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The Monarchies of Continental Europe
THE EMPIRE OF RUSSIA
From the Remotest Periods to the Present Time
by
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
BOSTON:
GRAVES AND YOUNG,
24 CORNHILL.
1859
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
The world is now too busy to read voluminous history. The interminable
details of battles, and the petty intrigues of courtiers and
mistresses, have lost their interest. In this volume it has been our
object to trace perspicuously the path which Russia has trod from
earliest infancy to the present hour. The career of this empire has
been so wild and wonderful that the historian can have no occasion to
call in the aid of fancy for the embellishment of his narrative.
The author has not deemed it necessary to incumber his pages with
notes to substantiate his statements. The renowned Russian historian,
Karamsin, who wrote under the patronage of Alexander I., gives ample
authentication to all the facts which are stated up to the reign of
that emperor. His voluminous history, in classic beauty, is
unsurpassed by any of the annals of Greece or Rome. It has been
admirably translated into French by Messrs. St. Thomas and Jauffret in
eleven imperial quarto volumes. In the critical citations of this
author, the reader, curious in such researches, will find every fact
in the early history of Russia, here stated, confirmed.
There are but few valuable works upon Russia in the English language.
Nearly all, which can be relied upon as authorities, are written
either in French or German. The writer would refer those who seek a
more minute acquaintance with this empire, now rising so rapidly in
importance, first of all to Karamsin. The "Histoire Philosophique et
Politique de Russie Depuis les Temps les Plus Reculés Jusqu'au Nos
Jours, par J. Esneaux," Paris, five volumes, is a valuable work. The
"Histoire de Russie par Pierre Charles Levesque," eight volumes, is
discriminating and reliable. The various volumes of William Tooke upon
Russian history in general, and upon the reign of Catharine, contain
much information.
It is only since the reign of Peter the Great that Russia has begun to
attract much attention among the enlightened nations of Europe.
Voltaire's life of this most renowned of the Russian sovereigns, at
its first publication, attracted much notice. Since then, many books
have been written upon fragments of Russian history and individual
reigns. From most of these the author has selected such events as have
appeared to him most instructive and best adapted to give the reader a
clear conception of the present condition and future prospects of this
gigantic empire. The path she has trod, since her first emergence into
civilization from the chaos of barbarism, can be very distinctly
traced, and one can easily count the concentric accretions of her
growth. This narrative reveals the mistakes which have overwhelmed her
with woe, and the wisdom which has, at times, secured for Russia peace
and prosperity.
In writing these histories of the monarchies of Continental Europe,
the author has no wish to conceal his abhorrence of aristocratic
usurpation. Believing in the universal brotherhood of man, his
sympathies are most cordially with the oppressed masses. If the people
are weak and debased, the claim is only the more urgent upon the
powerful and the wise to act the part of elder brothers, holding out
the helping hand to those who have fallen. The author feels grateful
for the reception which the first number of this series, the Empire of
Austria, has received from the American public. He hopes that this
volume will not prove less interesting or instructive. In the course
of a few months it will be followed by the History of Italy.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF RUSSIA.
From 500 B.C. to A.D. 910.
Primeval Russia.--Explorations of the Greeks.--Scythian
Invasion.--Character of the Scythians.--Sarmatia.--Assaults Upon the
Roman Empire.--Irruption of the Alains.--Conquests of Trajan.--The
Gothic invasion,--The Huns--their Character and Aspect.--The
Devastations of Attila.--The Avars.--Results of Comminglings of these
Tribes.--Normans.--Birth of the Russian Empire--The Three Sovereigns
Ruric, Sineous and Truvor.--Adventures of Ascolod and
Dir.--Introduction of Christianity.--Usurpation of Oleg.--His
Conquests.--Expedition Against Constantinople.
CHAPTER II.
GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION OF RUSSIA.
From 910 to 973.
Expedition to Constantinople.--Treaty with the Emperor.--Last Days of
Oleg.--His Death.--Igor Assumes the Scepter.--His Expedition to the
Don.--Descent Upon Constantinople.--His Defeat.--Second
Expedition.--Pusillanimity of the Greeks.--Death of Igor.--Regency of
Olga.--Her Character.--Succession of Sviatoslaf.--His Impiety and
Ambition.--Conquest of Bulgaria.--Division of the Empire.--Defeat,
Ruin and Death of Sviatoslaf.--Civil War.--Death of Oleg.--Flight of
Vladimir.--Supremacy of Yaropolk.
CHAPTER III.
REIGNS OF VLADIMIR, YAROSLAF, YSIASLAF AND VSEVOLOD.
From 973 to 1092.
Flight of Vladimir.--His Stolen Bride.--The March Upon
Kief.--Debauchery of Vladimir.--Zealous Paganism.--Introduction of
Christianity.--Baptism in the Dnieper.--Entire Change in the Character
of Vladimir.--His Great Reforms.--His Death.--Usurpation of Sviatopolk
the Miserable.--Accession of Yaroslaf.--His Administration and
Death.--Accession of Ysiaslaf.--His Strange Reverses,--His
Death.--Vsevolod Ascends the Throne.--His Two Flights to
Poland.--Appeals to the Pope.--Wars, Famine and Pestilence.--Character
of Vsevolod.
CHAPTER IV.
YEARS OF WAR AND WOE.
From 1092 to 1167.
Character of Vsevolod.--Succession of Sviatopolk.--His
Discomfiture.--Deplorable Condition of Russia.--Death of
Sviatopolk.--His Character.--Accession of Monomaque.--Curious Festival
At Kief.--Energy of Monomaque.--Alarm of the Emperor At
Constantinople.--Horrors of War.--Death of Monomaque.--His Remarkable
Character.--Pious Letter To His Children.--Accession of Mstislaf.--His
Short But Stormy Reign.--Struggles For the Throne.--Final Victory of
Ysiaslaf.--Moscow in the Province of Souzdal.--Death of
Ysiaslaf.--Wonderful Career of Rostislaf.--Rising Power of
Moscow.--Georgievitch, Prince of Moscow.
CHAPTER V.
MSTISLAF AND ANDRÉ.
From 1167 to 1212.
Centralization of Power At Kief.--Death of Rostislaf.--His Religious
Character.--Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch Ascends the Throne.--Proclamation of
the King.--Its Effect.--Plans of André.--Scenes At Kief.--Return and
Death of Mstislaf.--War in Novgorod.--Peace Concluded Throughout
Russia.--Insult of André and Its Consequences.--Greatness of Soul
Displayed By André.--Assassination of André.--Renewal of
Anarchy.--Emigration From Novgorod.--Reign of Michel.--Vsevolod
III.--Evangelization of Bulgaria.--Death of Vsevolod III.--His Queen
Maria.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GRAND PRINCES OF VLADIMIR, AND THE INVASION OF
GENGHIS KHAN.
From 1212 to 1238.
Accession of Georges.--Famine.--Battle of Lipetsk.--Defeat of
Georges.--His Surrender.--Constantin Seizes the Scepter.--Exploits of
Mstislaf.--Imbecility of Constantin.--Death of Constantin.--Georges
III.--Invasion of Bulgaria.--Progress of the Monarchy.--Right of
Succession.--Commerce of the Dnieper.--Genghis Khan.--His Rise and
Conquests.--Invasion of Southern Russia.--Death of Genghis
Khan.--Succession of His Son Ougadai.--March of Bati.--Entrance into
Russia.--Utter Defeat of the Russians.
CHAPTER VII.
THE SWAY OF THE TARTAR PRINCES.
From 1238 to 1304.
Retreat of Georges II.--Desolating March of the Tartars.--Capture of
Vladimir.--Fall of Moscow.--Utter Defeat of Georges.--Conflict of
Torjek.--March of the Tartars Toward the South.--Subjugation of the
Polovtsi.--Capture of Kief.--Humiliation of Yaroslaf.--Overthrow of
the Gaussian Kingdom.--Haughtiness of the Tartars.--Reign of
Alexander.--Succession of Yaroslaf.--The Reign of Vassuli.--State of
Christianity.--Infamy of André.--Struggles With Dmitri.--Independence
of the Principalities.--Death of André.
CHAPTER VIII.
RESURRECTION OF THE RUSSIAN MONARCHY.
From 1304 to 1380.
Defeat of Georges and the Tartars.--Indignation of the Khan.--Michel
Summoned To the Horde.--His Trial and Execution.--Assassination of
Georges.--Execution of Dmitri.--Repulse and Death of the Embassador of
the Khan.--Vengeance of the Khan.--Increasing Prosperity of Russia.
--The Great Plague.--Supremacy of Simon.--Anarchy in the
Horde.--Plague and Conflagration.--The Tartars Repulsed.--Reconquest
of Bulgaria.--The Great Battle of Koulikof.--Utter Rout of the
Tartars.
CHAPTER IX.
DMITRI, VASSALI, AND THE MOGOL TAMERLANE
From 1380 to 1462.
Recovery of Dmitri.--New Tartar invasion.--The Assault and Capture of
Moscow.--New Subjugation of the Russians.--Lithuania Embraces
Christianity.--Escape of Vassali From the Horde.--Death of
Dmitri.--Tamerlane--His Origin and Career.--His Invasion of
India.--Defeat of Bajazet.--Tamerlane Invades Russia.--Preparations
for Resistance.--Sudden Retreat of the Tartars.--Death of
Vassali.--Accession of Vassali Vassilievitch.--The Disputed
Succession.--Appeal to the Khan.--Rebellion of Youri.--Cruelty of
Vassali.--The Retribution.
CHAPTER X.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS IVAN III.
From 1462 to 1480.
Ivan III.--His Precocity and Rising Power.--The Three Great
Hordes.--Russian Expedition Against Kezan.--Defeat of the
Tartars.--Capture of Constantinople By the Turks.--The Princess
Sophia.--Her Journey To Russia, and Marriage With Ivan
III.--Increasing Renown of Russia.--New Difficulty With the
Horde.--The Tartars invade Russia.--Strife On the Banks of the
Oka.--Letter of the Metropolitan Bishop.--Unprecedented
Panic.--Liberation of Russia.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REIGN OF VASSILI.
From 1480 to 1533.
Alliance With Hungary.--A Traveler From Germany.--Treaty Between
Russia and Germany.--Embassage to Turkey.--Court Etiquette.--Death of
the Princess Sophia.--Death of Ivan.--Advancement of
Knowledge.--Succession of Vassili.--Attack Upon the Horde.--Rout of
the Russians.--The Grand Prince Takes the Title of Emperor.--Turkish
Envoy to Moscow.--Efforts To Arm Europe Against the Turks.--Death of
the Emperor Maximilian, and Accession of Charles V. to the Empire of
Germany.--Death of Vassili.
CHAPTER XII.
IVAN IV.--HIS MINORITY.
From 1533 to 1546.
Vassili At the Chase.--Attention To Distinguished Foreigners.--The
Autocracy.--Splendor of the Edifices.--Slavery.--Aristocracy.--Infancy
of Ivan IV.--Regency of Hélène.--Conspiracies and Tumults.--War with
Sigismond of Poland.--Death of Hélène.--Struggles of the
Nobles.--Appalling Sufferings of Dmitri.--Incursion of the
Tartars.--Successful Conspiracy.--Ivan IV. At the Chase.--Coronation
of Ivan IV.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE REIGN OF IVAN IV.
From 1546 to 1552.
The Title of Tzar.--Marriage of Ivan IV.--Virtues of His
Bride.--Depraved Character of the Young Emperor.--Terrible
Conflagrations.--Insurrections.--The Rebuke.--Wonderful Change in the
Character of Ivan IV.--Confessions of Sin and Measures of
Reform.--Sylvestre and Alexis Adachef.--The Code of Laws.--Reforms in
the Church.--Encouragement To Men of Science and Letters.--The
Embassage of Schlit.--War With Kezan.--Disasters and Disgrace.--Immense
Preparation For the Chastisement of the Horde.--The March.--Repulse of
the Tauredians.--Siege of Kezan.--Incidents of the Siege.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE REIGN OF IVAN IV.--CONTINUED.
From 1552 to 1557.
Siege of Kezan.--Artifices of War.--The Explosion of Mines.--The Final
Assault.--Complete Subjugation of Kezan.--Gratitude and Liberality of
the Tzar.--Return To Moscow.--Joy of the inhabitants.--Birth of An
Heir To the Crown.--Insurrection in Kezan.--The Insurrection
Quelled.--Conquest of Astrachan.--The English Expedition in Search of
a North-East Passage to India.--The Establishment at
Archangel.--Commercial Relations Between France and Russia.--Russian
Embassy to England.--Extension of Commerce.
CHAPTER XV.
THE ABDICATION OF IVAN IV.
From 1557 to 1582.
Terror of the Horde in Tauride.--War with Gustavus Vasa of
Sweden.--Political Punctilios.--The Kingdom of Livonia Annexed to
Sweden.--Death of Anastasia.--Conspiracy Against Ivan.--His
Abdication.--His Resumption of the Crown.--Invasion of Russia by the
Tartars and Turks.--Heroism of Zerebrinow.--Utter Discomfiture of the
Tartars.--Relations Between Queen Elizabeth of England, and
Russia.--Intrepid Embassage.--New War with Poland.--Disasters of
Russia.--The Emperor Kills His Own Son.--Anguish of Ivan IV.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE STORMS OF HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.
From 1582 to 1608.
Anguish and Death of Ivan IV.--His Character.--Feodor and
Dmitri.--Usurpation of Boris Gudenow.--The Polish Election.--Conquest
of Siberia.--Assassination of Dmitri.--Death of Feodor.--Boris Crowned
King.--Conspiracies.--Reappearance of Dmitri.--Boris Poisoned.--The
Pretender Crowned.--Embarrassments of Dmitri.--A New
Pretender.--Assassination of Dmitri.--Crowning of Zuski.--Indignation
of Poland.--Historical Romance.
CHAPTER XVII.
A CHANGE OF DYNASTY.
From 1608 to 1680.
Conquests by Poland.--Sweden in Alliance with Russia.--Grandeur of
Poland.--Ladislaus Elected King of Russia.--Commotions and
insurrections.--Rejection of Ladislaus and Election of Michael Feodor
Romanow.--Sorrow of His Mother.--Pacific Character of Romanow.--Choice
of a Bride.--Eudochia Streschnew.--The Archbishop Feodor.--Death of
Michael and Accession of Alexis.--Love in the Palace.--Successful
intrigue.--Mobs in Moscow.--Change in the Character of the
Tzar.--Turkish invasions.--Alliance Between Russia and Poland.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE REGENCY OF SOPHIA.
From 1680 to 1697.
Administration of Feodor.--Death of Feodor.--Incapacity of
Ivan.--Succession of Peter.--Usurpation of Sophia.--Insurrection of
the Strelitzes.--Massacre in Moscow.--Success of the
Insurrection.--Ivan and Peter Declared Sovereigns under the Regency of
Sophia.--General Discontent.--Conspiracy against Sophia.--Her Flight
to the Convent.--The Conspiracy Quelled.--New Conspiracy.--Energy of
Peter.--He Assumes the Crown.--Sophia Banished to a
Convent.--Commencement of the Reign of Peter.
CHAPTER XIX.
PETER THE GREAT.
From 1697 to 1702.
Young Russians Sent to Foreign Countries.--The Tzar Decides Upon a Tour
of Observation.--His Plan of Travel.--Anecdote.--Peter's Mode of Life
in Holland.--Characteristic Anecdotes.--The Presentation of the
Embassador.--The Tzar Visits England.--Life at Deptford.--Illustrious
Foreigners Engaged in His Service.--Peter Visits Vienna.--The Game of
Landlord.--Insurrection in Moscow.--Return of the Tzar, and Measures of
Severity.--War with Sweden.--Disastrous Defeat of Narva.--Efforts to
Secure the Shores of the Baltic.--Designs Upon the Black Sea.
CHAPTER XX.
CONQUESTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF PETER THE GREAT.
From 1702 TO 1718.
Peter takes Lake Lagoda and the Neva.--Foundation of St.
Petersburg.--Conquest of Livonia.--Marienburg Taken by Storm.--The
Empress Catharine.--Extraordinary Efforts in Building St.
Petersburg.--Threat of Charles XII.--Deposition of
Augustus.--Enthronement of Stanislaus.--Battle of Pultowa.--Flight of
Charles XII. to Turkey.--Increased Renown of Russia.--Disastrous
Conflict with the Turks.--Marriage of Alexis.--His Character.--Death
of his Wife.--The Empress Acknowledged.--Conquest of Finland.--Tour of
the Tzar to Southern Europe.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF ALEXIS, AND DEATH OF
THE TZAR.
From 1718 to 1725.
The Tzar's Second Visit to Holland.--Reception in France.--Description
of Catharine.--Domestic Grief.--Conduct of Alexis.--Letters from His
Father.--Flight To Germany.--Thence to Naples.--Envoys Sent to Bring
Him Back.--Alexis Excluded from the Succession.--His Trial for
Treason.--Condemnation and Unexpected Death.--New Efforts of the Tzar
for the Welfare of Russia.--Sickness of Peter.--His Death.--Succession
of the Empress Catharine.--Epitaph to the Emperor.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE REIGN OF CATHARINE I., ANNE, THE INFANT IVAN AND
ELIZABETH.
From 1725 TO 1769.
Energetic Reign of Catharine.--Her Sudden Death.--Brief Reign of Peter
II.--Difficulties of Hereditary Succession.--A Republic
Contemplated.--Anne, Daughter of Ivan.--The Infant Ivan Proclaimed
King.--His Terrible Doom.--Elizabeth, Daughter of Peter the Great,
Enthroned.--Character of Elizabeth.--Alliance with Maria
Theresa.--Wars with Prussia.--Great Reverses of Frederic of
Prussia.--Desperate Condition of Frederic.--Death of
Elizabeth.--Succession of Peter III.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PETER III. AND HIS BRIDE.
From 1728 TO 1762.
Lineage of Peter III.--Chosen by Elizabeth as her Successor.--The
Bride Chosen for Peter.--Her Lineage.--The Courtship.--The
Marriage.--Autobiography of Catharine.--Anecdotes of Peter.--His
Neglect of Catharine and his Debaucheries.--Amusements of the Russian
Court.--Military Execution of a Rat.--Accession of Peter III. to the
Throne.--Supremacy of Catharine.--Her Repudiation Threatened.--The
Conspiracy.--Its Successful Accomplishment.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CONSPIRACY; AND ACCESSION OF CATHARINE II.
From 1762 to 1765.
Peter III. at Oranienbaum.--Catharine at Peterhof.--The Successful
Accomplishment of the Conspiracy.--Terror of Peter.--His Vacillating
and Feeble Character.--Flight to Cronstadt.--Repulse.--Heroic Counsel
of Munich.--Peter's Return to Oranienbaum.--His Suppliant Letters to
Catharine.--His Arrest.--Imprisonment.--Assasination.--Proclamation of
the Empress.--Her Complicity in the Crime.--Energy of Catharine's
Administration.--Her Expansive Views and Sagacious
Policy.--Contemplated Marriage with Count Orlof.
CHAPTER XXV.
REIGN OF CATHARINE II.
From 1765 to 1774.
Energy of Catharine's Administration.--Titles of Honor Decreed to
Her.--Code of Laws Instituted.--The Assassination of the Empress
Attempted.--Encouragement of Learned Men.--Catharine Inoculated for
the Small-Pox.--New War with Turkey.--Capture of Crimea.--Sailing of
the Russian Fleet.--Great Naval Victory.--Visit of the Prussian Prince
Henry.--The Sleigh Ride.--Plans for the Partition of Poland.--The
Hermitage.--Marriage of the Grand Duke Paul.--Correspondence with
Voltaire and Diderot.
CHAPTER XXVI.
REIGN OF CATHARINE II.
From 1774 to 1781.
Peace with Turkey.--Court of Catharine II.--Her Personal Appearance
and Habits.--Conspiracy and Rebellion.--Defeat of the
Rebels.--Magnanimity of Catharine II.--Ambition of the
Empress.--Court Favorite.--Division of Russia into
Provinces.--internal Improvements.--New Partition of Poland.--Death of
the Wife of Paul.--Second Marriage of the Grand Duke.--Splendor of the
Russian Court.--Russia and Austria Secretly Combine to Drive the Turks
out of Europe.--The Emperor Joseph II.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TERMINATION OF THE REIGN OF CATHARINE II.
From 1781 to 1786.
Statue of Peter the Great.--Alliance Between Austria and
Russia.--Independence of the Crimea--The Khan of the Crimea.--Vast
Preparations for War.--National Jealousies.--Tolerant Spirit of
Catharine.--Magnificent Excursion to the Crimea.--Commencement of
Hostilities.--Anecdote of Paul.--Peace.--New Partition of
Poland.--Treaty with Austria and France.--Hostility to Liberty in
France.--Death of Catharine.--Her Character.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE REIGN OF PAUL I.
From 1796 to 1801.
Accession of Paul I. to the Throne.--Influence of Hereditary
Transmission of Power.--Extravagance of Paul.--His Despotism.--The
Horse Court Martialed.--Progress of the French Revolution.--Fears and
Violence of Paul.--Hostility to Foreigners.--Russia Joins the
Coalition Against France.--March of Suwarrow.--Character of
Suwarrow.--Battle on the Adda.--Battle of Novi.--Suwarrow marches on
the Rhine.--His Defeat and Death.--Paul Abandons the Coalition and
Joins France.--Conspiracies at St. Petersburg.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ASSASSINATION OF PAUL AND ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER.
From 1801 to 1807.
Assassination of Paul I.--Implication of Alexander in the
Conspiracy.--Anecdotes.--Accession of Alexander.--The French
Revolution.--Alexander Joins Allies Against France.--State of
Russia.--Useful Measures of Alexander.--Peace of Amiens.--Renewal of
Hostilities.--Battle of Austerlitz.--Magnanimity of Napoleon.--New
Coalition.--Ambition of Alexander.--Battles of Jena and Eylau.--Defeat
of the Russians.
CHAPTER XXX.
REIGN OF ALEXANDER I.
From 1807 to 1825.
The Field of Eylau.--Letter to the King of Prussia.--Renewal of the
War--Discomfiture of the Allies.--Battle of Friedland.--The Raft at
Tilsit.--Intimacy of the Emperors.--Alexander's Designs upon
Turkey.--Alliance Between France and Russia.--Object of the
Continental System.--Perplexities of Alexander.--Driven by the Nobles
to War.--Results of the Russian Campaign.--Napoleon Vanquished.--Last
Days of Alexander.--His Sickness and Death.
CHAPTER XXXI.
NICHOLAS.
From 1825 to 1855.
Abdication of Constantine.--Accession of Nicholas.--Insurrection
Quelled.--Nicholas and the Conspirator.--Anecdote.--The Palace of
Peterhof.--The Winter Palace.--Presentation at Court.--Magnitude of
Russia.--Description of the Hellespont and Dardanelles.--The Turkish
Invasion.--Aims of Russia.--Views of England and France.--Wars of
Nicholas.--The Polish Insurrection.--War of the Crimea.--Jealousies of
the Leading Nations.--Encroachments.--Death of Nicholas.--Accession of
Alexander II.
CHAPTER I.
PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF RUSSIA.
From 600 B.C. to A.D. 910.
Primeval Russia.--Explorations of the Greeks.--Scythian
Invasion.--Character of the Scythians.--Sarmatia.--Assaults upon the
Roman Empire.--Irruption of the Alains.--Conquests of Trajan.--The
Gothic Invasion.--The Huns.--Their Character and Aspect.--The
Devastations of Attila.--The Avars.--Results of Comminglings of these
Tribes.--Normans.--Birth of the Russian Empire.--The Three Sovereigns
Rurik, Sineous and Truvor.--Adventures of Ascolod and
Dir.--Introduction of Christianity.--Usurpation of Oleg.--His
Conquests.--Expedition Against Constantinople.
Those vast realms of northern Europe, now called Russia, have been
inhabited for a period beyond the records of history, by wandering
tribes of savages. These barbaric hordes have left no monuments of
their existence. The annals of Greece and of Rome simply inform us
that they were there. Generations came and departed, passing through
life's tragic drama, and no one has told their story.
About five hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, the Greeks,
sailing up the Bosphorus and braving the storms of the Black Sea,
began to plant their colonies along its shores. Instructed by these
colonists, Herodotus, who wrote about four hundred and forty years
before Christ, gives some information respecting the then condition of
interior Russia. The first great irruption into the wastes of Russia,
of which history gives us any record, was about one hundred years
before our Saviour. An immense multitude of conglomerated tribes,
taking the general name of Scythians, with their wives and their
children, their flocks and their herds, and their warriors, fiercer
than wolves, crossed the Volga, and took possession of the whole
country between the Don and the Danube. These barbarians did not
molest the Greek colonies, but, on the contrary, were glad to learn of
them many of the rudiments of civilization. Some of these tribes
retained their ancestral habits of wandering herdsmen, and, with their
flocks, traversed the vast and treeless plains, where they found ample
pasture. Others selecting sunny and fertile valleys, scattered their
seed and cultivated the soil. Thus the Scythians were divided into two
quite distinct classes, the herdsmen and the laborers.
The tribes who then peopled the vast wilds of northern Europe and
Asia, though almost innumerable, and of different languages and
customs, were all called, by the Greeks, Scythians, as we have given
the general name of Indians to all the tribes who formerly ranged the
forests of North America. The Scythians were as ferocious a race as
earth has ever known. They drank the blood of their enemies; tanned
their skins for garments; used their skulls for drinking cups; and
worshiped a sword as the image or emblem of their favorite deity, the
God of War. Philip of Macedon was the first who put any check upon
their proud spirit. He conquered them in a decisive battle, and thus
taught them that they were not invincible. Alexander the Great
assailed them and spread the terror of his arms throughout all the
region between the Danube and the Dnieper. Subsequently the Roman
legions advanced to the Euxine, and planted their eagles upon the
heights of the Caucasus.
The Roman historians seem to have dropped the Scythian name, and they
called the whole northern expanse of Europe and Asia, Sarmatia, and
the barbarous inhabitants Sarmatians. About the time of our Saviour,
some of these fierce tribes from the banks of the Theiss and the
Danube, commenced their assaults upon the frontiers of the Roman
empire. This was the signal for that war of centuries, which
terminated in the overthrow of the throne of the Cæsars. The Roman
Senate, enervated by luxury, condescended to purchase peace of these
barbarians, and nations of savages, whose names are now forgotten,
exacted tribute, under guise of payment for alliance, from the proud
empire. But neither bribes, nor alliances, nor the sword in the hands
of enervated Rome, could effectually check the incursions of these
bands, who were ever emerging, like wolves, from the mysterious depths
of the North.
In the haze of those distant times and remote realms, we catch dim
glimpses of locust legions, emerging from the plains and the ravines
between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and sweeping like a storm cloud
over nearly all of what is now called Russia. These people, to whom
the name of Alains was given, had no fixed habitations; they conveyed
their women and children in rude carts. Their devastations were alike
extended over Europe and Asia, and in the ferocity of their assaults
they were as insensible to death as wild beasts could be.
In the second century, the emperor Trajan conquered and took
possession of the province of Dacia, which included all of lower
Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia. The country
was divided into Roman provinces, over each of which a prefect was
established. In the third century, the Goths, from the shores of the
Baltic, came rushing over the wide arena, with the howling of wolves
and their gnashing of teeth. They trampled down all opposition, with
their war knives drove out the Romans, crossed the Black Sea in their
rude vessels, and spread conflagration and death throughout the most
flourishing cities and villages of Bythinia, Gallacia and Cappadocia.
The famous temple of Diana at Ephesus, these barbarians committed to
the flames. They overran all Greece and took Athens by storm. As they
were about to destroy the precious libraries of Athens, one of their
chieftains said,
"Let us leave to the Greeks their books, that they, in reading
them may forget the arts of war; and that we thus may more easily
be able to hold them in subjection."
These Goths established an empire, extending from the Black Sea to the
Baltic, and which embraced nearly all of what is now European Russia.
Towards the close of the fourth century, another of these appalling
waves of barbaric inundation rolled over northern Europe. The Huns,
emerging from the northern frontiers of China, traversed the immense
intervening deserts, and swept over European Russia, spreading
everywhere flames and desolation. The historians of that day seem to
find no language sufficiently forcible to describe the hideousness and
the ferocity of these savages. They pressed down on the Roman empire
as merciless as wolves, and the Cæsars turned pale at the recital of
their deeds of blood.
It is indeed a revolting picture which contemporaneous history gives
us of these barbarians. In their faces was concentrated the ugliness
of the hyena and the baboon. They tattooed their cheeks, to prevent
the growth of their beards. They were short, thick-set, and with back
bones curved almost into a semicircle. Herbs, roots and raw meat they
devoured, tearing their food with their teeth or hewing it with their
swords. To warm and soften their meat, they placed it under their
saddles when riding. Nearly all their lives they passed on horseback.
Wandering incessantly over the vast plains, they had no fixed
habitations, but warmly clad in the untanned skins of beasts, like the
beasts they slept wherever the night found them. They had no religion
nor laws, no conception of ideas of honor; their language was a
wretched jargon, and in their nature there seemed to be no moral sense
to which compassion or mercy could plead.
Such were the Huns as described by the ancient historians. The Goths
struggled against them in vain. They were crushed and subjugated. The
king of the Goths, Hermanric, in chagrin and despair, committed
suicide, that he might escape slavery. Thousands of the Goths, in
their terror, crowded down into the Roman province of Thrace, now the
Turkish province of Romania. The empire, then in its decadence, could
not drive them back, and they obtained a permanent foothold there. The
Huns thus attained the supremacy throughout all of northern Europe.
There were then very many tribes of diverse names peopling these vast
realms, and incessant wars were waged between them. The domination
which the Huns attained was precarious, and not distinctly defined.
The terrible Attila ere long appears as the king of these Huns, about
the middle of the fifth century. This wonderful barbarian extended his
sway from the Volga to the Rhine, and from the Bosphorus to the shores
of the Baltic. Where-ever he appeared, blood flowed in torrents. He
swept the valley of the Danube with flame and sword, destroying
cities, fortresses and villages, and converting the whole region into
a desert. At the head of an army of seven hundred thousand men, he
plunged all Europe into dismay. Both the Eastern and Western empire
were compelled to pay him tribute. He even invaded Gaul, and upon the
plains of Chalons was defeated in one of the most bloody battles ever
fought in Europe. Contemporary historians record that one hundred and
six thousand dead were left upon the field. With the death of Attila,
the supremacy of the Huns vanished. The irruption of the Huns was a
devastating scourge, which terrified the world. Whole nations were
exterminated in their march, until at last the horrible apparition
disappeared, almost as suddenly as it arose.
With the disappearance of the Huns, central Russia presents to us the
aspect of a vast waste, thinly peopled, with the wrecks of nations and
tribes, debased and feeble, living upon the cattle they herded, and
occasionally cultivating the soil. And now there comes forward upon
this theater of violence and of blood another people, called the
Sclavonians, more energetic and more intelligent than any who had
preceded them. The origin of the Sclavonians is quite lost in the haze
of distance, and in the savage wilds where they first appeared. The
few traditions which have been gleaned respecting them are of very
little authority.
From about the close of the fifth century the inhabitants of the whole
region now embraced by European Russia, were called Sclavonians; and
yet it appears that these Sclavonians consisted of many nations, rude
and warlike, with various distinctive names. They soon began to crowd
upon the Roman empire, and became more formidable than the Goths or
the Huns had been. Wading through blood they seized province after
province of the empire, destroying and massacring often in mere
wantonness. The emperor Justinian was frequently compelled to purchase
peace with them and to bribe them to alliance.
And now came another wave of invasion, bloody and overwhelming. The
Avars, from the north of China, swept over Asia, seized all the
provinces on the Black Sea, overran Greece, and took possession of
most of the country between the Volga and the Elbe. The Sclavonians of
the Danube, however, successfully resisted them, and maintained their
independence. Generations came and went as these hordes, wild,
degraded and wretched, swept these northern wilds, in debasement and
cruelty rivaling the wolves which howled in their forests. They have
left no traces behind them, and the few records of their joyless lives
which history has preserved, are merely the gleanings of uncertain
tradition. The thinking mind pauses in sadness to contemplate the
spectacle of these weary ages, when his brother man was the most
ferocious of beasts, and when all the discipline of life tended only
to sink him into deeper abysses of brutality and misery. There is here
a problem in the divine government which no human wisdom can solve.
There is consolation only in the announcement that what we know not
now, we shall know hereafter. All these diverse nations blending have
formed the present Russians.
Along the shores of the Baltic, these people assumed the name of
Scandinavians, and subsequently Normans. Toward the close of the
eighth century, the Normans filled Europe with the renown of their
exploits, and their banners bade defiance even to the armies of
Charlemagne. Early in the ninth century they ravaged France, Italy,
Scotland, England, and passed over to Ireland, where they built cities
which remain to the present day. "There is no manner of doubt," writes
M. Karamsin in his history of Russia, "that five hundred years before
Christopher Columbus, they had discovered North America, and
instituted commerce with the natives."
It is not until the middle of the ninth century, that we obtain any
really reliable information respecting the inhabitants of central
Russia. They are described as a light-complexioned, flaxen-haired
race, robust, and capable of great endurance. Their huts were
cheerless, affording but little shelter, and they lived upon the
coarsest food, often devouring their meat raw. The Greeks expressed
astonishment at their agility in climbing precipitous cliffs, and
admired the hardihood with which they plunged through bogs, and swam
the most rapid and swollen streams. He who had the most athletic vigor
was the greatest man, and all the ambition and energy of the nation
were expended in the acquisition of strength and agility.
They are ever described as strangers to fear, rushing unthinkingly
upon certain death. They were always ready to accept combat with the
Roman legions. Entire strangers to military strategy, they made no
attacks in drilled lines or columns, but the whole tumultuous mass, in
wild disorder rushed upon the foe, with the most desperate daring,
having no guide but their own ferocity and the chieftains who led
small bands. Their weapons consisted of swords, javelins and poisoned
arrows, and each man carried a heavy shield. As they crossed the
Danube in their bloody forays, incited by love of plunder, the
inhabitants of the Roman villages fled before them. When pursued by an
invincible force they would relinquish life rather than their booty,
even when the plunder was of a kind totally valueless in their savage
homes. The ancient annals depict in appalling colors the cruelties
they exercised upon their captives. They were, however, as patient in
endurance as they were merciless in infliction. No keenness of torture
could force from them a cry of pain.
Yet these people, so ferocious, are described as remarkably amiable
among themselves, seldom quarreling, honest and truthful, and
practicing hospitality with truly patriarchal grace. Whenever they
left home, the door was unfastened and food was left for any chance
wayfarer. A guest was treated as a heavenly messenger, and was guided
on his way with the kindest expressions for his welfare.
The females, as in all barbaric countries, were exposed to every
indignity. All the hard labor of life was thrown upon them. When the
husband died, the widow was compelled to cast herself upon the funeral
pile which consumed his remains. It is said that this barbarous
custom, which Christianity abolished, was introduced to prevent the
wife from secretly killing her husband. The wife was also regarded as
the slave of the husband, and they imagined that if she died at the
same time with her husband, she would serve him in another world. The
wives often followed their husbands to the wars. From infancy the boys
were trained to fight, and were taught that nothing was more
disgraceful than to forgive an injury.
A mother was permitted, if she wished, to destroy her female children;
but the boys were all preserved to add to the military strength of the
nation. It was lawful, also, for the children to put their parents to
death when they had become infirm and useless. "Behold," exclaims a
Russian historian, "how a people naturally kind, when deprived of the
light of revelation can remorselessly outrage nature, and surpass in
cruelty the most ferocious animals."
In different sections of this vast region there were different degrees
of debasement, influenced by causes no longer known. A tribe called
Drevliens, Nestor states, lived in the most gloomy forests with the
beasts and like the beasts. They ate any food which a pig would
devour, and had as little idea of marriage as have sheep or goats.
Among the Sclavonians generally there appears to have been no
aristocracy. Each family was an independent republic. Different tribes
occasionally met to consult upon questions of common interest, when
the men of age, and who had acquired reputation for wisdom, guided in
counsel.
Gradually during the progress of their wars an aristocracy arose.
Warriors of renown became chiefs, and created for themselves posts of
authority and honor. By prowess and plunder they acquired wealth. In
their incursions into the empire, they saw the architecture of Greece
and Rome, and thus incited, they began to rear castles and fortresses.
He who was recognized as the leading warrior in time of battle,
retained his authority in the days of peace, which were very few. The
castle became necessary for the defense of the tribe or clan, and the
chieftain became the feudal noble, invested with unlimited power. At
one time every man who was rich enough to own a horse was deemed a
noble. The first power recognized was only military authority. But the
progress of civilization developed the absolute necessity of other
powers to protect the weak, to repress crime, and to guide in the
essential steps of nations emerging from darkness into light. With all
nations advancing from barbarism, the process has ever been slow by
which the civil authority has been separated from the military. It is
impossible to educe from the chaos of those times any established
principles. Often the duke or leader was chosen with imposing
ceremonies. Some men of commanding abilities would gather into their
hands the reins of almost unlimited power, and would transmit that
power to their sons. Others were chiefs but in name.
We have but dim glimpses of the early religion of this people. In the
sixth century they are represented as regarding with awe the deity
whom they designated as the creator of thunder. The spectacle of the
majestic storms which swept their plains and the lightning bolts
hurled from an invisible hand, deeply impressed these untutored
people. They endeavored to appease the anger of the supreme being by
the sacrifice of bulls and other animals. They also peopled the
groves, the fountains, the rivers with deities; statues were rudely
chiseled, into which they supposed the spirits of their gods entered,
and which they worshiped. They deemed the supreme being himself too
elevated for direct human adoration, and only ventured to approach him
through gods of a secondary order. They believed in a fallen spirit, a
god of evil, who was the author of all the calamities which afflict
the human race.
The polished Greeks chiseled their idols, from snow-white marble, into
the most exquisite proportions of the human form. Many they invested
with all the charms of loveliness, and endowed them with the most
amiable attributes. The voluptuous Venus and the laurel-crowned
Bacchus were their gods. But the Sclavonians, regarding their deities
only as possessors of power and objects of terror, carved their idols
gigantic in stature, and hideous in aspect.
From these rude, scattered and discordant populations, the empire of
Russia quite suddenly sprang into being. Its birth was one of the most
extraordinary events history has transmitted to us. We have seen that
the Normans, dwelling along the southern and eastern shores of the
Baltic, and visiting the most distant coasts with their commercial and
predatory fleets, had attained a degree of power, intelligence and
culture, which gave them a decided preëminence over the tribes who
were scattered over the wilds of central Russia.
A Sclavonian, whose name tradition says was Gostomysle, a man far
superior to his countrymen in intelligence and sagacity, deploring the
anarchy which reigned everywhere around him, and admiring the superior
civilization of the Normans, persuaded several tribes unitedly to send
an embassy to the Normans to solicit of them a king. The embassy was
accompanied by a strong force of these fierce warriors, who knew well
how to fight, but who had become conscious that they did not know how
to govern themselves. Their message was laconic but explicit:
"Our country," said they, "is grand and fertile, but under the reign
of disorder. Come and govern us and reign over us."
Three brothers, named Rurik, Sineous and Truvor, illustrious both by
birth and achievements, consented to assume the sovereignty, each over
a third part of the united applicants; each engaging to coöperate with
and uphold the others. Escorted by the armed retinue which had come to
receive them, they left their native shores, and entered the wilds of
Scandinavia. Rurik established himself at Novgorod, on lake Ilmen.
Sineous, advancing some three hundred miles further, north-east, took
his station at Bielo Ozero, on the shores of lake Bielo. Truvor went
some hundred miles further south to Truvor, in the vicinity of
Smolensk.
Thus there were three sovereigns established in Russia, united by the
ties of interest and consanguinity. It was then that this region
acquired the name of Russia, from the Norman tribe who furnished these
three sovereigns. The Russia which thus emerged into being was indeed
an infant, compared with the gigantic empire in this day of its
growing and vigorous manhood. It embraced then but a few thousand
square miles, being all included in the present provinces of St.
Petersburg, Novgorod and Pskov. But two years passed away ere Sineous
and Truvor died, and Rurik united their territories with his own, and
thus established the Russian monarchy. The realms of Rurik grew,
rapidly by annexation, and soon extended east some two hundred miles
beyond where Moscow now stands, to the head waters of the Volga. They
were bounded on the south-west by the Dwina. On the north they reached
to the wild wastes of arctic snows. Over these distant provinces,
Rurik established governors selected from his own nation, the Normans.
These provincial governors became feudal lords; and thus, with the
monarchy, the feudal system was implanted.
Feudality was the natural first step of a people emerging from
barbarism. The sovereign rewarded his favorites, or compensated his
servants, civil and military, by ceding to them provinces of greater
or less extent, with unlimited authority over the people subject to
their control. These lords acknowledged fealty to the sovereign, paid
a stipulated amount of tribute, and, in case of war, were bound to
enter the field with a given number of men in defense of the crown. It
was a system essential, perhaps, to those barbarous times when there
was no easy communication between distant regions, no codes of laws,
and no authority, before which savage men would bow, but that of the
sword.
At this time two young Norman nobles, inspired with that love of war
and spirit of adventure which characterized their countrymen, left the
court of Rurik at Novgorod, where they had been making a visit, and
with well-armed retainers, commenced a journey to Constantinople to
offer their services to the emperor. It was twelve hundred miles,
directly south, from Novgorod to the imperial city. The adventurers
had advanced about half way, when they arrived at a little village,
called Kief, upon the banks of the Dnieper. The location of the city
was so beautiful, upon a commanding bluff, at the head of the
navigation of this majestic stream, and the region around seemed so
attractive, that the Norman adventurers, Ascolod and Dir by name,
decided to remain there. They were soon joined by others of their
warlike countrymen. The natives appear to have made no opposition to
their rule, and thus Kief became the center of a new and independent
Russian kingdom. These energetic men rapidly extended their
territories, raised a large army, which was thoroughly drilled in all
the science of Norman warfare, and then audaciously declared war
against Greece and attempted its subjugation. The Dnieper, navigable
for boats most of the distance from Kief to the Euxine, favored their
enterprise. They launched upon the stream two hundred barges, which
they filled with their choicest troops. Rapidly they floated down the
stream, spread their sails upon the bosom of the Euxine, entered the
Bosporus, and anchoring their fleet at the mouth of the Golden Horn,
laid siege to the city. The Emperor Michael III. then reigned at
Constantinople. This Northmen invasion was entirely unexpected, and
the emperor was absent, engaged in war with the Arabs. A courier was
immediately dispatched to inform him of the peril of the city. He
hastily returned to his capital which he finally reached, after
eluding, with much difficulty, the vigilance of the besiegers. Just as
the inhabitants of the city were yielding to despair, there arose a
tempest, which swept the Bosporus with resistless fury. The crowded
barges were dashed against each other, shattered, wrecked and sunk.
The Christians of Constantinople justly attributed their salvation to
the interposition of God. Ascolod and Dir, with the wrecks of their
army, returned in chagrin to Kief.
The historians of that period relate that the idolatrous Russians were
so terrified by this display of the divine displeasure that they
immediately sent embassadors to Constantinople, professing their
readiness to embrace Christianity, and asking that they might receive
the rite of baptism. In attestation of the fact that Christianity at
this period entered Russia, we are referred to a well authenticated
letter, of the patriarch Photius, written at the close of the year
866.
"The Russians," he says, "so celebrated for their cruelty, conquerors
of their neighbors, and who, in their pride, dared to attack the Roman
empire, have already renounced their superstitions, and have embraced
the religion of Jesus Christ. Lately our most formidable enemies, they
have now become our most faithful friends. We have recently sent them
a bishop and a priest, and they testify the greatest zeal for
Christianity."
It was in this way, it seems, that the religion of our Saviour first
entered barbaric Russia. The gospel, thus welcomed, soon became firmly
established at Kief, and rapidly extended its conquests in all
directions. The two Russian kingdoms, that of Rurik in the north, and
that of Ascolod and Dir on the Dnieper, rapidly extended as these
enterprising kings, by arms, subjected adjacent nations to their sway.
Rurik remained upon the throne fifteen years, and then died,
surrendering his crown to his son Igor, still a child. A relative,
Oleg, was intrusted with the regency, during the minority of the boy
king. Such was the state of Russia in the year 879.
In that dark and cruel age, war was apparently the only thought,
military conquest the only glory. The regent, Oleg, taking with him
the young prince Igor, immediately set out with a large army on a
career of conquest. Marching directly south some hundred miles, and
taking possession of all the country by the way, he arrived at last at
the head waters of the Dnieper. The renown of the kingdom of Ascolod
and Dir had reached his ears; and aware of their military skill and
that the ranks of their army were filled with Norman warriors, Oleg
decided to seize the two sovereigns by stratagem. As he cautiously
approached Kief, he left his army in a secluded encampment, and with a
few chosen troops floated down the stream in barges, disguised as
merchant boats. Landing in the night beneath the high and precipitous
banks near the town, he placed a number of his soldiers in ambuscade,
and then calling upon the princes of Kief, informed them that he had
been sent by the king of Novgorod, with a commercial adventure down
the Dnieper, and invited them to visit his barges.
The two sovereigns, suspecting no guile, hastened to the banks of the
river. Suddenly the men in ambush rose, and piercing them with arrows
and javelins, they both fell dead at the feet of Oleg. The two victims
of this perfidy were immediately buried upon the spot where they fell.
In commemoration of this atrocity, the church of St. Nicholas has been
erected near the place, and even to the present day the inhabitants of
Kief conduct the traveler to the tomb of Ascolod and Dir. Oleg, now
marshaling his army, marched triumphantly into the town, and, without
experiencing any formidable opposition, annexed the conquered realm to
the northern kingdom.
Oleg was charmed with his conquest. The beautiful site of the town,
the broad expanse of the river, the facilities which the stream
presented for maritime and military adventures so delighted him that
he exclaimed,
"Let Kief be the mother of all the Russian cities."
Oleg established his army in cantonments, strengthened it with fresh
recruits, commenced predatory excursions on every side, and soon
brought the whole region, for many leagues around, under his
subjection. All the subjugated nations were compelled to pay him
tribute, though, with the sagacity which marked his whole course, he
made the tax so light as not to be burdensome. The territories of Oleg
were now vast, widely scattered, and with but the frailest bond of
union between them. Between the two capitals of Novgorod and Kief,
which were separated by a distance of seven or eight hundred miles,
there were many powerful tribes still claiming independence.
Oleg directed his energies against them, and his march of conquest
was resistless. In the course of two years he established his
undisputed sway over the whole region, and thus opened unobstructed
communication between his northern and southern provinces. He
established a chain of military posts along the line, and placed his
renowned warriors in feudal authority over numerous provinces. Each
lord, in his castle, was supreme in authority over the vassals subject
to his sway. Life and death were in his hands. The fealty he owed his
sovereign was paid in a small tribute, and in military service with an
appointed number of soldiers whom he led into the field and supported.
Having thus secured safety in the north, Oleg turned his attention to
the south. With a well-disciplined army, he marched down the left bank
of the river, sweeping the country for an hundred miles in width,
everywhere planting his banners and establishing his simple and
effective government of baronial lords. It was easy to weaken any
formidable or suspected tribe, by the slaughter of the warriors. There
were two safeguards against insurrection. The burdens imposed upon the
vassals were so light as to induce no murmurings; and all the feudal
lords were united to sustain each other. The first movement towards
rebellion was drowned in blood.
Igor, the legitimate sovereign, had now attained his majority; but,
accustomed as he had long been, to entire obedience, he did not dare
to claim the crown from a regent flushed with the brilliancy of his
achievements, who had all power in his hands, and who, by a nod, could
remove him for ever out of his way.
Igor was one day engaged in the chase, when at the door of a cottage,
in a small village near Kief, he saw a young peasant girl, of
marvelous grace and beauty. She was a Norman girl of humble parentage.
Young Igor, inflamed by her beauty, immediately rode to the door and
addressed her. Her voice was melody, her smile ravishing, and in her
replies to his questionings, she developed pride of character,
quickness of intelligence and invincible modesty, which charmed him
and instantly won his most passionate admiration. The young prince
rode home sorely wounded. Cupid had shot one of his most fiery arrows
into the very center of his heart. Though many high-born ladies had
been urged upon Igor, he renounced them all, and allowing beauty to
triumph over birth, honorably demanded and received the hand of the
lowly-born yet princely-minded and lovely Olga. They were married at
Kief in the year 903.
The revolution at Kief had not interrupted the friendly relations
existing between Kief and Constantinople. The Christians of the
imperial city made great efforts, by sending missionaries to Kief, to
multiply the number of Christians there. Oleg, though a pagan, granted
free toleration to Christianity, and reciprocated the presents and
friendly messages he received from the emperor. But at length Oleg,
having consolidated his realms, and ambitions of still greater renown,
wealth and power, resolved boldly to declare war against the empire
itself, and to march upon Constantinople. The warriors from a hundred
tribes, each under their feudal lord, were ranged around his banners.
For miles along the banks of the Dnieper at Kief, the river was
covered with barges, two thousand in number. An immense body of
cavalry accompanied the expedition, following along the shore.
The navigation of the river, which poured its flood through a channel
nearly a thousand miles in length from Kief to the Euxine, was
difficult and perilous. It required the blind, unthinking courage of
semi-barbarians to undertake such an enterprise. There were many
cataracts, down which the flotilla would be swept over foaming billows
and amidst jagged rocks. In many places the stream was quite
impassable by boats, and it was necessary to take all the barges, with
their contents, on shore, and drag them for miles through the forest,
again to launch them upon smoother water; and all this time they were
exposed to attacks from numerous and ferocious foes. Having arrived at
the mouth of the Dnieper, they had still six or eight hundred miles of
navigation over the waves of that storm-swept sea. And then, at the
close, they had to encounter, in deadly fight, all the power of the
Roman empire. But unintimidated by these perils, Oleg, leaving Igor
with his bride at Kief, launched his boats upon the current, and
commenced his desperate enterprise.