In what century did Prince Svyatoslav rule? Prince Svyatoslav briefly

Svyatoslav Igorevich was only three years old when he inherited the princely throne after the death of his father, Grand Duke Igor Rurikovich. Before Svyatoslav came of age, his mother, Princess Olga, took the reins of the country.

From an early age, Svyatoslav became familiar with combat life. Princess Olga, having decided to take revenge on the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband, went to the Drevlyan land and took four-year-old Svyatoslav with her, because According to ancient Russian tradition, the campaign should be led by the prince himself. He was the first to throw a spear, although his hand was still weak as a child, but this was his first battle command to the squad.

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich spent most of his life on campaigns. War for profit and glory was the meaning of his life; state affairs did not interest him. That's why domestic policy Prince Svyatoslav placed it on the shoulders of Princess Olga.

Prince Svyatoslav carried out his campaigns unusually quickly, did not carry any convoys or tents with him, ate and slept like a simple warrior. The squad treated him with great respect. Svyatoslav valued the opinion of the warriors very much and, apparently, for this reason he refused to be baptized. The soul of the warrior prince did not lie towards Christianity with its meekness and mercy.

Svyatoslav did not like tricks and did not attack unexpectedly, but warned the enemy, giving him the opportunity to prepare for a combat meeting.

In 964, Svyatoslav decided to make a campaign in Khazaria. His path passed through the Vyatichi, who paid tribute to the Khazars. The Russian prince Svyatoslav made them pay himself and continued the campaign, reaching the Volga. It was bad for the Bulgarians living along the Volga: Svyatoslav’s campaign against Volga Bulgaria ended in the destruction and plunder of cities and villages.

A large Khazar army with the Kagan himself came out to meet the Russians. The Khazars were completely defeated (965). Svyatoslav took their city of Belaya Vezha and devastated their land. After this, he defeated the Yases and Kosogi, the inhabitants of the Caucasus.

Svyatoslav did not rest long in Kyiv after a series of victories when an embassy from the Greek Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas arrived to him to ask for help against the Danube Bulgarians. In 967, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav went to the Danube. The Bulgarians were defeated, many cities were captured. Svyatoslav really liked the rich Bulgarian lands, which occupy an advantageous position in the vicinity of Byzantium, and he even wanted to move the capital to Pereyaslavets.

For a long time, the Khazar Khaganate was, as it were, a barrier against the raids of Asian nomads. The defeat of the Khazars by Prince Svyatoslav opened the way for a new horde; the Pechenegs quickly occupied the steppe strip.

In 968, the Pechenegs, bribed by the Byzantine emperor, took advantage of the absence of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav and surrounded Kyiv. Princess Olga managed to call for help the governor Pretich, who was at that time on the opposite bank of the Dnieper. The Pechenegs thought that Svyatoslav himself and his army were coming to the rescue of the city, and retreated. And when Prince Svyatoslav returned to Kyiv, he drove the Pechenegs far into the steppe.

Svyatoslav could not sit still for long, but Princess Olga persuaded him to stay, because... I felt like I was going to die soon.

After the death of his mother in 969, Svyatoslav did not restrain his hatred of the new faith. He killed Christians, incl. high-ranking officials and relatives, destroyed several temples and churches.

In the same year, Prince Svyatoslav set off on a second campaign against Bulgaria, leaving his three sons, Yaropolk, to rule in his place. Oleg and Vladimir. At that time, the situation in Greece had changed. Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas was killed, and John Tzimiskes took the throne.

Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians and captured the two sons of Tsar Boris. The new Byzantine emperor did not want Svyatoslav's dominance in Bulgaria, because this would pose a danger to Byzantium. He sent ambassadors to the Russian prince with gifts and a demand to leave Bulgaria. In response, Svyatoslav offered the Greeks to buy back the Bulgarian cities.

The war with the Greeks began. As a result of a long, difficult battle, the Greeks captured Pereyaslavts, almost the entire Russian army died. Svyatoslav at this time was in Dorostol, where the battle then moved. The Greeks were greatly outnumbered and better armed.

For 3 months Svyatoslav was in the besieged city, enduring hunger, poverty, and illness with his army. In one of the battles, he was wounded and barely escaped capture. The Greeks were also exhausted by prolonged battles.

The parties entered into an agreement under which Svyatoslav undertook to hand over all captured Greeks, leave Bulgaria and not start a war with Byzantium, and also prevent attacks on them by other tribes.

While Prince Svyatoslav was fighting in Bulgaria, the Pechenegs devastated his lands and almost took possession of Kiev. They say that the Byzantine emperor informed the Pecheneg leader that Svyatoslav was returning with a small number of soldiers. The Pechenegs waylaid the Kyiv prince, a fight ensued, and Grand Duke Svyatoslav died with all his warriors.

According to legend, the Pecheneg leader Kurya made a cup from Svyatoslav’s skull, decorated it with gold and drank from it at feasts.

SVYATOSLAV!

"HUSBAND OF BLOOD"
(PRINCE SVYATOSLAV IGOREVICH)

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich left a bright mark on Russian history. He ruled the Kyiv land for only 8 years, but these few years were well remembered for many subsequent centuries, and Prince Svyatoslav himself became a model of military valor and courage for many generations of Russian people. The first time his name thundered in the Russian chronicle was in 946. After the death of Prince Igor’s father in the Drevlyan land, he, then a three-year-old boy, was the first to begin the battle with the rebel Drevlyans, riding out in front of the Kyiv regiments and throwing a combat spear towards the enemy. And although, thrown by a weak child’s hand, it fell to the ground in front of the feet of his own horse, even then this act of Svyatoslav meant a lot. Not a prince, but a prince! Not a boy, but a warrior! And the words of the old grunt-voivodes, recorded by the chronicler and needing no translation, sound symbolically: “The prince has already begun. Let’s fight, squad, according to the prince!”

Svyatoslav’s teacher and mentor was the Varangian Asmud, who taught his young pupil to be the first in battle and hunting, to stay firmly in the saddle, control a boat, swim, and hide from enemy eyes both in the forest and in the steppe. Apparently, Princess Olga could not find a better mentor for her son than Uncle Asmud - he raised him to be a real warrior. The art of military leadership was taught to Svyatoslav by the chief Kyiv governor Sveneld. There is no doubt that this Varangian only limited the prince’s extraordinary talent, explaining to him the tricks of military science. Svyatoslav was a bright, original commander, who intuitively sensed the high symphony of battle, who knew how to instill courage in his troops with decisive words and personal example, and who could predict the actions and deeds of his enemies.
And Svyatoslav learned another lesson from the instructions of his governor-educators - to always be at one with his squad. For this reason, he rejected the offer of his mother, Princess Olga, who converted to Christianity in 855 and wanted to baptize her son as well. The Kyiv warriors, who revered Perun, were opposed to the new faith, and Svyatoslav remained with his knights.

“When Svyatoslav grew up and matured,” it is recorded in the chronicle, “he began to gather many brave warriors, and easily, like a pardus (cheetah), moving on campaigns, he fought a lot. On campaigns he did not carry with him either carts, boilers, or he cooked meat, but, thinly cutting horse meat, or animal meat, or beef, he fried it on coals and ate it like that. When he went to bed, he put the sweatcloth from his horse under him, and the saddle under his head.”

Svyatoslav made two great campaigns.
The first is against the huge predatory Khazaria - a dark kingdom that owned lands from Caucasus Mountains to the Volga steppes; the second - against Danube Bulgaria, and then, in alliance with the Bulgarians, against Byzantium.

Back in 914, the army of Prince Igor, Svyatoslav’s father, died in the Khazar possessions on the Volga, trying to secure the Volga trade route. To take revenge on the enemy and complete the work begun by his father - perhaps this is what threw the young Kyiv prince on a long campaign. In 964, Svyatoslav’s squad left Kyiv and, ascending the Desna River, entered the lands of the Vyatichi, one of the large Slavic tribes that were tributaries of the Khazars at that time. Without touching the Vyatichi and without destroying their lands, only ordering them to pay tribute not to the Khazars, but to Kyiv, Svyatoslav went to the Volga and moved his army against the ancient enemies of the Russian land: Volga Bulgarians, Burtases, and the Khazars themselves. In the vicinity of Itil, the capital of the Khazar Khaganate, there was decisive battle, in which the Kyiv regiments defeated and put the Khazars to flight. Then he moved his squads against other tributaries of the North Caucasian tribes of the Yases and Kasogs, the ancestors of the Ossetians and Circassians. This unprecedented campaign lasted for about 4 years. Victorious in all battles, the prince crushed all his enemies, captured and destroyed the capital of the Khazar Khaganate, the city of Itil, and took the well-fortified fortresses of Sarkel (on the Don), Semender (in the North Caucasus). On the banks Kerch Strait in the captured Khazar village of Tamatarkhe, he founded an outpost of Russian influence in this region - the city of Tmutarakan, the center of the future Tmutarakan principality.

Returning to Kyiv, Svyatoslav spent only about a year in his capital city and already in 968 he set off on a new military expedition - against the Bulgarians on the distant blue Danube. Kalokir, the ambassador of the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, persistently called him there, hoping to pit two peoples dangerous to his empire in a war of extermination. For the help of Byzantium, Kalokir gave Svyatoslav 15 centinarii (455 kilograms) of gold, but it would be wrong to consider the Russian campaign against the Bulgarians as a raid of mercenary squads. The Kiev prince was obliged to come to the rescue of the allied power under an agreement concluded with Byzantium in 944 by Prince Igor. The gold was only a gift that accompanied the request for military assistance...

The Russian prince took only 10 thousand soldiers with him on the campaign, but great commanders do not fight by numbers. Having descended along the Dnieper into the Black Sea, Svyatoslav quickly attacked the thirty thousand Bulgarian army sent against him. Having defeated him and driven the remnants of the Bulgarians into the Dorostol fortress, the prince took the city of Malaya Preslava (Svyatoslav himself called this city, which became his new capital Pereyaslavl), forcing both enemies and yesterday's friends to unite against him. The Bulgarian Tsar Peter, feverishly gathering troops in his capital Velikaya Preslava, entered into a secret alliance with Nicephorus Phocas. He, in turn, bribed the Pecheneg leaders, who willingly agreed to attack Kyiv in the absence of the Grand Duke. The people of Kiev were exhausted in a desperate, bloody battle, but the Pecheneg onslaught did not weaken. Only a night attack by the small army of governor Pretich, mistaken by the Pechenegs for the vanguard of Svyatoslav, forced them to lift the siege and move away from Kyiv. Connected with this story is the first description in our chronicle of a heroic deed performed by the remaining nameless Kyiv youth. When “the Pechenegs besieged the city with great force, there were countless numbers of them around the city. And it was impossible to leave the city or send messages. And the people were exhausted from hunger and thirst. And the (military) people from that side of the Dnieper gathered in boats and stood on on that shore. And it was impossible either to get to Kiev or from Kiev to them. And the people in the city began to grieve, and said: “Is there anyone who could get over to the other side and tell them: if you don’t approach us in the morning. city ​​- let's surrender to the Pechenegs." One youth said: "I'll get through." And they answered him: "Go." He left the city, holding a bridle, and ran through the Pechenegs' camp, asking them: "Has anyone seen a horse? "For he knew Pecheneg, and they took him for one of their own. And when he approached the river, he threw off his clothes, rushed into the Dnieper and swam. Seeing this, the Pechenegs rushed after him, shot at him, but could not do anything with him to do. They noticed this on the other side, sailed up to him in a boat, took him into the boat and brought him to the squad. And the youth said to them: “If you don’t approach the city tomorrow, the people will surrender to the Pechenegs.” Their commander, named Pretich, said to this: “We will go tomorrow in boats and, having captured the princess and princes, we will rush to this shore. If we do not do this, then Svyatoslav will destroy us.” And the next morning, close to dawn, they got into the boats and blew a loud trumpet, and the people in the city screamed. It seemed to the Pechenegs that the prince himself had come, and they ran away from the city in all directions."
The call of the Kievites, who with difficulty fought off the attack of their enemies, flew far to the Danube: “You, prince, are looking for someone else’s land and taking care of it, but you left your own, the Pechenegs, and your mother, and your children almost took us away. If you don’t come and don’t If you protect us and they will take us again, then don’t you really feel sorry for your old mother or your children?”

Svyatoslav could not help but hear this call. Returning with his squad to Kyiv, he overtook and defeated the Pecheneg army and drove its pitiful remnants far into the steppe. Silence and peace then reigned in the Russian land, but this was not enough for the prince seeking battle and feat of arms. He couldn't stand it peaceful life and prayed to his mother: “I don’t like sitting in Kyiv. I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube. There is the middle of my land. Everything good flows there: from the Greeks - gold, fabrics, wines, various vegetables; from the Czechs and Hungarians - silver and horses, from Rus' - furs, wax and honey."

Princess Olga listened to the hot, passionate words of her son and said only one thing in response: “You see that I am already sick, where do you want to go from me? When you bury me, then go wherever you want...”

3 days later she died. Having buried his mother, Svyatoslav divided the Russian land between his sons: he placed Yaropolk as prince in Kyiv, sent Oleg to the Drevlyansky land, and Vladimir to Novgorod. He himself hastened to his conquered possessions on the Danube by force of arms. He was forced to hurry by the news coming from there - the new Bulgarian Tsar Boris, who had ascended the throne with the help of the Greeks, attacked the Russian detachment left by Svyatoslav in Pereyaslavets and captured the fortress.

Like a swift leopard, the Russian prince rushed at the enemy, defeated him, captured Tsar Boris and the remnants of his army, and took possession of the entire country from the Danube to the Balkan Mountains. Soon he learned about the death of Nicephorus Phocas, who was killed by his close associate John Tzimiskes, a native of the Armenian femme nobility, who declared himself the new emperor. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav declared war on him, threatening the enemy to pitch his tents near the walls of Constantinople and calling himself and his soldiers “men of blood.” Then he crossed the snow-covered mountain slopes of the Balkans, took Philippol (Plovdiv) by storm and approached Arkadiopol (Lule-Burgaz). There were only 4 days left to travel across the plain to Constantinople. Here there was a battle between the Russians and their allies the Bulgarians, Hungarians and Pechenegs with a hastily assembled army of the Byzantines. Having won this battle, Svyatoslav, however, did not go further, but, having taken “many gifts” from the Greeks, returned back to Pereyaslavets. This was one of the few, but it became a fatal mistake of the famous Russian warrior.

John Tzimiskes turned out to be good student and a capable commander. Having recalled the best Byzantine troops from Asia, gathering detachments from other parts of his empire, he taught and drilled them all winter, rallying them into a huge trained army. Tzimiskes also ordered to assemble a new fleet, repairing the old ones and building new ones warships: fire-bearing triremes, galeas and monerias. Their number exceeded 300. In the spring of 971, Emperor John sent them to the mouth of the Danube, and then up this river to cut off Svyatoslav’s squad and prevent it from receiving help from distant Rus'.

Byzantine armies moved towards Bulgaria from all sides, many times outnumbering the Svyatoslav squads stationed there. In the battle near the walls of Preslava, almost all the soldiers of the 8,000-strong Russian garrison located there were killed. Among the few who escaped and broke through to their main forces were the governor Sfenkel and the patrician Kalokir, who had once called Svyatoslav to Bulgaria. With heavy fighting, fighting off the advancing enemy, the Russians retreated to the Danube. There, in Dorostol ( modern city Silistria), the last Russian fortress in Bulgaria, Svyatoslav raised his banner, preparing for a decisive battle. The city was well fortified - the thickness of its walls reached 4.7 m.

Approaching Dorostol on April 23, 971, St. George's Day, the Byzantines saw a Russian army lined up for battle in front of the city. The Russian knights stood like a solid wall, “closing their shields and spears” and did not think of retreating. Over and over again they repulsed 12 enemy attacks during the day. Only at night did they retreat to the fortress. The next morning, the Byzantines began a siege, surrounding their camp with a rampart and a palisade with shields attached to it. It lasted more than two months (65 days) until July 22, 971. On this day the Russians began their last Stand. Gathering his soldiers in front of him, Svyatoslav said his famous: “The dead have no shame.” This stubborn battle lasted a long time, despair and courage gave unprecedented strength to Svyatoslav’s soldiers, but as soon as the Russians began to prevail, a strong wind rose and hit them in the face, filling their eyes with sand and dust. Thus, nature snatched the almost won victory from Svyatoslav’s hands. The prince was forced to retreat back to Dorostol and begin peace negotiations with John Tzimiskes.

Their historical meeting took place on the banks of the Danube and was described in detail by a Byzantine chronicler who was in the emperor’s retinue. Tzimiskes, surrounded by his entourage, was waiting for Svyatoslav. The prince arrived on a boat, sitting in which he rowed along with ordinary soldiers. The Greeks could distinguish him only because the shirt he was wearing was cleaner than that of other warriors and because of the earring with two pearls and a ruby ​​inserted into his ear. This is how eyewitness Lev Deacon described the formidable Russian warrior: “Svyatoslav was of average height, neither too tall nor too short, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, with a flat nose and a thick, long mustache hanging on his upper lip. His head was completely bare, only on one side of it hung a strand of hair, signifying the antiquity of the family. The neck is thick, the shoulders are wide and the whole figure is quite slender. He seemed dark and wild."
During the negotiations, the parties made concessions. Svyatoslav promised to leave Bulgaria and go to Rus', Tzimiskes promised to let the Russian army through and allocate 2 measures of bread for the 22 thousand surviving soldiers.

Having made peace with the Byzantines, Svyatoslav went to Kyiv. But on the way, at the Dnieper rapids, the Pechenegs, notified by the treacherous Greeks, were already waiting for his thinned army. Sveneld's cavalry detachment managed to cross the steppe to Rus' unnoticed by the enemy. Svyatoslav, who was traveling on boats, had to spend the winter at the mouth of the Dnieper in Beloberezhye, but in the spring of 972 he decided to break through to Kyiv through the Pecheneg barriers. However, the forces were too unequal. IN tough battle Svyatoslav’s faithful squad also died, and he himself fell in this cruel battle. From the skull of Svyatoslav, the Polovtsian prince Kurya, according to the old steppe custom, ordered to make a bowl bound in gold for feasts.

reign: 957-972)

  SVYATOSLAV IGOREVICH(?- 972) - Prince of Kiev from 957

Son of Prince Igor the Old and Princess Olga. For the first time, the name of Svyatoslav is mentioned in the chronicle in 945. After the death of his father in the Drevlyan land, he, despite the fact that he was still very small, participated with Olga in a campaign against the Drevlyans.

Svyatoslav grew up as a true warrior. He spent his life on campaigns, spending the night not in a tent, but on a horse blanket with a saddle under his head.

In 964, Svyatoslav’s squad left Kyiv and, going up the river. The Desna entered the lands of the Vyatichi, who at that time were tributaries of the Khazars. The Kiev prince ordered the Vyatichi to pay tribute not to the Khazars, but to Kyiv, and moved his army further - against the Volga Bulgars, Burtases, Khazars, and then the North Caucasian tribes of the Yases and Kasogs. This unprecedented campaign lasted for about four years. The prince captured and destroyed the capital of the Khazar Kaganate, the city of Itil, and took the well-fortified fortresses of Sarkel on the Don and Semender in the North Caucasus.

In 968, Svyatoslav, at the insistent requests of Byzantium, based on the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 944 and supported by a solid gold offering, set off on a new military expedition - against Danube Bulgaria. His 10,000-strong army defeated the 30,000-strong Bulgarian army and captured the city of Maly Preslav. Svyatoslav named this city Pereyaslavets and declared it the capital of his state. He did not want to return to Kyiv.

In the absence of the prince, the Pechenegs attacked Kyiv. But the arrival of a small army of governor Pretich, mistaken by the Pechenegs for the vanguard of Svyatoslav, forced them to lift the siege and move away from Kyiv.

Svyatoslav and part of his squad had to return to Kyiv. Having defeated the Pecheneg army, he announced to his mother: " I don’t like sitting in Kyiv. I want to live in Pereyaslavets-on-Danube. There is the middle of my land. All good things flow there: from the Greeks - gold, fabrics, wines, various vegetables; from the Czechs and Hungarians - silver and horses, from Rus' - furs, wax and honey". Soon Princess Olga died. Svyatoslav divided the Russian land between his sons: Yaropolk made him reign in Kyiv, sent Oleg to the Drevlyansky land, and Vladimir to Novgorod. He himself hurried to his possessions on the Danube.

Here he defeated the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, captured him and took possession of the entire country from the Danube to the Balkan Mountains. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav crossed the Balkans, took Philippol (Plovdiv) by storm and reached Arkadiopol. Having defeated the Byzantine army, Svyatoslav, however, did not go further. He took “many gifts” from the Greeks and returned back to Pereyaslavets. In the spring of 971, a new Byzantine army, reinforced by a fleet, attacked Svyatoslav’s squads, besieged in the city of Dorostol on the Danube. The siege lasted more than two months. On July 22, 971, Russian troops suffered a heavy defeat under the city walls. Svyatoslav was forced to begin peace negotiations with Emperor John Tzimiskes.

Their meeting took place on the banks of the Danube and was described in detail by the Byzantine chronicler. Tzimiskes, surrounded by his entourage, was waiting for Svyatoslav. The prince arrived on a boat, sitting in which he rowed along with ordinary soldiers. The Greeks were able to distinguish him only by his shirt, which was cleaner than that of other warriors, and by an earring with two pearls and a ruby, stuck in his ear.

Having made peace with the Byzantines, Svyatoslav went to Kyiv. But on the way, at the Dnieper rapids, the Pechenegs, informed by the Greeks, were waiting for his thinned army. In an unequal battle, Svyatoslav’s squad and he himself died. From the skull of Svyatoslav, the Pecheneg prince Kurya, according to the old steppe custom, ordered a bowl to be made for feasts.

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich

Introduction

Svyatoslav Igorevich(942 - March 972) - Prince of Novgorod, Grand Duke of Kiev from 945 to 972, became famous as a commander.

In Byzantine synchronous sources it was called Sfendoslav(Greek ?????????????).

Russian historian N.M. Karamzin called him “Alexander (Macedonian) of our ancient history". According to Academician B. A. Rybakov: " Svyatoslav's campaigns of 965-968 represent, as it were, a single saber strike, drawing a wide semicircle on the map of Europe from the Middle Volga region to the Caspian Sea and further along North Caucasus and the Black Sea region to the Balkan lands of Byzantium".

Formally, Svyatoslav became the Grand Duke at the age of 3 after the death of his father, Grand Duke Igor, in 945, but he ruled independently from about 960. Under Svyatoslav, the Kyiv state was largely ruled by his mother, Princess Olga, first because of Svyatoslav’s childhood, then because of his constant presence on military campaigns. When returning from a campaign against Bulgaria, Svyatoslav was killed by the Pechenegs in 972 on the Dnieper rapids.

Early years

In 964, Svyatoslav Igorevich took the throne of the Grand Duke. It is not known exactly when he was born, just as we know almost nothing about his childhood and youth. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the son of Igor and Olga was born in 942 to elderly parents - Princess Olga was 42-44 years old at that time. And, obviously, he was not the first child; there were more children in the princely family (possibly girls or boys who died in childhood), but at the time of Igor’s death there were no male heirs older than Svyatoslav. Talking about the campaign against the Drevlyans, in which Svyatoslav and his teacher Asmud took part, the chronicler emphasizes that in 946 the prince was still so small that he could not properly throw a spear.

There is also a version that Svyatoslav was born around 935, which means he reached adulthood in the mid-50s of the 10th century. This version can be confirmed by the fact that when setting off on the second Bulgarian campaign in 969, the prince entrusted Rus' to his own sons, two of whom were already ruling independently and were of age. It is also known from the chronicles that Svyatoslav personally brought a wife to his son Yaropolk, i.e. in 969 the prince’s eldest son was already married.

The fate of young Svyatoslav was happy. He became the Grand Duke back in early childhood having received appropriate education. Great, owned it various types weapons, was brave and decisive, loved to ride for a long time. The warriors, often from different lands, told the prince about rich distant countries. The patrons and protectors of these people were pagan gods, which sanctified war and violence, the seizure of other people's possessions and human sacrifices; at the same time, Perun, the pagan thunder god, was the embodiment of the ideals of a male warrior.

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was raised as a warrior from childhood. Svyatoslav’s teacher and mentor was the Varangian Asmud, who taught the young pupil to be the first in battle and hunting, to stay firmly in the saddle, control a boat, swim, and hide from enemy eyes both in the forest and in the steppe. Svyatoslav was taught the art of military leadership by another Varangian - the main Kiev governor Sveneld.

While Svyatoslav was growing up, Olga ruled the principality. Since the mid-60s. In the 10th century, we can count the beginning of the independent reign of Prince Svyatoslav. The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon left a description of him: of medium height, with a broad chest, blue eyes, thick eyebrows, beardless, but with a long mustache, only one strand of hair on his shaved head, which indicated his noble origin. In one ear he wore an earring with two pearls.

But Svyatoslav Igorevich was not like his mother. If Olga became a Christian, then Svyatoslav remained a pagan - and in public life, and in everyday life. So, most likely, all of Svyatoslav’s sons were from different wives, because the pagan Slavs had polygamy. For example, Vladimir’s mother was the housekeeper-slave Malusha. And although the housekeeper, who held the keys to all the princely premises, was considered an important person at court, her son, the prince, was contemptuously called “robicic” - the son of a slave.

Many times Princess Olga tried to teach her son the Christian faith, saying: “I have come to know God, my son, and I rejoice, if you know it too, you will rejoice.” Svyatoslav did not listen to his mother and made an excuse: “How can I accept a new faith alone if my squad starts laughing at me?” But Olga loved her son and said: “God’s will be done. If God wants to have mercy on my family and the Russian people, he will put in their hearts the same desire to turn to God that he gave to me.” And so speaking, she prayed for her son and for all the Russian people every night and every day.

Mother and son understood their responsibilities as rulers of the state differently. If Princess Olga was concerned about preserving her principality, then Prince Svyatoslav sought glory in long military campaigns, not caring at all about Kievan Rus.

Military activities

Svyatoslav became famous as a brave, courageous, experienced and talented commander, who shared with his warriors all the hardships of a grueling campaign life. In the Tale of Bygone Years, when talking about the beginning of the prince’s military career in 964, we read: “Prince Svyatoslav, having grown up and matured, began to howl a lot and was brave as he was brave. And walking easily, like pardus, war he did many things, walking around on his own, not carrying a cauldron, or cooking meat, but having cut up a thin horse meat, an animal or beef on coal, he baked meat, not a tent, but a lining and a saddle in his heads. bahu." Detailed Description Svyatoslav's appearance was left by the Byzantine writer Leo the Deacon: "...Average height, not too tall and not very low, with shaggy eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub nose, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair over upper lip. His head was completely naked, but a tuft of hair hung from one side of it - a sign of the nobility of the family; strong back of the head, wide chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate... He had a gold earring; it was decorated with a carbuncle framed by two pearls. His clothes were white and differed from the clothes of those close to him only in their cleanliness."

It is interesting that Svyatoslav warned his enemies about the start of the campaign: “And he sent to the countries saying: “I want to go against you.”

The first whom Svyatoslav “went against” in 964 were the Vyatichi - Slavic tribe, who lived in the upper reaches of the Oka and Don and paid tribute to the Khazars. Khazar Khaganate, once a powerful state, the main rival of Rus' in Eastern Europe, in the era of Svyatoslav experienced far from better times, but still held significant Eastern European territories. The conquest of the Vyatichi inevitably led to a clash with Khazaria and became the beginning eastern war 965-966 Svyatoslav marched with fire and sword through the lands of the Volga Bulgars, Burtases, Yases and Kasogs - longtime allies of Khazaria. During this campaign, the well-fortified Sarkel fortress, which in Rus' was called the White Vezha, was captured, the Khazar capital Itil on the Lower Volga, as well as a number of cities on the Caspian coast were destroyed. Having captured rich booty, Svyatoslav returned to Kyiv in triumph. And the Khazar Kaganate, having received such a crushing blow, ceased to exist a few years later.

Svyatoslav attached great importance to the problems of the Balkan region. He solved them traditionally - with the help military force. The impetus for the new campaign was the arrival of the Byzantine ambassador to Kyiv with a request for help in the war with the Bulgarian kingdom. The Byzantine Empire, ruled by Emperor Nikephoros Phocas, was in a very difficult situation; it had to simultaneously fight on three fronts; Kyiv’s help would be very appropriate. The emperor supported his proposal to “go on a campaign against the Bulgarians” with rich gifts. According to Leo the Deacon, Svyatoslav was paid 1,500 centinarii (about 455 kg) of gold. Nevertheless, taking advantage of Byzantine money, Svyatoslav chose to “subjugate and hold the country for his own stay.”

The first Bulgarian campaign 967-968. was successful. Svyatoslav's fleet with a 60,000-strong army defeated the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter in the battle of Dorostol (modern Silistra) and, as the chronicle reports, “captured 80 cities along the Danube.” The prince liked the new lands so much that he even wanted to move his capital from Kyiv to the Danube, to the town of Pereyaslavets: - "... the prince sat in Pereyaslavtsi, paying tribute to Gretsekh." Here he wanted to live, collecting “from the Greek gold, textiles (expensive fabrics. - Author), wine and various vegetables, from Czech, from Eel, silver and komoni.” These plans never came to fruition.

The defeat of Khazaria, which for many years served as a fairly strong shield against Asian nomads, had unexpected consequences: a horde of Pechenegs rushed to the west, who quickly captured the steppe strip and settled in close proximity to Kyiv. Already in 968, taking advantage of Svyatoslav’s absence and succumbing to the persuasion of Byzantium, the Pechenegs unexpectedly attacked the city where Olga and Svyatoslav’s three sons had “locked themselves up.” A terrible threat looms over Kyiv. There was no significant military contingent in the city, and Kyiv could not withstand a long siege. The chronicle preserves a story about a brave young man who, at great risk to his life, made his way through the enemy camp and warned Svyatoslav about the danger. Having received news of the siege of the capital, the prince was forced to urgently return from the campaign and help his family out of trouble. However, the Pechenegs did not go far until the end of the 10th century. stood on Stugna, 30 km from Kyiv, creating a constant military threat.

Having buried Princess Olga in 969, Svyatoslav becomes the sole ruler of Rus' and finally gives vent to his anti-Christian sentiments. A period of horrific mass repression begins, directed both against foreign Christians and Russian Christians. Among the dead was Prince Gleb, who was considered Svyatoslav’s half-brother. Perhaps it was he who accompanied Olga on her journey to Constantinople and was the mysterious nephew mentioned in the sources. For their faith, Svyatoslav persecuted both members of the elite, including his relatives, and ordinary Christians: the number of those killed reached several thousand. The prince's hatred spread to Christian churches, in particular in Kyiv, the churches of St. Sophia and St. Nicholas on Askold’s grave, built by Olga, were destroyed.

Having gotten even with the Christians and actually transferring control of Russia to his sons, Svyatoslav gathered a new army and in the fall of 969 set off on the second Bulgarian campaign. At first, the campaign was quite successful: in 970 he managed to subjugate almost all of Bulgaria, capturing its capital and “almost reaching Tsarjugrad.” With unprecedented cruelty, the prince deals with the local Christian residents. Thus, having captured Filiopolis, he exterminated 20 thousand Christian Bulgarians, that is, almost the entire population of the city. It is not surprising that later the prince’s luck turned away. At the Battle of Arkadiopolis, for the first time in his life, he suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to retreat and gain a foothold in Dorostol. The military initiative passes to Byzantium, which decided to put an end to the presence of Russians in the Balkans.

The spring of 971 was marked by the beginning of the offensive of the troops of the new Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes on the Bulgarian capital Preslav. On April 14, it was captured, the Bulgarian Tsar Boris and his family were captured, and the remnants of the Russian garrison had to flee to Dorostol, where Svyatoslav’s headquarters were located. This is where we turned around major events Bulgarian war. Having withstood an almost three-month siege, on July 21, Svyatoslav went to battle under the walls of the city. The grueling battle, in which about 15,000 Rus died, was lost. Big losses The emperor's troops also suffered. However, Svyatoslav was not going to give up, although he understood the hopelessness of his situation - hunger was added to military failures. The prince could not retreat to Rus' - the Byzantine fleet blocked the mouth of the Danube. Svyatoslav military prince Rus'

At the end of July, the emperor finally agreed to begin the negotiations proposed by Svyatoslav, which ended with the signing of a peace treaty that was extremely unfavorable for Rus' (the text of this agreement is given in the Tale of Bygone Years). The treaty deprived Rus' of almost all the advantages obtained by the previous princes; in particular, Kyiv renounced its claims to Byzantine possessions in Crimea. The Black Sea has ceased to be “Russian”. At the same time, the emperor guaranteed Svyatoslav’s squad unhindered passage home and promised to provide food for the return trip. Trade relations between states were also restored.

After the signing of the treaty, Svyatoslav remained in the Balkans for quite a long time and only went home in the fall. Along the way, the Russian army split up: one part, led by the governor Svineld, moved overland, and the prince himself, “with a small squad” and military booty, sailed along the Danube and the Black Sea to the Dnieper. However, the Pechenegs were waiting for him on the Dnieper rapids, warned by the envoy of Tzimiskes, Theophilus of Euchaitis, about the return of the weakened enemy. Svyatoslav did not dare to fight and remained to winter in Beloberezhye, at the mouth of the Dnieper. Exhausted by a hungry and cold winter, the Russian army nevertheless moved towards Kyiv in the spring of 972, but was never able to break through the rapids. Svyatoslav died in battle from a Pecheneg saber, and from his skull, as legend says, Khan Kurya ordered a goblet decorated with gold and “drinking in it” to be made, hoping to adopt best qualities defeated enemy.

This is how I became last path Prince Svyatoslav, a courageous warrior and commander, more like an epic hero than a wise and far-sighted statesman.

The image of Svyatoslav in art

For the first time, the personality of Svyatoslav attracted the attention of Russian artists and poets during Russian-Turkish War 1768-1774, the actions of which, like the events of Svyatoslav’s campaigns, unfolded on the Danube. Among the works created at this time, noteworthy is the tragedy “Olga” by Ya. B. Knyazhnin (1772), the plot of which is based on Olga’s revenge for the murder of her husband Igor by the Drevlyans. Svyatoslav appears in it as the main character. Knyazhnin's rival N.P. Nikolaev also creates a play dedicated to the life of Svyatoslav. In the film by I. A. Akimov " Grand Duke Svyatoslav kissing his mother and children upon returning from the Danube to Kyiv" shows the conflict between military valor and family loyalty, reflected in Russian chronicles ( “You, prince, are looking for someone else’s land and taking care of it, but you left your own, and we were almost taken by the Pechenegs, and your mother, and your children.”).

In the 19th century, interest in Svyatoslav decreased somewhat. At this time, K.V. Lebedev painted a picture illustrating Leo the Deacon’s description of Svyatoslav’s meeting with Tzimiskes. At the beginning of the 20th century, E. E. Lansere creates the sculpture “Svyatoslav on the way to Tsar-grad” . A poem by Velimir Khlebnikov, the historical novel “Svyatoslav” (1958) by the Ukrainian writer Semyon Sklyarenko and the story “Black Arrows of Vyatichi” by V. V. Kargalov are dedicated to Svyatoslav. Vivid image Svyatoslav was created by Mikhail Kazovsky in his historical novel "The Empress's Daughter" (1999). In Alexander Mazin's novels "A Place for Battle" (2001) (the end of the novel), "Prince" (2005) and "Hero" (2006) life path Svyatoslav, starting from the battle with the Drevlyans (946), and ending with his death in 972 in the battle with the Pechenegs.

The music album “Following the Sun” (2006) by the pagan metal band Butterfly Temple is dedicated to Svyatoslav Igorevich. Group "Ivan Tsarevich" - "I'm coming to you!" The song is dedicated to the victory of Svyatoslav over Khazar Khaganate. The image of Svyatoslav is used in the song “Early in the Morning” by the group “Kalinov Most”. Also, the group "Reanimation" dedicated a song to the death of the prince called "The Death of Svyatoslav."

In 2003, the publishing house "White Alva" published Lev Prozorov's book "Svyatoslav Khorobre. I'm coming to you!" In subsequent years, the book was reprinted several times.

Svyatoslav's portrait is used in the emblem of the ultras football club "Dynamo" (Kyiv) , the name "Svyatoslav" is also printed edition fans of Dynamo Kyiv.

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A broad-shouldered athlete of average height, with a wrestler's neck and blue eyes, a shaven head with a streak of hair on his forehead and an earring in his ear decorated with pearls and a ruby, Svyatoslav looked more like a ferocious bandit than the Grand Duke of Kyiv. His opponents were indescribably horrified by the wild howl of the attacking squad, at the head of which Prince Svyatoslav walked with an animal growl. At the same time, he always observed the military code of honor. “I’m coming to you” - a well-known warning to those with whom Svyatoslav was going to fight, suggests that he did not attack enemies who were not ready for battle.
A short biography of Prince Svyatoslav begins with the first throw of a javelin at the age of three. So, he gave the signal to begin the massacre of the Drevlyans. His contemporaries were amazed by his simple manners, ascetic life, and battle campaigns that brought glory to Russian weapons. Tragic death, wrapped in legends, only added a peculiar charm to the mysterious figure of the real Russian prince-knight.
Prince Svyatoslav was an ardent statesman and a strict pagan. Of the twenty years of reign in Rus', significantly more than half allotted to him for government activities spent time on military expeditions. Thanks to them, he strengthened the role of the state in solving problems of internal and foreign policy Ancient Rus', due to its expansion with new territories.
Expanding his possessions, Prince Svyatoslav subjugated to Rus' that part of the Vyatichi tribe who paid tribute to the Khazars; moreover, having defeated the Volga Bulgars, he freed the unfortunate Vyatichi from tax duties in their favor.
They consider Svyatoslav’s great merit final decision“Khazar question” in 967, swept away the capital of the Kaganate Itil and completely freed the trade route along the Volga and Oka for Russian merchants and foreign “guests”. He took the Sarkel fortress by storm, and it, called "White Vezha" for a long time was a Russian city, a kind of transshipment base for Russian goods to the east. And on the Taman Peninsula, he created the Tmutarakan principality, which existed in this status until the 13th century.
An unfulfilled dream for the hero was an attempt to create an empire, with its center in Pereyaslavets Danube, they say, there is the middle of my land, the prince argued. I wonder if he got there as an assistant in eliminating the rebellion, but the land of Bulgaria so captivated the stern warrior that he did not want to leave there, thereby provoking a full-fledged war with Byzantium.
During the war, an incident occurred. Having learned about the absence of the formidable Svyatoslav, the insidious Pechenegs attacked Kyiv. His mother, Princess Olga, reproached her son for leaving his family in danger. Prince Svyatoslav returned, drove out the Pechenegs and went back to Bulgaria to continue the war with Byzantium. For such a war, the resource base of Kievan Rus, of course, was not suitable. The result of the war was predictable. Despite heroism and individual tactical successes, Svyatoslav’s army was defeated by the army of the Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes.
At the head of the remaining fighters, the prince tried to return to his homeland, but the Pechenegs, forestalled by the vile Byzantines, watched the prince at the Dnieper rapids in 972. During the short skirmish, Svyatoslav's detachment was scattered, and the prince himself was killed. The Pechenegs put an end to the series of recent military defeats of the Russians. As described in the Tale of Bygone Years, the Khan of the Pechenegs, named Kurya, ordered a cup to be made from the skull of Prince Svyatoslav and drank kumis from it, boasting to the guests.
Thus, in pursuit of a dream, Prince Svyatoslav overestimated his real chances, as well as the economic and social capabilities of the ancient Russian state.
His misfortune is that with his military successes he prepared his future defeats and death. But this is a separate topic.