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Primary Chronicle
St Nestor the Chronicler, tr. Cross, 1930
6361–6410 (853–902)
6361–6366 (853–858). [19] Michael the Emperor went forth with an army by land and sea against the Bulgarians. The latter, on catching sight of his armament, offered no resistance, and asked leave to be baptized and to submit themselves to the Greeks. The Emperor baptized their prince with all his warriors, and made peace with the Bulgarians.
6367 (859). The Varangians from beyond the sea imposed tribute upon the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians, the Ves, and the Krivichians. But the Khazars imposed it upon the Polyanians, the Severians, and the Vyatichians, and collected a squirrel-skin and a beaver-skin from each hearth.
6368–6370 (860–862). The tributaries of the Varangians drove them back beyond the sea and, refusing them further tribute, set out to govern themselves. There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, “Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to the law.” They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Russes: these particular Varangians were known as Russes, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans, Angles, and Goths, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, [20] and the Krivichians then said to the people of Rus, “Our whole land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us.” They thus selected three brothers, with their kinsfolk, who took with them all the Russes and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod; the second, Sineus, in Byeloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgorod became known as the land of Rus. The present inhabitants of Novgorod are descended from the Varangian race, but aforetime they were Slavs.
After two years, Sineus and his brother Truvor died, and Rurik assumed the sole authority. He assigned cities to his followers, Polotzk to one, Rostov to another, and to another Byeloozero. In these cities there are thus Varangian colonists, but the first settlers were, in Novgorod, Slavs; in Polotzk, Krivichians; at Byeloozero, Ves; in Rostov, Merians; and in Murom, Muromians. Rurik had dominion over all these districts.
With Rurik there were two men who did not belong to his kin, but were boyars. They obtained permission to go to Tsargrad with their families. They thus sailed down the Dnieper, and in the course of their journey they saw a small city on a hill. Upon their inquiry as to whose town it was, they were informed that [21] three brothers, Kii, Shchek, and Khoriv, had once built the city, but that since their deaths, their descendants were living there as tributaries of the Khazars. Oskold and Dir remained in this city, and after gathering together many Varangians, they established their domination over the country of the Polyanians at the same time that Rurik was ruling at Novgorod.
6371–6374 (863–866). Oskold and Dir attacked the Greeks during the fourteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Michael. When the Emperor had set forth against the Saracens and had arrived at the Black River, the eparch sent him word that the Russes were approaching Tsargrad, and the Emperor turned back. Upon arriving inside the strait, the Russes made a great massacre of the Christians, and attacked Tsargrad in two hundred boats. The Emperor succeeded with difficulty in entering the city. The people prayed all night with the Patriarch Photius at the Church of the Holy Virgin in Blachernae. They also sang hymns and carried the sacred vestment of the Virgin to dip it in the sea. The weather was still, and the sea was calm, but a storm of wind came up, and when great waves straightway rose, confusing the boats of the godless Russes, it threw them upon the shore [22] and broke them up, so that few escaped such destruction. The survivors then returned to their native land.
6375–6376 (867–868). Basil began his reign.
6377 (869). The entire nation of the Bulgarians accepted baptism.
6378–6387 (870–879). On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg’s hands his son Igor, for he was very young.
[6388–6390 (880–882). Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians, and the [23] Krivichians. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before Smolensk, took the city, and set up a garrison there. Thence he went on and captured Lyubech, where he also established a garrison. He then came to the hills of Kiev, and saw how Oskold and Dir reigned there. He hid his warriors in the boats, left some others behind, and went forward himself bearing the child Igor. He thus came to the foot of the Hunnish hill, and after concealing his troops, he sent messengers to Oskold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor, the prince’s son, and requesting that they should come forth to greet them as members of their race. Oskold and Dir straightway came forth. Then all the soldiery jumped out of the boats, and Oleg said to Oskold and Dir, “You are not princes nor even of princely stock, but I am of princely birth.” Igor was then brought forward, and Oleg announced that he was the son of Rurik. They killed Oskold and Dir, and after carrying them to the hill, they buried them there, on the hill now known as Hunnish, where the castle of Olma stands. Over that tomb Olma built a church dedicated to St Nicholas, but Dir’s tomb is behind St Irene’s. Oleg set himself up as prince in Kiev, and declared that it should be the mother of Russian cities. Varangians and Slavs accompanied him, and his retainers were called Russes. Oleg began to build stockaded towns, and [24] imposed tribute on the Slavs, the Krivichians, and the Merians. He commanded that Novgorod should pay the Varangians tribute to the amount of 300 grivni a year for the preservation of peace. This tribute was paid to the Varangians until the death of Yaroslav.
6391 (883). Oleg began military operations against the Derevlians, and after conquering them, he imposed upon them the tribute of a black marten-skin apiece.
6392 (884). Oleg attacked the Severians, and conquered them. He imposed a light tribute upon them and forbade their further payment of tribute to the Khazars, on the ground that there was no reason for them to pay it as long as the Khazars were his enemies.
6393 (885). Oleg sent messengers to the Radimichians to inquire to whom they paid tribute. Upon their reply that they paid tribute to the Khazars, he directed them to render it to himself instead, and they accordingly paid him a shilling apiece, the same amount that they had paid the Khazars. Thus Oleg established his authority over the Polyanians, the Derevlians, the Severians, and the Radimichians, but he waged war with the Uluchians and the Tivercians.
6394–6395 (886–887). Leo, Basil’s son (called Lev by us), became Emperor. He called to the throne his brother Alexander, and they ruled together twenty-six years.
[25] 6396–6406 (888–898). The Huns passed by Kiev over the hill now called Hunnish, and on arriving at the Dnieper, they pitched camp. They were nomads like the Polovcians. Coming out of the east, they struggled across the great mountains, and began to fight against the Vlakhs and the Slavs in that region. For the Slavs had settled there first, but the Vlakhs had seized the territory of the Slavs. The Huns subsequently expelled the Vlakhs, took their land, and settled among the Slavs, whom they reduced to submission. From that time this territory was called Hungarian. The Huns made war upon the Greeks, and seized the Frankish and Macedonian territory as far as Salonika. They also attacked the Moravians and the Czechs.
There was at the time but one Slavic race including the Slavs who settled along the Danube and were subjugated by the Huns, as well as the Moravians, the Czechs, the Lyakhs, and the Polyanians, [26] the last of whom are now called Russes. It was for these peoples that Moravian books were first written. They are also termed Slavic writing. This writing exists also in Rus and among the Danubian Bulgarians. When the Moravian Slavs and their princes were living in baptism, the Princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk, and Kotzel sent messengers to the Emperor Michael, saying, “Our nation is baptized, and yet we have no teacher to direct and instruct us and interpret the sacred scriptures. We understand neither Greek nor Latin. Some teach us one thing and some another. Furthermore, we do not understand written characters nor their meaning. Therefore send us teachers who can make known to us the words of the scriptures and their sense.” The Emperor Michael, upon hearing their request, called together all the scholars, and reported to them the message of the Slavic princes. The scholars suggested that there was a man in Salonika, by name Leo, who had two sons familiar with the Slavic tongue, being learned men as well. When the Emperor was thus informed, he immediately summoned the sons of Leo from Salonika, directing him to send to court forthwith his sons Methodius and Constantine. Upon receipt of this message, Leo quickly sent forth his sons. When they came before the Emperor, he made known to them that the Slavs had communicated to him their desire for teachers who could interpret the holy scriptures to them. The Emperor prevailed [27] upon them to undertake the mission, and sent them into the Slavic country to Rostislav, Svyatopolk, and Kotzel. When they arrived, they undertook to compose a Slavic alphabet, and translated the Acts and the Gospel. The Slavs rejoiced to hear the greatness of God extolled in their native tongue. The apostles afterward translated the Psalter, the ritual, and other books.
Now some zealots began to condemn the Slavic books, contending that it was not right for any other nation to have its own alphabet apart from the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Latins, according to Pilate’s superscription, which he composed for the Lord’s Cross. When the Pope at Rome heard of this situation, he rebuked those who murmured against the Slavic books, saying, “Let the word of the Scripture be fulfilled that ‘all nations shall praise God (Luke, xxiii, 38),’ and likewise that ‘all nations shall declare the majesty of God according as the Holy Spirit shall grant them to speak (John, xix, 20).’ Whosoever condemns the Slavic writing shall be excluded from the Church until he mend his ways. For such men are not sheep but wolves; by their fruits ye shall know them and guard against them. Children of God, hearken unto his teachings, and depart not from the ecclesiastical rule which Methodius your teacher has appointed unto you.” Constantine then returned again, and went to instruct the people of Bulgaria; [28] but Methodius remained in Moravia.
Prince Kotzel appointed Methodius Bishop of Pannonia in the see of St Andronicus, one of the Seventy, a disciple of the holy Apostle Paul. Methodius chose two priests who were very rapid writers, and translated the whole Scriptures in full from Greek into Slavic in six months between March and the twenty-sixth day of October. After completing the task, he appropriately rendered praise and honor to God, who had bestowed such a blessing upon Bishop Methodius, the successor of Andronicus. Now Andronicus is the apostle of the Slavic race. He traveled among the Moravians, and the Apostle Paul taught there likewise. For in that region is Illyricum, whither Paul first repaired and where the Slavs originally lived. Thus Paul is the teacher of the Slavic race, and from this race we Russians too are sprung. The Apostle Paul is similarly the teacher of us Russians, since he preached to the Slavic race, and appointed Andronicus as Bishop and successor to himself among them. But the Slavs and the Russes are one people, for it is because of the Varangians that the latter became known as Rus, though originally they were Slavs. While some Slavs were termed Polyanians, their nationality was still Slavic, for they were known as Polyanians [29] because they lived in the fields. Thus the Slavic race was one.
6407–6410 (899–902). The Emperor Leo incited the Huns against the Bulgarians, so that they attacked and subjugated the whole Bulgarian country. When Symeon heard this news, he turned upon the Huns, who attacked him and conquered the Bulgarians so that Symeon took refuge in Silistria.