HENRIK BIRNBAUM:
Yaroslav s Varangian Connection
1. A comprehensive, modern study of the times and activities of Grand
Prince Yaroslav, because of his commitment to learning known as the
Wise, has yet to be written. Such a historical study would have to scruti­
nize and assess the Russian ruler s military and political accomplishments
and, in particular, his achievements in shaping the society and fashioning
the public institutions of ancient R us\ In addition and above all, perhaps,
it would discuss and attempt to put into proper perspective Yaroslav s
major contribution, as patron, to medieval culture in its specific, complex
Varangian-Russian-Byzantine context.1 This overall account and evalua­
tion could distinguish between at least two phases in Yaroslav s adult life,
an earlier one (up to 1019) which, with some qualifications, may be term­
ed his Novgorodian or Varangian years and a later one (1019-54), tenta­
tively to be designated his Kievan or Byzantine period.2 The present short
1 It is precisely such a future in-depth study that A. Stender-Petersen had in m ind in the
opening paragraph of his most instructive (if in part controversial) essay "Jaroslav und die
Varinger (the author s Varangica, A rhus 1953, pp. 115 based on a lecture originally
38)
read in 1928 at T artu University but since thoroughly updated.
2 However, according to Stender-Petersen, op. cit., p. 129 (following, in this particular
point, N. K. Chadwick, The Beginnings o f Russian History: A n Enquiry into Sources, Cam ­
bridge 1946), it was only after 1043, that is, after Yaroslav s hapless campaign against
Byzantium, that he turned his interest toward G reek culture. R ather, I would submit, there is
reason to believe that Y aroslav s more sustained interest in Byzantium and things Byzantine,
including theology, other learning, and ecclesiastic art, began to develop somewhat earlier,
namely, shortly after the death of his b rother Mstislav in 1036. The establishm ent of the
Kievan M etropolitan See in 1037, whose first incum bent was a G reek (appointed by the
Patriarch of C onstantinople), must have resulted in intensified contact with the E ast Rom an
capital; see S. H. Cross, Speculum 4, 1929 (cf. n. 3, below), pp. 180-1. The Russian llarion
(Hilarion), author of the famous Sermon on Law and G race (Slovo o zákon%1Å‚ i blagodati),
became the second m etropolitan of Kiev in 1051.  The date of Yaroslav s birth has not been
precisely established. The year 978, given by Stender-Petersen, op. cit., p. 131, is unlikely as
Yaroslav s father, Vladimir, spent 9 7 7-8 0 abroad (in Sweden and, perhaps, elsewhere in
Scandinavia) and there is no indication that Yaroslav was bom outside Russia. Also, Sten-
der's claim is contradicted by his own suggestion that in 1014, when Yaroslav, then prince of
Novgorod, turned against his father, refusing to pay the customary annual tribute, he was
barely twenty-eight years old (which would place his year of birth in 986); cf. Varangica, p.
117. 982 is perhaps a closer tentative date. It seems that in or about 985 Yaroslav, then a
child, was named prince of Rostov. He succeeded to becom e prince o f Novgorod, the second
most im portant Russian principality, only upon the death of his older brother Vysheslav. Cf.
the relevant information given at the end o f the last paragraph in the entry under the year
6496 (= 988) in the N estor Chronicle; see The Russian Primary Chronicle (cf. n. 34), p. 119.
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6 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
essay pursues a much more modest goal, needless to say. At most, it can
be conceived as one of several preliminary studies necessary to lay the
groundwork for a farther reaching, more ambitious undertaking currently
contemplated by this writer and aiming at a broad monographic treatment
of late lO th-m id-llth century Russia viewed as the backdrop for Yaro­
slav s biography.
Specifically, it is the purpose of this paper to briefly reexamine Yaro­
slav s personal contacts and links with Scandinavia, notably - but by no
means only - Sweden, the land of his forebears, with some attention paid
to the light which Norse, primarily, Old Icelandic, sources cast upon this,
the Russian sovereign s  Varangian connection .
To be sure, Yaroslav s (and, for that matter, his father s, Vladimir s)
continuous contacts with Scandinavia have long been recognized, docu­
mented, and studied in some detail.3 What calls for further investigation
and analysis, though, are certain particular facets of these relations with
the Nordic countries as well as the overall political and, to a certain extent,
cultural framework into which they fit. It is some of these specific points,
therefore, that will be briefly discussed on the following pages.
To begin with, even though it was just stated that Yaroslav s rule could
conveniently, if tentatively, be divided into two phases, a Novgorodian
and a Kievan, it may be worth pointing out that the latter actually falls into
two subperiods separated by the year 1036, when his younger brother
Mstislav (occasionally referred to as the Brave) died. Until then, though
claiming since 1019 Kiev as his capital (while Mstislav had moved his
residence from faraway Tmutarakan to nearby Chernigov), Yaroslav -
after a military confrontation in 1025 - shared power with his brother who
ruled over the eastern half of the Kievan state, that is, the portion on and
beyond the left bank of the Dnepr. It is therefore only from 1036 on that
Yaroslav can be considered the lone ruler of early medieval Russia. It is
further characteristic and thus noteworthy that Yaroslav kept up his Va­
rangian connection throughout his life, both during his time as prince of
3 O f earlier, still significant w ork, cf., in addition to the aforem entioned study by Sten-
der-Petersen, in particular S. H. Cross,  Yaroslav the W ise in N orse T radition , Speculum 4,
1929, pp. 177-97 (and p. 363, Corrigenda), and E. A . Rydzevskaja,  Jaroslav Mudryj v
drevnesevemoj literature (Kratkie soobslenija Instituta istorii material noj ku l tury 77,
1940, pp. 66 -7 2. O f m ore recent special studies, see, e.g., M. B. Sverdlov,  Skandinavy na
Rusi v X I v. (Skandinavskij sbornik 19, 1974), pp. 55
69. Specifically on Danish-Russian
contacts in that period, cf. the sam e author s earlier contribution  Danija i Rus' v XI v.
(Istoriceskie svjazi Skandinavii i Rossii, IX  X X vv., Sbornik statej, Leningrad 1970, pp.
81-8).
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection
7
Novgorod and while grand prince of Kiev, including the later years of his
sole rule, 1036-54. Admittedly though, the nature of his relations with
Scandinavia changed somewhat over the years. His earlier contacts with
Northern Europe were primarily dictated by military and such other con­
siderations as had an immediate bearing upon his own position on the
Russian political scene, that is to say, which would strengthen his (and his
party s) influence within Russia; cf. especially his struggle with his older
half brother Sviatopolk, by Russian historical tradition given the epithet
the Damned. Subsequently, after his own power had been firmly establish­
ed, the contacts of the Rurikid prince and his family with the Scandinavi­
an North and with Northmen can rather be viewed in the overall frame­
work of his foreign policy, particularly vis-Ä…-vis the West. Furthermore, it
is reasonable to assume that Yaroslav himself was bilingual, mastering
both the Old Russian (East Slavic) vernacular of his own country and the
speech of his ancestors, i.e., some form of Old Swedish. Perhaps, though,
the latter, as spoken and heard in early medieval Russia, was by that time
affected by some East Slavic lexical admixture and showed a certain de­
gree of grammatical interference; possibly, it had even turned into an
outright hybrid language, mixing Scandinavian with Slavic elements.4 Yet,
contrary to his father who had spent at least three years (977-70) in
Sweden (and possibly Norway), Yaroslav seems never to have visited
Svithiod or any other part of Scandinavia even though at one point he was
all ready to sail for Sweden.5 The farthest west he supposedly traveled,
during one of his campaigns, is the Polish duchy of Masovia.
Very broadly, Yaroslav s Varangian relations and contacts can be
grouped into three kinds of occurrences and situations: (1) matrimonal
connections; (2) hosting of prominent Scandinavian political figures, fre­
4 O n some lexical items (mixed compounds and derivations) as well as other characteris­
tics of a conceivable Varangian-Russian language blend, see, e.g., Stender-Petersen, Va-
rangica, pp. 151-71 and esp. p. 255. Much relevant data is also contained and discussed in K.
Rahbek Schmidt, Soziale Terminologie in russischen Texten des frühen Mittelalters (bis zum
Jahre 1240), Kopenhagen 1964, passim.
5 Stender-Petersen, Varangica, p. 131, is o f the opinion, however, that Yaroslav may well
have visited Sweden (and first m et his future wife Ingigerd) in 1014-15 when he, for the first
time, was recruiting Varangian troops. T he relevant wording of the Old Russian chronicle
text (sub anno 1015: Jaroslavb ze.poslavb za more.privede varjagy) is, according to Stender,
ambiguous. Such an assumption seems unw arranted in my view. On a later occasion, in 1018,
Yaroslav was ready to go to Sweden, but his panicky plans were frustrated by the Novgorodi-
ans led by their prudent posadnik Constantine (Kosnjatinb); cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica,
p. 122; Cross, op. cir., pp. 179-80.
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Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
8
quently while on the run from their own country;6 (3) calling-in and
maintaining of mercenaries. Clearly, these three major categories cannot
always be neatly kept apart as they often show some overlap. Thus, for
example, the hosting of distinguished Varangian visitors was sometimes
occasioned by, or coincided with, the ceremony of establishing marital
bonds while at some other (or even the same) time a Scandinavian politi­
cal leader, even if banned from his home country, could arrive in Garthari-
ki (or Great Svithiod, as Russia is also referred to in Old Norse sources) at
the head of a Varangian retinue (ON hird, OR dru~
ina).1
2. As for what may be considered a pretty well planned and consistently
carried out  marriage policy (Heiratspolitik) on the part of Yaroslav, the
marital ties that he and - at his instigation - his family members establish­
ed with Scandinavia appear to have played a subordinate role only, at
least if viewed in their broader European context. Yaroslav himself had
taken as his second wife  the specific identity of his first spouse who
probably bore him no offspring is not known8  the Swedish princess
6 As for some less known Scandinavians visiting Russia and perhaps also Yaroslav s court,
a few o f them are recorded on Swedish runestones; cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp.
137 7. See further E. A . M el nikova,  Svi-
8; Sverdlov, "S kandinavy. . (cf. n. 3), pp. 66
detel stva skandinavskich runi%0Å„eskich nadpisej X I-X II w . o narodach Vosto%0Å„noj Evropy
(Skandinavskij sbórnik 20, 1975, pp. 158-66).
7 Cf., e.g., Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 135-6, m entioning the Norwegians Sveinr
Hakansson and Eym und Hringson (the latter accompanied by several Icelanders, as we know
from the testimony of the Flateyarbók; cf. below) as well as the Swede Ingvar den Vittfarne
(ON Yngvarr Vidfqrli,  the W idely-Traveled ) and others who cam e to N ovgorod with
groups of Varangian warriors. O n Ingvar the W idely-Traveled, see of earlier work esp. E.
Wessén,  Om Ingvar den vittfarne, en sórm lansk vikingahovding" (Bidrag till Sdderman-
lands aldre kulturhistoria 30, Strangnás 1937, pp. 3 -1 7 ) and, m ore recently, E. A. Mel niko­
va, "
kspedicija Ingvara Putea
estvennika na V ostok i pochod russkich na Vizantiju v 1043
g." (Skandinavskij sbornik 21, 1976, pp. 74 with further references, discussing a pos­
88),
sible connection betw een Ingvar s exploits (usually believed to have come to an end by 1041)
and Yaroslav s expedition against Byzantium in 1043 under the com m and o f his son Vladi­
mir. - O ther functions, by some scholars (e.g., M. B. Sverdlov) singled out as assigned by
Yaroslav to individual V arangians  say, of hired assassins (of Sviatopolk. earlier of Yaro-
polk by order o f Vladimir, and of Boris and G leb at the request of Sviatopolk), march lords
(at Ladoga), o r local rulers (at Polotsk) - do not, in my opinion, call for such special, separate
status. On O R dru~
ina, see esp. R ahbek Schmidt, op. cit., pp. 63 103. and elsewhere.
* In the entry for 989 the First Novgorod Chronicle m entions a certain Ilya as Yaroslav s
son whom he is said to have placed as ruler over N ovgorod but who died and was replaced by
Yaroslav with Vladimir (V olodim ir), his oldest son with Ingigerd. It is not clear who the
m other of this prem aturely deceased Ilya was. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 132-3,
surm ises th at he was the offspring of a concubine of Yaroslav s, considering the alleged fact
that both Yaroslav himself and his father Vladim ir were illegitimate sons. However, there is
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 9
Ingigerd, daughter o f Olaf Skotkonung (  the Tax-King , earlier  erro­
neously, it seems  referred to as Skotkonung or Skautkonung) who had
united Svealand and Gautland (Gotaland) under the rule of the Uppsala
king. Yaroslav s second marriage took in all probability place in 1019; this
is suggested, among other things, by the fact that his first son in this
marriage, Vladimir (whom the father survived), was born in 1020. And
Yaroslav gave his second daughter, Elisabeth  the Nordic saga s Ellisif -
in marriage to Harald Hardrada ( Hardruler ) in 1044 or thereabout,
during the Norwegian prince s second stay in Russia. (His first visit was in
1031-33 or lasted possibly somewhat longer, after he, then barely fifteen
years old, had escaped from Norway in the wake of the battle of Stikla-
stad, 1030, in which St Olaf of Norway lost his life.) Returning, in the
1040s, to Russia, Harald had behind him an adventurous career as chief of
the Varangian mercenaries in Byzantium. The Varangian Guard is first
mentioned in Byzantine sources in or about 1034 by the chronicler
George Cedrenus. In his capacity of commander of the Varangian troops,
Harald had, among others, fought the Arabs in Sicily and subsequently, in
1040-41, been instrumental in quelling the uprising of the Bulgarians.
Back in Russia - shortly after Yaroslav s unfortunate expedition against
Constantinople, it seems  he was preparing for his return to Norway
eventually to claim its throne.9.
no reason, as far as I can see, why the Varangian princess Ragnheid (R ogned ) o f Polotsk
should not be considered to have been Vladim ir s legitim ate spouse until 988 when he
m arried Princess A nne of Byzantium. A s regards Ilya, it is at least conceivable that he was
the son of Yaroslav s first  legitim ate  wife, m entioned by Thietm ar of M erseburg in his
chronicle as captured and taken along by King Bolestaw when escaping from Kiev in 1019
after his falling-out with his son-in-law Sviatopolk and the latter s massacre of the Polish
troops stationed in the Russian capital. Yaroslav must have m arried this otherwise not
further known first wife (if such wife indeed ever existed) no later than by 1015. Cf. Sten-
der-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 123 4 and 132. Sverdlov, Istoriieskie svjazi . . . , pp. 84, at any
rate is mistaken when he dates Yaroslav s m arriage to Ingigerd to as early as the spring of
1015. This is corrected, however, by the same scholar in his subsequent publication  Skandi-
navy . . 6 1 , where the date is given as 1019.
9 Opinions differ as to how long H arald stayed in Russia during his two prolonged visits
there. Thus, Stender-Petersen, Varangica, p. 134, assumes that he first was in Russia from
1031 to 1033, and (ibid., 135) is inclined to date the second visit to 1043-45. D. Obolensky,
in Varangian Problems, C openhagen 1970 (= ScSl, Suppl. 1), p. 163, merely suggests that
Harald came to Constantinople betw een 1034 and 1038 and that in 1043 (after the death of
his patron, E m peror Michael V, in 1042) he was refused permission to return to Norway
w hereupon he fled from Constantinople, at first obviously to Yaroslav s Russia  Byzanti­
um  s recent enemy. According to M. Hellm ann, Forschungen zur osteuropaischen Geschichte
8, 1962 (cf. n. 10, below), p. 21, in 1044, when H arald m arried Yaroslav s daughter Elisa­
beth, he had in the m eantim e seized power in Norway. This, however, is controverted by the
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Considering that Yaroslav also managed to become the father-in-law of
Andrew (Endre) I of Hungary and Henry I of France, and that he
succeeded in establishing marital bonds between his own dynasty and the
ruling houses of Byzantium, the Holy Roman Empire, and Poland, his
Varangian connection by marriage appears thus relatively modest.10 In
this context it should be noted, however, that the Russian ruler s second
marriage, to Ingigerd, came at a for him particularly opportune time. For
by marrying the daughter of the powerful Swedish king (probably in
1019), Yaroslav gained support against his until quite recently successful
and still utterly dangerous rival Sviatopolk, and the latter s father-in-law,
King Boleslaw Chrobry (Boleslas the Brave) of Poland.11 In view of the
prevailing political uncertainties in the Kievan state, Yaroslav did not
return permanently to Kiev until 1026. Yet he remained militarily in
control of the city also after the showdown with his brother Mstislav in the
battle fought on the banks of the river Listven in 1025. Here Yaroslav
and his exclusively or, in any event, predominantly Varangian troops
(under the command of the supposedly blind Hakon, OR Jakum) were
ultimately routed. Yaroslav again settled in the capital only after having
reached a lasting agreement with Mstislav (at Gorodets) concerning the
division of their respective lands (cf. above).12 In general, the former
prince of Novgorod on occasion preferred to reside in the northern city.
Thus, also in 1019, Ingigerd, when going to Russia to get married, first
joined the new grand prince of Kiev in Holmgard (Novgorod), the Varan­
gians stronghold, rather than in the state capital in the south.
testim ony of his saga in Snorri s Heimskringla; cf. Heimskringla: History o f the Kings o f
Norway by Snorri Sturluson (L. M. Hollander, transl. & ed.), Austin 1967 (*1964), p. 590
(ch. 17). It is further known that King Magnus Olafsson died only in 1047 when H arald, by
then back in Norway, assum ed the kingship. In 1066, the year of the Norm an conquest,
H arald m et his death at Stam ford Bridge whilst invading England.
,0 O n Yaroslav s  m arriage policy , see, in particular, M. H ellm ann. "D ie Heiratspolitik
Jaroslavs des W eisen , Forschungen zur osteuropäischen Geschichte 8, 1962, pp. 7
25; for a
general assessment o f his achievem ents in this respect, cf. also, e.g., H. A rbm an, The Vikings,
London 1970 (  1961), p. 105. On Yaroslav s dealings with G erm any and Poland, involving
both w ar and m arriage policies, see now further M. B. Sverdlov,  Die politischen Beziehun­
gen zwischen der R us und D eutschland , Russisch-deutsche Beziehungen von der Kiever
R us bis zur Oktoberrevolution: Studien und A ufsätze, H. Lem ke & B. W idera, eds., Berlin
1976, pp. 1-17, esp. pp. 8 -1 2 .
11 Cf. M. Hellm ann, op. cit., p. 15.
12 Cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 126-8. Sverdlov, "Skandinavy . . .  , p. 63, does
not believe that the Varangians fought alone against Mstislav but that they merely set up a
separate form ation in the battle array.
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 11
3. Ingigerd did not come alone to Russia. She was accompanied by her
old friend Ragnvald, jarl of Western Gautland (Vastergotland), and his
family. In the negotiations preceding the marriage, Ingigerd had asked
that Aldeigjuborg (i.e., Ladoga, present-day Staraya Ladoga) and the
adjacent territory (jarlsriki) be awarded her as dowry (dos). This was
granted, and the area subsequently became known as Ingigerd s land
(Finnish Ingerin-maa, German Ingermannland, Russian Hera, now Izora).
Jarl Ragnvald, cousin of King Olaf (Skotkonung) of Sweden and broth­
er-in-law of King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, was appointed to rule
over this northern march. It has even been suggested by Swedish histori­
ans that the Ladoga district was formally yielded to the Swedish king in
recognition for his support (sending Varangian troops and perhaps in
some other, additional form) to Yaroslav in the latter s fights against
Sviatopolk and King Boleslaw of Poland. While a measure of autonomy
may have been granted Jarl Ragnvald in his region, it is quite unlikely,
however, that any land was formally ceded by Grand Prince Yaroslav to
the king of Sweden. It seems, moreover, that it was this Jarl Ragnvald s
son Eilif - and not the son of a Ragnvald Brusason, as claimed in one of
the variants of the saga of Harald Hardrada - who subsequently, along
with Harald, became the chief of Yaroslav s Varangian guard.13 This is
how the episode of Jarl Ragnvald s joining Princess Ingigerd on her jour­
ney to Russia, and settling there, is told in St Olaf s saga in Snorri s
Heimskringla:
In the following fall the emissaries of King Jarizleif came to Sweden
out of Holmgarth in the east. Their errand was to claim the fulfilment of
the agreement made by King Olaf [of Sweden] in the preceding summer
to give his daughter Ingigerth in marriage to Jarizleif. She made this
answer,  If I am to marry King Jarizleif, then I demand as my bridal gift
Aldeigjuborg Castle and the earldom belonging to it. The emissaries
from Garthariki assented to this on behalf of their king. Then Ingigerth
said,  If I am to go east to Garthariki, then I shall choose a man from
Sweden whom I judge most suitable to go with me. I shall also make the
condition that there in the east he is to have a rank not lower than here
and in particular no fewer rights or a lesser dignity than he has here.
The king as well as the emissaries assented to this. The king pledged
himself to do so, and the emissaries likewise. Then the king asked
Ingigerth whom in his kingdom she wanted to have go with her. She
replied,  It is my kinsman, Earl Rognvald Ulfsson." - Ingigerth re-
13 Cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, p. 133.
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12 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
quested her father to keep the pledge he had given her, and she
achieved by her entreaties that the king agreed to let Rognvald depart
in peace out of Sweden, but not ever to show himself to him or return to
Sweden while he, Olaf, was king. Thereupon Ingigerth sent messengers
to the earl, informing him of this agreement and appointing a place of
meeting with her. And the earl set out straightway for East Gautland,
where he procured ships and proceeded with his retinue to where he
was to meet Princess Ingigerth. Then they all together journeyed east to
Garthariki in the summer. Then Ingigerth was married to King Jarizleif.
- Queen Ingigerth bestowed on Earl Rognvald the castle of Aldeigju-
borg and the earldom belonging to it. Earl Rognvald lived there for a
long time. He was a man of great renown. The sons of Earl Rognvald
and Ingibjorg were Earls Ulf and Eilif.14
The reason why King Olaf of Sweden, for his part, was resentful about
Jarl Ragnvald was that the latter (together with Sigvat the Skald) had
arranged for Princess Astrid, Olaf Skotkonung s other daughter, to be
married to the Norwegian king, St Olaf (also known as Digri,  the Stout ),
as the jarl had previously been instrumental in the ultimately futile negoti­
ations to marry Astrid s sister, Ingigerd, to King Olaf of Norway. The
wording of the passage quoted from the Heimskringla certainly suggests
neither that Yaroslav himself was in Sweden for the purpose of negoti­
ating the marriage (and the recruitment of Varangian mercenaries, as
Stender-Petersen considered possible or even likely; cf. n. 5, above), nor
that, by assigning the Ladoga region to Jarl Ragnvald, he in fact ceded it to
Sweden (whose king had explicitly banned the jarl from his country).
Nearly forty years ago, a hypothesis was advanced, supported by some 
not particularly strong  evidence, according to which Jarl Ragnvald was
the leader of an earlier, possibly anti-Christian insurrection against Olaf
Skotkonung, putting the jarl temporarily at the head of the Swedish state.
If this theory were to be proven correct, the said circumstance would of
course constitute an additional - and deeper - reason for King Olaf of
Sweden to harbor a grudge against Jarl Ragnvald.15
Other than Ragnvald (Ulfsson, not Brusason; cf. below) who, it seems,
settled permanently in Russia, and  more than ten years later, and then
again over twenty years later - Harald Hardrada, the most prominent
14 See Heimskringla (cf. n. 9), pp. 34 2 -3 (ch. 93).
15 Cf. O. Moberg, Olav Haraldsson, Knut den store och Sverige: Studier i Olav den heliges
forhallande till de nordiska grannlanderna, Lund 1941, pp. 140-7 and 227 (English sum ­
mary).
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 13
Varangians visiting and seeking refuge at Yaroslav s court were Olaf the
Stout (later, after having been canonized, known as St Olaf) and his son
Magnus (subsequently referred to as the Good). They were fugitives from
Norway after Canute the Great (known as Knut the Powerful in the saga),
king of Denmark and England, had laid claim to Norway and managed to
establish his control over the country without shedding a drop of blood
(after, to be sure, first having defeated a combined Swedish-Norwegian
army and fleet in the battle at the estuary of the river HelgeS in eastern
Scania). Olaf arrived in Russia in the summer of 1028 (this is at least the
most likely date) and stayed until the early winter of 1030 when he, as his
saga tells us,
journeyed west, first by the frozen rivers, all the way to the sea. And
when spring came and the ice broke up, they got their ships ready, and
with the first favorable breeze set sail and had a good journey. King
Olaf steered his ships to the Island of Gotland, and there he got news
both from Sweden and Denmark and also all the way from Norway.16
In this account, it is interesting to note the stopover Olaf supposedly
made on the island of Gotland, his sea journey, as has been suggested,
originating perhaps in the Gulf of Riga. There is no reason to doubt the
accuracy of the information as given in the saga. When telling of O laf s
travel from Sweden to Russia two years earlier, the same source has this to
say:
But when summer approached, the king prepared to leave and pro­
cured ships. He departed that summer, nor stopped till he arrived in
Garthariki in the east and sought out King Jarizleif and his consort
Ingigerth.17
This claim, that Olaf sailed directly to Russia from Sweden, is contra­
dicted, however, by what we learn from the Old Gotlandic (Gutnic) Gu-
tasaga, a semi-legendary early 13th-century tale about the prehistory and
earliest history of Gotland (up to its integration into the so-called ledung
system of either participating in warfare with ships, men, and supplies or
paying a set amount of money, established by the Uppsala kings). There it
is stated explicitly that Olaf the Saint was on the run from Norway and
that he anchored at Akergarn harbor where, after the local chieftain Or-
mica had accepted  Christendom following St O lafs knowledge (or,
possibly,  teaching ), he also built a church;  and from there Olaf the
16 See Heimskringla, p. 486 (ch. 192).
17 See Heimskringla, p. 474 (ch. 181).
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Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
14
Saint went to Yaroslav in Holmgard. 18 As G. Fritzell has pointed out,
there is reason, though, not to take the episode about St Olaf as told in the
Gutasaga at face value. For this passage is clearly a later insertion made
after the cult of St Olaf  possibly directly replacing an earlier pagan cult
of the god Thor connected with a widespread custom of worshipping at
local wells  and many legends about the Norwegian saint had gained solid
footing on the Baltic island. It should also be noted, incidentally, that Olaf
the Stout had earlier visited Gotland, in 1007, this time not peacefully but
in the process of brutally raiding the Baltic. It is conceivable, at any rate,
that the assertion of the Gutasaga about St O laf s visit to Gotland while en
route to Russia is simply in error and possibly due to a mixup with his
attested stay when going back to Sweden (and on to Norway).19
Another intriguing question connected with St O laf s second  peaceful
- visit to Gotland concerns the form o f Christianity that the Norwegian
king, by tradition credited with the island s Christianization, brought to
the landed peasants of Gotland. It is usually assumed, of course, that it
was its western, Roman variety. At the time of his stay on Gotland (pre­
sumably thus in 1030 on his way back from Russia to Sweden), the arch­
dioceses of England and Hamburg-Bremen competed as regards their
respective influence in Scandinavia. In addition, the young Russian
Church of the Orthodox faith (with its spiritual center in Constantinople)
may well have had its eyes on Northern Europe. In those pre-Schismatic
years - i.e., prior to 1054, the year of the formal institution of the lasting
Schism between the Western and Eastern Churches and, coincidentally,
the year of Yaroslav s death  and in the areas only newly (and often not
completely) converted to Christianity, the contrast between Christian and
pagan must still have counted for far more than the incipient differences in
dogma and ritual, significant though they were, embraced by the members
of the Roman and Byzantine Churches, respectively. The traveling peas­
ant merchants (Swedish farmanbdnder) of Gotland had long been involv­
ed in trade with Russia  cf. the frequent reference to the  Gothic coast
18 Cf. in  G utasagan (Gotlandska studier, Visby 1972, p. 7). The crucial phrase about
converting to the Christian faith reads in the original: Pa tok Ormica wipr cristindomi eptir
helga Olafs kennidom i; see ibid., p. 34.
19 Cf. G. Fritzell s study  T ankar kring G utasagan , Gotlandska studier, 1972, pp. 11-46,
esp. pp. 2 6 -9 ( O lof den helige och G otland ), 3 1 -4 ("T idpunkten for Olofs besok p i
G otland ), and 3 6 -4 0 ( A kergarn och kapellet p i S:t Olofsholm ). A kergam harbor, p re­
sent-day S:t Olofsholm, is located just north o f Slite on the northeastern coast of G otland.
Fritzell claims that St O la fs escape to Russia is usually dated to 1029 (ibid., pp. 3 1 -2 ) as is
indeed done by, e.g., Cross, op. cit., p. 193, and Sverdlov,  Skandinavy . . p. 61. Rather,
there is reason to assume, though, that King O laf went to Russia already in 1028.
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 15
(gockij beregb in Old Russian historical sources and legal documents) -
and other parts of the Baltic area, notably the rich West Slavic merchant
towns on the southern shore of the Baltic. There is no reason to assume
that they were not impressed and influenced by the various forms of
Christianity with which they came into contact in those countries. The
Gutasaga itself tells us, incidentally, that these traveling and trading Got-
landers on occasion were baptized while abroad and that they brought
Christian priests back to Gotland.20 Even if St'Olaf thus represents an
early instance of encounter with Christianity, it certainly was not the only
or even the first one. Subsequently, as is well known by now, Russian, i.e.,
Novgorodian, merchants seem to have had their own  Orthodox - church
in the heart of Visby, and in at least two churches in the countryside of
Gotland murals have been identified as being of Russian-Byzantinesque
provenience.21
In this connection it is further noteworthy that according to Snorri s
account given in St O lafs saga it was in Russia that Olaf had certain
religious experiences or participated in occurrences with a Christian con­
notation. Thus we are told of a dream (in response to O lafs asking God
for a sign) in which the king saw a man resembling King Olaf Tryggvason
and, with explicit reference to God, encouraging Olaf to return to Nor­
way. In another episode, he miraculously heals a boy. And, on a Sunday,
oblivious of the time, he cuts chips from a piece of wood. When told by a
servant, he has the shavings in his hand set on fire, thus burning his palm
in penance for having broken the Sabbath.22 Prior to that, his saga has this
to tell:
King Jarizleif and Queen Ingigerth had invited King Olaf to take up
residence with them and establish himself in the realm which is called
Vulgaria which is a part of Garthariki where people were heathen. King
Olaf considered whether to accept that invitation; but when he consult­
ed his men about this, they all dissuaded him from establishing himself
there and urged him to try to return north [west] to his own kingdom.
The king also deliberated whether to lay down the royal title and make
20 Cf. in  G utasagan , op. cit., p. 7. See further Fritzell, ibid., pp. 34 ( S:t O lof och
5
Gotlands kristnande ) and 40 ( Farm ansbonderna och G otlands kristnande ).
3
21 See esp. W. Falck,  Ryska kyrkan i kv. M unken (Gotldndskt arkiv 43, 1971, pp.
85-93). The two churches with Russian frescoes (in Byzantine style) are those at Kallunge
and at G arde; cf., e.g., B. G. Soderberg, Strovtag i Gotlands historia, Visby 1971, pp. 67 and
96 ( Ryskbysantinska kalkm Slningar ).
22 See Heimskringla, pp. 4 8 3 -5 (chs. 188
90).
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16 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
pilgrimage to Jerusalem or other holy places and submit to holy or­
ders.23
And soon thereafter we read about the Norwegian king in exile, worried
about his prospects of returning to his country:
Such anxious thoughts he often entertained; and he referred the
matter to God, praying that He would give some visible sign, so that he
might see what were best to do.24
As for the offer to assume the rule of Bulgaria, that is, Great Bulgaria in
the mid-Volga basin settled by a Turkic tribe, it is couched in such terms
(and put in such a context) as to suggest that Olaf rejected the idea in part
at least because the people of that area were pagan, in addition to his
strong urge to return to Norway. Stender-Petersen has rightly pointed out,
though, that even the mention of that country, at that particular time by
no means controled by the Russian ruler, sounds a bit fantastic and unre­
alistic. At most, what was contemplated by Yaroslav might have been to
let Olaf travel to this important center for trading with the Near and
Middle East. Or, possibly, it was an attempt to get rid of the inconvenient
visitor who must have been a liability for Yaroslav in this period of general
peace.25 This latter assumption is, to be sure, somewhat speculative but
should probably not be ruled out entirely.
When leaving Russia in 1030, Olaf left behind his son Magnus whom he
had brought along to the Kievan state (whereas he had left his queen,
Astrid, and his daughter, Ulfhild, in the care of his Swedish in-laws while
passing through Sweden on his flight from Norway two years earlier).
Magnus stayed on as Yaroslav s guest for another five years, returning to
Norway only in 1035 together with Jarl Ragnvald Brusason (d. 1043)
whose son in one variant of the saga of Harald Hardruler had, probably
mistakenly, been identified with the chief of Yaroslav s Varangian guard
(cf. above). The saga of Magnus the Good in Snorri s Heimskringla has
virtually nothing to say about his experiences in Russia as it begins with his
departure from Holmgard-Novgorod (again, not Kiev!) by way of Aldei-
gjuborg (Ladoga).26
Also in the saga of Harald Hardruler (Harald Sigurdarson), forming
part of Snorri s magnificent historical work, repeated reference is made to
23 See Heimskringla, p. 483 (in ch. 187).
24 Ibid.
25 Cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, p. 134.
26 See Heimskringla, p. 538 (ch. 1).
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection
Russia (Gardariki = Garthariki) and to Yaroslav (Jarizleif). Thus, about
Harald s arrival and first stay in Russia we read:
In the following spring they procured for themselves a ship and in
summer travelled to Garthariki to the court of King Jarizleif and stayed
there during the winter. - King Jarizleif made Harald and his followers
welcome. Harald became chieftain of the men charged with the defence
of the country . . . - Harald remained several years in Garthariki and
made forays in the eastern Baltic. Later, he proceeded to Greece .. ? 1
Of particular interest is the mention that Harald, while serving the
Byzantine emperor and remaining for many years in Africa (Serkland,
 Saracen Land ) where he acquired great quantities of chattels ( gold, and
all kinds of valuable things ), to the extent he did not need them for his
immediate expenses sent all this property  by trusty men north to Holm-
garth for King Jarizleif to keep and safeguard .28 That it is to Novgorod
that these treasures are being sent by Harald is of course no accident
unless, perhaps, Holmgard here simply stands for Russia in the mind of
the Scandinavian historian of the Middle Ages (as Miklagard stands for
Byzantium as a whole, not only for Constantinople). For surely at this
time, in the late 1030s and early 40s, Yaroslav can be assumed to have
resided primarily in Kiev even if, as we can surmise, he may have paid
frequent visits to the city of his earlier years which had remained, it seems,
the chief Varangian garrison of the Kievan state. And then, we learn of
Harald s writing poetry, when returning to Russia on his escape from
Byzantium. A stanza, quoted in the saga, is said to refer to Ellisif (Elisa­
beth), King Jarizleif s daughter and Harald s future wife. This is followed
by an account of Harald s dazzling wealth assembled upon his return to
Russia:
When Harald arrived in Holmgarth, King Jarizleif welcomed him
most heartily. He remained there during the winter, taking into his own
keeping all the gold he had before sent there from Miklagarth, together
with much other treasure. Altogether it was more than had ever been
seen in the North in one man s property. Harald had been inpolutasvarf
three times whilst in Miklagarth.29
And the narrator, after having explained the meaning of polutasvarf,
goes on telling in the next chapter of Harald s marriage to Elisabeth
27 See Heimskringla, p. 578 (ch. 2).
28 See Heimskringla, p. 581 (in ch. 5).
29 See Heimskringla, p. 590 (ch. 16).
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18 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
 whom Northmen call E llis ifa n d how in the following spring he traveled
from Novgorod to Sweden, as usual taking the route over Aldeigjuborg
(Ladoga).30
It is here, in the quoted section from chapter sixteen of the saga of
Harald Hardruler, that the peculiar term polutasvarf (in normalized Old
Icelandic spelling: polutasvarf, attested also in the writings polotasvarf and
polittasvarf) occurs; the American translator and editor o f Snorri s mo­
numental history of the kings of Norway, L. M. Hollander, has glossed it
 Palace-plundering in keeping with Snorri s own explanation. It is a hy­
brid  Varangian , i.e., Russian-Scandinavian, coinage ,to which Sten-
der-Petersen has devoted a special study. The Danish Slavist boldly sur­
mised that Snorri was in error when he wrote that Harald had been three
times  in polutasvarf  while in Byzantium. In reality, so Stender s contro­
versial argument runs, the tautological, self-translating word (its both
components said to have essentially the same meaning of  turn, round ,
probably with some special connotation), formed in a similar fashion as
tapar-yx  hatchet (cf. Russian topor, Swedish yxa  ax, hatchet ), refers to
Harald s assignments as tax-collector on behalf of Yaroslav during his stay
in Russia as commander of the Russian prince s Varangian troops.31
4. This brings us to the third and perhaps most important area of Yaro­
slav s dealings with the Varangians  his relying on foreign mercenaries
recruited in Scandinavia, primarily Sweden. We know of at least four
occasions when he had to call upon Varangian troops, probably each time
specially brought in from across the Baltic, to handle political-military
emergencies.
The first occurrence was in 1014/15 when Yaroslav, then prince of
Novgorod, probably in the spirit of, and supported by, the independently
minded citizenry of the northern trade metropolis, refused to pay the
annual tribute of 2000 grivnas to his father, Grand Prince Vladimir (sub­
sequently, in recognition o f his role in Russia s conversion to Christianity
and despite his unsaintly life style, known as St Vladimir). It is fair to
assume that Yaroslav must have felt a certain hostility toward his father at
least since the latter, upon marrying the Byzantine princess Anne in 988,
had repudiated Yaroslav s mother, the Varangian princess Ragnheid
(Rogned or Rogneda, d. 1000), daughter of Ragnvald (Rogvolod) of
Polotsk. Although the chronicle account of the sequence of events sug­
30 Ibid. (ch. 17).
31 Cf. Stender-Petersen,  Le m ot varegue P olutasvarf , Varangica, pp. 151-64.
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 19
gests that Yaroslav turned for help to the Swedish (and possibly also the
Norwegian) king only once he felt threatened by his father who  was
about to march against Yaroslav (xotjascu Volodimeru iti na Jaroslava),
one may agree with Stender-Petersen that Yaroslav actually first sought to
secure military support from beyond the sea and only then wanted to defy
and openly oppose his father. However, a new situation unexpectedly
arose and made this particular scheme unnecessary: in 1015 Vladimir
suddenly died, and the following years (through 1019) are instead marked
by Yaroslav s claiming, with shifting success, the grand-princely throne of
Kiev against his half brother Sviatopolk. To fight the latter, Yaroslav
presumably sent a second time for Varangian mercenaries in 1018. By
1019, after the short episode of hesitation when he was in fact ready to
abandon also Novgorod and go into exile in Sweden, briefly referred to
above (cf. n. 5), he was prepared to face his enemy. However, prior to that
the one thousand or so Varangian warriors he had recruited in the first
instance (and who probably arrived in Novgorod in 1015) had caused
Yaroslav considerable problems. The Varangians, and in particular one
unit housed in Novgorod s so-called Poromonb dvon> (which in all likeli­
hood corresponds to the Old Scandinavian form farmannagardr, i.e., the
yard of the foreign traders - cf. the Gotlandic farmanbdnder mentioned
earlier - rather than to a Greek paramone or paramonai, meaning roughly
 watch or  guard , in Byzantine Greek pronounced paramorii and para­
mone, respectively, also contemplated), idled by not having to go into
action and combat immediately, had turned to abusing the people of
Novgorod and to raping their women - the married women, as the First
Novgorod Chronicle is at pains to make explicit. In response the Novgo-
rodians turned on the Varangians and killed those in the Poromonb
dvorb, probably a relatively small number (as can be gathered from the
fact that the Old Russian chronicler in a subsequent passage refers to a
thousand - obviously surviving - Varangians). Presumably taken· by sur­
prise, Yaroslav, clearly, sided with the Varangians  at least after the
bloodbath - and although there are some discrepancies in the accounts of
the ensuing events in the Nestor Chronicle (as can be read in the Lauren-
tian Copy) and the First Novgorod Chronicle as to the prince s where­
abouts during the critical moments, he obviously avenged the slain
Northmen by, in turn, cunningly  in the best Varangian tradition - having
a number of distinguished Novgorod citizens assassinated. As Sten-
der-Petersen pointed out, the subsequent reconciliation between Yaroslav
and the townspeople must be seen in the light of the sudden news received
around that time telling of the death of Yaroslav s father Vladimir and
2·
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20 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
triggering immediate political complications. Whereas the Novgorodians
probably were primarily concerned with preserving and, if possible,
further strengthening the relative autonomy of their city and the North
Russian expanses it controlled vis-Ä…-vis the central power of the grand
prince of Kiev, Yaroslav was now obviously more interested in ascending
to the Kievan throne, being the oldest surviving son of Ragnheid.32
A third and, possibly, fourth recruitment of Varangian mercenaries
took place in 1025 and, again, in 1036 (or shortly thereafter). The first of
these two occasions was when Yaroslav marched against his brother
Mstislav who, supported by Turkic nomads of the steppe, had moved up to
Chernigov from his previous principality of Tmutarakan . As was already
mentioned, the decisive battle on the banks of the river Listven , where
32 Cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 116-23, for details surrounding the events le­
ading to Yaroslav s first and second hiring of Varangian m ercenaries, with additional refer­
ences. It was already m entioned above (n. 2) that Stender erroneously or, at any rate,
inconsistently assumed that in 1014 Y aroslav was barely twenty-eight years old (in reality, he
was probably about thirty-two at that tim e). I can further not subscribe to the Danish
scholar s view (op. cit., pp. 6 8 -7 0 and 120) that the citizens of Novgorod in Yaroslav s time
were predominantly o f Scandinavian origin. Presumably, the bulk of the earliest citydwellers
of Novgorod was East Slavic (m erging various tribes), including some Finnic elem ents as
well. The emergence of Novgorod as a city (rather than its founding at a specific date) is now
usually considered the result o f the gradual grow ing-together o f the three original boroughs
or  ends , Slavno End (Slavenskii konets), Potters E nd (Goncharskii o r Liudin konets), and
Nerev End (Nerevskii konets), these  and the subsequent additional two -  ends retaining
a large measure o f self-rule also after their integration into one urban community. Varangi­
ans - not only the m ercenaries but also traders from G otland and perhaps other parts of
Scandinavia  may have constituted a m inor (though at times significant) portion of the
perm anent population o f the city, as may possibly some groups who had come to the Vol­
khov m etropolis from the flourishing West Slavic (W endish) trade centers on the southern
shores of the Baltic. The Varangians as well as the traveling merchants from other areas
settled primarily at Slavno on the M erchant (or M arket) Side (Torgovaya storona) of
Novgorod. In any event, the statem ent of the First Novgorod Chronicle (in its younger
version) that  the people of Novgorod are o f V arangian stock to this very day , found in the
entry for the year 6362 (= 854), must not be taken literally. For further discussion of the
origins and ethnic m akeup o f the Volkhov city, see, e.g., H. Birnbaum ,  Lord Novgorod the
G reat: its Place in Medieval C ulture (Viator 8, 1977, pp. 215 22 0 -3 - where the
54, esp.
claim m ade on page 223 that Yaroslav him self went twice to Sweden obviously is in need of
correction  2 2 6 -8, and 2 3 8 -4 0 ); N. J. Dejevsky,  Novgorod: the Origins of a Russian
,
Town (European Towns: Their Archaeology and Early History, M. W. Barley, ed., London,
New York & San Francisco 1977, pp. 391
403, section 22), containing some objectionable
statements, however. Cf. further also V. L. Janin, M. Ch. Aleskovskij, "Proischozdenie
Novgoroda (k postanovke problem y) (fstorija SSSR 2, 1971, pp. 32 -6 1 ); and V. L. Janin,
"Vozm oznosti archeologii v izuienii drevnego Novgoroda (Vestnik A kadem ii nauk SSSR 8,
1973, pp. 65-75).
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 21
Yaroslav and his Varangian commander Hakon faced a combined Slav-
ic-Turkic army under Mstislav, ended with a total defeat for the Varan­
gians unaided, it seems, by any Slavic auxiliary troops. Also the fourth
confrontation in which Yaroslav heavily relied on Scandinavian mercena­
ries involved a nomadic Turkic people, now the Pechenegs, as enemy.
Shortly after Mstislav s death in 1036, they had moved in and were sieging
the capital city of Kiev while Yaroslav, as so many times before, happened
to be in Novgorod. This time, however, he managed to set up a mixed
Slavic-Varangian army against the Pechenegs and, with the Varangians in
the center of his battle array,· the Novgorodians on the left and the
Kievans on the right flank, he forced the enemy to break the siege and
withdraw. Though it is not quite clear whether Varangian troops again had
to be specially called in for the occasion or whether Yaroslav merely relied
on his crack troops already stationed in Novgorod, it appears more likely
that yet another mission to recruit additional Varangian warriors had to be
dispatched to Sweden (even if no such action is recorded in the historical
sources).
With this, the explicit statements contained in the Old Russian chroni­
cles concerning Varangian troops as participating and, in fact, usually
playing a crucial role in Yaroslav s military exploits come to an end. It is
not known whether Scandinavian units took part also in the Russian so­
vereign s other military expeditions  against the Estonians (
u
), the
Baltic Yatvingians and Lithuanians, and the Poles (in Masovia); at least
there is no mention of them in the chronicle text or in any Old Norse saga.
Neither do we know for sure - though it seems likely - if Yaroslav used
Varangian troops in subduing, in 1021, Prince Briachislav of Polotsk. This
nephew of his was ruling over old Varangian territory and had attacked
Novgorod, confiscating property and taking hostages. The account given
by the Byzantine chronicler (and high official) John Scylitzes according to
which, after the Russian defeat in the naval battle against the Byzantines
in 1043, more than 15,000 corpses of Varangian warriors were washed
ashore on the banks of the Bosporus must be taken with a grain of salt, to
say the least.33
5. In concluding these preliminary remarks on Yaroslav s Varangian con­
nection, let us take a brief look at the relevant historical sources and the
nature of the evidence available. It goes without saying that the Old
Russian chronicles - the Nestor (or Primary) Chronicle in its two main
33 Cf. Stender-Petersen, Varangica, pp. 124 see further also n. 7.
9;
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22 Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
variants34 and the First Novgorod Chronicle35 in particular  are of con­
siderable value as sources of information shedding light also on Yaroslav s
dealings with the Varangians. By the same token, a certain bias, though
not working consistently in one direction only, can be discerned in the Old
Russian annals. Thus, on the one hand, the chronicles - and the Nestor
Chronicle in particular - undoubtedly have integrated some source mate­
rial of Varangian origin; on the other hand, any conceivable dependence
on the part of Yaroslav on his Scandinavian relatives and in-laws is natu­
rally, for national considerations or, rather, for reasons of state interest,
played down. Even Yaroslav s Scandinavian-born spouse, obviously a
strong-minded personality, is barely mentioned in the Old Russian
chronicles. This qualified significance of the Russian sources being well
established (and to some minor extent exemplified above), we will not be
concerned here any further with that side of the historical evidence.
Of other chronicle-writing, German and Danish sources in Latin have
rather little to offer. For example, Adam of Bremen, active in the 1070s, is
not particularly interested in Yaroslav s contacts with Sweden but men­
tions Danish marital bonds and trade routes linking Denmark
Russian
with Russia. Also Saxo Grammaticus (mid-12th/early 13th cc.) in his
broadly conceived Gesta Danorum does not add substantially to our
knowledge of Yaroslav s Varangian contacts. The earlier Chronicon by
Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg (d. 1018) refers to or mentions Yaroslav a
few times but mostly only in passing, in connection with his belligerent
dealings with King ( Duke ) Boleslaw o f Poland or in vague and general
34 Cf. P ovese
vremennych let, 1 (V. P. A drianova-Peretc, D . S. Licha%0Å„ev et al., eds. &
2
transl.), Moskva & L eningrad 1950. Fo r variant readings o f the chronicle text in different
manuscripts, see now L. Scheffler, Textkritischer A pparat zu r Nestorchronik (= Handbuch
zur Nestorchronik, hrsg. von L. M üller, 2, M ünchen 1977). English translation: The Russian
Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text (S. H . Cross & O. P. Sherbow itz-W etzor, transl. & eds.),
Cambridge, M ass., 31973 (a new English rendition o f the N estor Chronicle, with com m en­
tary, is reported to be currently in preparation at H arvard University).
35 Cf. N ovgorodskaja pervaja letopis' stariego i mlada
ego izvodov (A . N. Nasonov, ed.),
Moskva & L eningrad 1950. English translation: The Chronicle o f Novgorod, 1016-1471 (R.
Michell & N. Forbes, transl., C. R . Beazley & A . A . Shakhm atov, eds.), London 1914; see
further: Die Erste Novgoroder Chronik nach ihrer ältesten Redaktion (Synodalhandschrift),
10 16-1333/1352 (also with English title), edition o f the O ld Russian text with facsimile of
the transcript in reprint (J. Dietze, G erm an transl. & ed.), Leipzig & M ünchen 1971.
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection
23
terms as one of Grand Prince ( King ) Vladimir s sons.36 Having died
prior to Yaroslav s ascending to the Kievan throne, Thietmar could of
course hardly have taken any particular interest in what he must have
considered the upstart Yaroslav. O f Byzantine chroniclers, George Ced-
renus and John Scylitzes were previously mentioned. Of great importance
is further the Chronographia by the Byzantine scholar and statesman
Michael (Constantine) Psellus, author of what by many experts is held to
be one of the most brilliant pieces of memoir literature of the Middle
Ages, virtually unmatched in graphic style, incisive characterization, and
deep psychological and intellectual insight. Among other things, Psellus
has analyzed the causes o f the Russians unsuccessful campaign against
Constantinople in 1043, led by Yaroslav s son Vladimir, prince of Nov­
gorod, and presumably with the participation of Varangian mercenary
troops (by then apparently constituting a permanent component of
Yaroslav s armed forces).37
Turning now to Scandinavian historiography and legend, the unique
importance of Snorri Sturluson s Heimskringla, come down to us  in
more or less good condition  in several manuscripts and amply cited (in
English translation) in the preceding, should be readily clear and not
require further elaboration. In addition, the testimony of the Old Gotlan-
dic Gutasaga was mentioned as regards an episode in the biography of St
Olaf of Norway while en route to and/or from Russia. Also information
contained in  primarily Swedish  runestone inscriptions was at least
briefly referred to. With this, however, the Old Scandinavian sources
providing data on the Varangians in Russia, particularly in the times of
Yaroslav the Wise, are by far not exhausted. Relevant Icelandic saga
material  historically reliable as well as some fantastic, but often, not
always, with a core of historical truth (in the so-called fornaldar sagas) -
can further be found in a number o f other, in part extensive texts, written
36 Cf. Thietmari Merseburgensis Episcopi Chronicon I Thietmar von Merseburg: Chronik
(R. Holtzm ann & W. Trillmich, transl. & eds.) D arm stadt 1957 (= Ausgewahlte Q uellen zur
deutschen Geschichte des M ittelalters 9), reprint Berlin 1962, pp. 4 2 6 -7 ,4 3 4 -5 ,4 7 2 -3 , and
esp. 474 Basically, it is only the last passage indicated which is of some interest to our
5.
discussion as T hietm ar here m entions am ong Kiev s inhabitants  swift D anes (ex velocibus
Danis). Probably, this is a reference to the Varangian troops in general, not specifically to
any Danes, as Sverdlov, Istoriceskie svjazi . . . (cf. n. 3), pp. 86-7, is inclined to believe.
37 On Psellus and o ther sources for 11th-century Byzantine history, including Byzanti-
ne-R ussian relations, see G. Ostrogorsky, History o f the Byzantine State, rev. ed., New
Brunswick, N J ., 1969, pp. 2 1 0 -1 7 and 3 1 6 -19 . Generally on Psellus, see now further Ja. N.
Ljubarskij, Michail Psell: Licnost V tvorcestvo,  istorii vizantijskogo predgumanizma, Mos­
kva 1978.
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24
Scando-Slavica-Tomus 24
in Old Icelandic or Latin. Listing them in the chronological order of their
textual tradition they are:
(1) Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium, authored in Latin by
one Theodricus monachus, probably a Norwegian cleric, at the end
of the 12th century; '
(2) Agrip afNoregs konunga sqgum (Summary of the sagas of the kings
of Norway), a poorly put together compilation with many gaps in
Old Icelandic, dating from the last years of the 12th century;
(3) and (4) Morkinskinna (Rotten Vellum) and Fagrskinna (Fair Vel­
lum), both large compilations in Old Icelandic dating to about
1220, the former written in an elegant style but full of fantastic
detail, the latter, historically more trustworthy, in a more awkward
style, compensated to some extent by extensive quotations from
skaldic poetry not known from elsewhere; the authors of both these
collections are unknown;
(5) the Legendary saga o f St O laf written about 1250 in Old Norwe­
gian, supposedly in the Trendelag district by an anonymous author;
(6) Flateyarbok, written on the tiny island Flatey off the coast of north­
western Iceland by two priests, Jon PorSarson and Magnus Por-
hallsson in Old Icelandic sometime between 1387 and 1394; it
embodies sizable material from lost sources not recorded else­
where, among other things, the tale Eymundar pattr Hringsonar
including an account of Eymund s visit to Russia (see n. 7, above).
Chronologically, Snorri s Heimskringla seems to fall between (3) (4)
and (5). No exact date for the compilation of this extensive work has been
ascertained, but we know that Snorri was assassinated in 1241, and it is
believed that writing the detailed history of the Norwegian kings was
probably the preoccupation of a lifetime. About 1230 is sometimes used
simply as an approximate date for composing the Heimskringla. It should
also be noted that Morkinskinna and Fagrskinna, earlier dated to c. 1250
or shortly thereafter, now are commonly thought to have been written
somewhat earlier, probably around 1220.
While this is not the place to elaborate on what precisely concerning
Yaroslav s Varangian connection is reported in which Old Scandinavian
text and how reliable the information in each case may be considered,
suffice it to say that the Old Icelandic sources in terms of wealth of data
surpass even the factual material found in the annalistic writings of ancient
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Henrik Birnbaum: Yaroslav s Varangian Connection 25
Rus .38 Finally, it should be mentioned that considerable if in part contro­
versial archeological evidence, including many coin hoards, is increasingly
becoming available. It, too, casts a new light on various aspects of the
Varangian presence in early medieval Russia even though it is frequently
difficult narrowly to date the Scandinavian or Scandinavia-related finds in
Russian soil.39
6. Admittedly, we can agree, on the one hand, with the eager contention
of Soviet scholarship (still concerned with the one-sided exaggerations of
the Normanist conception) that during Yaroslav s rule the Varangians no
longer traveled to Russia as conquerors assuming the role of political
leaders  as obviously some of their forefathers had done  but were
integrated, particularly if they had come to stay, into an existing, ever
more firmly organized society. There can, on the other hand, be little
doubt that this, and especially the years 1014 through 1036, was a period
when the extent and intensity of the Varangian impact on Russia reached
an all time height. To fully determine how Yaroslav, the Russian-Varan-
gian prince, managed to cope with this foreign influence and turn it to his
own and his country s advantage without ultimately giving up anything
essential is a task for future  unbiased  research.
38 See S. H. Cross,  Yaroslav the Wise in Norse T radition (cf. n. 3), esp. p. 183, fn. 2;
E. A. Rydzevskaja,  Jaroslav Mudryj v drevnesevernoj literature (cf. n. 3). For further
information on the Heimskringla and the other Old Norse texts cited, see also Heimskringla
(cf. n. 9), pp. xvi-xix, xxiv-xxv, and elsewhere in the Introduction; further, e.g., E. V.
Gordon, A n Introduction to Old Norse, 2nd rev. ed. by A . R. Taylor, Oxford 1974 (1962),
pp. lxi and lxvi-lxvii. On the Legendary saga o f St O laf (and its connection with the Fagr-
skinna codex), see also D. A. Seip, Den legendariske Olavssaga og Fagrskinna, Oslo 1929.
39 For a critical assessment of recent Soviet scholarship in the field of  Varangian
archeology, see N. J. Dejevsky,  The Varangians in Soviet archaeology today (Mediaeval
Scandinavia 10, 1976, pp.- 7 -3 4 , with am ple references). O f particular interest for our
purpose, among the studies discussed by Dejevsky and not previously m entioned here, are
two works by V. M. Potin: a m onograph (published in 1968) and an article (of 1970) on
numismatic data pertinent to Russian
Scandinavian contacts in the early Middle Ages and
concerned, among other things, with the  Scandinavian forgeries of the silver coinage of
Yaroslav; cf. op. cit., pp. 2 6 -7 , with fnn. 50, 58, and 59.
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