600-1450 Lesson 4

• Until the 9 th Cent. C.E., Russia was sparsely populated, underdeveloped, and culturally challenged
• Orthodox missionary efforts and trade with
Constantinople made Russia a Byzantine cultural satellite
• The empire of Kiev Rus’ dominated Russia until internal divisions and invasion led to its destruction

• Native inhabitants are Slavic peoples
•
Viking incursions
– Dvina & Dnieper R.
• Settlements and enslavement of
Slavs
• Early trade links to
Constantinople

• The race to
Christianize Russia
• Sts. Cyril &
Methodius
– Cyrillic alphabet
– Cultural implications
• Catholicism &
Judaism in E. Europe

• Rurik & the Kievan principalities
– alliances, not unified kingdom
– how unified is Kiev?
• Love/hate with
Constantinople
– key trade goods
– friend or foe?

• Courtship of Vladimir I
– Roman Catholicism— papal influence
– Islam— forbids alcohol
– Orthodoxy— field trip to
Constantinople
• “Conversion” & the
Russian Orthodoxy
– Video:
Russia—Land of the
Tsars
• Solidification under
Yaroslav the Wise
– law code

• “Typically Russian”
– grim reality of Russian life
– tendency toward fatalism
– Russian personal values
• Byzantine influences:
– religion & art
– highly centralized society ( not govt...yet)

•
Boyars : Russian nobles
• Authority in Russian society
– boyar resistance to
Grand Prince
• Mongol Invasions & sacking of Kiev
• Impacts on Byzantium