Rurik Rostislavich, also spelt Riurik, ({{circa, 1140 - 19 April 1212{{efn, Other sources state the date of Rurik's death as 1211,1214 or 1215) was

Prince of Novgorod The Prince of Novgorod () was the title of the ruler of Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod in present-day Russia. From 1136, it was the title of the figurehead leader of the Novgorod Republic. The position was originally an appointed one until the late ...

(1170–1171),

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

(1173–1194),

Grand Prince of Kiev The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes also Grand Duke) was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev (modern Kyiv) from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the grand prin ...

(1173;{{sfn, Martin, 2007, p=128 1180–1181; 1194–1201; 1203–1204; 1205-1206; 1207–1210),{{cn, date=January 2023 and

Prince of Chernigov The Prince of Chernigov () was the ''kniaz'', the ruler or sub-ruler, of the Rus' people, Rus' Principality of Chernigov, a lordship which lasted four centuries straddling what are now parts of Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation. List of ...

(from 1210 till his death).

Life

Rurik,also known under his baptismal name

Basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

, was the son of

Rostislav I of Kiev Rostislav Mstislavich ( – 1167) was Prince of Smolensk (1125–1160), Novgorod (1154) and Grand Prince of Kiev (1154–1155; 1159–1161; 1161–1167). He is the founder of the Rostislavichi branch of Rurikid princes in Smolensk Smolensk ...

.{{sfn, Lenhoff, 2015, p=18 In the 1160s he ruled the province of

Drevlians The Drevlians, Derevlians or Derevlianians ( or , ) were a tribe of East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries, which inhabited the territories of Polesia and right-bank Ukraine, west of the Polans (eastern), eastern Polans and along the ...

before becoming the prince of

Ovruch Ovruch (, ) is a city in Korosten Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine, first mentioned as Vruchiy in 977. It was the capital city of the Drevlians in the 900s, later conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century, then later part of the Grand D ...

(1168). Succession conflicts intermittently placed Rurik on the throne of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

no fewer than six times between 1173 and 1210.{{sfn, Ostrowski, 2018, p=36 Between 1173 and 1181 Rurik spent brief periods as a ruler of

Novgorod the Great Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. According to the ''

Kievan Chronicle The ''Kievan Chronicle'' or ''Kyivan Chronicle'' is a chronicle of Kievan Rus'. It was written around 1200 in Vydubychi Monastery as a continuation of the ''Primary Chronicle''. It is known from two manuscripts: a copy in the '' Hypatian Codex'' ...

'' account,{{sfn, Martin, 2006, pp=277–278 in 1182,{{cn, date=January 2023 Rurik became co-ruler with Sviatoslav Vsevolodovich of Kiev (who had become prince of Kiev in 1177{{sfn, Martin, 2006, p=277), a "

duumvirate Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally spelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate. is a form of government charact ...

" arrangement that lasted until Sviatoslav's death in 1194.{{sfn, Martin, 2007, p=130 According to the ''

Novgorod Fourth Chronicle The ''Novgorod Fourth Chronicle'' () is a Rus' chronicle of the 15th century. It is scholarly abbreviated as N4. It is traditionally called "Fourth" according to the order of the modern publication of Novgorod chronicles, rather than chronologicall ...

'' and ''

Sofia First Chronicle The ''Sofia First Chronicle'' () is a Rus' chronicle from the 15th century associated with the Cathedral of St. Sophia, Novgorod. It is scholarly abbreviated as S1 or SPL. Its copies exist in two versions: Early Redaction (''starshy izvod''), whic ...

'' tradition ''sub anno'' 6688 (1180) and 6693 (1185), Sviatoslav reigned alone, and there is no mention of Rurik as co-prince.{{sfn, Martin, 2006, p=278 After the death of Sviatoslav in 1194 he became Prince of Kyiv in his own right. A conflict with the

Olgovichi The Olgovichi or Olhovychi were one of the four dominant princely clans of Kievan Rus' in the 12th and 13th century. First mentioned in the Hypatian Codex, Hypatian continuation of the ''Primary Chronicle'' (PVL) under the year 1116 and literally m ...

house, as well as with Galician prince Roman Mstislavich led to his deposition. The loss of power over Kyiv led Ruril to seek alliance with

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

. After a brief stint in

Chernigov Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukrain ...

, where he built the Church of St. Paraskebas,{{cn, date=January 2023 Rurik, along with his kinsmen and a Cuman army, attacked and sacked Kiev in 1203,{{sfn, Magocsi, 2010, p=124 but was repelled until Roman's death in 1205.{{cn, date=January 2023 Rurik had been confined to a monastery in 1204, but he abandoned his holy vows and returned to the throne.{{cn, date=January 2023 His cousin, Vsevolod Chermny, felt that Rurik's previous monastic vows rendered his authority invalid, and so attacked and briefly seized Kiev in 1206, 1207, and 1211.{{cn, date=January 2023 In 1210 Rurik was forced to abdicate the Kyivan throne to Vsevolod. For the remainder of his life he governed in

.{{Cite web, title=Riuryk (Vasylii) Rostyslavych, date=1993, url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CR%5CI%5CRiurykVasyliiRostyslavych.htm, website=

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

, access-date=2025-06-09 Rurik was married to Anna of Turov; among their children was

Rostislav II of Kiev Rostislav Rurikovich (1173 – before 1214) was Prince of Torchesk (1195–1205), Grand Prince of Kiev (1204–1206), Prince of Vyshgorod (1205–1210), and Prince of Galicia (1207).Енциклопедія українознавства : � ...

.{{cn, date=January 2023

Notes

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References

{{reflist

Sources

*{{cite journal , title=Rus'-Tatar Princely Marriages in the Horde: The Literary Sources , first=Gail , last=Lenhoff , journal=Russian History , volume=42, issue = 1, Festschrift for Janet Martin , publisher=Brill , year=2015 , doi=10.1163/18763316-04201004 , s2cid=211599594 * {{cite journal , last=Martin , first=Janet , title=Calculating Seniority and the Contests for Succession in Kievan Rus' , journal=Russian History , publisher=Brill , volume=33 , issue=2/4 , year=2006 , issn=18763316 , jstor=24664444 , pages=267–281 , url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24664444 * {{cite book , title=Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book , last=Martin , first=Janet , authorlink=Janet L. B. Martin , url=https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/802816/medieval-russia-980-1584/janet-martin/ , year=2007 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-511-36800-4 * {{Cite book , last1=Magocsi , first1=Paul Robert , authorlink1=Paul Robert Magocsi , date=2010 , title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA1zVKTTsXUC , location=Toronto , publisher=University of Toronto Press , pages=894 , isbn=9781442610217 , access-date=22 January 2023 * {{Cite journal , last1=Ostrowski , first1=Donald , date=2018 , title=Was There a Riurikid Dynasty in Early Rus'? , url=https://brill.com/view/journals/css/52/1/article-p30_2.xml , journal=Canadian-American Slavic Studies , volume=52 , issue=1 , pages=30–49 , doi=10.1163/22102396-05201009, url-access=subscription {{s-start {{s-bef, before= Vsevolod III the Big Nest {{s-ttl, title=

, years=1173 {{s-aft, after= Sviatoslav III {{s-bef, before= Yaroslav II {{s-ttl, title=Grand Prince of Kiev, years=1180–1182 {{s-aft, after=Sviatoslav III {{s-bef, before=Sviatoslav III {{s-ttl, title=Grand Prince of Kiev, years=1194–1202 {{s-aft, after= Igor III {{s-bef, before=Igor III {{s-ttl, title=Grand Prince of Kiev, years=1203–1205 {{s-aft, after= Rostislav II {{s-bef, before=Rostislav II {{s-ttl, title=Grand Prince of Kiev, years=1206 {{s-aft, after= Vsevolod IV the Red {{s-bef, before=Vsevolod IV the Red {{s-ttl, title=Grand Prince of Kiev, years=1207-1210 {{s-aft, after=Vsevolod IV the Red {{s-end {{DEFAULTSORT:Rostislavich, Rurik 1215 deaths Grand princes of Kiev Year of birth unknown Rostislavichi family (Smolensk) Escapees from monasteries {{Russia-royal-stub