Prince Rurik - Governor of Novgorod

The name Rurik is associated with the ancient Russian state and one of the legendary figures in the history of Europe. Very little is known about this very brave man.

Prince Rurik is considered, perhaps, one of the most mysterious figures in Russia. Supposedly he was born somewhere in 808 in the city of Rerik, now renamed Rarog.

In the early 800's, the Danish king Gottfried captured this city, and Rurik's father, Prince Godoljub, ordered to hang. His mother, widowed Princess Umila, together with two young children disappeared in a foreign land. In general, the period of Rurik's childhood in history is not illuminated. Mention of this time can be found only in the "Bertinsky Annals", when in 826 the year the brothers (the future prince and brother Harold) appeared in the residence of the Frankish emperor. King Louis the Pious became their godfather, and gave them lands beyond the Elbe.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was no integral state on our territory. Here lived the tribes of the Chudes, the Weights, the Ilmen Slavs, Krivich, Vyatich, Drevlyane, Glades and others. Between them very often flared up enmity and quarrels, in endless skirmishes many people died.

Therefore, according to legend, at last, once representatives of all these tribes gathered and called for "to establish order" of the foreign prince. This man, as chroniclers claim, was Prince Rurik, and this happened in 862.

Prior to the events described, in 845, the Vikings climbed up their rooks along the Elbe and defeated almost all the cities along the banks of the river. They were led by Prince Rurik, who in five years commanded a huge fleet of 350 ships at that time. And it was this armada that he brought down on England.

In 862 the troops of the Varangians occupied the shores of Ladoga, and in 864 Rurik annexed Izborsk and Beloozero to their possessions.

And when on the united lands of numerous tribes the "called" prince formed a single state, then Novgorod became its capital. Next to it was cut down another small town - Gorodische, where later many Novgorod rulers lived.

In neighboring Polotsk, Beloozero and other cities, Prince Rurik appointed to rule his close people - comrades-in-arms. Just two years after Prince Rurik ascended the throne, an uprising began, led by Vadim the Brave. However, the ruler of the Novgorod lands was able to fully prove that he was fully capable of ruling his disobedient subjects: he cruelly suppressed the insurrection.

By 864th year, as a result of a heavy war with the Khazars, he managed to subdue Moore and Rostov, expanding the Novgorod principality, stretching from Volkhov to the mouth of the Oka River.

During the reign of Prince Rurik actively strengthened its borders and laid new cities. The policy pursued by him was quite simple: he was well aware of the importance of the river trade routes, through which the main cargoes from the East were loaded. He managed to control them, thereby making Novgorod even richer.

Until his death, he firmly held the board in Novgorod. According to the chronicle, Rurik reigned for seventeen years. He died in 879th year during a raid on the tribes of the lord and the koreel.

After his death, the throne in Novgorod passed to his son Igor, however, because he was a juvenile, the actual government took over Prince Oleg in his hands .

Rurik, the dynasty of which ruled the Russian land for more than seven hundred years, was interrupted only at the end of the nineteenth century.