According to Vladimir Putin, there is an opinion that the founder of the Russian state had Slavic roots and, thus, it was no coincidence that he was called to reign in Novgorod. We tried to figure out what this statement is based on.

On April 20, 2022, at a meeting of the supervisory board of the autonomous non-profit organization “Russia - the Land of Opportunities”, Vladimir Putin spoke via video link with the Skatkov family from the Samara region. School student Mikhail Skatkov, a finalist in the “Big Change” competition in the “Remember!” direction, was asked by the president about his favorite historical story related to Rurik. “I liked the Kulikovo Field more, and under Rurik, most likely, this was his calling, how it all happened. Because there are legends, anti-Normanists say that Rurik was a Slav, Normanists say that Rurik was a Varangian. So I'm more in the middle." answered the teenager. Putin, in turn, said: “But, by the way, maybe you’re right. Because if you keep in mind that he is a Varangian, then there is an opinion that his mother was either Slavic or something like that. And it was no coincidence that he, Rurik, ended up in Novgorod, that he was called to serve there not by chance, he had some relation or his relatives had a certain relation to the Slavs, to the Slavic lands, to Novgorod and so on. But this is a very interesting page in our history. And I think that you are absolutely right, in fact, that this truth and truth, as a rule, is located in the middle, this is the golden mean for sure. But the fact that he and his retinue came from somewhere in Scandinavia does not mean at all that this Norman theory of the formation of the Russian state is correct, he was called up.”

https://youtu.be/DbSgoj-oJh0?t=1940

Has Putin said anything about this before? On November 5, 2014, at a meeting with young historians - scientists and teachers, he stated: “But I looked, for example, yesterday (on National Unity Day, at the exhibition “My History. The Rurikovichs” in the Manege. - Ed.) how the Rurikovichs began. And you only took one version – Karamzin’s, and that’s it. What is stated there within the framework of this theory - the Norman origin of the Russian state? They called the team in order to build relationships within the community. There is another point of view, according to which the squad was called, but not in order to build relationships within the community, but in order to provide external security: they were hired simply as a security structure, in today’s language, that’s all, and then they usurped power to a certain extent. But there is such a point of view. And you only have one there. And this Norman theory suggests that statehood came from outside. Those who believe otherwise think differently, they believe that statehood has already been established in Novgorod, for example, and a foreign squad was hired only for external security. That is why the princes were so limited in their rights, and that is why they were expelled when they crossed certain boundaries of their competence.” As we can see, Putin in 2014 did not question the foreign origin of Rurik.

What does science know about Rurik’s family ties? The main source of information about the most ancient period of Russian history is the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", dating Rurik's calling to 862. The first versions of the Russian chronicle that have not reached us, apparently (scientific discussion about this continues), were put on parchment in Kyiv in the middle of the 11th century, at the end of the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich (followed by entrenched nickname "Wise") The final text of The Tale of Bygone Years was formed at the beginning of the 12th century.

Rurik is named in the Tale as the prince of the Varangian tribe Rus, but the chronicle contains no information about his ancestors. The source reports about two brothers of Rurik: Sineus and Truvor. Unlike Rurik and his brothers, the subsequent princes of Rus': Oleg (who, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, was “from the family” of Rurik, which, however, does not find any confirmation in other sources), Igor Rurikovich, his widow Olga, Svyatoslav Igorevich, etc. - are known not only from the Tale of Bygone Years, but also from numerous foreign sources that shed more light on the events of ancient history Rus': in particular, "Cambridge Document", treatise "On Managing an Empire" Constantine Porphyrogenitus, “Antapodosis” by Liutprand of Cremona, etc.

Names Rurik, Igor, Olga, Olg have Scandinavian origin, in contrast to the Slavic names Svyatoslav, Yaropalk, Volodymyr. It turns out that from the generation of Rurik’s grandchildren, the dynasty became Slavic. As part of the "Tale of Bygone Years" before us got there texts of Russian-Byzantine treaties of the 10th century. They list numerous ambassadors of Rus', most of whose names also have Scandinavian roots. Thus, in the agreement concluded between Igor and the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos in 944, the prince’s nephew and namesake are mentioned. There are also certain Volodislav and Predslava, who sent their ambassadors to Constantinople. Perhaps they were also some kind of relatives of Igor. Among the high-ranking Russians, a certain Uleb is also listed, this is a Scandinavian name.

Prince of Rus' Rurik from the beginning of the 19th century tried identify with the famous bearer of the Old Scandinavian name Hrœrekr, who lived in the middle of the 9th century - the Jutlandic (Danish) prince, whose name is reflected in Latin sources as Roricus or Rorichus (in Russian historiography he is usually called Rorik of Jutland). Unfortunately, the scarce source material does not provide grounds to confidently support this version.

Where did the idea of the Slavic origin of Rurik’s mother come from? It appeared in the middle of the 18th century, when the Russian historian and statesman Vasily Tatishchev (1686–1750) retold in his own words a certain text of ancient origin, the manuscript of which he allegedly received from a deceased relative. Tatishchev considered the author of this text to be the first Novgorod bishop Joachim and therefore called it the Joachim Chronicle. In the work, accessible To us only in the form of retelling and extracts from the historian, Rurik is called the son of the Slavic woman Umila, who was the daughter of the elder Gostomysl. Allegedly, Gostomysl, who ruled a certain great city, bequeathed his power to the sons of Umila. Princess Olga, Igor’s wife and Svyatoslav’s mother, according to Tatishchev, also came from the Gostomysl family.

From Tatishchev’s “Russian History”: “Gostomysl had four sons and three daughters. His sons were either killed in wars or died in the house, and not a single son of his remained, and his daughters were given to neighboring princes as wives. And Gostomysl and the people felt heavy sadness about this; Gostomysl went to Kolmogard to ask the gods about the inheritance and, ascending to a high place, made many sacrifices and bestowed gifts on the prophets. The prophets answered him that the gods promised to give him an inheritance from the womb of his woman. But Gostomysl did not believe this, because he was old and his wives had not given birth to him, and therefore he sent to Zimegoly to ask the soothsayers, so that they would decide how to inherit from him from his descendants. He, not having faith in all this, remained in sadness. However, while he was sleeping in the afternoon, he had a dream of how from the womb of his middle daughter Umila a great fruitful tree grew and covered the entire Great City, and from its fruits the people of the whole earth were fed. Rising from sleep, he called on the prophets and told them this dream. They decided: “He should inherit from her sons, and the land will be enriched with his reign.” And everyone rejoiced that the son of the eldest daughter would not inherit, for he was worthless. Gostomysl, sensing the end of his life, called all the elders of the land from the Slavs, Rus', Chud, Vesi, Mers, Krivichs and Dryagovichs, told them a dream and sent those elected to the Varangians to ask the prince. And after the death of Gostomysl, Rurik came with two brothers and their relatives.”

But numerous traces indicate that there was no ancient text. Thus, there is a significant contradiction in Tatishchev’s references to the appearance of the chronicle list he received. In one place historian writes: “From these notebooks it is clear that the 4th, 5th and 6th were taken out of the book, according to the markings, a new letter, but poorly made, an old warehouse, mixed with a new one, but the simplest one and the Novgorod dialect,” that is, they sent him only three eight-sheet notebooks from some not very ancient manuscript. In another place Tatishchev indicates: “[I] understood that these notebooks were written off on purpose to be sent to me.”

Symptomatically, Tatishchev introduced several Scandinavian names into the chronicle. For example, in the Scandinavian sagas Kyiv appears as Kœnugarðr, and Novgorod as Holmgarðr. In the Joachim Chronicle we find the Kumen River and the city of Kolmogard. For certain knownthat the Russian historian learned these names from his Swedish colleague Erik Julius Biorner. He identified Konugard of the ancient sagas with the Finnish toponym Kymenegardia, and Holmgard with Colmogardia. In the first case, we have before us the result of a clear confusion of the ancient name of Kyiv with the name of the Finnish river Kymeni (Sw. Kymmene älv) and Kymmenegårds and Nyslotts län (Sw. Kymmenegårds och Nyslotts län), part of which Sweden ceded to Russia Abo Peace Treaty 1743. Thus, the ancient Joachim Chronicle contains traces of unsuccessful scientific quests of the first half of the 18th century.

Sometimes they try to support the reliability of the information in the Joachim Chronicle with archeology: a layer of fire at the end of the 10th century in Novgorod (about this wrote historian and archaeologist Valentin Yanin) or detection remains of the ancient bridge across the Volkhov (the oak supports of the bridge of the 10th century were found in 2018 by the expedition of Aivar Stepanov). Both supposedly prove the validity of Joachim’s information about the baptism of Novgorodians under Vladimir Svyatoslavich. However, in the large wooden city that existed on the two banks of the Volkhov from the first half of the 10th century, there could not have been fires (both archaeologists and the Novgorod chronicle record them many times); this city could not exist without a reliable connection between the two banks.

Let's summarize. The version that Rurik’s mother was of Slavic origin is part of Vasily Tatishchev’s hoax. Apparently, in this way Tatishchev, like Putin in the 21st century, wanted to downplay the role of foreigners in the history of Russia.