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____ Igor I
Birth: 877 Novgorod, Russia
Death: 945 Kiev, Ukraine
Cause of Death: murdered
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_of_Kiev
Igor I (Old East Slavic/Russian: ?????; Ukrainian: ????; Old Norse: Ingvar) was a
Varangian ruler of Kievan Rus' from 912 to 945.
Information about Igor' comes mostly from the Primary Chronicle. This document has
Igor as the son of Rurik, the first ruler of Kievan Rus':
6378–6387 (870–879). On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who
belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor', for he was very
young.
6388–6390 (880–882). Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the
Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians. He thus arrived
with his Krivichians before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison there.
Thence he went on and captured Lyubech, where he also set up a garrison. He then
came to the hills of Kiev, and saw how Askold and Dir reigned there. He hid his
warriors in the boats, left some others behind, and went forward himself bearing the
child Igor'. He thus came to the foot of the Hungarian hill, and after concealing his
troops, he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on
his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor', the prince's son, and requesting
that they should come forth to greet them as members of their race. Askold and Dir
straightway came forth. Then all the soldiery jumped out of the boats, and Oleg said to
Askold and Dir, "You are not princes nor even of princely stock, but I am of princely
birth." Igor' was then brought forward, and Oleg announced that he was the son of
Rurik. They killed Askold and Dir, and after carrying them to the hill, they buried them
there, on the hill now known as Hungarian, where the castle of Ol'ma now stands.[1]
Igor' twice besieged Constantinople, in 941 and 944, and although Greek fire
destroyed part of his fleet, he concluded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine
VII a favourable treaty (945), the text of which the chronicle has preserved. In 913
and 944 the Rus' plundered the Arabs in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian
expeditions of the Rus', but it remains unclear whether Igor' had anything to do with
these campaigns.
Prince Igor Exacting Tribute from the Drevlyans, by Klavdiy Lebedev (1852-1916).
Igor' was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. The Byzantine
historian and chronicler, Leo the Deacon (born ca 950), describes how Igor met his
death: "They had bent down two birch trees to the prince's feet and tied them to his
legs; then they let the trees straighten again, thus tearing the prince's body apart."[2]
Igor's wife, Olga of Kiev, avenged his death by punishing the Drevlians. The Primary
Chronicle blames his death on his own excessive greed, indicating that he tried to
collect tribute for a second time in a month. As a result, Olga changed the system of
tribute gathering (poliudie) in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded
in Eastern Europe.
Controversy[edit]
Drastically revising the chronology of the Primary Chronicle, Constantin Zuckerman
argues that Igor actually reigned for three years, between summer 941 and his death
in early 945. He explains the epic 33-year span of his reign in the chronicle to be the
result of its author's faulty interpretation of Byzantine sources.[3] Indeed, none of
Igor's activities are recorded in the chronicle prior to 941.
Parents
OF KIEV Rurik (ABT 820 - 879)
OF NOVGOROD Efenda (ABT 850 - )
Siblings
____ Igor I ( 877 - 945)
Marriage To ____ Olga ( 890 - 11 Jul 969)
m. ABT 903
Notes
Parents
____ Oleg (Helgi II) ()
----- ----- ()
Children by ____ Olga 890 - 11 Jul 969
IGORJEWITSCH Avatislav (Svyatoslav) I ( 920 - 972)
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