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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Volodymyr the Radiant Sun:

25 May, 1999 - 00:00

By Viktor HUSEV, Yuri KALINTSEV, Candidates
of Sciences (History)

The Day continues to publish chapters from the book, From Kyi
to Skovoroda, by Ukrainian historians Viktor Husev and Yuri Kalintsev,
devoted to outstanding figures in Ukraine's past.

The last quarter of the tenth and early eleventh century is a complex,
contradictory, and action-packed period in the making and development of
the old Rus state, inseparably connected with the name of Prince Volodymyr,
son of Sviatoslav. Under Volodymyr, Kyivan Rus achieved a high level of
political and cultural development, and military power, reaching the level
of many European and Middle Eastern states.

What sometimes keeps us from understanding the grand prince in the diversity
of his actions is not the brevity of old chronicles but the traditional
interpretation of him exclusively as the holy baptizer of Rus, a view formed
in the course of almost a millennium in church literature and often even
in historical studies.

Volodymyr's biography, under such an approach, gave two opposite portraits:
Volodymyr before the baptism is a pagan, a sinner "unaware of the true
law." Suffice it to recall a report, going from one chronicle to another,
about Volodymyr's three harems with 800 concubines. Then there is the prince
baptized. He built churches, liked to read books, and persevered in his
repentance... But popular memory has preserved one more image, that of
Volodymyr the Radiant Sun, the defender of Rus against enemies, a wise
ruler surrounded by epic bohatyrs (heroes). Few in national history have
merited the people's centuries-old memory.

Reference to a wide range of historical chronicles and annals of ancient
Rus, Europe, and Asia, and to the results of researchers' scholarship allows
us to greatly broaden the image of the Kyivan Grand Prince Volodymyr as
a statesman, warlord, and diplomat. Chronicler Nestor first mentions Volodymyr
in the year 970, stating that Sviatoslav sent his young single son to the
princely throne in Novgorod. After his father's death in 972, the elder
son Yaropolk became the Great Prince of Kyiv, while brothers Oleh and Volodymyr
were princes in Ovruch and Novgorod, respectively. But the internal conflicts
caused by the struggle for power led to an armed standoff between Yaropolk
and Oleh, resulting in the violent death of the latter. In 980 (other sources
cite 978) Volodymyr, relying on the Novgorod forces and the Varangians,
expelled Yaropolk from Kyiv and ascended the Kyiv throne.

Having concentrated power in his hands, Volodymyr applied his efforts
to strengthening the unity of his state. In 981-983 the grand prince conducted
campaigns against the Yatvyags, Viatyches, and White Croats, resulting
in the East Slavic tribes uniting around Kyiv. Historians think that Volodymyr
completed the formation of Kyivan Rus's territory and established state
borders that by and large coincided with the ethnic boundaries of the eastern
tribes.

The great prince carried out a legal reform, introducing an oral code
of laws which Nestor called "the Land Statute," thus essentially updating
the "Rus Law" in force since the times of Prince Oleh. Striving to strengthen
ties between individual lands and consolidate the grand prince's power,
Volodymyr conducted an administrative reform, consisting mainly in the
injunction that the lands ruled by local princes were transferred to the
control of the grand prince's 12 sons. Thus was abolished the autonomy
of the lands, and all power was concentrated in the hands of the grand
prince's relatives.

In the years of Volodymyr's rule, fighting the Pechenegs became the
main vector of his foreign policy. To repel their attacks, the prince reinforced
the steppe frontier, building forts on the banks of the Desna, Oster, Trubizh,
Sula, and Stuhna. Those impregnable outposts with permanently stationed
garrisons played a most important role in stabilizing the situation in
southern Rus. In addition to the system of forts, Rus's southern frontier
was also protected by kilometers-long earthen ramparts known at the time
as serpentines.

Volodymyr further developed contacts with Byzantium, which was helped,
to a large extent, by the Kyivan prince's marriage to Anna, the Byzantine
emperor's daughter. Relations with Poland and Sweden were also improved
owing to the marriage of Volodymyr's sons Sviatopolk and Yaroslav to the
daughters of Boleslaw the Bold and Olaf ScЪtkonung. Rus also established
contacts with Rome and Germany.

Of great importance for the strengthening of Ancient Rus were Volodymyr's
religious reforms. The great prince's attempt to reform paganism was the
first step toward using the ideological influence of religion on the people
in the state's interests: he set up a pantheon of pagan gods next to his
Kyiv palace, with one of the gods, Perun, singled out as the principal
one. But this action did not yield the desired results. In 988, Christianity
became the officially recognized dominant religion. At first, it was Volodymyr
himself and his armed force who were baptized (some historians think the
prince was baptized in 987), and only then the inhabitants of the state's
capital, where this act did not encounter serious resistance. But in other
lands of the Kyivan state, the process of conversion to a new religion
was lengthy, with authorities often resorting to violent measures.

After the great prince had died in 1015, a bitter struggle broke out
between his sons for the Kyiv throne. This was a dangerous symptom of the
future period of feudal appanages. But this would be preceded by the rule
of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who followed the course of his father to strengthen
the might and unity of the Ancient Rus state. This will be dealt with later.

 

Not only the baptizer of Rus but also a wise ruler
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