Any educated person in our country knows who Igor Stary is. So they called the prince of Ancient Russia, the son of Rurik and a relative of Oleg the Great, nicknamed the Prophet.
Let us consider in more detail the life and work of this ruler of the ancient Russian state.
Brief biographical information about birth and childhood
According to chronicle sources, Igor Stary lived a relatively long life for those times. He was born approximately in 878, and died (also approximately) in 945.
The reign of Igor the Old covers the period from 912 to 945.
The hero of our story was the son of Rurik, who, according to legend, came to Russia with his brothers and began to reign in Novgorod, and later became the sole ruler of the entire Russian state of that time. After the death of Rurik, Igor was small for years, so his relative Oleg performed the functions of the prince (according to one version, he was Rurik's nephew, and according to another, his wife's brother).
Most likely, young Igor accompanied Oleg on his military campaigns, where he acquired the skills of a military leader and politician. It is known that he took the throne of his father not upon reaching his majority and marriage, but after the death of the Prophetic Oleg (according to legend, he died from the bite of a poisonous snake).
Brief biographical information about the prince's family
According to the official version, the year in which Oleg, nicknamed the Prophet, died, is the beginning of the reign of Igor the Old. This, as already mentioned, is 912. By that time, the young prince already had a family.
According to chronicle sources, when Igor was 25 years old, he was married to a girl named Olga (she was only 13). However, their son Svyatoslav was born only in 942 (it turns out that at that time Olga should have been 52 years old, which is impossible). Many historians point to this circumstance, therefore it is believed that the age of Olga, the future Grand Duchess and founder of Christianity in Russia, was younger. There is also an assumption that Olga and Igor had more children, in particular, some historians mention two sons - Vladislav and Gleb, who probably died in their early years.
Also, Byzantine sources indicate that the prince had other relatives (cousins, nephews, etc.). However, there is no mention of these people in the Russian chronicles. Most likely, they did not own any lands and powers, but were part of the squad of Prince Igor. Modern historians consider this version the most reasonable, because, most likely, in Ancient Russia there was a tradition characteristic of European states, according to which only the ruler himself, his wife (wives) and children, and other relatives (and therefore , and pretenders to the throne) not a word was said.
Military campaigns against Tsargrad
Igor Stary glorified himself as an experienced military leader. It is known that he made more than one military campaign against Byzantium. The Orthodox peoples who inhabited the Byzantine Empire then suffered greatly from the raids of the barbarians, whom they called dews.
Historians note the following military campaigns of Igor Stary:
1. According to legend, in 941 Igor sailed to Byzantium, accompanied by a thousand ships, called “boats”. However, the Greeks used the most advanced weapon of the time - the so-called "Greek fire" (a mixture of oil and other combustible substances), which burned most of the warships. Defeated, Igor Stary returned home to Russia to gather a new army for a new military campaign. And he succeeded.
2. His military assembly included representatives of all the tribes of the then ancient Russian state, both Slavs and Russ, Pechenegs, Drevlyans, etc. This campaign turned out to be more successful for the prince, as a result, he concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantines, providing for the payment of certain material resources. In this agreement, the text of which the Greeks have preserved, both Igor himself and his wife Olga and their common son Svyatoslav are mentioned.
Igor Stary
The prince became famous for centuries as a strict and demanding man. A successful conqueror, he annexed new lands to his state, and then imposed tribute on the tribes he conquered. The reign of Igor the Old was remembered for the pacification of the streets and Tivertsy, Drevlyans and many other nationalities.
The Drevlyans offered the strongest resistance to the prince (they were conquered at the dawn of Igor's reign, in 912). They refused to pay tribute, but Igor and his retinue ravaged the Drevlyansk settlements and, as a punishment, obliged the local residents to pay even more than before. The Drevlyans reluctantly agreed, but they harbored a strong resentment against the prince in their hearts.
Igor Stary was also distinguished by new ways of collecting tribute, which he himself called polyud. This procedure consisted in the following: the prince annually, together with his retinue, traveled around the territories subject to him and collected a "tax" from the tribes that lived there. He took tribute in a natural way: both with grain, flour and other food products, as well as with the skins of wild animals, honey of wild bees, and so on. Often, the prince's warriors behaved like impudent conquerors, which inflicted many insults on ordinary people.
Igor's foreign policy successes
What else did Igor Stary remember to his contemporaries? The domestic and foreign policy of the prince was of an aggressive nature, which is not surprising, especially if you remember what Igor himself was like (historians note that the prince was distinguished by a tough and quick-tempered temper).
His military successes also cannot be called modest. He behaved like a real barbarian, cutting through a "window" to Europe of that time - the Byzantine Empire with fire and sword.
In addition to the two military campaigns against Byzantium already mentioned above, Igor made the same campaign against the Caspian Sea. Arab sources tell about him, but in the Russian chronicles this is not even mentioned. Little is known about the results of this campaign, but the Khazar authors believe that it had some consequences: Igor's army received rich trophies and returned home with the loot.
Also, some historians, relying on Hungarian sources, believe that Igor Stary concluded an alliance with the Hungarians. The foreign policy of the prince in relation to these tribes was of an allied nature, perhaps there were certain connections between the Russians and the Hungarians, allowing them to organize joint military campaigns against Byzantium.
Personality riddles
The reign of Igor the Old, although it lasted for many years, has not been fully studied due to the lack of information about the immediate environment of the prince and his actions.
The scarcity of information about this historical figure, as well as some discrepancies (for example, regarding the dates of his life, years of reign, family and death), which are found in various sources, lead to the fact that there are many white spots in the biography of this person.
So, there are different assumptions as to who Igor's mother was. For example, V. Tatishchev, a historian of the Petrine era, assumed that she was the Norman princess Efanda. The same Tatishchev believed that the real hero of our story was called Inger, and only later his name was transformed into Igor. The Old Prince received his nickname not during his reign, but much later, thanks to the Russian chronicles, which called him “ancient” or “old”. And all because Igor was one of the first Rurikovich.
The main idea of Igor's reign
Prince Igor Stary entered Russian history very firmly. The results of the reign of this Russian ruler are associated with the strengthening of the young ancient Russian state. In fact, Igor continued the policy of his father and relative Oleg: he expanded the state, made military campaigns that brought a lot of wealth, concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantines, introduced a system of taxation of his subjects.
Igor was also able to leave behind a powerful heir, Svyatoslav, who continued his work. Thus, the Old One not only strengthened his dynasty, but also strengthened his state.
Death of a prince
One of the most famous episodes in Igor's life was his tragic violent death.
Russian chronicles describe this event as follows: Prince Igor Stary, having conquered the Drevlyans, annually came to them to collect tribute. He did the same in 945. His squad treated the Drevlyans with disdain, repaired a lot of rigidity, which caused their obvious discontent. In addition, the Drevlyans had their own ruler named Mal, who perceived Igor as a victorious rival.
Having collected enough tribute from the Drevlyans, the prince went further with his retinue, but on the way back he thought about the fact that he had not taken as much as he wanted. It was at this moment that Igor Stary made a fatal mistake for himself. The events of the following day proved this.
The prince dismissed his large squad and returned to the Drevlyans for a new tribute with a small army. Those, seeing that Igor had little strength, brutally dealt with him and his people. According to legend, the prince was tied to the tops of mighty trees and released. Igor took such a fierce death from the allegedly conquered Drevlyans.
Olga's revenge
Russian chronicles tell us not only about the death of Prince Igor, but also about the exquisite and terrible revenge used by his wife - the widowed Pskovskaya, who was left with Igor's three-year-old son Svyatoslav without the care of her husband.
So, Olga betrayed the envoys from the Drevlyans to a cruel execution (burned alive), and then made a military campaign against Iskorosten and, taking it by storm, mercilessly dealt with the inhabitants. According to legend, she demanded 3 doves and 3 sparrows from each yard. Having received such a kind of "tribute", Olga ordered to tie tinder and sulfur to each bird, light them at night and let them go. The calculation of the cunning princess turned out to be correct: the birds returned to their nests, under the roofs of houses ... Later, Igor's son Svyatoslav set his son Oleg to reign over the Drevlyans.
The meaning of Igor's reign
Historians agree that the policy of Igor the Old was generally positive and benefited Russia. He laid the foundations of statehood, which was based on the personality of the prince, the power of his military squad and diplomatic skills. Sometimes cruelly and unceremoniously subjugating neighboring tribes, Igor, nevertheless, built a new system of relations that allowed him to move to a new stage of development - from a tribal community to a state system.
Rurik's son Igor, unlike his father, is the first historically reliable prince from the dynasty that ruled in Russia for the first seven centuries of its history and is called in historiography by the name of its founder Rurikovich. The Grand Duke of Kyiv Igor Rurikovich, who was born, according to the Nikon Chronicle, in Novgorod in 865 (although, according to other sources, this happened in 877) from the Nativity of Christ, was the only son of Rurik, which makes us think that Rurik appeared in the capital the city of Ilmen Slovenes in 862, not a young man, at the end of his male strength, or he died - by today's standards - quite early, as a result of the wounds he had once received. However, Igor had a sister, whose name is unknown, whose existence is confirmed by chronicle sources. The fact, in particular, that her children, netii (nephews, children of sisters) Igor, Uleb and Akun, are mentioned in connection with the peace treaty concluded by the Tsargrad (Constantinople) ambassadors with Prince Igor in 944 “for all the years, while the sun is shining and the world stands."
It seems to us that both of the above dates of the birth of Prince Igor contradict the version that his mother was the Norwegian princess (princess) Efanda (Alfwind or Edvinda), unless she arrived in Novgorod in 862 together with Rurik and with all his numerous relatives-Rus and squad (Norman theory). Some sources, by the way, call this Efanda-Alfwind-Edvinda semi-fabulous. Based on the same dates, one cannot exclude the fact that, in fact, Igor's mother could be a native of the Novgorod region (or in general the northwestern lands of the future Russia), a Slavic clan-tribe, the wife or concubine of Ryurikov ... Yes, and about the origin of the Rurik there are several versions. However, in favor of the version of the foreign origin of his second wife, Igor's mother, the relationship of Efanda (Alfind or Edvinda) with Prophetic Oleg, to whose care Rurik entrusted his heir, leaving to another world, can testify. This kinship was known to our historians even before the revolution. The relationship of Igor the Stary and Oleg the Prophet was so close, and the degree of trust of one to the other was so high that the first entrusted the second with the choice of a bride (St. Olga of Pskov, in 903), and the second left the first as his governor in Kyiv during his campaign against Byzantium.
From the military deeds of Prince Igor from chronicle sources we know: the pacification of the Drevlyans in 914, the secondary conquest at the same time of the streets that lived next door to the Tivertsy. Igor gave this tribute to Sveneld, his beloved governor, which caused discontent among the squad. In addition, two campaigns of Prince Igor with a retinue to Tsargrad (Constantinople) should be mentioned, and before that, a joint sea campaign of Russians and Greeks against Italy in 935. Igor's first Byzantine campaign in 941 suffered a deafening fiasco - the Greeks burned a large fleet of Russians, numbering, according to chronicles, 10 thousand ships, famous in the early Middle Ages for "Greek fire". In 915, the Pechenegs first appeared in Russian borders, and instead of giving them a due rebuff, Igor concludes peace with their prince for a period of five years. It is possible, however, that this was a forced measure, primarily due to the internal state of Igor's state. In his second campaign against Byzantium in 944, Igor was already much more circumspect, and invited overseas Varangians and Pechenegs to participate in this campaign, from whom hostages were also taken. In addition, referring to the Arab historian Massudi, N.M. Karamzin says that around 912 some Russian idolaters, who, together with the Slavs, lived in the capital of the Khazar Khaganate Atel (Atil, Itil) and served the local kagan, went on ships to The Caspian Sea and ravaged Dagestan, Shirvan, but were exterminated by the "Mohammedans". According to the same N.M. Karamzin, another Arabic narrator, Abulfed, tells that in 944 the Russians took the Arran capital Barda (Arran is a historical region between the Kura and Araks rivers) and returned to their land along the Kura River and the Caspian Sea. However, a reservation immediately follows here that the third eastern historian Abulfarach attributes this attack to the Alans, Lezgians (Lezgins) and Slavs, tributaries of the Khazar Khagan in the southern regions of the future Russian Empire.
In 945, in the autumn, during the next campaign with a retinue to the polyudye to the Drevlyans in Korosten (Iskorosten, now in the Zhytomyr region of the Republic of Ukraine), Prince Igor, who had already collected tribute from them, under pressure from the retinue murmured about the small amount of this tribute (part which left Sveneld and his youths), turned the horses back, releasing most of the squad home, including the Varangian Sveneld with his people, who, apparently, constituted Igor's "special forces". Enraged by such a turn of events, the Drevlyans, led by their prince Mal, attacked Igor's squad and killed all the warriors remaining with him to one. Igor himself, according to Byzantine sources, was tied by the Drevlyans by the legs to two inclined birches and released, tearing Igor's body in half.
Igor the Old reigned for 33 years and was married to St. Olga survived three sons - an unknown name, mentioned in the sources under 916, Svyatoslav and Uleb (Gleb).
And in conclusion, one curious fact: in 1711, during the campaign of Russian troops from Kyiv to Moldova, while still an officer, V.N. Tatishchev (1686 - 1750), the first Russian historiographer, among other historical sights, was looking for a barrow, in which, according to legend, the grave of Igor Stary was located.
Until 912, Kievan Rus was ruled by Prince Oleg on behalf of Igor, since the latter was still very young. Being modest by nature and upbringing, Igor respectfully treated his elders and did not dare to claim his rights to the throne during the life of Oleg, who for his deeds surrounded his name with a halo of glory. Prince Oleg approved the choice of a wife for the future ruler. Prince Igor of Kyiv married in 903 a simple girl, Olga, who lived near Pskov.
Beginning of the reign
After Oleg died, Igor became a full-fledged prince of Russia. His reign began with a war. At this time, the tribe of the Drevlyans decided to get out of the power of Kyiv and an uprising began. The new ruler severely punished the rebels, inflicting a crushing defeat on them. This battle began numerous campaigns of Prince Igor. The result of the campaign against the Drevlyans was the unconditional victory of Russia, which, as a winner, demanded additional tribute from the rebels. The following campaigns were aimed at confronting the Pechenegs, who, having driven the Ugor tribes from the Urals, continued their advance to the West. The Pechenegs, in the fight against Kievan Rus, occupied the lower reaches of the Dnieper River, thereby blocking the trade opportunities of Russia, since it was through the Dnieper that the path from the Varangians to the Greeks passed. The campaigns conducted by Prince Igor against the Polovtsy were carried out with alternate success.
Campaigns to Byzantium
Despite the ongoing confrontation with the Polovtsians, new wars continue. In 941, Igor declares war on Byzantium, thereby continuing the foreign policy of his predecessors. The reason for the new war was that after the death of Oleg, Byzantium considered itself free from previous obligations and ceased to fulfill the terms of the peace treaty. The campaign against Byzantium was truly outstanding. It was the first time that such a large army was advancing on the Greeks. The Kyiv ruler took with him about 10,000 ships, according to the chroniclers, which is 5 times more than the army with which Oleg won. But this time the Russians failed to take the Greeks by surprise, they managed to gather a large army and won the first battle on land. As a result, the Russians decided to win the war by naval battles. But that didn't work either. Byzantine ships, using a special incendiary mixture, began to burn Russian ships with oil. Russian wars were simply amazed by this weapon and perceived it as heavenly. The army had to return to Kyiv.
Two years later, in 943, Prince Igor organizes a new campaign against Byzantium. This time the army was even larger. In addition to the Russian troops, mercenary detachments were invited, which consisted of Pechenegs and Varangians. The army moved to Byzantium by sea and by land. New campaigns promised to be successful. But the surprise attack failed. Representatives of the city of Chersonesos managed to report to the Byzantine emperor that a new large Russian army was advancing on Constantinople. This time the Greeks decided to avoid fighting and proposed a new peace treaty. Prince Igor of Kyiv, after conferring with his retinue, accepted the terms of the peace treaty, which were identical to the terms of the treaty signed by the Byzantines with Oleg. This ended the Byzantine campaigns.
End of the reign of Prince Igor
According to the records in the annals, in November 945, Igor gathered a squad and moved to the Drevlyans to collect tribute. Having collected tribute, he released most of the troops and with a small squad went to the city Iskorosten. The purpose of this visit was to demand tribute for himself personally. The Drevlyans were outraged and planned murder. Having armed the army, they set off towards the prince with his retinue. This is how the murder of the Kyiv ruler happened. His body was buried near Iskorosten. According to legend, the murder was extremely brutal. He was tied hand and foot to bent trees. Then the trees were released... Thus ended the reign of Prince Igor...
The reign of the great Russian Prince Igor begins in 912, immediately after the death of Prince Oleg. The attempt of the Drevlyans to carry out a way out from under the princely power was severely suppressed by him and only led to an increase in the amount of tribute. Researchers of Slavic history note that the internal policy of the reign of Prince Igor was based only on the harsh suppression of tribes that did not obey the prince.
In 913, Igor set out on a campaign to the Caspian lands, which was crowned with success. The prince returned with huge booty, but on the way home he was forced to give it to the Khazars.
Prince Igor was the first to face the new problem of the state - the raid of nomads. They were mostly Pechenegs, with whom in 915 the prince concluded a peace treaty for a five-year period. Usually the nomads were on the side of the Greeks, but in 944 they were allies of the Russian prince.
At the same time, the foreign princely policy was dictated by the desire to create the most favorable terms of trade for the implementation of Russian trade. Already in 941, Igor, along Oleg's path, made a trip to Byzantium, which, unlike the latter, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful. Byzantium was warned by the Danube Bulgarians and the Byzantine emperor met the Russian army fully armed. Prince Igor was defeated.
Three years later, a new military campaign against Byzantium was organized in alliance with the Pechenegs, but the emperor wished to avoid the clash, endowing Igor with wealth and soon concluding a peace treaty (two years later).
Being already in years, Prince Igor entrusts the polyudye to his faithful governor Sveneld. This fact was not to the liking of the prince's combatants, which caused discontent among the masses and was the reason for the prince's independent campaign against the Drevlyans. Having collected a legal tribute, Igor advanced to Kyiv, but halfway from the decision he decided to return, taking with him a small part of the squad. Arriving, the prince demanded an even greater tribute, which predetermined his murder at the hands of the Drevlyan people.
The murder of Prince Igor was revealingly cruel. There is evidence that it was torn apart by tree trunks bent to the ground.
Speaking about the biography of Igor, it is necessary to mention his wife Olga, who later, after his death, not only cruelly avenged the death of her husband, but also skillfully ruled Russia until her son Igor matured.
PRINCE IGOR (912-945)Years of life : 877 - 945.
Years of government: Prince of Novgorod (until 912); Grand Duke of Kyiv (912 - 945).
Great Russian prince. The son of the Novgorod prince Rurik. The Joachim Chronicle reports that his mother was the daughter of the “prince of Urman” Efanda, to whom, after the birth of his son, Rurik gave a city by the sea “with Izhora” (Izhora) as a “veno”. Chronicles date the birth of Igor in different ways: 861, 864, 865, 875. The Tale of Bygone Years says that in 879, when Rurik was dying, Igor was a small child, whom his father handed over to his relative Oleg. And in the Novgorod First Chronicle of the younger edition, Igor, during the capture of Kyiv in 882, acts as an adult mature ruler. According to the "Tale of Bygone Years" in 903, Igor is the "assistant" led. Russian book. Oleg. Igor's marriage to Olga is also reported there, and under 907 it is said that when Oleg went on a campaign against Constantinople, Igor was his governor in Kyiv. And the Novgorod chronicler states that the campaign against Byzantium was organized not by Oleg, but by Igor.
This dispute, apparently, should be resolved in favor of the Kyiv, and not the Novgorod chronicler, since the treaties of Russia with Byzantium and. X century., And in them led. Oleg, not Igor, is named the Russian prince.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, Igor took the throne in 913 after the death of Oleg the Prophet. In 914, he suppressed the uprising of the Drevlyans, who did not want to obey him. In 915 he made peace with the Pechenegs. In 920 he again fought with the Pechenegs. The results of this war are not known. During his reign (in 913 and 943) two Russian military campaigns were carried out against the Caspian countries. In 940, the streets were subdued to Kyiv, on which tribute was imposed "on a black kune from smoke." In 941, Igor struck at the Black Sea possessions of Byzantium, but the Russian fleet was exposed to "Greek liquid fire" and suffered heavy losses. Subsequently, the Byzantine imp. John Tzimiskes, recalling this naval battle, gloatingly wrote to Igor’s son Svyatoslav: “I believe that you have not forgotten about the defeat of your father Ingor, who, despising the oath agreement, sailed to our capital with a huge army on 10 thousand ships, and to the Cimmerian Bosphorus (To the Kerch Strait. - O.R.) arrived with hardly a dozen ships, becoming himself a herald of his misfortune.
According to V. N. Tatishchev, this campaign was undertaken by Igor because the Byzantines stopped paying the tribute imposed on them by Oleg to Russia.
Around 942/943 (according to the chronicle - in 944) Igor with a huge army made a new sea and land campaign against Byzantium. His army did not reach the borders of the empire, as the frightened Greeks asked for peace. A Russian-Byzantine treaty was signed (944), beneficial to the Kievan state. The Byzantines again began to pay tribute to Russia.
Around 944 (according to the chronicle - in 945) Igor was killed near the city of Iskorosten by the rebellious Drevlyans while collecting tribute in polyudye. According to John Tzimisces, “he was taken prisoner by them, tied to tree trunks and torn in two.” Near Iskorosten, he was buried under a high mound.
"The Tale of Bygone Years" notes the greed and greed of the book. Igor, and the author ser. 11th century Hilarion - his courage and bravery.