Vladimir Monomakh’s long and eventful life has ended. As he intended, the throne of Kyiv passes to his son Mstislav, but that does not mean that the path of succession is settled.
Christian Raffensperger is Professor of History and Chair of the Department, Kenneth E. Wray Chair in the Humanities, and Director, Emarth Institute for the Public Humanities at Wittenberg University covering Medieval Europe, Russia, and Ukrain
The death of Svyatoslav found Rus unprepared for the succession. The three sons he left in charge of Kyiv, the Drevlians, and Novgorod, soon turn to fighting among themselves.
In the late Soviet period and in post-Soviet Russia, Lev Gumilev’s passionary theory of ethnogenesis and pseudo-historical ideas of a Jewish-Khazar chimera gained enormous popularity, leading to elaborate conspiracy theories of shadowy forces b
In this episode, we look at the first Rus ruler with a Slavic name, but a not so Slavic personal style. If it wasn’t for those treacherous Byzantines, things could have turned out very differently...
In this episode, we begin exploring the formation of Volga Bulgaria, a major medieval European kingdom that will play a significant role in our story.Subscribe for exclusive member episodes via Patreon, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Olga of Kyiv has been venerated as a saint and gained popularity in modern times as a vengeful warrior queen, but how true are those stories? Listen to this episode to find out the true story of Olga.https://therussianempirehistorypodcast.com/
In this episode, we look at what the Tale of Bygone Years tells us about Rurik’s successors, Oleg and Igor, and try to figure out what actually might have happened. Read the blogpost: https://therussianempirehistorypodcast.com/blog/128-oleg-th
In this episode we look at the traditional founder of the ruling dynasty of Rus, discuss what the Rus chronicles were and how they were created, and cover the mistranslation of Rus titles.Read the blog post: therussianempirehistorypodcast.com/