Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 911
Concluded by Oleg’s envoys in Constantinople on 2 September 911, the treaty regulated criminal cases, inheritance, shipwreck, the ransom of captives and the service of Rus’ in the imperial army — the oldest written monument of Rus’ law.
- Date
- 2 September 911exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Oleg of Novgorod, Kievan Rus’, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Treaty of 911; Treaty of 912; Договор Олега с греками; Договор 912 года
The text survives only in the Primary Chronicle, in a Slavonic translation from a Greek original. It opens with the names of the envoys — Karl, Ingjald, Farulf, Vermund and others, almost all Scandinavian — sent “from Oleg, grand prince of Rus’, and from all the bright and great princes under his hand”. The date is given as 2 September, indiction 15, in the year 6420 from the creation of the world.
The treaty confirmed the preliminary agreement of 907 and shows the Rus’ as regular trading partners of Byzantium. Its authenticity is generally accepted, although its textual history is obscure; it became a model for the later treaties of 944 and 971.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
Related events
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914 · Middle East and Egyptthe great Caspian raids came right after the peace treaties with Byzantium
Same participants
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europevia Kievan Rus’
- Battle of Achelous20 August 917 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
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
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · 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
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte911
- Founding of Cluny Abbeybetween 909 and 910
- Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basinbetween 894 and 895 – 907
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929
- First Althing at Þingvellir930
+ 1 event
Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960
Middle East and Egypt
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Rus'–Byzantine Treaty (911)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Русско-византийский договор (911)
- Сахаров А. Н. Дипломатия Древней Руси: IX — первая половина X в. — М.: Мысль, 1980.
- Wikidata: Q4400909