Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/198

8 been able to learn nothing from the annals, beyond the name, as to whence they came or who they were; and the same likewise with the Waregi; but as they gave the name of Waregan Sea to the Baltic, and to that sea which divides Prussia, Livonia, and part of their own territory from Sweden, I have concluded from the vicinity that their princes were either Swedes or Danes, or Prussians. But since Wagria seems to have been formerly a most famous seat and province of the Vandals, near to Lubeck and the Duchy of Holstein, it would appear that the sea which is now called the Baltic took its name from it; and as that sea, together with the gulph which divides Germany from Denmark, and separates also Prussia, Livonia, and the maritime portion of the Russian empire from Sweden, was at that time called by the Russians Waretzokoie Morie, i.e. the Waregan Sea; and as in addition to this the Vandals were at that time powerful, used the language, and practised the manners and religion of the Russians, it appears to me more probable that the Russians called their princes from the Wagrii, or Waregi, than