Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium
On 11 June 941 Igor’s fleet was scattered at the entrance to the Bosporus by Byzantine ships using Greek fire; after three months of raiding in Bithynia the rest of it was destroyed off Thrace in September. In 944 Igor set out again with Varangians and Pechenegs, but the Byzantines bought peace at the Danube.
- Date
- 11 June 941 – 944start: exact date; end: year known · duration: ≈ 3 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Hieron at the entrance to the Bosporusapproximate locationtoday: Anadolu Kavağı, Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Igor of Kiev, Kievan Rus’, Byzantine Empire, Pechenegs
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Rus'–Byzantine War of 941; Greek fire 941; Поход Игоря 941 года; Поход Игоря 944 года
The attack was expected: the Bulgarians and the strategos of Cherson had warned Constantinople. Emperor Romanos I had fifteen old ships fitted with Greek-fire siphons at the bow, the stern and the sides; near Hieron they burned many Rus’ boats, and, as Liudprand of Cremona heard from his stepfather, the Rus’ leapt into the sea rather than burn. The survivors raided the Bithynian coast until the armies of John Kourkouas and Bardas Phokas pinned them down; on 15 September the patrikios Theophanes destroyed the fleet as it tried to break out along the coast of Thrace. Prisoners were beheaded.
The second campaign, dated 943 or 944, is known only from the Primary Chronicle: Byzantine envoys met Igor on the Danube and offered tribute, the Pechenegs were sent off to plunder Bulgaria, and negotiations led to the treaty of 944. Some historians doubt that this second campaign took place.
Connections
Consequences
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
Same participants
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europevia Igor of Kiev
- Battle of Achelous20 August 917 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europevia Pechenegs
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922 · Eastern Europe
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- First Althing at Þingvellir930
- Battle of Lechfeld10–12 August 955
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962
- Baptism of Poland14 April 966
Eastern Europe
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960
- Drevlian uprising and death of Igor945
- Olga’s revenge on the Drevlians945–946
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922
+ 2 events
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Rus'–Byzantine War (941–944)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Русско-византийская война (941—944)
- Liudprand of Cremona. Antapodosis, V.15.
- Сахаров А. Н. Дипломатия Древней Руси: IX — первая половина X в. — М.: Мысль, 1980.
- Wikidata: Q1837308