended the throne and concentrated the sole dominion in
himself. His first attention was directed to the revision of the
ill-constructed laws of their city, and to the grant of certain
franchises, which had the effect of procuring unanimity amongst the
inhabitants, and of establishing the peaceful arts and commercial
interests of the place upon a sure and solid foundation. He at once
evinced a capacity for legislation beyond the abilities of his most
distinguished predecessors, and set about the labours of improvement in
so vigorous a temper, and with so much aptitude for his objects, that the
happiest results sprang up under his administration in all parts of the
empire.
But it was not in the destiny of the age in which he lived to permit
such extensive benefits to progress without interruption. His brother
Mstislav, the seventh son of Vladimir, a warrior distinguished in his
wars against the Kossoges, discontented with the enlarged authority
that the grand princedom vested in the hands of Iaroslav, transmitted
to him a petition praying of him to cede to him a part of the fraternal
appanage which he governed. Iaroslav partially assented to the request,
by granting to his brother the small territory of Murom. This grant was
insufficient to satisfy Mstislav, who immediately equipped an army and
proceeded to wage an offensive war against the monarch. In this war the
invader was successful, but he was not ungenerous in his triumph; for
when he had vanquished the grand prince, he restored to him so large a
portion of his possessions that the empire became equally divided between
them. In this league of amity the brothers continued to govern for seven
years, during the remainder of the life of Mstislav; and at his death
the colossal empire, with all its appanages, reverted to the hands of
Iaroslav.
It is in this part of his reign, and in this memorable period in the
annals of the nation, that we find the first development of justice in
Russian legislation, and the first application of philosophy to the
management of public affairs. Although Iaroslav’s career commenced with
war, and although he extended his arms into Finland, Livonia, Lithuania,
and Bulgaria, and even penetrated into Byzantium, yet it was not by
war that the glory of his name or the ability of his rule was to be
accomplished. His wars could hardly claim the merits of conquests; and
in some instances they terminated in such vague conclusions, that they
resembled drawn battles on which much treasure had been lavished in vain.
In Greece he was routed. He was driven before the soldiers of Sviatopolk,
and forced to surrender at his own gates to the victorious Mstislav.
His utmost successes amounted to preservation against aggression; and
so indifferent was he to the barbarian mode of elevating the empire by
wanton and hazardous expeditions into the neighbouring countries, that
on most of those occasions he entrusted the command of his army to his
lieutenants. It is necessary to explain that part of his character, in
order that the loftiness of his nature may be the more clearly understood.
At this period the Russian Empire comprehended those enormous tracts that
lie between the Volga and the lower Danube, and stretch from the Black
Sea to the Baltic. This accumulation of territory was not the work of
a progressive political system; it was not accomplished by the growth
of a powerful government or by the persevering pursuit of co-operating
interests, and the increasing circles of acquisition were in a constant
state of dismemberment, separation, and recall. The surface of the
land from the days of Rurik was overrun by revolutions. The marauder,
legalised by his tribe, haunted the forest and devastated the populous
places, carrying away with him plunder, or usurping authority wherever
he remained. The feudal system, introduced by the Scandinavians as a
provision for troublesome leaders, was carried to excess. The nominal
head was disavowed and resisted at will; and the subordinate governments
made war upon each other, or joined in schemes of rapine, with impunity.
The maintenance of each fief seemed to depend upon civil war; and the
office of the grand prince was not so much to govern the dominions he
possessed, as to keep, if he could, the dominion he was called upon to
govern.
Russia, combining these gigantic outlines of territory, was now, for
the second time, united under one head; but, for the first time, under
a head that could discern her necessities, and provide for them. Her
civilisation was in progress, but it wanted the impetus of knowledge, and
the control of law. The reign of the sword had done its work: what was
required was the reign of justice and wisdom to improve and consolidate
the triumphs and acquisitions of the barbarian era. In Iaroslav, Russia
found a prince whose genius was adapted to her critical circumstances. He
effectually raised her from obscurity, and placed her for a time amongst
the family of European states. He made her church independent, increased
the privileges of the people, facilitated the means of instruction, and
elevated her national dignity by contracting domestic alliances with
the most powerful countries. His sister was queen of Poland; his three
daughters-in-law were Greek, German, and English princesses; and the
queens of Norway, Hungary, and France were his daughters. But these were
the least memorable evidences of his greatness. He gave Russia a code of
laws, which was more valuable to her than the highest connections, or the
most ambitious accessions of dominion.
IAROSLAV’S CODE OF LAWS
This code must be judged in reference to the times in which it was
enacted and in comparison with the formless mass of confused precedents
it superseded. The existence of commercial cities in Russia so far back
as the invasion of Rurik, may be accepted as presumptive proof that there
were not wanting some regulations to render individuals amenable to the
common good. But these were merely the rude precepts of the hunting and
agricultural nations matured into a stronger form, and adapted to the
wants of the commercial community. When the Scandinavians subjugated
the aborigines, the languages, customs, and laws of both fell into
still greater confusion by admixture. When each was imperfect, it was
unlikely that a forcible intermixture would have improved either, or led
to the harmonious union of both. It is to be observed, too, that none
of the nations that made up the population possessed written laws; so
that whatever notions of legislation they entertained, were constantly
liable to the fluctuations of capricious opinion, and were always subject
to the interpretation of the strong over the weak. Where there were
no records there was but little responsibility, and even that little
was diminished by the character of the rulers and the lawlessness of
the ruled. The exclusive attention of the princes being of necessity
confined to the most effectual methods of preserving their sovereignties,
of enlarging their domains, and of exacting tributes, it was natural
that the unsystematic and crude usages that prevailed should fall into
further contempt, and, instead of acquiring shape and consistency from
experience, become still more oppressive, dark, and indecisive.
It was this matter of incongruities that Iaroslav cast out; supplying
its place with a series of written laws, in which some sacrifices were
made to popular customs, but which, on the whole, was an extraordinary
boon to a people that, like mariners at sea without a compass, were
tossed about in a tumult of uncertainty and perplexity. Had Iaroslav been
a mere soldier, like the majority of his predecessors, he would have
employed his talents in the field, and directed the enormous physical
means at his command to the purposes of a wild and desolating ambition.
But his policy was in advance of the heathen age: it restrained boundless
licentiousness, created immunities, protected life and property, bestowed
rewards, enacted punishments, established safeguards and facilities for
trade, and expounded and confirmed those distinctions of ranks in which
a community on a large scale recognises the elements of its permanency.
He had the magnanimity to forego vulgar conquests for the higher conquest
of prejudices and ancient habits. The people, probably fatigued with
the restlessness of their mode of life, and yearning after repose and
settlement, rendered now more necessary by the rapid increase of their
numbers, received his laws with gratitude.
A short outline of the leading provisions of these laws will form a
curious and valuable commentary upon the character of the grand prince,
and the actual state of the people at this period (1018). The first
article of the code empowers the friends of a murdered man to take
satisfaction upon the murderer; constituting the law as the public
avenger only in cases where there are no friends to take their vengeance
in kind. In the event of there being no relatives to take the revenge
into their own hands, the law goes on to enact that the assassin shall
pay into the public treasury a certain fine, according to the rank of
his victim. Thus, for the murder of a boyar, or thane of the prince, the
mulct was fixed at the highest penalty of eighty grivnas;[8] for a page
of the prince, his cook, or other domestics, for a merchant, for the
sword-bearer of a boyar, and for every free Russian, without distinction
of origin, forty grivnas; for a woman, half the usual fine: no fine for
killing a slave; but if killed without sufficient cause, the value to be
paid to the master: for a serf belonging to a boyar or free Russian, five
grivnas to the owner; for the superintendent of a village, an artisan,
schoolmaster, or nurse, twelve grivnas; for a female servant, six grivnas
to the master, and twelve to the state.
From these penalties a correct estimate may be formed of the principles
upon which the social fabric was erected. In all these provisions the
rich were favoured above the poor, the strong above the weak. The life
of a woman, because her utility in a barbarous community was rated
according to its menial value, was fixed at half the worth of a man’s,
to be proportioned according to her station. The murder of a slave was
not visited with any penalty whatever; the exception constituting, in
fact, the privilege to kill a slave at pleasure. Slavery was carried to
extremity in Russia. Prisoners of war and their posterity were condemned
to perpetual slavery; the poverty of the soil, and the oppression of its
lords, forced many to sell their freedom for limited periods; insolvent
debtors became slaves by law; and all freemen who married slaves
unconditionally, participated in their servitude.
Yet, degrading as these institutions must be considered, it appears
that the rights of the person were scrupulously maintained. Thus this
code enumerates penalties for striking a blow, describes the different
degrees of the offence, and regulates the responsibility accordingly. The
distinctions drawn between the different modes of striking are singular,
and help to show that, ill as the Russians could appreciate public
liberty, they had a jealous sense of that individual respect which, in
modern Europe, is called the point of honour. The penalty for striking
a blow with the scabbard or handle of a sword, with the fist, a stick,
cup, or goblet, was twelve grivnas--equal to the fine for murdering an
artisan or a schoolmaster. If the blow was struck with a club, which, we
presume, was considered a plebeian weapon, the penalty was only three
grivnas. But the most characteristic penalty was that of twelve grivnas
for pulling a man by the beard, or knocking out a tooth. The origin of
this law may be easily traced to the Goths and Germans, who were rigid
in the preservation of their hair, to which they attached extraordinary
importance. In the same spirit was the enactment that prohibited the
making use of a horse without the permission of the owner, and that
visited with imprisonment for life the crime of horse-stealing. This
legal protection of the horse is still preserved in the Saxon laws.
The prevailing tendency of the code was to secure to each man his lawful
property, and to arm him with the means of protection. Yet it must be
remarked as a strange inconsistency, in the midst of this anxiety to
erect safeguards around property, that fraudulent debtors were granted
a direct escape from liability to consequences. It was enacted, that if
one man lent money to another, and the latter denied the loan, the ordeal
should not apply; the oath of the defendant being deemed a sufficient
release from the debt. This law was the more unaccountable in a country
where the legal interest of money was forty per cent.,--a circumstance
calculated to increase the motives to dishonesty.
Another enactment makes a distinction between the Varangians and
Slavs, which illustrates the fact that the latter had always been more
advanced in civilisation than the former. By this enactment, a Koblegian
or a Varangian was compelled to take an oath where such a test was
required, but a Slavonian was exempted. It would therefore appear, if
the conclusion may be safely ventured upon, that judicial combats,
which formed the final appeal when a defendant in a cause acquitted
himself in the first instance by a solemn oath, were not adopted amongst
the Slavs, who were satisfied with a public examination of facts,
and an adjudication, without the sacred or the physical test. It is
sufficient, however, for the great uses of historical inquiry, to know
that a difference so remarkable between two branches of the people was
recognised and confirmed by law.
One of the most important declarations of the code was that which
divided the population into three classes--the nobles, the freemen, and
the slaves. Of these three, the slaves alone were left unprotected.
The freemen, who were fenced in from the encroachments of the nobles,
were composed of the citizens, the farmers, the landholders, and hired
servants. They were sub-classified into centuries, each of which elected
a head, who filled an office equivalent to that of a tribune. The civil
magistracy, thus created, had a separate guard of their own, and were
placed, in virtue of their office, on an equality with the boyars. The
city of Novgorod, which maintained, under a nominal princedom, the
spirit of a republic, exhibited these municipal franchises in a more
complete form than any of the Russian cities; all of which, however,
possessed similar privileges, more or less modified according to their
relative importance, or the circumstances under which their charters
were granted. The chief of the Novgorodian republic was a prince of the
blood; the title of his office was that of Namestnick. He took no share
in the deliberations of the people, nor does it appear that he even
possessed a veto upon their decisions. His oath of instalment bound him
as the slave rather than the governor of the city; for it pledged him to
govern agreeably to the constitution as he found it; to appoint none but
Novgorodian magistrates in the provinces, and even these to be previously
approved of by the Posadnick or mayor; to respect strictly the exclusive
rights possessed by the citizens sitting in judgment on their own order,
of imposing their own taxes, and of carrying on commerce at their own
discretion; to interdict his boyars from acquiring landed property within
the villages dependent on Novgorod, and to oblige them to travel at their
private cost; to discourage immigration; and never to cause a Novgorodian
to be arrested for debt. A princedom, accepted on such restrictive
conditions, was but the shadow of a sceptre, as the municipal union of
the legislative and judicial abundantly proved. The first officer was
the Posadnick, or mayor, chosen by election for a limited time; the
next was the Tisiatski, or tribune, who was a popular check upon the
prince and mayor; and the rest of the functionaries consisted of the
senate, the city assembly, and the boyars, all of whom were elective.
By the electoral system, the people preserved a constant guard over the
fidelity of their representatives in the senate, and their officers of
justice; so that, while the three grades propounded by law were kept
widely apart, and socially distinguished, the prerogatives of each were
rigidly protected against innovation from the other two. All that this
little republic required to render its security perfect, was liberty.
It was based upon a system of slavery, and sustained its dominion more
by fear than righteousness. Nor was it independent of control, although
all its domestic concerns were uninterruptedly transacted within its
own confines. It was an appanage of the grand princedom; but on account
of its fortunate geographical position on the northern and northwestern
frontiers, which were distant from the capital--a circumstance that
delegated to Novgorod the defence of those remote boundaries--it acquired
a degree of political importance that preserved it for four centuries
against the cupidity of the succession of despots that occupied the
throne. The removal of the seat of empire from Kiev to Vladimir, and
finally to Moscow, by drawing the centre nearer to Novgorod, diminished
its power by degrees, and finally absorbed it altogether.
One of the enactments of the code of Iaroslav will show what advances had
been made towards the segregation of the people into different orders,
and how much the government partook, or was likely to partake, of a mixed
form, in which a monarchical, an hereditary, and a representative estate
were combined. It made the prince the heir-at-law of every freeman who
died without male issue, with the exception of the boyars and officers
of the royal guard. By this regulation the prerogative of the crown
was rendered paramount, while the hereditary rights of property were
preserved unconditionally to the families of the nobles alone. A class of
rich patricians was thus formed and protected, to represent, by virtue of
birth, the interests of property; while commerce and popular privileges
were fully represented in the assembly of the elected senators. The
checks and balances of this system were pretty equal; so that, if the
constitution of which these outlines were the elements, had been allowed
to accumulate strength and to become consolidated by time, it would
at last have resolved itself into a liberal and powerful form; the
semi-savage usages with which it was encrusted would have dropped away,
and wiser institutions have grown up in their stead.
So clearly were the popular benefits of the laws defined, that the code
regulated the maximum demand which the proprietor of the soil might
exact from his tenant; and it neither enforced taxation, nor recognised
corporal punishment, nor in the composition of a pecuniary mulct admitted
any distinction between the Varangians and the Slavs, who formed the
aristocracy and the democracy. The prince neither possessed revenue
nor levied taxes. He subsisted on the fines he imposed for infractions
of law, on the tributes he received from his estates, on the voluntary
offerings of the people, and the produce of such property as had fallen
to the private title of the sovereignty. Even the tribute was not
compulsory; it was rather a right derived from prescription. The only
dependence of the lords of fiefs was in that they were compelled to
render military service when required to the grand prince; and it was
expected that they should come numerously attended, well armed, and
provisioned. The tribute was the mark of conquest, and was not considered
to imply taxation.
But while the monarchical principle was thus kept within proscribed
limits, the power of the democracy was not sufficiently curbed: over both
there was a check, but the hands of the prince were bound too tightly.
His dominion was despotic, because he was surrounded by men devoted to
his will; but the dominion of the people was boundless, because opinion
was only in its rickety infancy, and the resistance to the offending
prince lay in the demonstration of physical superiority instead of moral
combination. They never hesitated to avail themselves of their numerical
advantage. They even carried it to extravagance and licentiousness;
and so much did they exult in their strength, that they regulated the
hours at which the sovereign was permitted to enjoy relaxation, punished
the obnoxious heads of the church by summary ejectment, and in several
instances, taking the charter of law into their own keeping, deposed
their princes. The checks, therefore, established in Iaroslav’s wise
convention between the government and the constituency were overborne by
the rudeness of the times.
That the period had arrived when laws were necessary to the settlement
of the empire, was sufficiently testified by the circumstances,
external and domestic, in which the people were placed. The adoption
of Christianity had partially appeased the old passion for aggression
against Constantinople, which, having now become the metropolis of their
religion, was regarded with some degree of veneration by the Russians.
A war of plundering Byzantium, therefore, could not be entertained with
any prospect of success. The extension of the empire under Vladimir left
little to be coveted beyond the frontiers, which spread to the east,
north and south as far as even the wild grasp of the lawless tribes of
the forests could embrace. To the west, the Russians had ceased to look
for prey, since Boleslav, by his easy conquest of Kiev, had demonstrated
the strength of Poland. Having acquired as much as they could, and
having next, in the absence of warlike expeditions abroad, occupied
themselves with ruthless feuds at home, they came at length to consider
the necessity of consulting the security of possessions acquired at so
much cost, and so often risked by civil broils. This was the time for
a code of laws. But unfortunately there still existed too many remains
of the barbarian era, to render the introduction of legal restraints
a matter easy of accomplishment. The jealousy of Greek superiority
survived the admission of the Greek religion. The longing after power
still inspired the petty chiefs; and hopeless dreams of larger dominion
wherewith to bribe the discontented, and provide for the hirelings of the
state, still troubled the repose of the sovereign. The throne stood in a
plain surrounded by forests, from whence issued, as the rage propelled
them, hordes of newly reclaimed savages, pressing extraordinary demands,
or threatening with ferocious violence the dawning institutions of
civilisation. In such a position, it was not only impossible to advance
steadily, but to maintain the ground already gained.
_Iaroslav Dies (1054 A.D.)_
[Sidenote: [1054 A.D.]]
Could the character of Iaroslav, the legislator, have been transmitted
through his successors, the good of which he laid the seeds, might have
been finally cultivated to maturity. But his wisdom and his virtues died
with him. Nor, elevated as he was in moral dignity above the spirit of
his countrymen, can it be said that he was free from weaknesses that
marred much of the utility of his best measures. One of his earliest
errors was the resignation of Novgorod to his son Vladimir, who had
no sooner ascended the throne of the republican city, than, under the
pretext of seeking satisfaction for the death of a Russian who had been
killed in Greece, he carried arms into the Byzantine empire. The folly of
this wild attempt was abundantly punished in the sequel; fifteen thousand
men were sacrificed on the Grecian plains, and their chief hunted back
disgracefully to his own territories. Yet this issue of one family grant
did not awaken Iaroslav to the danger of partitioning the empire. Before
his death he divided the whole of Russia amongst his sons, making,
however, the younger sons subordinate to the eldest, as grand prince
of Kiev, and empowering the latter to reduce the others to obedience
by force of arms whenever they exhibited a disposition to dispute his
authority.
This settlement, enforced with parting admonitions on his death-bed, was
considered by Iaroslav to present a sufficient security against civil
commotion and disputes about the succession. But he did not calculate
upon the ungovernable lust for power, the jealousy of younger brothers,
and the passion for aggrandisement. His injunctions were uttered in the
amiable confidence of Christianity; they were violated with the indecent
impetuosity of the barbarian nature.
With the death of Iaroslav, and the division of the empire, a new period
of darkness and misrule began. The character of the legislator, which
influenced his own time, was speedily absorbed in the general confusion.
Iaroslav’s name was held in reverence, but the memory of his excellence
did not awe the multitudes that, upon his decease, sprang from their
retirement to revive the disastrous glories of domestic warfare. Much
as he had done for the extension of Christianity, he had failed in
establishing it in the hearts of the people. He was an able theologian,
and well acquainted with the church ordinances, agenda, and other books
of the Greek religion, many of which he caused to be translated into
the Russian language, and distributed in copies over the country. So
strong an interest did he take in the cultivation of the doctrines of the
church, that he established a metropolitan at Kiev, in order to relieve
the Russian people and their priests from the inconveniences of attending
the residence of the ecclesiastical head at Constantinople, and also with
a desire to provide for the more prompt and certain dissemination of the
principles of faith. But the value of all these exertions expired with
their author. He did much to raise the fame and consolidate the resources
of the empire; but the last act of his political career, by which he cut
away the cord that bound the rods, had the effect of neutralising all the
benefits he meditated to accomplish, as well as those that he actually
effected, for his country. His reign was followed by a period of savage
anarchy that might be said to have resolved the half-civilised world into
its original elements.[k]
FOOTNOTES
[2] According to recent computations the Russian Empire covers an area of
8,660,000 square miles--about one sixth of the land surface of the globe.
[3] [This treaty was not so favourable to the Russians as the one
concluded with Oleg--a result, evidently, of the former defeat. Another
point of importance is that it makes mention of Russian Christians, to
whom there is no allusion in the treaty of 911. From this we may conclude
that Christianity had spread largely during this interval.[g]]
[4] [According to another Ms., Constantine, son of Lev.]
[5] _Ex. XXI, 17._
[6] [In the original Nestor always calls thus the sister of the emperors.]
[7] [An antiquarian inquiry instituted by Catherine in 1794 resulted in
proving that Tmoutarakan was situated on the isle of Taman, forming a key
to the confluence of the sea of Azov with the Black Sea.[k]]
[8] A copper coin, of the value, as near as we can ascertain, of about
4½_d._ of English money.
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