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Prince Sviatoslav Igorevich Rurikid, Rurikid[1, 2]

Male 943 - 972  (29 years)


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  • Name Sviatoslav Igorevich Rurikid  
    Title Prince 
    Suffix Rurikid 
    Nickname Вуефаст Улеб - князь новгородский и Великий князь Киевский 
    Born 943 
    Address:
    Киев
    Киев, Киевское Княжество
    Ukraine 
    Christened Grand Prince of Kiev Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening Kiev Kiev Ukrane Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening (3-0945) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 945  prince, of, Kiev Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 945  prince, of, Kiev Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 945  prince, of, Kiev Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 957  Russia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Russia 
    Occupation Grand Prince, de Kiev 
    Occupation Konge 
    Occupation Storforste 
    Occupation Storfyrst av Kiev 
    Occupation Storfyrste 
    Occupation Storfyrste av Kiev 
    Occupation Grand Prince of Kiev Find all individuals with events at this location 
    unknown 
    Residence Russia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried 972 
    Died 26 Mar 972 
    Address:
    Dorostol - Доростол
    Dorostol - Доростол
    Bulgaria - Болгария 
    Notes 
    • {geni:about_me} http://www.friesian.com/russia.htm#kiev








      [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev Sviatoslav l of Kiev],

      http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00079371&tree=LEO

      Sviatoslav I of Kiev Prince of Rus'
      Sviatoslav the Brave


      Sviatoslav
      Reign 945–972
      Coronation 964
      Predecessor Igor
      Successor Yaropolk I
      Issue: Yaropolk I
      Oleg

      With Malusha:
      Vladimir the Great
      Full name
      Sviatoslav Igorevich
      Father Igor
      Mother Saint Olga (regent 945-964)
      Born 942?
      Kiev
      Died March 972 [aged ~30]
      The island of Khortytsa Dnieper
      Burial ?
      Religion Paganism


      Princely stamp
      Sviatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: С~тославъ / Свѧтославъ[1] Игорєвичь, Sventoslavŭ / Svantoslavŭ Igorevičǐ; Russian: Святослав Игоревич, Sviatoslav Igorevich; Ukrainian: Святослав Ігорович, Sviatoslav Ihorovych; Bulgarian: Светослав, Svetoslav, Greek: Σφενδοσθλάβος, Sphendosthlabos) (c. 942 – March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was a prince of Rus.[2][3] The son of Igor of Kiev and Olga, Sviatoslav is famous for his incessant campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe—Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire; he also conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and the Volga Bulgars,[4] and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars.

      His decade-long reign over Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev (modern day Ukraine) to Pereyaslavets (modern day Romania) on the Danube in 969. In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life. Due to his abrupt death in ambush, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to fratricidal feud among his sons, resulting in two of his three sons being killed.

      Contents [hide]
      1 Name
      2 Early life and personality
      3 Appearance
      4 Religious beliefs
      5 Family
      6 Eastern campaigns
      7 Campaigns in the Balkans
      8 Death and aftermath
      9 Sayings by Svyatoslav
      10 In art and literature
      11 See also
      12 Notes
      13 References
      [edit]Name



      The Kievan Rus' at the beginning of Sviatoslav's reign (in red), showing his sphere of influence to 972 (in orange)
      Sviatoslav was the first ruler of Rus' who is recorded in the Primary Chronicle with a name of Slavic origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is however not recorded in other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav).[5] This is questionable,as these names follow conventions well established in other Slavic lands, and it ignores Vladimir of Bulgaria, who ruled between 889-893. Some scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).[6] On the other hand,such a compound structure name was already known from Great Moravia, as in the rulers named Svatopluk. Clearly Sviatislav's name belongs to this tradition, as he had a son by the name of Yaropolk, of much the same form, and a grandson by the very same name, Sviatopolk.

      [edit]Early life and personality



      Ship burial of Igor the Old in 945, depicted by Henryk Siemiradzki (1843–1902).
      Virtually nothing is known about his childhood and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 945 and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav's maturity (ca. 963).[7] His tutor was a Varangian named Asmud. "Quick as a leopard,"[8] The tradition of having Varangian tutors for the sons of ruling princes survived well into the 11th century. Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina (roughly, "troops") in permanent warfare against neighboring states. According to the Primary Chronicle: upon his expeditions he carried with him neither wagons nor kettles, and boiled no meat, but cut off small strips of horseflesh, game or beef, and ate it after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, but he spread out a horse-blanket under him, and set his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise.[9]

      [edit]Appearance



      Illustration of Sviatoslav wearing a vyshyvanka


      Madrid Skylitzes. Meeting between John Tzimiskes and Sviatoslav.
      Sviatoslav's appearance has been described very clearly by Leo the Deacon, who himself attended the meeting of Sviatoslav with John I Tzimiskes. Following Deacon's memories, Sviatoslav was a blue-eyed male of average height but of stalwart build, much more sturdy than Tzimiskes. He shaved his blond head and his beard but wore a bushy mustache and a sidelock as a sign of his nobility.[10] He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men, although he have had a lot in common with his warriors. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a carbuncle and two pearls.[11]

      [edit]Religious beliefs

      His mother, Olga, converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957. However,[12] Sviatoslav remained a pagan for all of his life. In the treaty of 971 between Sviatoslav and the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes, the Rus' are swearing by Perun and Veles.[13] According to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors (druzhina) would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.[14] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.

      [edit]Family



      Svjatoslav's mother, Olga, with her escort in Constantinople, a miniature from the late 11th-century chronicle of John Skylitzes.
      Very little is known of Sviatoslav's family life. It is possible that Sviatoslav was not the only (and the eldest) son of his parents. The Russo-Byzantine treaty of 945 mentions a certain Predslava, Volodislav's wife, as the noblest of the Rus' women after Olga. The fact that Predslava was Oleg's mother is presented by Vasily Tatishchev. He also speculated that Predslava was of a Hungarian nobility. George Vernadsky was among many historians to speculate that Volodislav was Igor's eldest son and heir who died at some point during Olga's regency. Another chronicle told that Oleg (? - 944?) was the eldest son of Igor. At the time of Igor's death, Sviatoslav was still a child and he was raised by his mother or at her instructions. Her influence, however, did not extend to his religious observance.

      Sviatoslav, had several children, but the origin of his wives is not specified in the chronicle. By his wives, he had Yaropolk and Oleg.[15] By Malusha, a woman of indeterminate origins,[16] Sviatoslav had Vladimir, who would ultimately break with his father's paganism and convert Rus' to Christianity. John Skylitzes reported that Vladimir had a brother named Sfengus; whether this Sfengus was a son of Sviatoslav, a son of Malusha by a prior or subsequent husband, or an unrelated Rus' nobleman is unclear.[17]

      [edit]Eastern campaigns



      Sviatoslav I in the Tsarsky Titulyarnik, 1672
      Shortly after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand the Rus' control over the Volga valley and the Pontic steppe region. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars, who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews in the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus.[18]

      Sviatoslav began by rallying the Khazars' East Slavic vassal tribes to his cause. Those who would not join him, such as the Vyatichs, were attacked and forced to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than the Khazars.[19] According to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at you!" (Old East Slavic: "хощю на вы ити")[20] This phrase is used in modern Russian (usually misquoted as "Иду на вы") and in modern Ukrainian ("Йду на ви") to denote an unequivocal declaration of one's intentions. Proceeding by the Oka and Volga rivers, he invaded Volga Bulgaria and exacted tribute from the local population, thus bringing under Kievan control the upper Volga River. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' and Bulgars' superior cavalry.[21]



      The site of the Khazar fortress at Sarkel, sacked by Sviatoslav c. 965 (aerial photo from excavations conducted by Mikhail Artamonov in the 1930s)
      Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea.[22] At Sarkel he established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha ("the white tower" or "the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel").[23] He subsequently destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil.[24] A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus' attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."[25] The exact chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example, Mikhail Artamonov and David Christian proposed that the sack of Sarkel came after the destruction of Atil.[26]

      Although Ibn Haukal reports Sviatoslav's sack of Samandar in modern-day Dagestan, the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of the Caucasus Mountains permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav chose to strike against the Ossetians and force them into subservience.[27] Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence in the region.[28] The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way for Kievan Rus' to dominate north-south trade routes through the steppe and across the Black Sea, routes that formerly had been a major source of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased Slavic settlement in the region of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture, greatly changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between the forest and the steppe.[29]

      [edit]Campaigns in the Balkans

      Main article: Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria


      Pursuit of Sviatoslav's warriors by the Byzantine army, a miniature from 11th-century chronicles of John Skylitzes.


      Sviatoslav invading Bulgaria; Manasses Chronicle
      The annihilation of Khazaria was undertaken against the background of the Rus'-Byzantine alliance, concluded in the wake of Igor's Byzantine campaign in 944.[30] Close military ties between the Rus' and Byzantium are illustrated by the fact, reported by John Skylitzes, that a Rus' detachment accompanied Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros Phokas in his victorious naval expedition to Crete.

      In 967 or 968[31] Nikephoros sent to Sviatoslav his agent, Kalokyros, with the task of talking Sviatoslav into assisting him in a war against Bulgaria.[32] Sviatoslav was paid 15,000 pounds of gold and set sail with an army of 60,000 men, including thousands of Pecheneg mercenaries.[33][34]

      Sviatoslav defeated the Bulgarian ruler Boris II[35] and proceeded to occupy the whole of northern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the Byzantines bribed the Pechenegs to attack and besiege Kiev, where Olga stayed with Sviatoslav's son Vladimir. The siege was relieved by the druzhina of Pretich, and immediately following the Pecheneg retreat, Olga sent a reproachful letter to Sviatoslav. He promptly returned and defeated the Pechenegs, who continued to threaten Kiev.

      [show] v t e
      Rus'–Byzantine Wars


      Boris Chorikov. Sviatoslav's Council of War
      Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result. To the chagrin of his boyars and mother (who died within three days after learning about his decision), Sviatoslav decided to move his capital to Pereyaslavets in the mouth of the Danube due to the great potential of that location as a commercial hub. In the Primary Chronicle record for 969, Sviatoslav explains that it is to Pereyaslavets, the centre of his lands, "all the riches flow: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus' furs, wax, honey, and slaves".

      In summer 969, Sviatoslav left Rus' again, dividing his dominion into three parts, each under a nominal rule of one of his sons. At the head of an army that included Pecheneg and Magyar auxiliary troops, he invaded Bulgaria again, devastating Thrace, capturing the city of Philippopolis, and massacring its inhabitants. Nikephoros responded by repairing the defenses of Constantinople and raising new squadrons of armored cavalry. In the midst of his preparations, Nikephoros was overthrown and killed by John Tzimiskes, who thus became the new Byzantine emperor.[36]

      John Tzimiskes first attempted to persuade Sviatoslav into leaving Bulgaria, but was unsuccessful. Challenging the Byzantine authority, Sviatoslav crossed the Danube and laid siege to Adrianople, causing panic on the streets of Constantinople in summer 970.[37] Later that year, the Byzantines launched a counteroffensive. Being occupied with suppressing a revolt of Bardas Phokas in Asia Minor, John Tzimiskes sent his commander-in-chief, Bardas Skleros, who defeated the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis.[38] Meanwhile, John, having quelled the revolt of Bardas Phokas, came to the Balkans with a large army and promoting himself as the liberator of Bulgaria from Sviatoslav, penetrated the impracticable mountain passes and shortly thereafter captured Marcianopolis, where the Rus' were holding a number of Bulgar princes hostage.



      Siege of Durostorum in Manasses Chronicle
      Sviatoslav retreated to Dorostolon, which the Byzantine armies besieged for sixty-five days. Cut off and surrounded, Sviatoslav came to terms with John and agreed to abandon the Balkans, renounce his claims to the southern Crimea and return west of the Dnieper River. In return, the Byzantine emperor supplied the Rus' with food and safe passage home. Sviatoslav and his men set sail and landed on Berezan Island at the mouth of the Dnieper, where they made camp for the winter. Several months later, their camp was devastated by famine, so that even a horse's head could not be bought for less than a half-grivna, reports the Kievan chronicler of the Primary Chronicle.[39] While Sviatoslav's campaign brought no tangible results for the Rus', it weakened the Bulgarian statehood and left it vulnerable to the attacks of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer four decades later.

      [edit]Death and aftermath



      The Death of Sviatoslav by Boris Chorikov
      Fearing that the peace with Sviatoslav would not endure, the Byzantine emperor induced the Pecheneg khan Kurya to kill Sviatoslav before he reached Kiev. This was in line with the policy outlined by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in De Administrando Imperio of fomenting strife between the Rus' and the Pechenegs.[40] According to the Slavic chronicle, Sveneld attempted to warn Sviatoslav to avoid the Dnieper rapids, but the prince slighted his wise advice and was ambushed and slain by the Pechenegs when he tried to cross the cataracts near Khortitsa early in 972. The Primary Chronicle reports that his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan, Kurya.[41]

      Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions between his sons grew. A war broke out between Sviatoslav's legitimate sons, Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, at the conclusion of which Oleg was killed. In 977 Vladimir fled Novgorod to escape Oleg's fate and went to Scandinavia, where he raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980. Yaropolk was killed and Vladimir became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'.

      [edit]Sayings by Svyatoslav

      I come at you.
      The dead can not be dishonored.
      [edit]In art and literature



      Ivan Akimov. Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to His Family in Kiev (1773)
      Sviatoslav has long been a hero of Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian patriots due to his great military successes. His figure first attracted attention of Russian artists and poets during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774, which provided obvious parallels with Sviatoslav's push towards Constantinople. Russia's southward expansion and Catherine II's imperialistic ventures in the Balkans seemed to have been legitimized by Sviatoslav's campaigns eight centuries earlier.

      Among the works created during the war was Yakov Knyazhnin's tragedy Olga (1772). The Russian playwright chose to introduce Sviatoslav as his protagonist, although his active participation in the events following Igor's death is out of sync with the traditional chronology. Knyazhnin's rival Nikolai Nikolev (1758–1815) also wrote a play on the subject of Sviatoslav's life. Ivan Akimov's painting Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to Kiev (1773) explores the conflict between military honour and family attachment. It is a vivid example of Poussinesque rendering of early medieval subject matter.

      In the 19th century, interest in Sviatoslav's career waned. Klavdiy Lebedev depicted an episode of Sviatoslav's meeting with Emperor John in his well-known painting, while Eugene Lanceray sculpted an equestrian statue of Sviatoslav in the early 20th century.[42] Sviatoslav appears in the 1913 poem of Velimir Khlebnikov Written before the war (#70. Написанное до войны)[43] as an epitome of militant Slavdom:

      Знаменитый сок Дуная, Pouring the famed juice of the Danube
      Наливая в глубь главы, Into the depth of my head,
      Стану пить я, вспоминая I shall drink and remember
      Светлых клич: "Иду на вы!". The cry of the bright ones: "I come at you!"[44]


      Monument by Vyacheslav Klykov (2005)
      He is the villain of Samuel Gordon[disambiguation needed]'s novel The Lost Kingdom, or the Passing of the Khazars,[45] a fictionalized account of the destruction of Khazaria by the Rus'. The Slavic warrior figures in a more positive context in the story "Chernye Strely Vyaticha" by Vadim Viktorovich Kargalov; the story is included in his book Istoricheskie povesti.[46]

      In 2005, reports circulated that a village in the Belgorod region had erected a monument to Sviatoslav's victory over the Khazars by the Russian sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov. The reports described the 13-meter tall statue as depicting a Rus' cavalryman trampling a supine Khazar bearing a Star of David. This created an outcry within the Jewish community of Russia. The controversy was further exacerbated by Klykov's connections with Pamyat and other anti-Semitic organizations, as well as by his involvement in the "letter of 500", a controversial appeal to the Prosecutor General to review all Jewish organizations in Russia for extremism.[47] The Press Center of the Belgorod Regional Administration responded by stating that a planned monument to Sviatoslav had not yet been constructed, but would show "respect towards representatives of all nationalities and religions."[48] When the statue was unveiled, the shield bore a twelve-pointed star.

      Svyatoslav is the main character of books "Knyaz" ("Князь") and "The Hero" ("Герой") writed by Russian writer Alexander Mazin.

      =================================



      Sviatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: С~тославъ / Свѧтославъ Игорєвичь, Sventoslavŭ / Svantoslavŭ Igorevičǐ; Russian: Святослав Игоревич, Svyatoslav Igorevič; Ukrainian: Святослав Ігорович, Svyatoslav Igorovič; Svetoslav; Bulgarian: Светослав, Greek: Σφενδοσθλάβος, Sphendosthlabos)

      Father: Igor
      Mother: Olga
      Spouse: Unnamed daughter of Tormas, Prince of Hungary
      Issue: Iaropolk Sviatoslavich

      Born: 935-940
      Died: 972

      ---------------------

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev#Sons

      ===Sons===

      # Oleg
      # Yaropolk
      # Vladimir, a son of Malusha (supposedly slavanized version of Malfried)

      http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/RUSSIA,%20Rurik.htm

      SVIATOSLAV, son of IGOR [Ingvar] of Kiev & his wife Olga --- ([935/40]-killed in battle [Mar/May] 972). The De administrando imperio names "Sphendosthlabus Ingor Russiæ principis filius". The Primary Chronicle names Sviatoslav as son of Olga. His birth date is estimated on the assumption that he was a young adult when the De administrando imperio was compiled, before the death of Emperor Konstantinos VII in 959. According to the Primary Chronicle he "was but a child" in 946. At an early age, Sviatoslav´s father appears to have established him in the northern town of Gorodishche, which indicates a claim to overlordship of the northern Scandinavian settlements. The place is called "Nemogardas" in the De administrando imperio, which could be a corruption of Novgorod. He succeeded his father as SVIATOSLAV I Grand Prince of Kiev, under the regency of his mother. Kiev was besieged by the Pechenegs in 962. Ruling alone by the mid-960s, Prince Sviatoslav launched a major attack against the Khazars in 965, using the Pechenegs as allies. He conquered the entire middle Volga area and took control of the commercial centres of Sarkel and Ityl. Sviatoslav invaded the territory of the Bulgars along the Danube in 967, having been invited to do so by Emperor Nikephoros Phokas, and established a base at Pereiaslavets on the Danube delta. It is not clear whether Pereiaslavets was the same place as Preslava, the Bulgarian capital, as Franklin & Shepard appear to assume, or a different place which appears to be the basis on which Fine writes. Zonaras records that "Borises…Bulgarorum rex" reconquered Preslav but was defeated by "Sphendosthlavus Russorum dux". Faced with the perceived threat of invasion by Sviatoslav, Emperor Ioannes Tzimisces marched into Bulgaria, captured the capital, and negotiated Sviatoslav's withdrawal. During Sviatoslav's absence in Bulgaria, the Pechenegs raided as far as Kiev. Fine points out that according to the Primary Chronicle the Bulgarians summoned the Pechenegs to attack Kiev, without help from Byzantium. The Primary Chronicle records that, on Sviatoslav´s return journey to Kiev while crossing the Dnieper river in Spring 972, he was attacked and killed by the Pecheneg leader Kuria who reputedly made his skull into a ceremonial cup covered with gold. This represents a curious echo of the report in Paulus Diaconus according to which the skull of Alboin King of the Lombards in Pannonia was allegedly made into a drinking cup after he was defeated and killed by Cunimund King of the Gepids in 567.
      m (before [960]) --- [of Hungary], daughter of [TORMAS Prince of Hungary & his wife ---]. The primary source which confirms her parentage and marriage has not yet been identified. She was known as PREDSLAVA in Russia. Europäische Stammtafeln suggests that Predslava was the possible daughter of Tormas but the basis for this speculation is not known. Her marriage date is estimated from the estimated date of birth of her son.
      Mistress (1): ESFIR, daughter of ---. She is named as Sviatoslav´s mistress in Europäische Stammtafeln. The primary source which confirms her parentage and relationship with Sviatoslav has not yet been identified.
      Mistress (2): MALUSHA [Malfred], daughter of MALK of Lyubech & his wife --- (-1002). The Primary Chronicle names Malusha, stewardess of Olga and sister of Dobrinya (naming their father Malk of Lyubech), as mother of Sviatoslav's son Vladimir.
      Grand Prince Sviatoslav & his wife had one child, Iaropolk Sviatoslavich. Grand Prince Sviatoslav & Mistress (1) had one child, Oleg Sviatoslav. Grand Prince Sviatoslav & Mistress (2) had one child, Vladimir Sviatoslavich.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev

      Sviatoslav I Igorevich was a warrior prince of Kievan Rus'. The son of Igor of Kiev and Olga, Sviatoslav is famous for his incessant campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe—Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire; he also subdued the Volga Bulgars, the Alans, and numerous East Slavic tribes, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars. His decade-long reign over Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in 969. In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life. Due to his abrupt death in combat, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to civil war among his successors.

      == Personality ==

      Sviatoslav was the first true ruler of Kievan Rus' whose name is indisputably Slavic in origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is not recorded in other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav). Some scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).
      Virtually nothing is known about his childhood and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 945 and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav's maturity (ca. 963). His tutor was a Varangian named Asmud. "Quick as a leopard," Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina (roughly, "troops") in permanent warfare against neighboring states. According to the Primary Chronicle:

      “Upon his expeditions he carried with him neither wagons nor kettles, and boiled no meat, but cut off small strips of horseflesh, game or beef, and ate it after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, but he spread out a horse-blanket under him, and set his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise. ”
      Sviatoslav was noted by Leo the Deacon to be of average height and build. He shaved his head and his beard (or possibly just had a wispy beard) but wore a bushy mustache and a one or two sidelocks as a sign of his nobility. He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a ruby and two pearls.
      His mother converted to Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 945 or 957. However, Sviatoslav continued to worship Perun, Veles, Svarog and the other gods and goddesses of the Slavic pantheon. He remained a pagan for all of his life; according to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian. The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.

      == Family ==

      Very little is known of Sviatoslav's family life. It is possible that Sviatoslav was not the only (and the eldest) son of his parents. The Russo-Byzantine treaty of 945 mentions a certain Predslava, Volodislav's wife, as the noblest of the Rus' women after Olga. George Vernadsky was among many historians to speculate that Volodislav was Igor's eldest son and heir who died at some point during Olga's regency. At the time of Igor's death, Sviatoslav was still a child and he was raised by his mother or at her instructions. Her influence, however, did not extend to his religious observance.
      Sviatoslav, had several children, but the origin of his wives is not specified in the chronicle. By his wives, he had Yaropolk and Oleg. By Malusha, a woman of indeterminate origins, Sviatoslav had Vladimir, who would ultimately break with his father's paganism and convert Rus to Christianity. John Skylitzes reported that Vladimir had a brother named Sfengus; whether this Sfengus was a son of Sviatoslav, a son of Malusha by a prior or subsequent husband, or an unrelated Rus' nobleman is unclear.
      When Sviatoslav went on campaign he left his various relations as regents in the main cities of his realm: his mother Olga and later Yaropolk in Kiev, Vladimir in Novgorod, and Oleg over the Drevlians.

      === Cousins ===

      The following people are mentioned as the Igor's nephews:
      Sludy
      Prasten Akun

      === Sons ===

      Oleg
      Yaropolk
      Vladimir, a son of Malusha (supposedly slavanized version of Malfried)

      == Eastern campaigns ==

      Shortly after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand the Rus' control over the Volga valley and the Pontic steppe region. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars, who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews in the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus.
      Sviatoslav began by rallying the Khazars' East Slavic vassal tribes to his cause. Those who would not join him, such as the Vyatichs, were attacked and forced to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than the Khazars. According to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at you!" (Old East Slavic: "хощю на вы ити") This phrase is used in modern Russian (usually misquoted as "Иду на вы") to denote an unequivocal declaration of one's intentions. Proceeding by the Oka and Volga rivers, he invaded Volga Bulgaria and exacted tribute from the local population, thus bringing under Kievan control the upper Volga River. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' and Bulgars' superior cavalry.
      Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea. At Sarkel he established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha ("the white tower" or "the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel"). He subsequently (probably in 968 or 969) destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil. A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch." The exact chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example, Mikhail Artamonov and David Christian proposed that the sack of Sarkel came after the destruction of Atil.
      Although Ibn Haukal reports Sviatoslav's sack of Samandar in modern-day Dagestan, the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of the Caucasus Mountains permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav chose to strike against the Ossetians and force them into subservience. Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence in the region. The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way for Kievan Rus' to dominate north-south trade routes through the steppe and across the Black Sea, routes that formerly had been a major source of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased Slavic settlement in the region of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture, greatly changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between the forest and the steppe.

      == Campaigns in the Balkans ==

      The annihilation of Khazaria was undertaken against the background of the Rus'-Byzantine alliance, concluded in the wake of Igor's Byzantine campaign in 944. Close military ties between the Rus' and Byzantium are illustrated by the fact, reported by John Skylitzes, that a Rus' detachment accompanied Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros Phokas in his victorious naval expedition to Crete.
      In 967 or 968 Nikephoros sent to Sviatoslav his agent, Kalokyros, with the task of talking Sviatoslav into assisting him in a war against Bulgaria. Sviatoslav was paid 15,000 pounds of gold and set sail with an army of 60,000 men, including thousands of Pecheneg mercenaries.
      Sviatoslav defeated the Bulgarian ruler Boris II and proceeded to occupy the whole of northern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the Byzantines bribed the Pechenegs to attack and besiege Kiev, where Olga stayed with Sviatoslav's son Vladimir. The siege was relieved by the druzhina of Pretich, and immediately following the Pecheneg retreat, Olga sent a reproachful letter to Sviatoslav. He promptly returned and defeated the Pechenegs, who continued to threaten Kiev.
      Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result. To the chagrin of his boyars and mother (who died within three days after learning about his decision), Sviatoslav decided to move his capital to Pereyaslavets in the mouth of the Danube due to the great potential of that location as a commercial hub. In the Primary Chronicle record for 969, Sviatoslav explains that it is to Pereyaslavets, the centre of his lands, "all the riches flow: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus furs, wax, honey, and slaves".
      In summer 969, Sviatoslav left Rus' again, dividing his dominion into three parts, each under a nominal rule of one of his sons. At the head of an army that included Pecheneg and Magyar auxiliary troops, he invaded Bulgaria again, devastating Thrace, capturing the city of Philippopolis, and massacring its inhabitants. Nikephoros responded by repairing the defenses of Constantinople and raising new squadrons of armored cavalry. In the midst of his preparations, Nikephoros was overthrown and killed by John Tzimiskes, who thus became the new Byzantine emperor.
      John Tzimiskes first attempted to persuade Sviatoslav into leaving Bulgaria, but was unsuccessful. Challenging the Byzantine authority, Sviatoslav crossed the Danube and laid siege to Adrianople, causing panic on the streets of Constantinople in summer 970. Later that year, the Byzantines launched a counteroffensive. Being occupied with suppressing a revolt of Bardas Phokas in Asia Minor, John Tzimiskes sent his commander-in-chief, Bardas Skleros, who defeated the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis. Meanwhile, John, having quelled the revolt of Bardas Phokas, came to the Balkans with a large army and promoting himself as the liberator of Bulgaria from Sviatoslav, penetrated the impracticable mountain passes and shortly thereafter captured Marcianopolis, where the Rus were holding a number of Bulgar princes hostage.
      Sviatoslav retreated to Dorostolon, which the Byzantine armies besieged for sixty-five days. Cut off and surrounded, Sviatoslav came to terms with John and agreed to abandon the Balkans, renounce his claims to the southern Crimea and return west of the Dnieper River. In return, the Byzantine emperor supplied the Rus' with food and safe passage home. Sviatoslav and his men set sail and landed on Berezan Island at the mouth of the Dnieper, where they made camp for the winter. Several months later, their camp was devastated by famine, so that even a horse's head could not be bought for less than a half-grivna, reports the Kievan chronicler of the Primary Chronicle. While Sviatoslav's campaign brought no tangible results for the Rus', it weakened the Bulgarian statehood and left it vulnerable to the attacks of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer four decades later.

      == Death and aftermath ==

      Fearing that the peace with Sviatoslav would not endure, the Byzantine emperor induced the Pecheneg khan Kurya to kill Sviatoslav before he reached Kiev. This was in line with the policy outlined by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in De Administrando Imperio of fomenting strife between the Rus' and the Pechenegs. According to the Slavic chronicle, Sveneld attempted to warn Sviatoslav to avoid the Dnieper cataracts, but the prince slighted his wise advice and was ambushed and slain by the Pechenegs when he tried to cross the cataracts near Khortitsa early in 972. The Primary Chronicle reports that his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan, Kurya.
      Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions between his sons grew. A war broke out between Sviatoslav's legitimate sons, Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, at the conclusion of which Oleg was killed. In 977 Vladimir fled Novgorod to escape Oleg's fate and went to Scandinavia, where he raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980. Yaropolk was killed and Vladimir became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'.

      == In art and literature ==

      Sviatoslav has long been a hero of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian patriots due to his great military successes. His figure first attracted attention of Russian artists and poets during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774, which provided obvious parallels with Sviatoslav's push towards Constaninople. Russia's southward expansion and Catherine II's imperialistic ventures in the Balkans seemed to have been legitimized by Sviatoslav's campaigns eight centuries earlier.
      Among the works created during the war was Yakov Knyazhnin's tragedy Olga (1772). The Russian playwright chose to introduce Sviatoslav as his protagonist, although his active participation in the events following Igor's death is out of sync with the traditional chronology. Knyazhnin's rival Nikolai Nikolev (1758–1815) also wrote a play on the subject of Sviatoslav's life. Ivan Akimov's painting Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to Kiev (1773) explores the conflict between military honour and family attachment. It is a vivid example of Poussinesque rendering of early medieval subject matter.
      In the 19th century, interest in Sviatoslav's career waned. Klavdiy Lebedev depicted an episode of Sviatoslav's meeting with Emperor John in his well-known painting, while Eugene Lanceray sculpted an equestrian statue of Sviatoslav in the early 20th century. Sviatoslav appears in the Slavophile poems of Velimir Khlebnikov as an epitome of militant Slavdom:

      Знаменитый сок Дуная, Pouring the famed juice of the Danube
      Наливая в глубь главы, Into the depth of my head,
      Стану пить я, вспоминая I shall drink and remember
      Светлых клич: "Иду на вы!". The cry of the bright ones: "I come at you!"

      He is the villain of Samuel Gordon's novel The Lost Kingdom, or the Passing of the Khazars, a fictionalized account of the destruction of Khazaria by the Rus'. The Slavic warrior figures in a more positive context in the story "Chernye Strely Vyaticha" by Vadim Viktorovich Kargalov; the story is included in his book Istoricheskie povesti.
      In 2005, reports circulated that a village in the Belgorod region had erected a monument to Sviatoslav's victory over the Khazars by the Russian sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov. The reports described the 13-meter tall statue as depicting a Rus' cavalryman trampling a supine Khazar bearing a Star of David. This created an outcry within the Jewish community of Russia. The controversy was further exacerbated by Klykov's connections with Pamyat and other anti-Semitic organizations, as well as by his involvement in the "letter of 500", a controversial appeal to the Prosecutor General to review all Jewish organizations in Russia for extremism. The Press Center of the Belgorod Regional Administration responded by stating that a planned monument to Sviatoslav had not yet been constructed, but would show "respect towards representatives of all nationalities and religions." When the statue was unveiled, the shield bore a twelve-pointed star.

      Notes:

      The name of Svyatoslav's wives are not preserved. For those who listed Debrima and Elfira as names of the mother(s) of Oleg and Yaropolk, please provide the source (Esfir is named as a mistress by the FMG, not a wife). Svyatoslav's relationship with "Predslava" has not been defined - she is either a wife (speculates FMG) or a daughter (speculates Russian Wikipedia) or an aunt (speculates English Wikipedia). If someone has discovered a primary source document identifying her as Svyatoslav's wife, please provide it.

      Svyatoslav's birth location is not identified. Indeed, his birth year is approximated. The problem is the age of his mother, Olga, being too old to have gave birth in 942 (if she was born in 879 as the Primary Chronicle states). And if there is record of Svyatoslav being baptized, please provide it. Although Olga may have converted to Christianity in 945 (during the subjugation of the Drevlians?), Svyatoslav refused to convert for fear of losing the respect of his soldiers.


      From the Russian Biographical Dictionary:

      http://www.rulex.ru/01180088.htm









      --------------------

      Prins (knjaz) Svjatoslav I av Kiev (omkring 942 – 972) var en varjagisk eller östslavisk krigare som utvidgade Kievriket till det för den tiden största i Europa. Han flyttade rikets huvudstad till Perejaslavets i Bulgarien år 969. Svjatoslav hade för avsikt att göra Bulgarien till ett centrum för hans imperium. Han tvingades att ge upp Balkanländerna 971 i kriget mot den byzantinske härskaren Johannes I Tzimiskes. Vid återresan från det misslyckade fälttåget mot Bysans blev Svjatoslav år 972 dödad medelst armborstpil av petjeneger.

      Det finns inget nedtecknat om Svyatoslavs barn- och ungdomsperiod i Novgorod. Hans mor, S:t Olga, var härskarinna av Kiev fram till Svjatoslav blev myndig, omkring 963. Sviatoslav var en notorisk och hårdnackad hedning som förnekade kristendomen, till skillnad från hans mor som döptes omkring 957.

      -----------------------------------------------------

      From the English Wikipedia page on Sviatoslav I of Kiev:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev

      Sviatoslav I of Kiev (Old East Slavic: С~тославъ (Свąтославъ)[1] Игорєвичь (Sventoslavŭ Igorevichǐ), Russian: Святослав Игоревич, Ukrainian: Святослав Ігорович, Bulgarian: Светослав, Greek: Σφενδοσθλάβος (Sfendoslavos) ) (c. 942 – March 972) was a warrior prince of Kievan Rus'.

      The son of Igor of Kiev and Olga, Sviatoslav is famous for his incessant campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe—Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire; he also subdued the Volga Bulgars, the Alans, and numerous East Slavic tribes, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars.

      His decade-long reign over Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in 969.

      In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life. Due to his abrupt death in combat, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to civil war among his successors.

      Personality

      The Kievan Rus' at the beginning of Sviatoslav's reign (in red), showing his sphere of influence to 972 (in orange)

      Sviatoslav was the first true ruler of Kievan Rus' whose name is indisputably Slavic in origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is not recorded in other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav).[2]

      Some scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).[3]

      Virtually nothing is known about his childhood and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 942 and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav's maturity (ca. 963).[4] His tutor was a Varangian named Asmud.

      "Quick as a leopard,"[5] Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina (roughly, "troops") in permanent warfare against neighboring states.

      According to the Primary Chronicle: "Upon his expeditions he carried with him neither wagons nor kettles, and boiled no meat, but cut off small strips of horseflesh, game or beef, and ate it after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, but he spread out a horse-blanket under him, and set his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise.[6]”

      Sviatoslav was noted by Leo the Deacon to be of average height and build. He shaved his head and his beard (or possibly just had a wispy beard) but wore a bushy mustache and a one or two sidelocks as a sign of his nobility. He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a ruby and two pearls.[7][8]

      His mother converted to Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 945 or 957. However,[9] Sviatoslav continued to worship Perun, Veles, Svarog and the other gods and goddesses of the Slavic pantheon. He remained a pagan for all of his life; according to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.[10] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.

      Family

      Very little is known of Sviatoslav's family life. It is possible that Sviatoslav was not the only (nor the eldest) son of his parents. The Russo-Byzantine treaty of 945 mentions a certain Predslava, Volodislav's wife, as the noblest of the Rus' women after Olga. George Vernadsky was among many historians to speculate that Volodislav was Igor's eldest son and heir who died at some point during Olga's regency.

      At the time of Igor's death, Sviatoslav was still a child and he was raised by his mother or at her instructions. Her influence, however, did not extend to his religious observance.

      Sviatoslav, had several children, but the origin of his wives is not specified in the chronicle. By his wives, he had Yaropolk and Oleg.[11]

      By Malusha, a woman of indeterminate origins,[12] Sviatoslav had Vladimir, who would ultimately break with his father's paganism and convert Rus to Christianity. John Skylitzes reported that Vladimir had a brother named Sfengus; whether this Sfengus was a son of Sviatoslav, a son of Malusha by a prior or subsequent husband, or an unrelated Rus' nobleman is unclear.[13]

      When Sviatoslav went on campaign he left his various relations as regents in the main cities of his realm: his mother Olga and later Yaropolk in Kiev, Vladimir in Novgorod, and Oleg over the Drevlians.

      Eastern campaigns

      Shortly after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand the Rus control over the Volga valley and the Pontic steppe region. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe.

      The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars, who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews in the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus.[14]

      Sviatoslav began by rallying the Khazars' East Slavic vassal tribes to his cause. Those who would not join him, such as the Vyatichs, were attacked and forced to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than the Khazars.[15]

      According to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at you!" (Old East Slavic: "хощю на вы ити")[16] This phrase is used in modern Russian (usually misquoted as "Иду на вы" or "I'm coming to you!") to denote an unequivocal declaration of one's intentions.

      Proceeding by the Oka and Volga rivers, he invaded Volga Bulgaria and exacted tribute from the local population, thus bringing under Kievan control the upper Volga River. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' and Bulgars' superior cavalry.[17]

      Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea.[18] At Sarkel he established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha ("the white tower" or "the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel").[19]

      He subsequently (probably in 968 or 969) destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil.[20] A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."[21]

      The exact chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example, Mikhail Artamonov and David Christian proposed that the sack of Sarkel came after the destruction of Atil.[22]

      Although Ibn Haukal reports Sviatoslav's sack of Samandar in modern-day Dagestan, the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of the Caucasus Mountains permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav chose to strike against the Ossetians and force them into subservience.[23] Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence in the region.[24]

      The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way for Kievan Rus' to dominate north-south trade routes through the steppe and across the Black Sea, routes that formerly had been a major source of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased Slavic settlement in the region of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture, greatly changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between the forest and the steppe.[25]

      Campaigns in the Balkans

      The annihilation of Khazaria was undertaken against the background of the Rus'-Byzantine alliance, concluded in the wake of Igor's Byzantine campaign in 944.[26] Close military ties between the Rus' and Byzantium are illustrated by the fact, reported by John Skylitzes, that a Rus' detachment accompanied Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas in his victorious naval expedition to Crete.

      In 967 or 968[27] Nicephorus sent to Sviatoslav his agent, Kalokyros, with the task of talking Sviatoslav into assisting him in a war against Bulgaria.[28] Sviatoslav was paid 15,000 pounds of gold and set sail with an army of 60,000 men, including thousands of Pecheneg mercenaries.[29][30]

      Sviatoslav defeated the Bulgarian ruler Boris II [31] and proceeded to occupy the whole of northern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the Byzantines bribed the Pechenegs to attack and besiege Kiev, where Olga stayed with Sviatoslav's son Vladimir.

      The siege was relieved by the druzhina of Pretich, and immediately following the Pecheneg retreat, Olga sent a reproachful letter to Sviatoslav. He promptly returned and defeated the Pechenegs, who continued to threaten Kiev.

      Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result. To the chagrin of his boyars and mother (who died within three days after learning about his decision), Sviatoslav decided to move his capital to Pereyaslavets in the mouth of the Danube due to the great potential of that location as a commercial hub.

      In the Primary Chronicle record for 969, Sviatoslav explains that it is to Pereyaslavets, the centre of his lands, "all the riches flow: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus furs, wax, honey, and slaves".

      In summer 969, Sviatoslav left Rus' again, dividing his dominion into three parts, each under a nominal rule of one of his sons. At the head of an army that included Pecheneg and Magyar auxiliary troops, he invaded Bulgaria again, devastating Thrace, capturing the city of Philippopolis, and massacring its inhabitants.

      Nicephorus responded by fortifying the defenses of Constantinople and raising new squadrons of armored cavalry. In the midst of his preparations, Nicephorus was overthrown and killed by John Tzimiskes, who thus became the new Byzantine emperor.[32]

      John Tzimiskes first attempted to persuade Sviatoslav into leaving Bulgaria, but was unsuccessful. Challenging the Byzantine authority, Sviatoslav crossed the Danube and laid siege to Adrianople, causing panic on the streets of Constantinople in summer 970.[33]

      Later that year, the Byzantines launched a counteroffensive. Being occupied with suppressing a revolt of Bardas Phocas in Asia Minor, John Tzimiskes sent his commander-in-chief, Bardas Sklerus, who defeated the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis.[34]

      John, after having quelled the revolt of Bardas Phocas, came to the Balkans with a large army, and promoting himself as the liberator of Bulgaria from Sviatoslav, penetrated the impracticable mountain passes and shortly thereafter captured Marcianopolis, where the Rus were holding a number of Bulgar princes hostage.

      Sviatoslav retreated to Dorostol, which the Byzantine armies besieged for 65 days. Cut off and surrounded, Sviatoslav came to terms with John and agreed to abandon the Balkans, renounce his claims to the southern Crimea and return west of the Dnieper River. In return, the Byzantine emperor supplied the Rus' with food and safe passage home.

      Sviatoslav and his men set sail and landed on Berezan Island at the mouth of the Dnieper, where they made camp for the winter. Several months later, their camp was devastated by famine, so that even a horse's head could not be bought for less than a half-grivna, reports the Kievan chronicler of the Primary Chronicle.[35]

      While Sviatoslav's campaign brought no tangible results for the Rus', it weakened the Bulgarian statehood and left it vulnerable to the attacks of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer four decades later.

      Death and aftermath

      Fearing that the peace with Sviatoslav would not endure, the Byzantine emperor induced the Pecheneg khan Kurya to kill Sviatoslav before he reached Kiev. This was in line with the policy outlined by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in De Administrando Imperio of fomenting strife between the Rus' and the Pechenegs.[36]

      According to the Slavic chronicle, Sveneld attempted to warn Sviatoslav to avoid the Dnieper cataracts, but the prince slighted his wise advice and was ambushed and slain by the Pechenegs when he tried to cross the cataracts near Khortitsa early in 972. The Primary Chronicle reports that his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan, Kurya.[37]

      Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions between his sons grew. A war broke out between Sviatoslav's legitimate sons, Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, at the conclusion of which Oleg was killed.

      In 977 Vladimir fled Novgorod to escape Oleg's fate and went to Scandinavia, where he raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980. Yaropolk was killed and Vladimir became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'.

      In art and literature

      Sviatoslav has long been a hero of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian patriots due to his great military successes. His figure first attracted attention of Russian artists and poets during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774, which provided obvious parallels with Sviatoslav's push towards Constaninople. Russia's southward expansion and Catherine II's imperialistic ventures in the Balkans seemed to have been legitimized by Sviatoslav's campaigns eight centuries earlier.

      Among the works created during the war was Yakov Knyazhnin's tragedy Olga (1772). The Russian playwright chose to introduce Sviatoslav as his protagonist, although his active participation in the events following Igor's death is out of sync with the traditional chronology. Knyazhnin's rival Nikolai Nikolev (1758–1815) also wrote a play on the subject of Sviatoslav's life.

      Ivan Akimov's painting Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to Kiev (1773) explores the conflict between military honour and family attachment. It is a vivid example of Poussinesque rendering of early medieval subject matter.

      In the 19th century, interest in Sviatoslav's career waned. Klavdiy Lebedev depicted an episode of Sviatoslav's meeting with Emperor John in his well-known painting, while Eugene Lanceray sculpted an equestrian statue of Sviatoslav in the early 20th century.[38]

      Sviatoslav appears in the Slavophile poems of Velimir Khlebnikov as an epitome of militant Slavdom:





      Pouring the famed juice of the Danube

      Into the depth of my head,

      I shall drink and remember

      The cry of the bright ones: "I come at you!" [39]

      He is the villain of Samuel Gordon's novel The Lost Kingdom, or the Passing of the Khazars,[40] a fictionalized account of the destruction of Khazaria by the Rus'. The Slavic warrior figures in a more positive context in the story "Chernye Strely Vyaticha" by Vadim Viktorovich Kargalov; the story is included in his book Istoricheskie povesti.[41]

      In 2005, reports circulated that a village in the Belgorod region had erected a monument to Sviatoslav's victory over the Khazars by the Russian sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov. The reports described the 13-meter tall statue as depicting a Rus' cavalryman trampling a supine Khazar bearing a Star of David.

      This created an outcry within the Jewish community of Russia. The controversy was further exacerbated by Klykov's connections with Pamyat and other anti-Semitic organizations, as well as by his involvement in the "letter of 500", a controversial appeal to the Prosecutor General to review all Jewish organizations in Russia for extremism.[42]

      The Press Center of the Belgorod Regional Administration responded by stating that a planned monument to Sviatoslav had not yet been constructed, but would show "respect towards representatives of all nationalities and religions."[43] When the statue was unveiled, the shield bore a twelve-pointed star.

      Notes

      1. E.g. in the Primary Chronicle under year 970 http://litopys.org.ua/ipatlet/ipat04.htm

      2. А.Ф. Литвина, В.Б. Успенский. Выбор имени у русских князей X-XVI вв. [Choice of personal names for the Russian princes of the 10th-16th centuries.] Moscow: Indrik, 2006. ISBN 5-85759-339-5. Page 43.


      4. If Olga was indeed born in 879, as the Primary Chronicle seems to imply, she should have been about 65 at the time of Sviatoslav's birth. There are clearly some problems with chronology.

      5. Primary Chronicle entry for 968

      6. Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Primary Chronicle, p. 84.

      7. Vernadsky 276–277. The sidelock is reminiscent of Turkic hairstyles and practices and was later mimicked by Cossacks.

      8. For the alternative translations of the same passage of the Greek original that say that Sviatoslav may have not shaven but wispy beard and not one but two sidelocks on each side of his head, see eg. Ian Heath "The Vikings (Elite 3)", Osprey Publishing 1985; ISBN 9780850455656, p.60 or David Nicolle "Armies of Medieval Russia 750–1250 (Men-at-Arms 333)" Osprey Publishing 1999; ISBN 9781855328488, p.44

      9. Based on his analysis of De Ceremoniis Alexander Nazarenko hypothesizes that Olga hoped to orchestrate a marriage between Sviatoslav and a Byzantine princess. If her proposal was peremptorily declined (as it most certainly would have been), it is hardly surprising that Sviatoslav would look at Byzantium and her Christian culture with suspicion. Nazarenko 302.

      10. Primary Chronicle _____.

      11. Whether Yaropolk and Oleg were whole or half brothers, and who their mother or mothers were, is a matter hotly debated by historians.

      12. She is traditionally identified in Russian historiography as Dobrynya's sister; for other theories on her identity, see here.

      13. Indeed, Franklin and Shepard advanced the hypothesis that Sfengus was identical with Mstislav of Tmutarakan. Franklin and Shepard 200-201.

      14. "Rus", Encyclopaedia of Islam

      15. Christian 345. It is disputed whether Sviatoslav invaded the land of Vyatichs that year. The only campaign against the Vyatichs explicitly mentioned in the Primary Chronicle is dated to 966.

      16. Russian Primary Chronicle (ПСРЛ. — Т. 2. Ипатьевская летопись. — СПб., 1908, http://litopys.org.ua/ipatlet/ipat03.htm ) for year 6472. The chronicler may have wished to contrast Sviatoslav's open declaration of war to stealthy tactics employed by many other early medieval conquerors.

      17. For Sviatoslav's reliance on nomad cavalry, see, e.g., Franklin and Shepard 149; Christian 298; Pletneva 18.

      18. Christian 298. The Primary Chronicle is very succinct about the whole campaign against Khazars, saying only that Sviatoslav "took their city and Belaya Vezha".

      19. The town was an important trade center located near the portage between the Volga and Don Rivers. By the early 12th century, however, it had been destroyed by the Kipchaks.

      20. See, generally Christian 297–298; Dunlop passim.

      21. Logan (1992), p. 202

      22. Artamonov 428; Christian 298.

      23. The campaign against Ossetians is attested in the Primary Chronicle. The Novgorod First Chronicle specifies that Sviatoslav resettled the Ossetians near Kiev, but Sakharov finds this claim dubitable.

      24. The Mandgelis Document refers to a Khazar potentate in the Taman Peninsula around 985, long after Sviatoslav's death. Kedrenos reported that the Byzantines and Rus' collaborated in the conquest of a Khazar kingdom in the Crimea in 1016 and still later, Ibn al-Athir reported an unsuccessful attack by al-Fadl ibn Muhammad against the Khazars in the Caucasus in 1030. For more information on these and other references, see Khazars#Late references to the Khazars.

      25. Christian 298.

      26. Most historians believe the Greeks were interested in the destruction of Khazaria. Another school of thought essentializes Yahya of Antioch's report that, prior to the Danube campaign, the Byzantines and the Rus' were at war. See Sakharov, chapter I.

      27. The exact date of Sviatoslav's Bulgarian campaign, which likely did not commence until the conclusion of his Khazar campaign, is unknown.

      28. Mikhail Tikhomirov and Vladimir Pashuto, among others, assume that the Emperor was interested primarily in diverting Sviatoslav's attention from Chersonesos, a Byzantine possession in the Crimea. Indeed, Leo the Deacon three times mentions that Sviatoslav and his father Igor controlled Cimmerian Bosporus. If so, a conflict of interests in the Crimea was inevitable. The Suzdal Chronicle, though a rather late source, also mentions Sviatoslav's war against Chersonesos. In the peace treaty of 971, Sviatoslav promised not to wage wars against either Constantinople or Chersonesos. Byzantine sources also report that Kalokyros attempted to persuade Sviatoslav to support Kalokyros in a coup against the reigning Byzantine emperor. As a remuneration for his help, Sviatoslav was supposed to retain a permanent hold on Bulgaria. Modern historians, however, assign little historical importance to this story. Kendrick 157.

      29. All figures in this article, including the numbers of Sviatoslav's troops, are based on the reports of Byzantine sources, which may differ from those of the Slavonic chronicles. Greek sources report Khazars and "Turks" in Sviatoslav's army as well as Pechenegs. As used in such Byzantine writings as Constantine Porphyrogenitus' De Administrando Imperio, "Turks" refers to Magyars. The Rus'-Magyar alliance resulted in the Hungarian expedition against the second largest city of the empire, Thessalonica, in 968.

      30. W. Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society, 509

      31. Boris II was captured by the Byzantines in 971 and carried off to Constantinople as a prisoner.

      32. Kendrick 158

      33. Simult
    • 221809080. Storfyrste Svetoslav I IGORSON av Kiev(13020) was born about 945.(13021) He was a Storfyrste between 964 and 972 in Kiev.(13022) He died 972 Drept.(13023) Drept av Petschengerne mot deres fyrste Kuria. Med sin tjenerinne Matuscha hadde han sønnen Vladimir.
    • !BIRTH: "Royal Ancestors" by Michel Call - Based on Call Family Pedigrees FHL
      film 844805 & 844806, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT. Copy of
      "Royal Ancestors" owned by Lynn Bernhard, Orem, UT.

      Data From Lynn Jeffrey Bernhard, 2445 W 450 South #4, Springville UT 84663-4950
      email - bernhardengineer@netscape.net
    • Killed By Patzinaks

      --Other Fields

      Ref Number: 1377
    • Line 4499 from GEDCOM File not recognizable or too long:
      NAME Svyatoslav I Grand Duke Of /KIEV/
    • SOURCE NOTES:
      Bu146 http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~churchh/edw3chrt.html
    • RESEARCH NOTES:
      Grand Duke of Kiev. Slain by "pechenegene".
    • Not Married
      Christened age 3 in 945
    • Storfurste i Novgorod och Kiev
    • _P_CCINFO 2-2438
    • "IGORJEWITSCH"; KNOWN AS "THE CONQUEROR"; GRAND PRINCE OF KIEV 964-972; MOTHER
      OF ST. VOLODYMYR MAY HAVE BEEN MALOUSHA(?)
    • drept av Petschengerne-i kamp mot deres fyrste Kuria.
    • 1 Sources: RC 143, 209; Clarkson; Riasanovsky; A. Roots 241; Chronicle; Kraentzler 1162, 1170, 1171, 1484. Roots: Svatrislav I, Grand Prince of Kiev, died 973. Married Maloucha. Clarkson calls him Sviatoslav and says he became war leader when he was grown. AF calls him Suitislaus. Other names: Sviatoslav, Swajatoslaw, Svatislav, Stratoslav, Syvastoslav. K: Sviastoslav I/Siratoslav I, Grand Duke de Kiew. RC says Prince of Novgorod, Grand Duke of Kiev, Grand Prince of Pereiaslaw. In Line 209: Svatislaw (Siratozlaw, Swajatislaw) I, Grand Duke of Novgorod, Kiev and Perejaslaw. Grand Prince of Kiev (Roots). Grand Duke of Kiev and Perijaslav (Kraentzler). Latter says he died about the same date Roots lists for his son. Riasanovsky says he ruled from 962-972. From Chronicle: 1044--Two Knyazes, Yaropolk and Oleg, sons of Svyatoslav, were buried, and they christened their bones. (Doesn't say they died then, since Yaropolk apparently ruled until his death in 980). Clarkson: Svitoslav warred against the Khazars, taking their stone fortress at Sarkel on the Don in 963 and destroyed their power when he sacked their capital, Itil, on the lower Volga in 968. He also plundered the capital of the Volga Bulgars in 965. A fierce horde of steppe nomads, the Pechenegs, moved in to supplant the Khazars, and, in the end, Sviatoslav died at the hands of the Pechenegs, whose chief had his skull made into a gold-encrusted drinking cup (972).
    • aka Svjatoslav I Velikij Knjas KIJEVSKIJ; aka Swjatoslav I `the Warlike' von KIEW; RURIKOVICH; Grand Duke of KIEV
      souverain Rus' de Kiev de 964 à 972.
      Il meurt en 972 en combattant les Petchenègues (turcs installés près de Kiev).
      Ambitieuses conquêtes, principalement au détriment des Khazars et des Bulgares de la Volga.

      Fils aîné = Iaropolk 1°, Une guerre l'opposa à ses deux frères cadets au cours de laquelle Oleg fut tué mais, en 980, Vladimir l'emporta sur Iaropolk qui fut assassiné.
    • Svjatoslav Igorevitsj (Gammel øst-slavisk: ?~??????? (??a???????) ????????? (Sventoslavu Igorevitsji), russisk: ????????? ????????, ukrainsk: ????????? ????????, Bulgarsk: ?????????, Gresk: Sfe?d?s???Ï?? (Sfendoslavos); født 942, død 972) var fyrste i Kievriket. Svjatoslav var sønn av Igor av Kiev og Olga, og ble kjent for sine energiske felttog mot øst og sør, som bidro til at to store østeuropeiske stater kollapset, Khazarriket og Det første bulgarske riket.

      Svjatoslav undertrykket også Volga-Bulgarerne, Alanerne, og forskjellige østslaviske stammer. Tidvis var han i allianse med Petsjeneger og Madjarer.

      Svjatoslavs tiårige styre over Kievriket ble preget av rask ekspansjon inn i områdene rundt elven Volga, Den pontisk-kaspiske steppe og Balkan. Mot slutten av sitt korte liv hadde han skapt den største staten i datidens Europa, og han flyttet hovedstaden i riket fra Kiev til Perejaslavets ved Donau i 969. I motsetning til moren som lot seg kristne forble Svjatoslav med sine forfedres tro. Grunnet hans plutselige død på slagmarken ble ikke erobringene konsolidert til ett rike og uten en ordnet arverekkefølge ledet det til borgerkrig blant hans etterfølgere.
    • BIOGRAPHY
      Svjatoslav was the son of Igor, Grand Duke of Kiev, and Olga. His father died when he was only a child and his mother, the formidable Olga, ruled Kiev until he was old enough to take charge. He then defeated the Khazars, the Ossetians and the Circassians. However in 968, while he was away from Kiev, he almost lost his home base when the Pechenegs attacked it.

      Having extended his territories into the Balkans, in 969 he was threatened by the Byzantines who wanted him to withdraw. When he attacked the Byzantine empire he was defeated and the treaty that followed forced him to return to Kiev. However in 971 he returned and this time was more successful, almost reaching Constantinople. The emperor bought him off with gifts, and Svjatoslav also asked for gifts to be given to the families of the men who had died in the battles.

      Having made his peace with the emperor he returned home. However the people of Pereyaslavets warned the Pechenegs that Svjatoslav was on his way with only a small company of men. Returning by boat, Svjatoslav approached some rapids; as it was not possible to pass through he decided to winter there. When Svjatoslav again approached the rapids in the spring of 972 the Pechenegs, waiting for him, attacked and killed him. They made a cup of his head, putting metal around the forehead, and drank from it.
    • Svyatoslav I, Grand Prince of Kiev

      Born circa 942
      Acceded in 945
      Died in 972, ambushed and killed.
      Svyatoslav was only about three years old when his father Igor wasmurdered in 945, hence his mother St. Olga acted as Regent of Kiev until964. Olga's first official act was to wreak vengeance on the Drevlaneswho had murdered her husband by besieging and burning their town ofKorosten. In 957 Olga went with a large retinue to Constantinople,accepted Christianity, and received baptism.
      In 964, Svyatoslav took over the government, although his mothercontinued to administer home affairs until her death in 970. Svyatoslavled Kievan Rus's military conquest of the Bulgars, responding to attacksby the Khazar tribe. He in turn was ambushed and killed by Byzantinesfrom Pecheneg in the south, who, according to legend, convertedSvyatoslav's skull into a drinking vessel.

      Svyatoslav married Malousha and they had a son:Svyatoslav I, also spelledSVIATOSLAV, Russian in full SVYATOSLAV IGOREVICH (d. 972), grand princeof Kiev from 945 and the greatest of the Varangian princes of earlyRusso-Ukrainian history.

      He was the son of Grand Prince Igor, who was himself probably thegrandson of Rurik, prince of Novgorod. Svyatoslav was the lastnon-Christian ruler of the Kievan state. After coming of age he began aseries of bold military expeditions, leaving his mother, Olga, to managethe internal affairs of the Kievan state until her death in 969.

      The Russian Primary Chronicle (Povest vremennykh let) says thatSvyatoslav "sent messengers to the other lands announcing his intentionto attack them." Between 963 and 965 he defeated the Khazars along thelower Don River and the Ossetes and Circassians in the northern Caucasus;he also attacked and defeated the Volga Bulgars. In 967 he defeated theBalkan Bulgars at the behest of the Byzantines, to whom he then refusedto cede his conquest. He declared his intention of establishing aRusso-Bulgarian empire with its capital at Pereyaslavets (nowPereyaslav-Khmelnytsky) on the Danube River because, he said, "there wasthe centre where all goods gather from all parts: gold, clothes, wine,fruits from the Greeks, silver and horses from the Czechs and Hungarians,furs, wax, honey and slaves from the Rus." In 971, however, hiscomparatively small army was defeated by a Byzantine force under theemperor John I Tzimisces, and Svyatoslav was compelled to abandon hisclaim to Balkan territory.

      In the spring of 972, while Svyatoslav was returning to Kievan Rus with asmall retinue, he was ambushed and killed by the Pechenegs (a Turkicpeople) near the cataracts of the Dnieper River. With him died theScandinavian tradition of the Kiev dynasty. [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD'97, SVIATOSLAV]

      ----------

      The consecutive history of the first East Slavic state begins with PrinceSvyatoslav (d. 972). His victorious campaigns against other Varangiancentres, the Khazars, and the Volga Bulgars and his intervention in theByzantine-Danube Bulgar conflicts of 968-971 mark the full hegemony ofhis clan in Rus and the emergence of a new political force in easternEurope. But Svyatoslav was neither a lawgiver nor an organizer; the roleof architect of the Kievan state fell to his son Vladimir (c. 980-1015),who established the dynastic seniority system of his clan as thepolitical structure by which the scattered territories of Rus were to beruled. He invited or permitted the patriarch of Constantinople toestablish an episcopal see in Rus.

      Vladimir extended the realm (to include the watersheds of the Don,Dnieper, Dniester, Neman, Western Dvina, and upper Volga), destroyed orincorporated the remnants of competing Varangian organizations, andestablished relations with neighbouring dynasties. The successes of hislong reign made it possible for the reign of his son Yaroslav (ruled1019-54) to produce a flowering of cultural life. But neither Yaroslav,who gained control of Kiev only after a bitter struggle against hisbrother Svyatopolk (1015-19), nor his successors in Kiev were able toprovide lasting political stability within the enormous realm. Thepolitical history of Rus is one of clashing separatist and centralizingtrends inherent in the contradiction between local settlement andcolonization, on the one hand, and the hegemony of the clan elder, rulingfrom Kiev, on the other. As Vladimir's 12 sons and innumerable grandsonsprospered in the rapidly developing territories they inherited, they andtheir retainers acquired settled interests that conflicted both with oneanother and with the interests of unity. [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD'97, RURIK DYNASTY]Ancestral File Number: B6DN-WD
    • _P_CCINFO 1-20792
      Original individual @P2442110479@ (@MS_NHFETTERLYFAMIL0@) merged with @P2447683508@ (@MS_NHFETTERLYFAMIL0@)
    • Line 4499 from GEDCOM File not recognizable or too long:
      NAME Svyatoslav I Grand Duke Of /KIEV/
    • Not Married
      Christened age 3 in 945
    • He ruled from 964 to 972.
    • He ruled from 964 to 972.
    • Weis, p. 205: Grand Prince of Kiev.
    • Name Prefix: Grand Duke Name Suffix: I, Of Kiev
    • Name Prefix: Grand Duke Name Suffix: I, Of Kiev
    • ["European Royal Houses"]
      [Igor was] succ by his son Sviatoslav (d 972), from whose yr son Yaropolk (d 980), descends the Princes Sviatpolk-Mirsky and Sviatpolk-Tchevertinsky.
    • Storfyrste. Født ca. 945. Død 972.
      Storfyrste av Kiev 962 - 972.
      Svjatoslav ble drept i 972 av Petschengerne.
      Med sin tjenerinne, Matuscha, hadde han sønnen Vladimir
    • Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev
    • The first prince in the house of Rurik to bear a Slav name. A great military
      leader, he led his troops against the Khezers in the southeast, against the
      Pechengs, a tribe of the Black Sea steppes, and against the Bulgars. He built
      a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased under his reign. He had
      three sons and split the empire three ways upon his death to rule, which led
      to dynastic conflicts that ended in 980 when the youngest son emerged the
      sole ruler of the Russian empire.
    • Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev
    • The first prince in the house of Rurik to bear a Slav name. A great military
      leader, he led his troops against the Khezers in the southeast, against the
      Pechengs, a tribe of the Black Sea steppes, and against the Bulgars. He built
      a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased under his reign. He had
      three sons and split the empire three ways upon his death to rule, which led
      to dynastic conflicts that ended in 980 when the youngest son emerged the
      sole ruler of the Russian empire.
    • Sviatoslav I of Kiev
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Sviatoslav I of Kiev (Old East Slavic: ?~??????? (??a???????)[1] ????????? (Sventoslavu Igorevichi), Russian: ????????? ????????, Ukrainian: ????????? ????????, Bulgarian: ?????????, Greek: Sfe?d?s???ß?? (Sfendoslavos) ) (c. 942 – March 972) was a warrior prince of Kievan Rus'. The son of Igor of Kiev and Olga, Sviatoslav is famous for his incessant campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe—Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire; he also subdued the Volga Bulgars, the Alans, and numerous East Slavic tribes, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars. His decade-long reign over Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in 969. In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life. Due to his abrupt death in combat, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to civil war among his successors.

      Contents [hide]
      1 Personality
      2 Family
      3 Eastern campaigns
      4 Campaigns in the Balkans
      5 Death and aftermath
      6 In art and literature
      7 Notes
      8 References



      [edit] Personality

      The Kievan Rus' at the beginning of Sviatoslav's reign (in red), showing his sphere of influence to 972 (in orange)Sviatoslav was the first ruler of Kievan Rus' whose name is indisputably Slavic in origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is not recorded in other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav).[2] Some scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).[3]

      Virtually nothing is known about his childhood and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 942 and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav's majority (ca. 963).[4] His tutor was a Varangian named Asmud. "Quick as a leopard,"[5] Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina (roughly, "troops") in permanent warfare against neighboring states. According to the Primary Chronicle:


      Ship burial of Igor the Old in 945, depicted by Heinrich Semiradski (1845–1902).“ Upon his expeditions he carried with him neither wagons nor kettles, and boiled no meat, but cut off small strips of horseflesh, game or beef, and ate it after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, but he spread out a horse-blanket under him, and set his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise.[6] ”

      Sviatoslav was noted by Leo the Deacon to be of average height and build. He shaved his head and his beard (or possibly just had a wispy beard) but wore a bushy mustache and a one or two sidelocks as a sign of his nobility. He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a ruby and two pearls.[7] [8]


      His mother converted to Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 945 or 957. However,[9] Sviatoslav continued to worship Perun, Veles, Svarog and the other gods and goddesses of the Slavic pantheon. He remained a stubborn pagan for all of his life; according to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.[10] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.


      [edit] Family

      Svjatoslav's mother, Olga, with her escort in Constantinople, a miniature from the late 11th-century chronicle of John Skylitzes.Very little is known of Sviatoslav's family life. It is possible that Sviatoslav was not the only (and the eldest) son of his parents. The Russo-Byzantine treaty of 945 mentions a certain Predslava, Volodislav's wife, as the noblest of the Rus' women after Olga. George Vernadsky was among many historians to speculate that Volodislav was Igor's eldest son and heir who died at some point during Olga's regency. At the time of Igor's death, Sviatoslav was still a child and he was raised by his mother or at her instructions. Her influence, however, did not extend to his religious observance.

      Sviatoslav, had several children, but the origin of his wives is not specified in the chronicle. By his wives, he had Yaropolk and Oleg.[11] By Malusha, a woman of indeterminate origins,[12] Sviatoslav had Vladimir, who would ultimately break with his father's paganism and convert Rus to Christianity. John Skylitzes reported that Vladimir had a brother named Sfengus; whether this Sfengus was a son of Sviatoslav, a son of Malusha by a prior or subsequent husband, or an unrelated Rus' nobleman is unclear.[13]

      When Sviatoslav went on campaign he left his various relations as regents in the main cities of his realm: his mother Olga and later Yaropolk in Kiev, Vladimir in Novgorod, and Oleg over the Drevlians.


      [edit] Eastern campaigns

      The site of the Khazar fortress at Sarkel, sacked by Sviatoslav c. 965 (aerial photo from excavations conducted by Mikhail Artamonov in the 1930s)Shortly after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand the Rus control over the Volga valley and the Pontic steppe region. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars, who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews in the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus.[14]

      Sviatoslav began by rallying the Khazars' East Slavic vassal tribes to his cause. Those who would not join him, such as the Vyatichs, were attacked and forced to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than the Khazars.[15] According to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at you!" (Old East Slavic: "???? ?? ?? ???")[16] This phrase is used in modern Russian to denote an unequivocal declaration of one's intentions. Proceeding by the Oka and Volga rivers, he invaded Volga Bulgaria and exacted tribute from the local population, thus bringing under Kievan control the upper Volga River. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' and Bulgars' superior cavalry.[17]


      Sviatoslav's military campaigns in 966-72 (the map presents one of several hypotheses about the precise routes taken by Sviatoslav in these campaignsSviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea.[18] At Sarkel he established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha ("the white tower" or "the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel").[19] He subsequently (probably in 968 or 969) destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil.[20] A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."[21] The exact chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example, Mikhail Artamonov and David Christian proposed that the sack of Sarkel came after the destruction of Atil.[22]

      Although Ibn Haukal reports Sviatoslav's sack of Samandar in modern-day Dagestan, the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of the Caucasus Mountains permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav chose to strike against the Ossetians and force them into subservience.[23] Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence in the region.[24] The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way for Kievan Rus' to dominate north-south trade routes through the steppe and across the Black Sea, routes that formerly had been a major source of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased Slavic settlement in the region of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture, greatly changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between the forest and the steppe.[25]


      [edit] Campaigns in the Balkans

      Pursuit of Sviatoslav's warriors by the Byzantine army, a miniature from 11th-century chronicles of John Skylitzes.The annihilation of Khazaria was undertaken against the background of the Rus'-Byzantine alliance, concluded in the wake of Igor's Byzantine campaign in 944.[26] Close military ties between the Rus' and Byzantium are illustrated by the fact, reported by John Skylitzes, that a Rus' detachment accompanied Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas in his victorious naval expedition to Crete.

      In 967 or 968[27] Nicephorus sent to Sviatoslav his agent, Kalokyros, with the task of talking Sviatoslav into assisting him in the war against Bulgaria.[28] Sviatoslav was paid 15,000 pounds of gold to defray the expense of the voyage, and set sail with an army of 50,000 men, including thousands of Pecheneg mercenaries.[29]

      Sviatoslav defeated the Bulgarian ruler Boris II[30] and proceeded to occupy the whole of northern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the Byzantines bribed the Pechenegs to attack and besiege Kiev, where Olga stayed with Sviatoslav's son Vladimir. The siege was relieved by the druzhina of Pretich, and immediately following the Pecheneg retreat, Olga sent a reproachful letter to Sviatoslav. He promptly returned and defeated the Pechenegs, who continued to threaten Kiev.

      [hide]v • d • eRus'-Byzantine Wars
      830s – 860 – 907 – 941 – 968–71 – 988 – 1024 – 1043

      Boris Chorikov. Sviatoslav's Council of War.Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result. To the chagrin of his boyars and mother (who died within three days after learning about his decision), Sviatoslav decided to move his capital to Pereyaslavets in the mouth of the Danube due to the great potential of that location as a commercial hub. In the Primary Chronicle record for 969, Sviatoslav explains that it is to Pereyaslavets, the centre of his lands, "all the riches flow: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus furs, wax, honey, and slaves".

      In summer 969, Sviatoslav left Rus' again, dividing his dominion into three parts, each under a nominal rule of one of his sons. At the head of an army that included Pecheneg and Magyar auxiliary troops, he invaded Bulgaria again, devastating Thrace, capturing the city of Philippopolis, and massacring its inhabitants. Niceforus responded by fortifying the defenses of Constantinople and raising new squadrons of armored cavalry. In the midst of his preparations, Niceforus was overthrown and killed by John Tzimiskes, who thus became the new Byzantine emperor.[31]

      John Tzimiskes first attempted to persuade Sviatoslav into leaving Bulgaria, but was unsuccessful. Challenging the Byzantine authority, Sviatoslav crossed the Danube and laid siege to Adrianople, causing panic on the streets of Constantinople in summer 970.[32] Later that year, the Byzantines launched a counteroffensive. Being occupied with suppressing a revolt of Bardas Phocas in Asia Minor, John Tzimiskes sent his commander-in-chief, Bardas Sklerus, who defeated the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis.[33] Meanwhile, John, having quelled the revolt of Bardas Phocas, came to the Balkans with a large army and promoting himself as the liberator of Bulgaria from Sviatoslav, penetrated the impracticable mountain passes and shortly thereafter captured Marcianopolis, where the Rus were holding a number of Bulgar princes hostage.

      Sviatoslav retreated to Dorostol, which the Byzantine armies besieged for sixty-five days. Cut off and surrounded, Sviatoslav came to terms with John and agreed to abandon the Balkans, renounce his claims to the southern Crimea and return west of the Dnieper River. In return, the Byzantine emperor supplied the Rus' with food and safe passage home. Sviatoslav and his men set sail and landed on Berezan Island at the mouth of the Dnieper, where they made camp for the winter. Several months later, their camp was devastated by famine, so that even a horse's head could not be bought for less than a half-grivna, reports the Kievan chronicler of the Primary Chronicle.[34] While Sviatoslav's campaign brought no tangible results for the Rus', it weakened the Bulgarian statehood and left it vulnerable to the attacks of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer four decades later.


      [edit] Death and aftermath

      The Death of Sviatoslav by Boris Chorikov.Fearing that the peace with Sviatoslav would not endure, the Byzantine emperor induced the Pecheneg khan Kurya to kill Sviatoslav before he reached Kiev. This was in line with the policy outlined by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in De Administrando Imperio of fomenting strife between the Rus' and the Pechenegs.[35] According to the Slavic chronicle, Sveneld attempted to warn Sviatoslav to avoid the Dnieper cataracts, but the prince slighted his wise advice and was ambushed and slain by the Pechenegs when he tried to cross the cataracts near Khortitsa early in 972. The Primary Chronicle reports that his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan, Kurya.[36]

      Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions between his sons grew. A war broke out between Sviatoslav's legitimate sons, Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, at the conclusion of which Oleg was killed. In 977 Vladimir fled Novgorod to escape Oleg's fate and went to Scandinavia, where he raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980. Yaropolk was killed and Vladimir became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'.


      [edit] In art and literature

      Ivan Akimov. Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to His Family in Kiev (1773)Sviatoslav has long been a hero of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian patriots due to his great military successes. His figure first attracted attention of Russian artists and poets during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774, which provided obvious parallels with Sviatoslav's push towards Constaninople. Russia's southward expansion and Catherine II's imperialistic ventures in the Balkans seemed to have been legitimized by Sviatoslav's campaigns eight centuries earlier.

      Among the works created during the war was Yakov Knyazhnin's tragedy Olga (1772). The Russian playwright chose to introduce Sviatoslav as his protagonist, although his active participation in the events following Igor's death is out of sync with the traditional chronology. Knyazhnin's rival Nikolai Nikolev (1758–1815) also wrote a play on the subject of Sviatoslav's life. Ivan Akimov's painting Sviatoslav's Return from the Danube to Kiev (1773) explores the conflict between military honour and family attachment. It is a vivid example of Poussinesque rendering of early medieval subject matter.


      Eugene Lanceray, "Sviatoslav on the way to Tsargrad", (1886)In the 19th century, interest in Sviatoslav's career waned. Klavdiy Lebedev depicted an episode of Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John in his well-known painting, while Eugene Lanceray sculpted an equestrian statue of Sviatoslav in the early 20th century.[37] Sviatoslav appears in the Slavophile poems of Velimir Khlebnikov as an epitome of militant Slavdom:

      ?????????? ??? ?????, Pouring the famed juice of the Danube

      ??????? ? ????? ?????, Into the depth of my head,

      ????? ???? ?, ????????? I shall drink and remember

      ??????? ????: "??? ?? ??!". The cry of the bright ones: "I come at you!"[38]

      Controversial statue of Sviatoslav I trampling a Khazar warrior. The statue was designed by Vyacheslav Klykov.He is the villain of Samuel Gordon's novel The Lost Kingdom, or the Passing of the Khazars,[39] a fictionalized account of the destruction of Khazaria by the Rus'. The Slavic warrior figures in a more positive context in the story "Chernye Strely Vyaticha" by Vadim Viktorovich Kargalov; the story is included in his book Istoricheskie povesti.[40]

      In 2005, reports circulated that a village in the Belgorod region had erected a monument to Sviatoslav's victory over the Khazars by the Russian sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov. The reports described the 13-meter tall statue as depicting a Rus' cavalryman trampling a supine Khazar bearing a Star of David. This created an outcry within the Jewish community of Russia. The controversy was further exacerbated by Klykov's connections with Pamyat and other anti-Semitic organizations, as well as by his involvement in the "letter of 500", a controversial appeal to the Prosecutor General to review all Jewish organizations in Russia for extremism.[41] The Press Center of the Belgorod Regional Administration responded by stating that a planned monument to Sviatoslav had not yet been constructed, but would show "respect towards representatives of all nationalities and religions."[42] When the statue was unveiled, the shield bore a twelve-pointed star.


      [edit] Notes
      ^ E.g. in the Primary Chronicle under year 970 http://litopys.org.ua/ipatlet/ipat04.htm
      ^ ?.?. ???????, ?.?. ?????????. ????? ????? ? ??????? ?????? X-XVI ??. [Choice of personal names for the Russian princes of the 10th-16th centuries.] Moscow: Indrik, 2006. ISBN 5-85759-339-5. Page 43.
      ^ See ?.?. ??????. ? ??????? ?? ????? ??????????, in ?????? ????? ? ???????, ????????? ? ???????: ???????? ????????????? (Moscow, 1970).
      ^ If Olga was indeed born in 879, as the Primary Chronicle seems to imply, she should have been about 65 at the time of Svyatoslav's birth. There are clearly some problems with chronology.
      ^ Primary Chronicle entry for 968
      ^ Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Primary Chronicle, p. 84.
      ^ Vernadsky 276–277. The sidelock is reminiscent of Turkic hairstyles and practices and was later mimicked by Cossacks.
      ^ For the alternative translations of the same passage of the Greek original that say that Sviatoslav may have not shaven but wispy beard and not one but two sidelocks on each side of his head, see eg. Ian Heath "The Vikings (Elite 3)", Osprey Publishing 1985; ISBN: 9780850455656, p.60 or David Nicolle "Armies of Medieval Russia 750–1250 (Men-at-Arms 333)" Osprey Publishing 1999; ISBN: 9781855328488, p.44
      ^ Based on his analysis of De Ceremoniis Alexander Nazarenko hypothesizes that Olga hoped to orchestrate a marriage between Svyatoslav and a Byzantine princess. If her proposal was peremptorily declined (as it most certainly would have been), it is hardly surprising that Sviatoslav would look at Byzantium and her Christian culture with suspicion. Nazarenko 302.
      ^ Primary Chronicle _____.
      ^ Whether Yaropolk and Oleg were whole or half brothers, and who their mother or mothers were, is a matter hotly debated by historians.
      ^ She is traditionally identified in Russian historiography as Dobrynya's sister; for other theories on her identity, see here.
      ^ Indeed, Franklin and Shepard advanced the hypothesis that Sfengus was identical with Mstislav of Tmutarakan. Franklin and Shepard 200-201.
      ^ "Rus", Encyclopaedia of Islam
      ^ Christian 345. It is disputed whether Svyatoslav invaded the land of Vyatichs that year. The only campaign against the Vyatichs explicitly mentioned in the Primary Chronicle is dated to 966.
      ^ Russian Primary Chronicle (????. — ?. 2. ??????????? ????????. — ???., 1908, http://litopys.org.ua/ipatlet/ipat03.htm ) for year 6472. The chronicler may have wished to contrast Sviatoslav's open declaration of war to stealthy tactics employed by many other early medieval conquerors.
      ^ For Sviatoslav's reliance on nomad cavalry, see, e.g., Franklin and Shepard 149; Christian 298; Pletneva 18.
      ^ Christian 298. The Primary Chronicle is very succinct about the whole campaign against Khazars, saying only that Sviatoslav "took their city and Belaya Vezha".
      ^ The town was an important trade center located near the portage between the Volga and Don Rivers. By the early 12th century, however, it had been destroyed by the Kipchaks.
      ^ See, generally Christian 297–298; Dunlop passim.
      ^ Logan (1992), p. 202
      ^ Artamonov 428; Christian 298.
      ^ The campaign against Ossetians is attested in the Primary Chronicle. The Novgorod First Chronicle specifies that Sviatoslav resettled the Ossetians near Kiev, but Sakharov finds this claim dubitable.
      ^ The Mandgelis Document refers to a Khazar potentate in the Taman Peninsula around 985, long after Sviatoslav's death. Kedrenos reported that the Byzantines and Rus' collaborated in the conquest of a Khazar kingdom in the Crimea in 1016 and still later, Ibn al-Athir reported an unsuccessful attack by al-Fadl ibn Muhammad against the Khazars in the Caucasus in 1030. For more information on these and other references, see Khazars#Late references to the Khazars.
      ^ Christian 298.
      ^ Most historians believe the Greeks were interested in the destruction of Khazaria. Another school of thought essentializes Yahya of Antioch's report that, prior to the Danube campaign, the Byzantines and the Rus' were at war. See Sakharov, chapter I.
      ^ The exact date of Sviatoslav's Bulgarian campaign, which likely did not commence until the conclusion of his Khazar campaign, is unknown.
      ^ Mikhail Tikhomirov and Vladimir Pashuto, among others, assume that the Emperor was interested primarily in diverting Sviatoslav's attention from Chersonesos, a Byzantine possession in the Crimea. Indeed, Leo the Deacon three times mentions that Svyatoslav and his father Igor controlled Cimmerian Bosporus. If so, a conflict of interests in the Crimea was inevitable. The Suzdal Chronicle, though a rather late source, also mentions Sviatoslav's war against Chersonesos. In the peace treaty of 971, Sviatoslav promised not to wage wars against either Constantinople or Chersonesos. Byzantine sources also report that Kalokyros attempted to persuade Sviatoslav to support Kalokyros in a coup against the reigning Byzantine emperor. As a remuneration for his help, Sviatoslav was supposed to retain a permanent hold on Bulgaria. Modern historians, however, assign little historical importance to this story. Kendrick 157.
      ^ All figures in this article, including the numbers of Svyatoslav's troops, are based on the reports of Byzantine sources, which may differ from those of the Slavonic chronicles. Greek sources report Khazars and "Turks" in Sviatoslav's army as well as Pechenegs. As used in such Byzantine writings as Constantine Porphyrogenitus' De Administrando Imperio, "Turks" refers to Magyars. The Rus'-Magyar alliance resulted in the Hungarian expedition against the second largest city of the empire, Thessalonika, in 968.
      ^ Boris II was captured by the Byzantines in 971 and carried off to Constantinople as a prisoner.
      ^ Kendrick 158
      ^ Simultaneously, Otto I attacked Byzantine possessions in the south of Italy. This remarkable coincidence may be interpreted as an evidence of the anti-Byzantine German-Russian alliance. See: Manteuffel 41.
      ^ Grekov 445–446. The Byzantine sources report the enemy casualties to be as high as 20,000, the figure modern historians find to be highly improbable.
      ^ Franklin and Shepard 149–150
      ^ Constantine VII pointed out that, by virtue of their controlling the Dnieper cataracts, the Pechenegs may easily attack and destroy the Rus' vessels sailing along the river.
      ^ The use of a defeated enemy's skull as a drinking vessel is reported by numerous authors through history among various steppe peoples, such as the Scythians. Kurya likely intended this as a compliment to Sviatoslav; sources report that Kurya and his wife drank from the skull and prayed for a son as brave as the deceased Rus' warlord. Christian 344; Pletneva 19; Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor 90.
      ^ E. A Lanceray. "Svyatoslav on the way to Tsargrad.", The Russian History in the Mirror of the Fine Arts (Russian)
      ^ Cooke, Raymond Cooke. Velimir Khlebnikov: A Critical Study. Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pages 122–123
      ^ London: Shapiro, Vallentine, 1926
      ^ (Moscow: Det. lit., 1989).
      ^ http://www.xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/706B4D8?print=on
      ^ "The Federation of Jewish Communities protests against the presence of a Star of David in a new sculpture in Belgorod", Interfax, November 21, 2005; Kozhevnikova, Galina, "Radical nationalism and efforts to oppose it in Russia in 2005"; "FJC Russia Appeal Clarifies Situation Over Potentially Anti-Semitic Monument" (Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS Press Release), November 23, 2005; Dahan, David, "Jews protest trampled Star of David statue", European Jewish Press, November 22, 2005

      [edit] References
      Artamonov, Mikhail Istoriya Khazar. Leningrad, 1962.
      Barthold, W.. "Khazar". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 1996.
      Chertkov A. D. Opisanie voin velikago kniazya Svyatoslava Igorevicha. Moscow, 1843.
      Chlenov, A.M. (?.?. ??????.) "K Voprosu ob Imeni Sviatoslava." Lichnye Imena v proshlom, Nastoyaschem i Buduschem Antroponomiki ("? ??????? ?? ????? ??????????". ?????? ????? ? ???????, ????????? ? ???????: ???????? ?????????????) (Moscow, 1970).
      Christian, David. A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999.
      Cross, S. H., and O.P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1953.
      Dunlop, D.M. History of the Jewish Khazars. Princeton Univ. Press, 1954.
      Golden, P.B. "Rus." Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2006.
      Grekov, Boris. Kiev Rus. tr. Sdobnikov, Y., ed. Ogden, Denis. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959
      Kendrick, Thomas D. A History of the Vikings. Courier Dover Publications, 2004. ISBN 0-486-43396-X
      Logan, Donald F. The Vikings in History 2nd ed. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0-415-08396-6
      Manteuffel Th. "Les tentatives d'entrainement de la Russie de Kiev dans la sphere d'influence latin". Acta Poloniae Historica. Warsaw, t. 22, 1970.
      Nazarenko, A.N. (?.?. ?????????). Drevniaya Rus' na Mezhdunarodnykh Putiakh (??????? ???? ?? ????????????? ?????). Moscow, Russian Academy of Sciences, World History Institute, 2001. ISBN 5-7859-0085-8.
      Pletneva, Svetlana. Polovtsy Moscow: Nauka, 1990.
      Sakharov, Andrey. The Diplomacy of Svyatoslav. Moscow: Nauka, 1982. (online)
      Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6
      Vernadsky, G.V. The Origins of Russia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.
      Preceded by
      Olga Prince of Kiev Succeeded by
      Yaropolk
    • [s2.FTW]

      [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 2, Ed. 1, Tree #1241, Date of Import: May 8, 1997]

      GRAND DUKE OF KIEV[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 2, Ed. 1, Tree #1241, Date of Import: May 8, 1997]

      GRAND DUKE OF KIEV
    • Basic Life Information

      Svyatoslav was only about three years old when his father Igor was murdered in 945, hence his mother St. Olga acted as Regent of Kiev until 964. Olga's first official act was to wreak vengeance on the Drevlanes who had murdered her husband by besieging and burning their town of Korosten. In 957 Olga went with a large retinue to Constantinople, accepted Christianity, and received baptism.

      In 964, Svyatoslav took over the government, although his mother continued to administer home affairs until her death in 970. Svyatoslav led Kievan Rus's military conquest of the Bulgars, responding to attacks by the Khazar tribe. He in turn was ambushed and killed by Byzantines from Pecheneg in the south, who, according to legend, converted Svyatoslav's skull into a drinking vessel.

      Marriages and Children

      Svyatoslav married Malousha and they had a son:
      St. Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev

      Svyatoslav married to Predeslava of Hungary and they had the following children:
      Yaropolk I, Grand Prince of Kiev, 972 - 978
      Oleg

      Death

      Svyatoslav died in 972; he was ambushed and killed by Byzantines from Pecheneg in the south, who, according to legend, converted Svyatoslav's skull into a drinking vessel.

      <http://www.robertsewell.ca/kiev.html>
    • The first prince in the house of Rurik to bear a Slav name. A great military
      leader, he led his troops against the Khezers in the southeast, against the
      Pechengs, a tribe of the Black Sea steppes, and against the Bulgars. He built
      a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased under his reign. He had
      three sons and split the empire three ways upon his death to rule, which led
      to dynastic conflicts that ended in 980 when the youngest son emerged the
      sole ruler of the Russian empire.
    • Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev
    • Sviatoslav I of Kiev From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (Redirected from Svyatoslav I)

      Kniaz' Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev (c.945 - 972) was the warrior Varangian prince of Kiev, who carved out for himself the largest state in Europe and finally moved his capital to Pereyaslavets in Bulgaria in 969. Svyatoslav's return from the Danube to Kiev (1773). Enlarge Svyatoslav's return from the Danube to Kiev (1773).

      We have no information about Svyatoslav's minority and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. His mother, Saint Olga, ruled as Kievan regent until his majority (c.963). Sviatoslav was notorious as a stubborn pagan who rejected the Christianity, which had been embraced by his mother ca 945 or (more likely) in 957.

      Svyatoslav's life was spent with his druzhina in permanent warfare against neighbouring states. During his reign, he created an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. By 965 he also defeated the Volga Bulgars, thus bringing under Kievan control the entire area of the Volga River. Then, as an ally of the Byzantine Empire, which was at war with the Bulgarians, Sviatoslav decisively defeated the Bulgarians of the Danube (968), thereby paving the way for victories of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer.

      In moving his capital to Bulgaria, Svyatoslav intended to make it the center of his extensive empire. He was forced to give up the Balkan lands (971), however, in a war with the Byzantine Emperor John I. His unorthodox appearance was noted by the Greeks, who described him as having shaved one side of his head, and having a single large gold earring. During his return from the abysmal Byzantine campaign, Sviatoslav was ambushed and killed by the Pechenegs (972). According to the Primary Chronicle, his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan. [edit]

      Edward Gibbon upon Svyatoslav's war with Byzantium

      The Russian traders had seen the magnificence, and tasted the luxury of the city of the Caesars. A marvellous tale, and a scanty supply, excited the desires of their savage countrymen: they envied the gifts of nature which their climate denied; they coveted the works of art, which they were too lazy to imitate and too indigent to purchase; the Varangian princes unfurled the banners of piratical adventure, and their bravest soldiers were drawn from the nations that dwelt in the northern isles of the ocean. The image of their naval armaments was revived in the last century, in the fleets of the Cossacks, which issued from the Borysthenes, to navigate the same seas for a similar purpose. The Greek appellation of monoxyla, or single canoes, might justly be applied to the bottom of their vessels. It was scooped out of the long stem of a beech or willow, but the slight and narrow foundation was raised and continued on either side with planks, till it attained the length of sixty, and the height of about twelve, feet. These boats were built without a deck, but with two rudders and a mast; to move with sails and oars; and to contain from forty to seventy men, with their arms, and provisions of fresh water and salt fish.

      Yet the threats or calamities of a Russian war were more frequently diverted by treaty than by arms. In these naval hostilities, every disadvantage was on the side of the Greeks; their savage enemy afforded no mercy: his poverty promised no spoil; his impenetrable retreat deprived the conqueror of the hopes of revenge; and the pride or weakness of empire indulged an opinion, that no honour could be gained or lost in the intercourse with Barbarians.

      At first their demands were high and inadmissible, three pounds of gold for each soldier or mariner of the fleet: the Russian youth adhered to the design of conquest and glory; but the counsels of moderation were recommended by the hoary sages. "Be content," they said, "with the liberal offers of Caesar; it is not far better to obtain without a combat the possession of gold, silver, silks, and all the objects of our desires? Are we sure of victory? Can we conclude a treaty with the sea? We do not tread on the land; we float on the abyss of water, and a common death hangs over our heads."

      The memory of these Arctic fleets that seemed to descend from the polar circle left deep impression of terror on the Imperial city. By the vulgar of every rank, it was asserted and believed, that an equestrian statue in the square of Taurus was secretly inscribed with a prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become masters of Constantinople. In our own time, a Russian armament, instead of sailing from the Borysthenes, has circumnavigated the continent of Europe; and the Turkish capital has been threatened by a squadron of strong and lofty ships of war, each of which, with its naval science and thundering artillery, could have sunk or scattered a hundred canoes, such as those of their ancestors. Perhaps the present generation may yet behold the accomplishment of the prediction, of a rare prediction, of which the style is unambiguous and the date unquestionable. Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John. Enlarge Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John.

      By land the Russians were less formidable than by sea; and as they fought for the most part on foot, their irregular legions must often have been broken and overthrown by the cavalry of the Scythian hordes. Yet their growing towns, however slight and imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject, and a barrier to the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, till a fatal partition, assumed the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga to the Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus, the son of Igor, the son of Ruric. The vigour of his mind and body was fortified by the hardships of a military and savage life. Wrapped in a bear-skin, Swatoslaus usually slept on the ground, his head reclining on a saddle; his diet was coarse and frugal, and, like the heroes of Homer, his meat (it was often horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted on the coals. The exercise of war gave stability and discipline to his army; and it may be presumed, that no soldier was permitted to transcend the luxury of his chief.

      By an embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek emperor, he was moved to undertake the conquest of Bulgaria; and a gift of fifteen hundred pounds of gold was laid at his feet to defray the expense, or reward the toils, of the expedition. An army of sixty thousand men was assembled and embarked; they sailed from the Borysthenes to the Danube; their landing was effected on the Maesian shore; and, after a sharp encounter, the swords of the Russians prevailed against the arrows of the Bulgarian horse archers. The vanquished king sunk into the grave; his children were made captive; and his dominions, as far as Mount Haemus, were subdued or ravaged by the northern invaders.

      But instead of relinquishing his prey, and performing his engagements, the Varangian prince was more disposed to advance than to retire; and, had his ambition been crowned with success, the seat of empire in that early period might have been transferred to a more temperate and fruitful climate. Swatoslaus enjoyed and acknowledged the advantages of his new position, in which he could unite, by exchange or rapine, the various productions of the earth. By an easy navigation he might draw from Russia the native commodities of furs, wax, and hydromed: Hungary supplied him with a breed of horses and the spoils of the West; and Greece abounded with gold, silver, and the foreign luxuries, which his poverty had affected to disdain. The bands of Patzinacites, Chozars, and Turks, repaired to the standard of victory; and the ambassador of Nicephorus betrayed his trust, assumed the purple, and promised to share with his new allies the treasures of the Eastern world. From the banks of the Danube the Russian prince pursued his march as far as Adrianople; a formal summons to evacuate the Roman province was dismissed with contempt; and Swatoslaus fiercely replied, that Constantinople might soon expect the presence of an enemy and a master.

      Nicephorus could no longer expel the mischief which he had introduced; but his throne and wife were inherited by John Zimisces, who, in a diminutive body, possessed the spirit and abilities of a hero. The first victory of his lieutenants deprived the Russians of their foreign allies, twenty thousand of whom were either destroyed by the sword, or provoked to revolt, or tempted to desert. Thrace was delivered, but seventy thousand Barbarians were still in arms; and the legions that had been recalled from the new conquests of Syria, prepared, with the return of the spring, to march under the banners of a warlike prince, who declared himself the friend and avenger of the injured Bulgaria. The passes of Mount Haemus had been left unguarded; they were instantly occupied; the Roman vanguard was formed of the immortals (a proud imitation of the Persian style), the emperor led the main body of ten thousand five hundred foot; and the rest of his forces followed in slow and cautious array, with the baggage and military engines. The first exploit of Zimisces was the reduction of Marcianopolis, or Peristhlaba, in two days; the trumpets sounded; the walls were scaled; eight thousand five hundred Russians were put to the sword; and the sons of the Bulgarian king were rescued from an ignominious prison, and invested with a nominal diadem.

      After these repeated losses, Swatoslaus retired to the strong post of Drista, on the banks of the Danube, and was pursued by an enemy who alternately employed the arms of celerity and delay. The Byzantine galleys ascended the river, the legions completed a line of circumvallation; and the Russian prince was encompassed, assaulted, and famished, in the fortifications of the camp and city. Many deeds of valour were performed; several desperate sallies were attempted; nor was it till after a siege of sixty-five days that Swatoslaus yielded to his adverse fortune. The liberal terms which he obtained announce the prudence of the victor, who respected the valour, and apprehended the despair, of an unconquered mind. The great duke of Russia bound himself, by solemn imprecations, to relinquish all hostile designs; a safe passage was opened for his return; the liberty of trade and navigation was restored; a measure of corn was distributed to each of his soldiers; and the allowance of twenty-two thousand measures attests the loss and the remnant of the Barbarians.

      After a painful voyage, they again reached the mouth of the Borysthenes; but their provisions were exhausted; the season was unfavourable; they passed the winter on the ice; and, before they could prosecute their march, Swatoslaus was surprised and oppressed by the neighbouring tribes with whom the Greeks entertained a perpetual and useful correspondence. Far different was the return of Zimisces, who was received in his capital like Camillus or Marius, the saviours of ancient Rome. But the merit of the victory was attributed by the pious emperor to the mother of God; and the image of the Virgin Mary, with the divine infant in her arms, was placed on a triumphal car, adorned with the spoils of war, and the ensigns of Bulgarian royalty. Zimisces made his public entry on horseback; the diadem on his head, a crown of laurel in his hand; and Constantinople was astonished to applaud the martial virtues of her sovereign. [edit]

      References

      * Chertkov A. D. Opisanie voiny velikago kniazya Svyatoslava Igorevicha. Moscow, 1843.
      * Sakharov, Andrey. The Dyplomacy of Svyatoslav. Moscow: Nauka, 1982.
      * Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8020-5809-6.
    • Sviatoslav I of Kiev From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (Redirected from Svyatoslav I)

      Kniaz' Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev (c.945 - 972) was the warrior Varangian prince of Kiev, who carved out for himself the largest state in Europe and finally moved his capital to Pereyaslavets in Bulgaria in 969. Svyatoslav's return from the Danube to Kiev (1773). Enlarge Svyatoslav's return from the Danube to Kiev (1773).

      We have no information about Svyatoslav's minority and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. His mother, Saint Olga, ruled as Kievan regent until his majority (c.963). Sviatoslav was notorious as a stubborn pagan who rejected the Christianity, which had been embraced by his mother ca 945 or (more likely) in 957.

      Svyatoslav's life was spent with his druzhina in permanent warfare against neighbouring states. During his reign, he created an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube. His greatest success was the conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of Eastern Europe. By 965 he also defeated the Volga Bulgars, thus bringing under Kievan control the entire area of the Volga River. Then, as an ally of the Byzantine Empire, which was at war with the Bulgarians, Sviatoslav decisively defeated the Bulgarians of the Danube (968), thereby paving the way for victories of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer.

      In moving his capital to Bulgaria, Svyatoslav intended to make it the center of his extensive empire. He was forced to give up the Balkan lands (971), however, in a war with the Byzantine Emperor John I. His unorthodox appearance was noted by the Greeks, who described him as having shaved one side of his head, and having a single large gold earring. During his return from the abysmal Byzantine campaign, Sviatoslav was ambushed and killed by the Pechenegs (972). According to the Primary Chronicle, his skull was made into a chalice by the Pecheneg khan. [edit]

      Edward Gibbon upon Svyatoslav's war with Byzantium

      The Russian traders had seen the magnificence, and tasted the luxury of the city of the Caesars. A marvellous tale, and a scanty supply, excited the desires of their savage countrymen: they envied the gifts of nature which their climate denied; they coveted the works of art, which they were too lazy to imitate and too indigent to purchase; the Varangian princes unfurled the banners of piratical adventure, and their bravest soldiers were drawn from the nations that dwelt in the northern isles of the ocean. The image of their naval armaments was revived in the last century, in the fleets of the Cossacks, which issued from the Borysthenes, to navigate the same seas for a similar purpose. The Greek appellation of monoxyla, or single canoes, might justly be applied to the bottom of their vessels. It was scooped out of the long stem of a beech or willow, but the slight and narrow foundation was raised and continued on either side with planks, till it attained the length of sixty, and the height of about twelve, feet. These boats were built without a deck, but with two rudders and a mast; to move with sails and oars; and to contain from forty to seventy men, with their arms, and provisions of fresh water and salt fish.

      Yet the threats or calamities of a Russian war were more frequently diverted by treaty than by arms. In these naval hostilities, every disadvantage was on the side of the Greeks; their savage enemy afforded no mercy: his poverty promised no spoil; his impenetrable retreat deprived the conqueror of the hopes of revenge; and the pride or weakness of empire indulged an opinion, that no honour could be gained or lost in the intercourse with Barbarians.

      At first their demands were high and inadmissible, three pounds of gold for each soldier or mariner of the fleet: the Russian youth adhered to the design of conquest and glory; but the counsels of moderation were recommended by the hoary sages. "Be content," they said, "with the liberal offers of Caesar; it is not far better to obtain without a combat the possession of gold, silver, silks, and all the objects of our desires? Are we sure of victory? Can we conclude a treaty with the sea? We do not tread on the land; we float on the abyss of water, and a common death hangs over our heads."

      The memory of these Arctic fleets that seemed to descend from the polar circle left deep impression of terror on the Imperial city. By the vulgar of every rank, it was asserted and believed, that an equestrian statue in the square of Taurus was secretly inscribed with a prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become masters of Constantinople. In our own time, a Russian armament, instead of sailing from the Borysthenes, has circumnavigated the continent of Europe; and the Turkish capital has been threatened by a squadron of strong and lofty ships of war, each of which, with its naval science and thundering artillery, could have sunk or scattered a hundred canoes, such as those of their ancestors. Perhaps the present generation may yet behold the accomplishment of the prediction, of a rare prediction, of which the style is unambiguous and the date unquestionable. Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John. Enlarge Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John.

      By land the Russians were less formidable than by sea; and as they fought for the most part on foot, their irregular legions must often have been broken and overthrown by the cavalry of the Scythian hordes. Yet their growing towns, however slight and imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject, and a barrier to the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, till a fatal partition, assumed the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga to the Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus, the son of Igor, the son of Ruric. The vigour of his mind and body was fortified by the hardships of a military and savage life. Wrapped in a bear-skin, Swatoslaus usually slept on the ground, his head reclining on a saddle; his diet was coarse and frugal, and, like the heroes of Homer, his meat (it was often horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted on the coals. The exercise of war gave stability and discipline to his army; and it may be presumed, that no soldier was permitted to transcend the luxury of his chief.

      By an embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek emperor, he was moved to undertake the conquest of Bulgaria; and a gift of fifteen hundred pounds of gold was laid at his feet to defray the expense, or reward the toils, of the expedition. An army of sixty thousand men was assembled and embarked; they sailed from the Borysthenes to the Danube; their landing was effected on the Maesian shore; and, after a sharp encounter, the swords of the Russians prevailed against the arrows of the Bulgarian horse archers. The vanquished king sunk into the grave; his children were made captive; and his dominions, as far as Mount Haemus, were subdued or ravaged by the northern invaders.

      But instead of relinquishing his prey, and performing his engagements, the Varangian prince was more disposed to advance than to retire; and, had his ambition been crowned with success, the seat of empire in that early period might have been transferred to a more temperate and fruitful climate. Swatoslaus enjoyed and acknowledged the advantages of his new position, in which he could unite, by exchange or rapine, the various productions of the earth. By an easy navigation he might draw from Russia the native commodities of furs, wax, and hydromed: Hungary supplied him with a breed of horses and the spoils of the West; and Greece abounded with gold, silver, and the foreign luxuries, which his poverty had affected to disdain. The bands of Patzinacites, Chozars, and Turks, repaired to the standard of victory; and the ambassador of Nicephorus betrayed his trust, assumed the purple, and promised to share with his new allies the treasures of the Eastern world. From the banks of the Danube the Russian prince pursued his march as far as Adrianople; a formal summons to evacuate the Roman province was dismissed with contempt; and Swatoslaus fiercely replied, that Constantinople might soon expect the presence of an enemy and a master.

      Nicephorus could no longer expel the mischief which he had introduced; but his throne and wife were inherited by John Zimisces, who, in a diminutive body, possessed the spirit and abilities of a hero. The first victory of his lieutenants deprived the Russians of their foreign allies, twenty thousand of whom were either destroyed by the sword, or provoked to revolt, or tempted to desert. Thrace was delivered, but seventy thousand Barbarians were still in arms; and the legions that had been recalled from the new conquests of Syria, prepared, with the return of the spring, to march under the banners of a warlike prince, who declared himself the friend and avenger of the injured Bulgaria. The passes of Mount Haemus had been left unguarded; they were instantly occupied; the Roman vanguard was formed of the immortals (a proud imitation of the Persian style), the emperor led the main body of ten thousand five hundred foot; and the rest of his forces followed in slow and cautious array, with the baggage and military engines. The first exploit of Zimisces was the reduction of Marcianopolis, or Peristhlaba, in two days; the trumpets sounded; the walls were scaled; eight thousand five hundred Russians were put to the sword; and the sons of the Bulgarian king were rescued from an ignominious prison, and invested with a nominal diadem.

      After these repeated losses, Swatoslaus retired to the strong post of Drista, on the banks of the Danube, and was pursued by an enemy who alternately employed the arms of celerity and delay. The Byzantine galleys ascended the river, the legions completed a line of circumvallation; and the Russian prince was encompassed, assaulted, and famished, in the fortifications of the camp and city. Many deeds of valour were performed; several desperate sallies were attempted; nor was it till after a siege of sixty-five days that Swatoslaus yielded to his adverse fortune. The liberal terms which he obtained announce the prudence of the victor, who respected the valour, and apprehended the despair, of an unconquered mind. The great duke of Russia bound himself, by solemn imprecations, to relinquish all hostile designs; a safe passage was opened for his return; the liberty of trade and navigation was restored; a measure of corn was distributed to each of his soldiers; and the allowance of twenty-two thousand measures attests the loss and the remnant of the Barbarians.

      After a painful voyage, they again reached the mouth of the Borysthenes; but their provisions were exhausted; the season was unfavourable; they passed the winter on the ice; and, before they could prosecute their march, Swatoslaus was surprised and oppressed by the neighbouring tribes with whom the Greeks entertained a perpetual and useful correspondence. Far different was the return of Zimisces, who was received in his capital like Camillus or Marius, the saviours of ancient Rome. But the merit of the victory was attributed by the pious emperor to the mother of God; and the image of the Virgin Mary, with the divine infant in her arms, was placed on a triumphal car, adorned with the spoils of war, and the ensigns of Bulgarian royalty. Zimisces made his public entry on horseback; the diadem on his head, a crown of laurel in his hand; and Constantinople was astonished to applaud the martial virtues of her sovereign. [edit]

      References

      * Chertkov A. D. Opisanie voiny velikago kniazya Svyatoslava Igorevicha. Moscow, 1843.
      * Sakharov, Andrey. The Dyplomacy of Svyatoslav. Moscow: Nauka, 1982.
      * Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8020-5809-6.
    • Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev
    • The first prince in the house of Rurik to bear a Slav name. A great military
      leader, he led his troops against the Khezers in the southeast, against the
      Pechengs, a tribe of the Black Sea steppes, and against the Bulgars. He built
      a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased under his reign. He had
      three sons and split the empire three ways upon his death to rule, which led
      to dynastic conflicts that ended in 980 when the youngest son emerged the
      sole ruler of the Russian empire.
    • Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev
    • The first prince in the house of Rurik to bear a Slav name. A great military
      leader, he led his troops against the Khezers in the southeast, against the
      Pechengs, a tribe of the Black Sea steppes, and against the Bulgars. He built
      a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased under his reign. He had
      three sons and split the empire three ways upon his death to rule, which led
      to dynastic conflicts that ended in 980 when the youngest son emerged the
      sole ruler of the Russian empire.
    • [1557] WSHNGT.ASC file (Geo Washington Ahnentafel) # 34883432

      DUDLE.GED Grand Prince of Kiev ...

      DEATH: RURIK.DEC (Compuserve)
      COMYN4.TAF (Compuserve), p. 5 says AFT 14 JUL 1018

      Svyatoslav the Conqueror - RURIK.DEC (Compuserve); Sviatislav I - COMYN4.TAF (Compuserve), p. 5

      http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal07130 Svyatoslav I Suitislaus of Kiev, Prince of Kiev b abt 942 d 972
    • Was killed by the Petchenegs in 972. This was his appearance , as recorded by Leo Diaconus in 971, when he signed a treaty with the emperor Johannes Tzimiskes on the Danube: "Svyatoslav crossed the river in a kind of Scythian boat; he handled the oar in the same way as his men.. He was of medium height - neither too tall, or too short. He hadbushy brows, blue eyes and was snub-nosed. He shaved his beard but wore a long and bushy mustache. His head was shaven except for a lock of hair on one side as a sign of the nobility of his clan. His neck was thick, his shoulders broadand his whole stature pretty fine. He seemed gloomy and savage. On one of his ears hung a golden eare-ring adorned with two pearls and a ruby set between them. His white garments were not distinguishable from those of his men except for cleaness." G. Vernadsky, "The Origins of Russia" , p 277.
      According to Gwyn Jones, "A History of the Vikings" p 261, Svyatoslav was born when his father was 75 and his mother was 60.
    • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
      Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev (c.945 - 972) was the warrior Varangianprince of Kiev, who carved out for himself the largest state in Europeand finally moved his capital to Pereyaslavets in Bulgaria in 969.


      Svyatoslav's return from the Danube to Kiev (1773).We have noinformation about Svyatoslav's minority and youth, which he spentreigning in Novgorod. His mother, Saint Olga, ruled as Kievan regentuntil his majority (c.963). Sviatoslav was notorious as a stubbornpagan who rejected the Christianity, which had been embraced by hismother ca 945.

      Svyatoslav's life was spent with his druzhina in permanent warfareagainst neighbouring states. During his reign, he created an empirethat stretched from the Volga to the Danube. His greatest success wasthe conquest of Khazaria, which for centuries had been one of thestrongest states of Eastern Europe. By 965 he also defeated the VolgaBulgars, thus bringing under Kievan control the entire area of theVolga River. Then, as an ally of the Byzantine Empire, which was atwar with the Bulgars, Sviatoslav decisively defeated the Bulgars ofthe Danube (968), thereby paving the way for victories of Basil theBulgar-Slayer.

      In moving his capital to Bulgaria, Svyatoslav intended to make it thecenter of his extensive empire. He was forced to give up the Balkanlands (971), however, in a war with the Byzantine Emperor John I. Hisunorthodox appearance was noted by the Greeks, who described him ashaving shaved one side of his head, and having a single large goldearring. During his return from the abysmal Byzantine campaign,Sviatoslav was ambushed and killed by the Pechenegs (972). Accordingto the Primary Chronicle, his skull was made into a chalice by thePecheneg khan.

      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Edward Gibbon upon Svyatoslav's war with Byzantium
      The Russian traders had seen the magnificence, and tasted the luxuryof the city of the Caesars. A marvellous tale, and a scanty supply,excited the desires of their savage countrymen: they envied the giftsof nature which their climate denied; they coveted the works of art,which they were too lazy to imitate and too indigent to purchase; theVarangian princes unfurled the banners of piratical adventure, andtheir bravest soldiers were drawn from the nations that dwelt in thenorthern isles of the ocean. The image of their naval armaments wasrevived in the last century, in the fleets of the Cossacks, whichissued from the Borysthenes, to navigate the same seas for a similarpurpose. The Greek appellation of monoxyla, or single canoes, mightjustly be applied to the bottom of their vessels. It was scooped outof the long stem of a beech or willow, but the slight and narrowfoundation was raised and continued on either side with planks, tillit attained the length of sixty, and the height of about twelve, feet.These boats were built without a deck, but with two rudders and amast; to move with sails and oars; and to contain from forty toseventy men, with their arms, and provisions of fresh water and saltfish.

      Yet the threats or calamities of a Russian war were more frequentlydiverted by treaty than by arms. In these naval hostilities, everydisadvantage was on the side of the Greeks; their savage enemyafforded no mercy: his poverty promised no spoil; his impenetrableretreat deprived the conqueror of the hopes of revenge; and the prideor weakness of empire indulged an opinion, that no honour could begained or lost in the intercourse with Barbarians.

      At first their demands were high and inadmissible, three pounds ofgold for each soldier or mariner of the fleet: the Russian youthadhered to the design of conquest and glory; but the counsels ofmoderation were recommended by the hoary sages. "Be content," theysaid, "with the liberal offers of Caesar; it is not far better toobtain without a combat the possession of gold, silver, silks, and allthe objects of our desires? Are we sure of victory? Can we conclude atreaty with the sea? We do not tread on the land; we float on theabyss of water, and a common death hangs over our heads."

      The memory of these Arctic fleets that seemed to descend from thepolar circle left deep impression of terror on the Imperial city. Bythe vulgar of every rank, it was asserted and believed, that anequestrian statue in the square of Taurus was secretly inscribed witha prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become mastersof Constantinople. In our own time, a Russian armament, instead ofsailing from the Borysthenes, has circumnavigated the continent ofEurope; and the Turkish capital has been threatened by a squadron ofstrong and lofty ships of war, each of which, with its naval scienceand thundering artillery, could have sunk or scattered a hundredcanoes, such as those of their ancestors. Perhaps the presentgeneration may yet behold the accomplishment of the prediction, of arare prediction, of which the style is unambiguous and the dateunquestionable.


      Svyatoslav's meeting with Emperor John.By land the Russians were lessformidable than by sea; and as they fought for the most part on foot,their irregular legions must often have been broken and overthrown bythe cavalry of the Scythian hordes. Yet their growing towns, howeverslight and imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject, and abarrier to the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, till a fatal partition,assumed the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga tothe Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus, the sonof Igor, the son of Ruric. The vigour of his mind and body wasfortified by the hardships of a military and savage life. Wrapped in abear-skin, Swatoslaus usually slept on the ground, his head recliningon a saddle; his diet was coarse and frugal, and, like the heroes ofHomer, his meat (it was often horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted onthe coals. The exercise of war gave stability and discipline to hisarmy; and it may be presumed, that no soldier was permitted totranscend the luxury of his chief.

      By an embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek emperor, he was moved toundertake the conquest of Bulgaria; and a gift of fifteen hundredpounds of gold was laid at his feet to defray the expense, or rewardthe toils, of the expedition. An army of sixty thousand men wasassembled and embarked; they sailed from the Borysthenes to theDanube; their landing was effected on the Maesian shore; and, after asharp encounter, the swords of the Russians prevailed against thearrows of the Bulgarian horse. The vanquished king sunk into thegrave; his children were made captive; and his dominions, as far asMount Haemus, were subdued or ravaged by the northern invaders.

      But instead of relinquishing his prey, and performing his engagements,the Varangian prince was more disposed to advance than to retire; and,had his ambition been crowned with success, the seat of empire in thatearly period might have been transferred to a more temperate andfruitful climate. Swatoslaus enjoyed and acknowledged the advantagesof his new position, in which he could unite, by exchange or rapine,the various productions of the earth. By an easy navigation he mightdraw from Russia the native commodities of furs, wax, and hydromed:Hungary supplied him with a breed of horses and the spoils of theWest; and Greece abounded with gold, silver, and the foreign luxuries,which his poverty had affected to disdain. The bands of Patzinacites,Chozars, and Turks, repaired to the standard of victory; and theambassador of Nicephorus betrayed his trust, assumed the purple, andpromised to share with his new allies the treasures of the Easternworld. From the banks of the Danube the Russian prince pursued hismarch as far as Adrianople; a formal summons to evacuate the Romanprovince was dismissed with contempt; and Swatoslaus fiercely replied,that Constantinople might soon expect the presence of an enemy and amaster.

      Nicephorus could no longer expel the mischief which he had introduced;but his throne and wife were inherited by John Zimisces, who, in adiminutive body, possessed the spirit and abilities of a hero. Thefirst victory of his lieutenants deprived the Russians of theirforeign allies, twenty thousand of whom were either destroyed by thesword, or provoked to revolt, or tempted to desert. Thrace wasdelivered, but seventy thousand Barbarians were still in arms; and thelegions that had been recalled from the new conquests of Syria,prepared, with the return of the spring, to march under the banners ofa warlike prince, who declared himself the friend and avenger of theinjured Bulgaria. The passes of Mount Haemus had been left unguarded;they were instantly occupied; the Roman vanguard was formed of theimmortals (a proud imitation of the Persian style), the emperor ledthe main body of ten thousand five hundred foot; and the rest of hisforces followed in slow and cautious array, with the baggage andmilitary engines. The first exploit of Zimisces was the reduction ofMarcianopolis, or Peristhlaba, in two days; the trumpets sounded; thewalls were scaled; eight thousand five hundred Russians were put tothe sword; and the sons of the Bulgarian king were rescued from anignominious prison, and invested with a nominal diadem.

      After these repeated losses, Swatoslaus retired to the strong post ofDrista, on the banks of the Danube, and was pursued by an enemy whoalternately employed the arms of celerity and delay. The Byzantinegalleys ascended the river, the legions completed a line ofcircumvallation; and the Russian prince was encompassed, assaulted,and famished, in the fortifications of the camp and city. Many deedsof valour were performed; several desperate sallies were attempted;nor was it till after a siege of sixty-five days that Swatoslausyielded to his adverse fortune. The liberal terms which he obtainedannounce the prudence of the victor, who respected the valour, andapprehended the despair, of an unconquered mind. The great duke ofRussia bound himself, by solemn imprecations, to relinquish allhostile designs; a safe passage was opened for his return; the libertyof trade and navigation was restored; a measure of corn wasdistributed to each of his soldiers; and the allowance of twenty-twothousand measures attests the loss and the remnant of the Barbarians.

      After a painful voyage, they again reached the mouth of theBorysthenes; but their provisions were exhausted; the season wasunfavourable; they passed the winter on the ice; and, before theycould prosecute their march, Swatoslaus was surprised and oppressed bythe neighbouring tribes with whom the Greeks entertained a perpetualand useful correspondence. Far different was the return of Zimisces,who was received in his capital like Camillus or Marius, the savioursof ancient Rome. But the merit of the victory was attributed by thepious emperor to the mother of God; and the image of the Virgin Mary,with the divine infant in her arms, was placed on a triumphal car,adorned with the spoils of war, and the ensigns of Bulgarian royalty.Zimisces made his public entry on horseback; the diadem on his head, acrown of laurel in his hand; and Constantinople was astonished toapplaud the martial virtues of her sovereign.

      References
      Chertkov A. D. Opisanie voiny velikago kniazya Svyatoslava Igorevicha.Moscow, 1843.
      Sakharov, Andrey. The Dyplomacy of Svyatoslav. Moscow: Nauka, 1982.
      Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of TorontoPress, 1988. ISBN 0-8020-5809-
    • Storfyrste av Kijev [Kiev] 945 - 972 med sin mor som regent fra 945 til ca. 962.
      Med sin tjenerinne, Matuscha [Malysha], hadde han sønnen Vladimir.
      Da Olgas sønn Svyatoslav nådde voksen alder, overtok han makten. I navnet var han slaver,
      men i levesett viking. Han var motstander av den nye tro, og han levde helst sammen med sin
      stab av krigere, ?druzjina?, som under hans ledelse foretok krigsekspedisjoner i mange
      retninger.
      Han gjorde slutt på Khazar-riket mellom Volga og Don, og han besatte en stripe land ved
      østkysten av Svartehavet. Bysants bønn om hjelp i krigen mot bulgarerne åpnet vei for ham til
      Donau. I nærheten av elven ville han gjerne grunnlegge sin hovedstad. Han herjet ikke bare
      Bulgaria, men plyndret også hensynsløst sine alliertes områder på Balkan, helt til keiser
      Johannes Tzimiskes beseiret ham og tvang ham til å trekke seg tilbake.
      I 972 falt han under et forsøk på å fordrive petsjenegerne som gjorde handelsveiene utrygge.
    • Basic Life Information

      Svyatoslav was only about three years old when his father Igor was murdered in 945, hence his mother St. Olga acted as Regent of Kiev until 964. Olga's first official act was to wreak vengeance on the Drevlanes who had murdered her husband by besieging and burning their town of Korosten. In 957 Olga went with a large retinue to Constantinople, accepted Christianity, and received baptism.

      In 964, Svyatoslav took over the government, although his mother continued to administer home affairs until her death in 970. Svyatoslav led Kievan Rus's military conquest of the Bulgars, responding to attacks by the Khazar tribe. He in turn was ambushed and killed by Byzantines from Pecheneg in the south, who, according to legend, converted Svyatoslav's skull into a drinking vessel.

      Marriages and Children

      Svyatoslav married Malousha and they had a son:
      St. Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev

      Svyatoslav married to Predeslava of Hungary and they had the following children:
      Yaropolk I, Grand Prince of Kiev, 972 - 978
      Oleg

      Death

      Svyatoslav died in 972; he was ambushed and killed by Byzantines from Pecheneg in the south, who, according to legend, converted Svyatoslav's skull into a drinking vessel.

      <http://www.robertsewell.ca/kiev.html>
    • #Générale##Générale#Profession : Prince de Kiev de 945 (ou 957 ?) à 972.
      Baptisé en juillet 942.
      Tué en 972.
    Person ID I6000000005407291287  Ancestors of Donald Ross
    Last Modified 11 Dec 2020 

    Father Igor Рюрикович Rurikovich,   b. Abt 878,   d. 945  (Age 67 years) 
    Mother Duchess of Kiev Olga of Pskov,   b. 890,   d. 11 Jul 969  (Age 79 years) 
    Married 930  Kiev, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F6000000002188757248  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Malusha Malkovna Lubechanka,   b. Bef 944,   d. Abt 1002  (Age > 58 years) 
    Married Abt 965  Kiyev, Ukraine, USSR Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich Rurikid, I,   b. Abt 957, Будутино Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Jul 1015  (Age 58 years)
    Last Modified 14 Mar 2021 
    Family ID F6000000009161289357  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart