Any educated person in our country knows who Igor Stary is. That was the name of the prince of Ancient Russia, the son of Rurik and a relative of Oleg the Great, nicknamed the Prophetic.
Let's take a closer look at the life and work of this ruler of the ancient Russian state.
Brief biographical details of birth and childhood
According to chronicle sources, Igor Stary lived a relatively long life for those times. He was born approximately in 878, and died (also approximately) in 945.
The reign of Igor the Old covers the period from 912 to 945.
The hero of our story was the son of the first Russian prince Rurik, who, according to legend, came to Russia with his brothers and began to reign in Novgorod, and later became the sole ruler of the entire then Russian state. After the death of Rurik, Igor was small for years, so the functions of the prince were performed by his relative Oleg (according to one version, he was Rurik's nephew, and according to another, his wife's brother).
Most likely, young Igor accompanied Oleg in his military campaigns, where he acquired the skillsmilitary leader and politician. It is known that he took the throne of his father not upon reaching his majority and marriage, but after the death of Prophetic Oleg (according to legend, he died from the bite of a poisonous snake).
Brief biographical information about the prince's family
According to the official version, the year in which Oleg, nicknamed the Prophet, died, is the beginning of the reign of Igor the Old. This, as already mentioned, is 912. By that time, the young prince already had a family.
According to chronicle sources, when Igor was 25 years old, he was married to a girl named Olga (she was only 13). However, their son Svyatoslav was born only in 942 (it turns out that at that time Olga should have been 52 years old, which is impossible). Many historians point to this circumstance, therefore it is believed that the age of Olga, the future Grand Duchess and founder of Christianity in Russia, was younger. There is also an assumption that Olga and Igor had more children, in particular, some historians mention two sons - Vladislav and Gleb, who probably died at a young age.
Also, Byzantine sources indicate that the prince had other relatives (cousins, nephews, etc.). However, there is no mention of these people in the Russian chronicles. Most likely, they did not own any lands and powers, but were part of the squad of Prince Igor. Modern historians consider this version the most reasonable, because, most likely, in Ancient Russia there was a tradition characteristic of European states, according towhich only the ruler himself, his wife (wives) and children were mentioned in official documents, not a word was said about other relatives (and, consequently, applicants for the throne).
Military campaigns against Tsargrad
Igor Stary became famous as an experienced military leader. It is known that he made more than one military campaign against Byzantium. The Orthodox peoples who inhabited the Byzantine Empire then suffered greatly from the raids of the barbarians, whom they called dews.
Historians note the following military campaigns of Igor Stary:
1. According to legend, in 941 Igor sailed to Byzantium, accompanied by a thousand ships, called “boats”. However, the Greeks used the most advanced weapon of the time - the so-called "Greek fire" (a mixture of oil and other combustible substances), which burned most of the warships. Defeated, Igor Stary returned home to Russia to gather a new army for a new military campaign. And he succeeded.
2. His military assembly included representatives of all the tribes of the then ancient Russian state, both Slavs and Russ, Pechenegs, Drevlyans, etc. This campaign turned out to be more successful for the prince, as a result, he concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantines, providing for the payment of certain material resources. In this agreement, the text of which the Greeks preserved, both Igor himself and his wife Olga and their common son Svyatoslav are mentioned.
Igor Stary's domestic policy
The prince became famous incenturies as a strict and demanding person. A successful conqueror, he annexed new lands to his state, and then imposed tribute on the tribes he conquered. The reign of Igor the Old was remembered for the pacification of the streets and Tivertsy, Drevlyans and many other nationalities.
The Drevlyans had the strongest resistance to the prince (they were conquered at the dawn of Igor's reign, in 912). They refused to pay tribute, but Igor and his retinue ravaged the Drevlyansk settlements and, as a punishment, obliged the local residents to pay even more than before. The Drevlyans reluctantly agreed, but they harbored a strong resentment against the prince in their hearts.
The domestic policy of Igor Stary was also distinguished by new ways of collecting tribute, which he himself called polyud. This procedure consisted in the following: the prince annually, together with his retinue, traveled around the territories subject to him and collected a "tax" from the tribes that lived there. He took tribute in a natural way: both with grain, flour and other food products, as well as with the skins of wild animals, honey of wild bees, and so on. Often, the prince's warriors behaved like impudent conquerors, which inflicted many insults on ordinary people.
Igor's foreign policy successes
What else did Igor Stary remember for his contemporaries? The domestic and foreign policy of the prince was of an aggressive nature, which is not surprising, especially if you remember what Igor himself was like (historians note that the prince had a sharp and quick temper).
His military successes cannot be called modest either. He acted likea real barbarian, cutting through a "window" to Europe of that time - the Byzantine Empire with fire and sword.
In addition to the two military campaigns against Byzantium already mentioned above, Igor made the same campaign against the Caspian Sea. Arab sources tell about him, but in the Russian chronicles this is not even mentioned. Little is known about the results of this campaign, but the Khazar authors believe that it had some consequences: Igor's army received rich trophies and returned home with the loot.
Also, some historians, relying on Hungarian sources, believe that Igor Stary concluded an alliance with the Hungarians. The foreign policy of the prince in relation to these tribes was of an allied nature, perhaps there were certain connections between the Russians and the Hungarians, allowing them to organize joint military campaigns against Byzantium.
Mysteries of personality
The reign of Igor the Old, although it lasted for many years, is not fully understood due to the lack of information about the immediate environment of the prince and his actions.
The scarcity of information about this historical figure, as well as some discrepancies (for example, regarding the dates of his life, years of reign, family and death), which are found in various sources, lead to the fact that there are many blank spots in the biography of this person.
So, there are different assumptions about who Igor's mother was. For example, V. Tatishchev, a historian of the Petrine era, assumed that she was the Norman princess Efanda. The same Tatishchev believed that the real hero of ourthe narrative was called Inger, and only later his name was transformed into Igor. The Old Prince received his nickname not during his reign, but much later, thanks to the Russian chronicles, which called him “ancient” or “old”. And all because Igor was one of the first Rurikovich.
The main idea of Igor's reign
Prince Igor Stary entered Russian history very firmly. The results of the reign of this Russian ruler are associated with the strengthening of the young ancient Russian state. In fact, Igor continued the policy of his father and relative Oleg: he expanded the state, made military campaigns that brought a lot of we alth, concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantines, and introduced a system of taxation of his subjects.
Also, Igor was able to leave behind a powerful heir, Svyatoslav, who continued his work. Thus, Prince Igor Stary not only strengthened his dynasty, but also strengthened his state.
Death of the Prince
One of the most famous episodes of Igor's life was his tragic violent death.
Russian chronicles describe this event as follows: Prince Igor Stary, having conquered the Drevlyans, annually came to them to collect tribute. He did the same in 945. His squad treated the Drevlyans with disdain, repaired a lot of rigidity, which caused their obvious discontent. In addition, the Drevlyans had their own ruler named Mal, who perceived Igor as a victorious rival.
Having collected enough tribute from the Drevlyans, the prince went further with his retinue, but on the contraryway I thought about the fact that I did not take as much as I wanted. It was at this moment that Igor Stary made a fatal mistake for himself. The events of the following day proved this.
The prince let go of his large squad and returned to the Drevlyans for a new tribute with a small army. Those, seeing that Igor had little strength, brutally de alt with him and his people. According to legend, the prince was tied to the tops of mighty trees and released. Igor took such a fierce death from the supposedly conquered Drevlyans.
Olga's revenge
Russian chronicles tell us not only about the death of Prince Igor, but also about the exquisite and terrible revenge used by his wife, the widowed Princess Olga of Pskovskaya, who was left with Igor's three-year-old son Svyatoslav without the care of her husband.
So, Olga betrayed the envoys from the Drevlyans to a cruel execution (burned alive), and then made a military campaign against Iskorosten and, taking it by storm, mercilessly de alt with the inhabitants. According to legend, she demanded 3 doves and 3 sparrows from each yard. Having received such a kind of "tribute", Olga ordered to tie tinder and sulfur to each bird, light them at night and let them go. The calculation of the cunning princess turned out to be correct: the birds returned to their nests, under the roofs of houses … Later, Igor's son Svyatoslav set his son Oleg to reign over the Drevlyans.
The meaning of Igor's reign
Historians agree that Igor Stary's policy was generally positive and benefited Russia. He laid the foundations of statehood, which was based onon the personality of the prince, the power of his military squad and diplomatic skills. Sometimes cruelly and unceremoniously subjugating neighboring tribes, Igor nevertheless built a new system of relations that allowed him to move to a new stage of development - from a tribal community to a state system.
