Igor of Kiev, Prince of the Rus'

Igor of Kiev, Prince of the Rus'

Male ~900 - 945

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  • Name Igor of Kiev 
    Suffix Prince of the Rus' 
    Birth ~900  (Kiev, Ukraine) Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Religion Norse Pagan  [1
    Death 945  Korosten, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I51060  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 15 Feb 2019 

    Father Rurik, Prince of Ladoga and Novgorod,   b. ~830, Jutland, Denmark Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 879, Novgorod, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Residence (Family) Kiev, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F19015  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Olga of Kiev,   b. (Pskov) Russia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jul 0969, Kiev, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage 903  [2
    Children 
     1. Sviatoslav, I, Grand Prince of Kiev,   b. ~941, Kiev, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Mar 972, Khortytsia, Dnieper, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F19010  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - ~900 - (Kiev, Ukraine) Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 945 - Korosten, Ukraine Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Igor of Kiev (Ingvar the Rus)
    Igor of Kiev (Ingvar the Rus)

  • Notes 
    • Igor I (Old East Slavic: ?????, Igor'; Old Norse: Ingvar R˛riksen; Ukrainian: ????, translit. Ihor ['i??r]; Russian: ?????, translit. Igor' ['ig?r?]; Belarusian: ????, translit. Ihar ['i?ar]) was a Varangian ruler of Kievan Rus' from 912 to 945. (Varangian defined: http://thehennesseefamily.com/showmedia.php?mediaID=3071&medialinkID=3073)

      Ingvar the Rus
      Prince of the Rus'
      Igor RC.png
      Ingvar the Rus. Illumination from the Radziwill Chronicle
      Reign 914–945
      Coronation 914
      Predecessor Oleg
      Successor Sviatoslav the Brave
      Died 945
      Iskorosten
      Burial ?
      Wife
      Saint Olga
      Issue Sviatoslav the Brave
      Full name
      Ingvar Roriksen
      Dynasty Rurik Dynasty
      Father Rurik
      Religion Norse Pagan

      Biography

      Information about Igor comes mostly from the Primary Chronicle. This document has Igor as the son of Rurik, the first ruler of Kievan Rus':

      6378–6387 (870–879). On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor', for he was very young.

      6388–6390 (880–882). Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison there. Thence he went on and captured Lyubech, where he also set up a garrison. He then came to the hills of Kiev, and saw how Askold and Dir reigned there. He hid his warriors in the boats, left some others behind, and went forward himself bearing the child Igor'. He thus came to the foot of the Hungarian hill, and after concealing his troops, he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor', the prince's son, and requesting that they should come forth to greet them as members of their race. Askold and Dir straightway came forth. Then all the soldiery jumped out of the boats, and Oleg said to Askold and Dir, "You are not princes nor even of princely stock, but I am of princely birth." Igor' was then brought forward, and Oleg announced that he was the son of Rurik. They killed Askold and Dir, and after carrying them to the hill, they buried them there, on the hill now known as Hungarian, where the castle of Ol'ma now stands.[1]

      Igor' twice besieged Constantinople, in 941 and 944, and although Greek fire destroyed part of his fleet, he concluded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII a favourable treaty (945), the text of which the chronicle has preserved. In 913 and 944 the Rus' plundered the Arabs in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian expeditions of the Rus', but it remains unclear whether Igor' had anything to do with these campaigns.


      Prince Igor Exacting Tribute from the Drevlyans, by Klavdiy Lebedev (1852-1916).
      Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. The Byzantine historian and chronicler, Leo the Deacon (born ca 950), describes how Igor met his death: "They had bent down two birch trees to the prince's feet and tied them to his legs; then they let the trees straighten again, thus tearing the prince's body apart."[2] Igor's wife, Olga of Kiev, avenged his death by punishing the Drevlians. The Primary Chronicle blames his death on his own excessive greed, indicating that he tried to collect tribute for a second time in a month. As a result, Olga changed the system of tribute gathering (poliudie) in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe.

      Controversy
      Drastically revising the chronology of the Primary Chronicle, Constantin Zuckerman argues that Igor actually reigned for three years, between summer 941 and his death in early 945. He explains the epic 33-year span of his reign in the chronicle to be the result of its author's faulty interpretation of Byzantine sources.[3] Indeed, none of Igor's activities are recorded in the chronicle before 941.

      See also

      List of Ukrainian rulers
      List of Russian rulers

      References

      Translated and edited by Cross, S. H. and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, O. P. (1953). "The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text" (PDF). Crimson Printing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
      Tarasenko, Leonid (27 February 2008). "Korosten (Iskorosten): A small town with a great history". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
      Zuckerman, Constantin (1995). "On the Date of the Khazars' Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor: A Study of the Anonymous Khazar Letter from the Genizah of Cairo" (PDF). Volume 53. Revue des âetudes byzantines (1): 237–270. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1995.1906. ISSN 0766-5598. Retrieved 5 July 2016.

      end of biography [1]

  • Sources 
    1. [S12460] "Igor of Kiev", Biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_of_Kiev, abstracted by David A. Hennessee, info@classroomf.

    2. [S12461] "Olga of Kiev", Biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev, abstracted by David A. Hennessee, info@classroomf.