Oleg takes Kyiv
According to the Primary Chronicle, in 882 Oleg led an army of Varangians, Slavs and Finns from Novgorod down the Dnieper, took Smolensk and Lyubech, lured Askold and Dir out of Kyiv by a ruse and killed them, uniting the north and the south under one prince — the conventional beginning of Kievan Rus’.
- Date
- 882year known
- Place
- Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Route
- Novgorod → Smolensk → Lyubech → Kyiv
- Participants
- Oleg of Novgorod, Igor of Kiev, Askold and Dir, Kievan Rus’, Varangians, East Slavs
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Mother of Rus' cities; Мать городов русских; Oleg of Novgorod
Oleg hid his warriors in the boats and sent word that merchants on their way to the Greeks wished to see their kinsmen. When Askold and Dir came down to the river, he declared that they were neither princes nor of princely stock, showed them the young Igor, Rurik’s son, and had them killed. He then settled in Kyiv and, in the chronicle’s words, declared it “the mother of Rus’ cities”. In the following years he imposed tribute on the Drevlians, Severians and Radimichs, taking the last two from the Khazars.
Like other 9th-century entries, 882 is a conventional chronicle date, and the Novgorod First Chronicle tells the story differently, making Oleg Igor’s voevoda rather than his guardian. But the takeover of Kyiv by the northern Rus’ dynasty around the end of the 9th century is not in doubt, and historians traditionally date the formation of the Old Rus’ state from it.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Calling of the Varangians862 · Eastern Europe
Related events
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern EuropeOleg ended their rule by killing them
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
Same participants
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europevia Varangians
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europevia Igor of Kiev
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960 · Eastern Europevia East Slavs
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Viking siege of Parisbetween 24 November and 25 November 885 – October 886
- Battle of EdingtonMay 878
- Mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia863 – 6 April 885
- Great Heathen Army in England865–878
- Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basinbetween 894 and 895 – 907
Balkans and Anatolia
- Christianization of Bulgaria864
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907
- Golden Age of Bulgaria under Simeon I893 – 27 May 927
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Oleg the Wise
- Wikipedia (English): Kievan Rus'
- Wikipedia (Russian): Олег Вещий
- Wikipedia (Russian): Киевская Русь
- Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.
- Franklin S., Shepard J. The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. — London; New York: Longman, 1996.