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Metiga was a Pecheneg ruler who allied himself with Vladimir I of Kiev around the year 988 CE. [1] [2] Metiga assisted with the capture of Cherson by Vladimir, who converted to Christianity shortly after the town's fall to his forces. He was preceded as Pecheneg khan by Kurya, and succeeded by Kuchug; Metiga's rule was over by 991. [3]
Also in 988, Metiga requested baptism from Vladimir. [4]
Bruno of Querfurt, also known as Brun, was a Christian missionary bishop and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania for trying to spread Christianity. He is also called the second "Apostle of the Prussians".
Olga was a regent of Kievan Rus' for her son Sviatoslav from 945 until 960. Following her baptism, Olga took the name Elenа. She is known for her subjugation of the Drevlians, a tribe that had killed her husband Igor of Kiev. Even though it was her grandson Vladimir who converted the entire nation to Christianity, because of her efforts to spread Christianity through Rus', Olga is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church with the epithet "Equal to the Apostles". Her feast day is 11 July.
Vsevolod I Yaroslavich, ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev from 1078 until his death.
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych, nicknamed the Great, was Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, and ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015.
Sviatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: Ст҃ославъ / Свѧтославъ Игорєвичь, romanized: Svętoslavŭ Igorevičǐ;Old Norse: Sveinald; Russian: Святослав Игоревич; Ukrainian: Святослав Ігорович, romanized: Sviatoslav Ihorovych; Belarusian: Святаслаў Ігаравіч;, also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars.
The Tale of Bygone Years, often known in English as the Rus' Primary Chronicle, the Russian Primary Chronicle, or simply the Primary Chronicle, as well as also, after the author it has traditionally been ascribed to, Nestor's Chronicle, is an Old East Slavic chronicle (letopis) of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev around 1113.
Sviatopolk I Vladimirovich was the Kniaz' (Turov) of Turov (988–1015) and Velykyi Kniaz or Grand Prince of Kiev (1015–1019) whose paternity and guilt in the murder of his brothers are disputed.
The Christianization of Kievan Rus' was a long and complicated process that took place in several stages. In 867, Patriarch Photius of Constantinople told other Christian patriarchs that the Rus' people were converting enthusiastically, but his efforts seem to have entailed no lasting consequences, since the Primary Chronicle and other Slavonic sources describe the tenth-century Rus' as still firmly entrenched in Slavic paganism. The traditional view, as recorded in the Primary Chronicle, is that the definitive Christianization of Kievan Rus' dates happened c. 988, when Vladimir/Volodymyr the Great was baptized in Chersonesus (Korsun) and proceeded to baptize his family and people in Kiev. The latter events are traditionally referred to as baptism of Rus' in Ukrainian and Russian literature.
The Pechenegs or Patzinaks were a semi-nomadic Turkic ethnic people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language.
The Cumans, also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy, were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language.
The family life and children of Vladimir I, popularly known as Vladimir the Great (c.958–1015), grand prince of Kievan Rus', is subject to scholarly studies. The primary sources about his life, such as the Primary Chronicle and the Chronicon Thietmari of Thietmar of Merseburg, are legendary, and require critical scrutiny to separate fact from fiction.
The intervention in the Kievan succession crisis of 1015–1019 by the Polish ruler Bolesław the Brave was an episode in the struggle between Sviatopolk I Vladimirovich and his brother Yaroslav for the rulership of Kiev (Kyiv) and Kievan Rus'. It occurred when Sviatopolk's father-in-law Bolesław, ruler of Poland, intervened on Sviatopolk's behalf.
Prince Vladimir is a 2006 Russian traditionally-animated feature film. It is loosely based on the story of prince Vladimir the Great, who converted Kievan Rus' to Christianity in the late 10th century. The film tells a romanticized version of the story, adapted for children and filled with fantasy elements.
Kurya was the name of a Pecheneg prince and khan who allied with Svyatoslav I of Kiev in his campaigns in the Balkans. Later, after Svyatoslav's defeat by the Byzantine Empire, Kurya ambushed and killed the Kievan grand prince at Khortytsia. According to the Chronicle of Bygone Years, Kurya had Svyatoslav's skull made into a goblet, and gilded. Dates of his rule are unknown, but he was no longer khan somewhere around 988 CE, being succeeded by Metiga. It is also possible that he was the leader of the Pechenegs in the 968 siege of Kyiv, but since a starting date is unknown, it is almost impossible to tell. Kurya appears as a villain in the 2006 animated film Prince Vladimir.
Kuchug was a Pecheneg khan who ruled during the 990s CE. The Nikol'sk Chronicle relates that Kuchug converted to Christianity around the year 990 (most likely as a result of Vladimir the Great's Christianization, whom the Chronicle states that Kuchug "served Vladimir with a pure heart". The name of Kuchug means 'little, small' in Turkic. He was preceded as khan by Metiga, and his rule began no earlier than around 988 (but had certainly begun by 991; no exact date can be pinpointed for the beginning of his reign.
The Principality of Pereyaslavl was a regional principality of Kievan Rus' from the end of 9th century until 1323, based in the city of Pereyaslavl on the Trubizh River.
Bilhorod Kyivskyi or Belgorod Kievsky was a legendary city-castle located in Kievan Rus' that was located on the right bank of Irpin River and was mentioned in chronicles.
Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was a state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestor, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.
By the 10th century, Christianity had spread throughout much of Europe and Asia. The Church in England was becoming well established, with its scholarly monasteries, and the Roman Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were continuing their separation, ultimately culminating in the Great Schism.
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