Pecheneg siege of Kyiv
While Sviatoslav was campaigning in Bulgaria, the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv, where Olga and his sons were shut in; a boy who swam the Dnieper brought help, the voevoda Pretich bluffed the nomads into withdrawing, and Sviatoslav hurried back to drive them off.
- Date
- 968year known
- Place
- Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Pechenegs, Olga of Kiev, Sviatoslav I, Kievan Rus’
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Siege of Kiev (968); Pretich; Претич
The chronicle’s account mixes history and folklore. Starving and short of water, the Kyivans could not reach the voevoda Pretich’s small force on the left bank. A youth who spoke the Pecheneg language walked through the enemy camp asking about a lost horse and swam across under a hail of arrows. At dawn Pretich’s men crossed in boats sounding trumpets; the Pechenegs, thinking Sviatoslav had returned, withdrew, and their chief exchanged weapons with Pretich as a sign of peace.
Olga’s message reproached her son for seeking a foreign land while neglecting his own. Sviatoslav returned and drove the Pechenegs into the steppe, but soon declared that he wished to live at Pereyaslavets on the Danube, “the middle of my land”. The attack may have been instigated by Byzantium.
Connections
Related events
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971 · Balkans and Anatoliathe siege recalled Sviatoslav from the Danube
Same participants
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europevia Pechenegs
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Olga of Kiev
- Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europevia Sviatoslav I
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
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · 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
- Baptism of Poland14 April 966
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962
- Battle of Lechfeld10–12 August 955
- Hugh Capet becomes King of the FranksMay 987 – 3 July 987
Balkans and Anatolia
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971
- Siege of Dorostolon23 April 971 – July 971
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957
- Battle of the Gates of Trajan17 August 986
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945
+ 1 event
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Siege of Kiev (968)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада Киева (968)
- Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.
- Wikidata: Q2503056