Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/513

 RUSSIA 489 prince of the Varangians, to Novgorod, where he arrived about 862, with his brothers Sineus (or Sinaf) and TYuvor, and laid the founda- tion of the great Kussian empire. For nearly 200 years Russia remained under the autocra- tic power of the descendants of Rurik. He died in 879, leaving the empire, not to his son Igor, who was only four years old, but to his cousin Oleg, a great conqueror and wise ruler. Oleg (879-912) conquered the principality of Kiev and united it with his own, vanquished the Khazars (probably a people of Turanian origin, who in the 7th and 8th centuries had established a powerful kingdom between the Dnieper and the Caspian, being ruled for a time by a dynasty converted from Islam to Judaism), drove the Magyars out of the bor- ders of Russia toward the country now occu- pied by them, and made an expedition by land and sea (with 900 vessels) against the emperor of Constantinople, with whom in 911 he con- cluded an advantageous peace. Igor, the son of Rurik (912-'45), put down an insurrection of the Drevlians on the Pripet, conquered the Petchenegs, who lived on the coasts of the Black sea from the Danube to the mouths of the Dnieper, made an unsuccessful war against the emperor of Constantinople in 941, and was slain in a second war against the Drevlians. During the minority of his son Sviatoslav (945- '72), his widow, the celebrated Olga, held the reins of government with wisdom and ener- gy. In her reign Christianity began to spread in Kiev, and Olga herself was baptized in 957 at Constantinople. Her son Sviatoslav, who remained a pagan, won new victories over the Khazars, subdued the Bulgarians and Petche- negs, and was slain by the latter, while return- ing through their territory from a war against Constantinople. He had extended the borders of the empire to the sea of Azov, and in 970 divided it among his three sons, giving Kiev to Yaropolk I. (972-'80), the country of the Drevlians to Oleg, and Novgorod to Vladimir. In a war which arose between the three broth- ers, Oleg was slain and Vladimir fled, and the whole empire was reunited under Yaropolk; but in 980 Vladimir returned with Varangian hordes, conquered Novgorod and Kiev, and, having put his brother to death, became the ruler of all Russia. Vladimir, surnamed the Great on account of the benefits he conferred on the empire, conquered Red Russia and Lithuania, and made Livonia tributary.. He at first opposed Christianity, but subsequently declared himself ready to embrace the doc- trines of the Greek church, married the sister of the emperor of Constantinople, and was baptized in 988 on the day of his wedding. He soon after ordered the introduction of Christianity into the entire empire, established churches and schools, and founded new towns. He divided the empire among his twelve sons, who, even before the death of the father in 1015, engaged in a fratricidal war, in which at length Sviatopolk, a son of Vladimir's broth- er Yaropolk I., but adopted by Vladimir, pos- sessed himself of the throne, after murdering three of his brothers. Another brother, Ya- roslav, allied himself with the emperor Henry II. of Germany against Sviatopolk, and the father-in-law of the latter, King Boleslas of Poland. The war lasted till 1019, when a three days' battle decided in favor of Yaroslav, and Sviatopolk died on his flight in Poland. Yaroslav (1019-'54) for some time was sole ruler ; but in a war against his brother Msti- slav, prince of Tmutorakan on the strait of Yenikale (who in 1016 had destroyed the Cri- mean remnant of the kingdom of the Khazars, and in 1022 subdued the Circassians), he was routed in 1024, and purchased peace by ceding to his brother one half of the empire. After the death of Mstislav in 1036, the entire em- pire became once more united under Yaroslav. By several successful wars he considerably en- larged its territory, and like his father intro- duced many useful reforms. He caused the translation of many Greek works into Slavic, built churches and schools, increased the num- ber of towns, peopled many waste tracts of land, and ordered the compilation of the Rus- slcaya Prarda, the first Russian code. Three of his daughters were married to the kings of Norway, France, and Hungary. A few days before his death he divided the empire among his four sons, with the provision that the three younger ones should obey the eldest brother Izaslav, to whom he gave Kiev and Novgorod. But this provision proved of little avail; the four divisions of the empire were again sub- divided, and the Russian monarchy was finally changed into a confederacy. The power of the nation was broken by a never ceasing in- ternal war, and large territories in western Russia were taken possession of by the Poles, Lithuanians, Danes, Teutonic knights, and oth- ers. Yet many important cities were found- ed during this period, as Moscow about 1147; and Kiev and Novgorod took their place among the wealthiest and most prosperous cities of Europe. The calamity of civil war was soon followed by one still greater. From eastern Asia innumerable hordes of Mongols under Genghis Khan and his sons advanced toward Russia. The princes made a fruitless attempt to arrest their course. The danger from abroad did not cure the internal dis- sensions; and after the invaders, who had won the bloody battle of the Kalka, turned back to Asia, internecine war recommenced, accompanied by famine and pestilence. In 1230, 30,000 men died of the plague in Smo- lensk, and 42,000 in Novgorod. Soon after the Mongols returned under Batu. Many towns and villages were sacked, and far and wide the soil reeked with the blood of the mur- dered inhabitants. The princes had to pay heavy tribute to the Mongols, and though many of them occasionally gained some victo- ries, they did not succeed in restoring the inde- pendence and greatness of Russia. Alexander