| Country | Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania |
|---|---|
| Ancestral house |
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| Titles |
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| Current head | – |
| Founding | 842 – Rurik |
| Dissolution | 1598 – Feodor I |
| Cadet branches | |
The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids (Ukrainian: Рю́риковичі, Russian: Рю́риковичи, IPA: [ˈrʲʉrʲɪkəvʲɪt͡ɕɪ]) was a dynasty founded by the Varangian (Viking)[1] prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year 862 AD.[2] The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus' (after 862), the successor principalities of Galicia-Volhynia (after 1199), Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the founders of the Tsardom of Russia.
They are one of Europe's oldest royal houses, with numerous existing cadet branches, and are regarded as the founders of Rus and later Russia.
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The Rurikid dynasty was founded in 862 by Rurik, a Varangian prince. The apocryphal story tells of the Slavic tribes in the area calling on “‘the Varangians [i.e. Scandinavians], to the Rus … The Chud, the Slovenes, the Krivichi and the Ves said “Our land is vast and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come and reign as princes and have authority over us!”’ Three brothers came with ‘their kin’ and ‘all the Rus’ in response to this invitation. Rurik set up rule in Novgorod, giving more provincial towns to his brothers. There is some ambiguity even in the Primary Chronicle about the specifics of the story, “hence their paradoxical statement ‘the people of Novgorod are of Varangian stock, for formerly they were Slovenes.’” However, archaeological evidence such as “Frankish swords, a sword chape and a tortoiseshell brooch” in the area suggest that there was, in fact, a Scandinavian population during the tenth century at the latest.[3] The "Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project" of FamilyTreeDNA commercial genetic genealogy company reports that Y-DNA testing of the descendants of Rurikids suggests their non-slavic origin.[4]
Rurik and his brothers founded a state that later historians called Kievan Rus'. By the middle of the twelfth century, Kievan Rus' had dissolved into independent principalities, each ruled by different branches of the Rurik dynasty.
“The Rurikid dynasty… attempted to impose on their highly diverse polity the integrative concept of russkaia zemlia (“the Rus’ land”) and the unifying notion of a “Rus’ people.” This sense of proto-nationalism is largely the product of historians in the modern era: “Kievan Rus’ was never really a unified polity. It was a loosely bound, ill-defined, and heterogeneous conglomeration of lands and cities inhabited by tribes and populous groups whose loyalties were primarily territorial.” This caused the Rurik dynasty to effectively dissolve into several sub-dynasties ruling smaller states in the 10th and 11th centuries. These were the Olgoviches of Severia who ruled in Chernigov, Yuryeviches who controlled Vladimir-Suzdal, and Romanoviches in Galicia-Volhynia.[5]
The Olgoviches were the offsprings of Oleg I of Chernigov, who was a grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. They continued to rule until early 14th century when they were torn apart by emerging Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Grand Duchy of Moscow.
The Romanoviches was the line of Roman the Great, they were eventually crowned kings and ruled until 1323. The last ones were two brothers Andrew and Lev II, who ruled jointly and were slain trying to repel Mongol incursions on behalf of the rest of Europe. Polish king Władysław I the Elbow-high in his letter to the Pope wrote with regret: "The two last Ruthenian kings, that had been firm shields for Poland from the Tatars, left this world and after their death Poland is directly under Tatar threat." Losing their leadership role, Rurikids, however, continued to play a vital role in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most notably, the Ostrogski family held the title of Grand Hetman of Lithuania and strove to preserve the Ruthenian language and Eastern Orthodoxy in this part of Europe.
The Yuryeviches were found by Yuriy Dolgorukiy, the founder of Moscow and spread vastly in the north-east. Beginning with the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Muscovite branch used the title "Tsar of All Russia" and ruled over the Tsardom of Russia. The death in 1598 of Tsar Feodor I ended the rule of the Rurik dynasty. The unstable period known as the Time of Troubles succeeded Feodor's death and lasted until 1613. In that year, Mikhail I ascended the throne, founding the Romanov dynasty that would rule until 1762 and as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov until the revolutions of 1917. One descendant of the Rurik Grand Prince of Tver was Catherine the Great, who married Peter III of the Romanov dynasty. Historian Vasily Tatishchev and filmmaker Jacques Tati were descended from Rurik.
In the early days of the Rurikid dynasty, the Kievan Rus’ mainly traded with other tribes in northeastern Europe. “There was little need for complex social structures to carry out these exchanges in the forests north of the steppes. So long as the entrepreneurs operated in small numbers and kept to the north, they did not catch the attention of observers or writers.” The Rus’ also had strong trading ties to Byzantium, particularly in the early 900’s, as treaties in 911 and 944 indicate. These treaties deal with the treatment of runaway Byzantine slaves and limitations on the amounts of certain commodities such as silk that could be bought from Byzantium. The Rus’ used logs floated down the Dnieper river by Slavic tribes for the transport of goods, particularly slaves to Byzantium.[6]
One of the largest military accomplishments of the Rurikid dynasty was the attack on Byzantium in 960. Pilgrims of the Rus’ had been making the journey from Kiev to Constantinople for many years, and Constantine Porphyrogenitus believed that this gave them significant information about the arduous parts of the journey and where travelers were most at risk, as would be pertinent for an invasion. This route took travelers through domain of the Pechenegs, journeying mostly by river.[1] In June 941, the Rus’ staged a naval ambush on Byzantine forces, making up for their smaller numbers with small, maneuverable boats. Interestingly, these boats were ill-equipped for the transportation of large quantities of treasure, suggesting that looting was not the goal. The raid was led, according to the Primary Chronicle, by a king called Igor. Three years later, the treaty of 944 stated that all ships approaching Byzantium must be preceded by a letter from the Rurikid prince stating the number of ships and assuring their peaceful intent. This not only indicates fear of another surprise attack, but an increased Kievan presence in the Black Sea.[7]
Russian and Ukrainian historians have debated for many years about the legacy of the Rurikid dynasty. The Russian view, “resting largely on religious-ecclesiastical and historical-ideological claims and on political-juridical theories [was] formulated in Moscow between the 1330’s and the late 1850’s,” and views the Principality of Moscow as the sole heir to the Kievan Rus’ civilization. The Ukrainian nationalist view came into being somewhat later “between the 1840’s and the end of the 1930’s,” and views the Ukrainian descendants of the Rurikid dynasty as its only true successors. The Soviet theory “allotted equal rights to the Kievan inheritance to the Three Slavic Peoples, that is the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the Belorussians.”[8]
According to the FamilyTreeDNA Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project, Rurik appears to have belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup N1c1, based on testing of his modern male line descendants.[9] But while genetically related to the later Baltic Finnic peoples, the Rurikids do not possess the DYS390=24 mutation associated with the Finnic languages, theirs remaining the ancestral DYS390=23, with the Rurikid haplotype itself (all values considered) more closely associated with [North] Germanic speakers (Varangians).[10]
Further genetic studies seem to indicate the existence of two major haplogroups among modern Rurikids: the descendants of Vladimir II Monomakh (Monomakhoviches) and some others are of N1c1 group (130 people or 68%), while the descendants of a junior prince from the branch of Oleg I of Chernigov (Olgoviches) and some others (total 45 peoples or 24%) are of R1a and R1b haplogroups typical for Slavic, Germanic and Celtic peoples.
The following image shows the descent of the so-called central branch of the Rurikids, descendants of Vladimir II Monomakh through his sixth son Yuri Dolgorukiy:
from princes of
who do not use or lost their princely titles, from princes of
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