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Religion and Ruthlessness: The Politics of

Vladimir of Kiev
Meagcm Fairholm

Around 988, Vladimir Sviatoslavich, the king o f Kievan Rus

between 980 and 1015, converted his nation to Christianity.
V ladim ir’s baptism marked not only a religious turning point for
Rus, but a cultural one. N ew form s o f art, literature and
architecture were brought into this ‘barbarian’ nation with the
introduction o f Byzantine Christianity. The Christianization o f
Rus, however, was only a part o f Vladimir’s efforts to consolidate
power in Kiev. After he violently usurped power from his brother
Iaropolk, Vladim ir dedicated several years to subduing and
defeating many o f the tribes that bordered Rus. Only after the
international tension had been diffused did Vladimir turn his
attention to religion. Moreover, towards the end o f his reign,
V lad im ir set up a dynastic organization and a system o f
fortifications that allowed him to exert a more powerful control
on the outer reaches o f his kingdom. When he died in 1015,
Kievan Rus looked very different than it had at the beginning o f
his reign. A cunning politician and ruthless m ilitary leader,
Vladimir always kept his personal interests and political goals at
heart in his ventures. He adopted Christianity not because o f a
personal religious awakening, but rather to increase his power
and to strengthen the state o f Rus.
Very few primary sources discuss Vladim ir’s reign. There
are only two Russian documents that relate the story o f his life:
the Russian Prim ary Chronicle and the Memory and Eulogy o f
Saint Vladimir. The Russian Primary Chronicle, compiled in the
early twelfth century, contains an informative and entertaining,
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though at times fantastical, account o f Vladim ir’s life. It recounts
the tale of Vladimir’s violent seizure o f power from his brother
Iaropolk and briefly covers his military campaigns during the
first years of his reign before discussing the baptism o f Rus.
Unfortunately, the Chronicle glosses over the last sixteen years
of Vladimir’s life. About this, historian John Fennell notes:

Either whoever compiled the record o f V ladim ir’s

last years ran out o f steam, which is unlikely when
one considers how much adulatory material was
crammed into the first nineteen years, or perhaps a
later editor excised events which did not redound to
his credit or, more likely, the credit o f his famous
and glorious son Yaroslav.1

It is difficult to assess Vladimir’s shortcomings because they have

mostly been omitted from the prim ary source docum ents.
Furthermore, the fact that the Chronicle was transcribed about a
hundred years after Vladimir’s death leaves doubt about the
historical accuracy o f the docum ent. T hese shortcom ings
notwithstanding, the Russian Primary Chronicle remains the most
comprehensive Kievan source for the study o f V ladim ir’s life.
The second Russian work, the Memory and Eulogy o f
Saint Vladimir, is actually a collection o f three separate works—
the Life o f Saint Vladimir, a eulogy to this Kievan ruler and the
Life o f Saint Olga (Vladimir’s paternal grandm other).2 Likely
written by the monk Iakov in the second half o f the eleventh
century, the M emory and E ulogy was not com pleted until
Vladim ir’s canonization in the late thirteenth century.3 This
account o f V ladim ir’s life, which historian Francis B utler
classifies as a “very repetitious and... disorganized com pilation,”
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has not been as frequently cited by historians o f Kievan Rus as
the Chronicle .4 Furthermore, it differs from the Chronicle on
many points o f chronology and in terms o f the historical facts
within it.5 In the Memory and Eulogy, the author takes great pains
to com pare saints V ladim ir and O lga to saints Helen and
C onstantine in the brief section devoted to V ladim ir’s life.6
Moreover, Vladimir’s personal religious awakening is highlighted
much more so than it is in the Chronicle.1
A few non-Russian sources also mention this Kievan king.
Yahya o f Antioch (ca. 980-1066), a Muslim historian, includes a
good account o f the conversion o f Rus in his chronicle.8 Likewise,
the Armenian Arab Asoghik, also known as Stephen o f Taron,
relates V ladim ir’s story with some detail during a discussion o f
the civil war in Byzantium in his Universal History.9 Regrettably,
the Byzantine writers o f the day did not dwell upon V ladim ir’s
undertakings. O nly three G reek historians briefly m ention
V ladim ir’s activities between 987 and 989 in their works. The
most useful o f these is Leo the Deacon’s Historia. As the only
contemporary Byzantine source, it has helped historians cement
a chronology from 987 to 989. Psellus’ Chronographie and
Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historiarum render almost identical accounts
o f V ladim ir’s involvement in the Byzantine civil war.10 Due to
the contradictions found between these few existing primary
source documents, many o f the details o f V ladim ir’s life are
subject to intense historical debate.
From what has been gathered from these primary sources,
Vladim ir was bom sometime in the late 950s to Sviatoslav, the
future ruler o f Kiev (962-72), and his concubine M alusha.11This
stain o f illegitimacy was to follow Vladimir for the rest o f his
life, at times forcing him to be more ruthless to cement his claim
to the throne.12 In the late 960s, Sviatoslav installed his sons as
governors o f different regions in Rus in order to enforce his
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authority and facilitate administrative control.13 His eldest son
Iaropolk was given Kiev, while another son, Oleg, was put in
charge of the Derevlians.14 Upon seeing that other districts of
Rus were put under the command o f a governor, the province of
Novgorod demanded that it receive one as w ell.15 The young
Vladimir was thus appointed to Novgorod, with his maternal
uncle D obrynia acting as re g e n t.16 A lth o u g h th e re w as
considerable strain on their relationships during the first few years
of their respective rules, the brothers remained on relatively good
terms with each other. However, after the death o f Sviatoslav in
972, a massive and deadly power struggle erupted.
The first victim of this conflict was the middle brother,
Oleg. In 977, hunting parties led by Iaropolk and Oleg came across
each other in a forest in Southern Rus. A battle ensued, and in
the turmoil Oleg was pushed off a bridge and crushed by other
soldiers and horses that fell off after him .17 Soon thereafter, the
news of the Iaropolk’s violent victory reached V ladim ir’s ears.
Afraid that he might be the next casualty o f this fratricidal war,
he quickly escaped across the sea to Viking territory. However,
he had no intention o f yielding power to his older brother. It was
here, in the land beyond the sea, that Vladimir, along with his
uncle Dobrynia, began to muster a Varangian (Viking) arm y.18
Soon after Vladimir fled Novgorod, a Norsem an named
Rogvolod set up a kingdom called Polotsk on the fringes o f Rus.
Since Rogvolod’s daughter Rogneda was o f age, both Vladim ir
and Iaropolk desired to take her as a wife in order to secure an
alliance with Rogvolod. Unfortunately for Vladimir, Rogneda
refused to marry him because he was, in her eyes, the “son o f a
slave.”19 Despite Rogneda’s clear rejection o f V ladim ir’s offer
o f marriage, Vladimir was unwilling to admit defeat. With a band
o f Varangian warriors behind him, he set out to win back
Novgorod and to revenge himself on Polotsk.20 He easily regained
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control o f Novgorod and experienced similar success with the
next step o f his m ilitary venture— Vladim ir sacked Polosk,
murdered Rogvolod and his heirs and finally forced the helpless
Rogneda to marry him.21 Vladim ir’s ultimate goal in destroying
Polotsk and stealing his brother’s wife-to-be was not revenge,
although that certainly factored into his decision to pursue this
plan o f action. As historians Simon Franklin and Jonathan
Shepard write:

Vladimir was not motivated solely by vengeance or

lust in taking Rogneda to wife: there were quicker
ways o f settling scores. More probably, he believed
that his status would be enhanced, and control over
Polotsk strengthened, by conspicuous bonding with
the kin o f a Scandinavian ‘prince.’22

Above all, Vladimir, the son o f his father’s concubine, desired to

gain the political power and legitimacy that his birth had denied
him.
The last stage in V ladim ir’s quest to become the ruler of
Rus was the deposition o f his brother Iaropolk. In this final phase
o f the Kievan power struggle, Vladimir again demonstrated his
personal ruthlessness and propensity for deception. He convinced
laropolk’s advisor Blud to betray his king.23 After Blud met no
success in hiring an assassin for Iaropolk, he tried to undo him
by purposefully giving him erroneous advice. With Vladim ir’s
army surrounding Kiev, Blud persuaded Iaropolk to save him self
by fleeing the city, just as Vladimir had done so many years ago.24
Iaropolk complied and Vladimir captured the city, finally taking
the crown o f Rus for himself.25 While Iaropolk was in exile he
was beset with famine and disease.26 Physically weakened and
lacking political support, he again heeded Blud’s corrupt advice
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and surrendered him self to Vladimir.27 When laropolk arrived in
Vladimir’s Kievan palace, he was assassinated on the spot.28 So,
in the year 980, Vladimir became the sole ruler over the lands of
Rus through his own “trickery and treachery.”29
In ad d itio n to o u stin g his b ro th e r, V la d im ir also
outmanoeuvred the Varangian arm y that had supported him
throughout his conquests. W hen the N orsem en dem anded
payment for their services, Vladimir, having insufficient funds
and fearing that the people o f Kiev might revolt if he pressed
them for more taxes, begged the warriors to be patient. The
Varangians agreed to wait one month.30 In the interim, Vladimir
secretly gathered yet another army and expelled the Vikings from
Kiev.31 When the Norsemen threatened to ally them selves with
the Byzantines, Vladimir kept the most gifted warriors for his
service and sent the rest on their way to the G reeks.32 However,
before the Varangians could arrive in Constantinople, Vladimir
sent a note to the emperor. Here, the Kievan king warned the
emperor of the hazard that the Vikings posed and implored him
not to allow the Norsemen to come back to Rus.33 His plea to the
Byzantines was successful and the Varangian soldiers never
bothered him again. Vladimir’s cunning concurrently allowed
him to gain a country and avoid paying the m ercenaries whose
help was instrumental in accomplishing this feat.
Once installed as the undisputed king o f Rus, Vladimir
began to concentrate on resolving some o f the international
tension that had been brewing since the reign o f his father
Sviatoslav. In the middle of the tenth century, the powerful Khazar
Empire that had dominated the region “from the North-Caucasus
to the mid-Volga” began to dissolve, creating a pow er vacuum
on the steppe.34 By the time Vladimir assumed control o f Rus,
this once-great empire was in its death throes.35 All o f the states
o f the lower Volga, Caspian and North Caucasus began a fierce
competition for the power Khazaria had once possessed.36 As a
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result, Vladimir spent the first five years o f his reign campaigning
against neighbouring tribes.37 In 981, he captured the lands o f
the Poles (w estern U kraine).38 From 981 to 982, Vladim ir
mounted a successful attack against the Viatichians, who had
been trying to rebel from the control o f Rus.39 In 983 and 984 the
Rus defeated the Yatvingians and the Radimichians in turn.40After
defeating these belligerent tribes, Vladimir forced them to make
tribute payments to Rus.41 V ladim ir’s last major military victory
during this period was against the Volga Bulgars.42 Although he
probably could have defeated them outright, Vladimir opted to
sign a peace treaty with them that held until the eleventh century.43
With the majority o f Rus’ international affairs in order for
th e tim e b e in g , V la d im ir began to stre n g th e n his state
domestically. Believing that internal religious strife was one of
the leading factors in the collapse o f the Khazar Empire, Vladimir
hoped to unify Rus under a common religion;44 however, he did
not immediately turn to Christianity. Vladimir initially attempted
to associate him self with the various pagan religions ofhis people.
H istorian Janet M artin argues that Vladimir appreciated the
political advantages o f identifying him self with the broad
spectrum o f gods his diverse subjects worshipped, and as a result,
sponsored the erection o f a pagan temple on a hill at the very
height o f the city.45 Eventually, however, Vladimir found the
pagan religion unsatisfactory. It did not have the prestige o f the
established monotheistic religions. As Franklin and Shepard note:

The cults that Vladimir was trying to sponsor could

not equip him with imposing victory monuments, let
alone a pedigree. Nor could they offer a network of
sanctuaries...To persist with a cult unacceptable to
Scandinavian notables who were Christian was to
risk ridicule and social isolation...46
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Forever the tactician, Vladimir began to look elsewhere for a
religion that could help him accomplish his political goals.
In order to determine the most suitable faith for Rus,
Vladimir purportedly sent representatives to learn about the major
religions o f Islam, Judaism, Western Christianity and Byzantine
Christianity.47 A document written by Marwazi in the eleventh
century confirms that Vladimir did indeed send an em issary to
learn about Islam.48 According to the Chronicle, Vladim ir found
flaws with the first three faiths.49A great proponent o f feasts and
celebrations, he disliked the fact that M uslims were forbidden
from drinking alcoholic beverages.50 He decided against Judaism
because he did not believe that God would deny His true people
a country.51 Finally, Vladimir’s emissaries saw none o f the wonder
or magnificence that their king was seeking in the German brand
of Christianity.52 However, the Rus who visited the Byzantine
churches marvelled at the majesty o f the religion.53 Back in
Vladimir’s court, they praised the G reeks’ faith. “ We knew not
whether we were in heaven or on earth,” they exclaim ed, “ For
on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty...We know
only that god dwells there among men.”54 As such, Vladimir
decided to adopt Byzantine Christianity. However, as later events
demonstrate, neither Divine Providence nor awe inspired this
politically astute king to take up the Christian faith. Vladimir
made sure to reap as many personal b enefits as he could
throughout the conversion process.
Although the events from 987 to 989 (the baptism o f
Vladimir and Rus) are heavily debated among historians, some
facts are certain. In 987, Bardas Phokas, a pretender to the imperial
Byzantine throne, rebelled against Em peror Basil II. Anxious to
restore order and stability to the empire, Basil II and his supporters
asked Vladimir for help.55Although relations between the Greeks
and the Rus had been strained since the death o f Sviatoslav in
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972, the Byzantines were desperate for military aid.56 This put
Vladimir in a very powerful position.57 In return for his assistance,
Vladim ir insisted on making Anna Porphyrogenata, the sister of
the emperor, his bride.58 Basil II conceded to Vladim ir’s demand
on the grounds that he convert to Byzantine Christianity prior to
the m arriage.59 Vladim ir quickly agreed and in either late 987 or
early 988, he sent military reinforcements to the Greeks, who
then successfully put down the rebels.60
However, once the threat to Basil II’s throne had been
rem oved, the Byzantines were reluctant to make good on their
end o f the deal. It was forbidden for a Byzantine noble “bom in
the purple” to marry a ‘barbarian,’ regardless o f the fact that he
was a king who had come to their aid.61 Several sovereigns who
lived outside the Byzantine sphere o f influence had previously
tried and failed to arrange marriages with Greek nobles. For
exam ple, Otto I, the emperor o f the Holy Roman Empire, was
unable to secure a Byzantine bride for his son Otto II in 968. He
was sharply rebuffed by the Greeks who replied that: “it is an
unheard o f thing that a daughter bom in the purple o f an emperor
should marry a foreigner.”62 However, Vladimir, a ‘barbarian’
ruler whose prestige was incomparable to that o f even Otto I,
eventually succeeded in his quest to marry Anna Porphyrogenata.
To gain leverage over the Greeks, Vladimir gathered yet
another arm y and captured the Crimean city o f Cherson, an
im p o rtan t c en tre o f com m erce in the B yzantine Em pire.
According to the Chronicle, the siege lasted for nine months.63
Eventually, a traitor inside the city walls aided the attacking Rus
by disrupting the flow o f fresh water into the city.64 Cherson,
w eakened by the months o f warfare and desperate for supplies,
w as th u s fo rced to su rre n d e r to the K ievan ag g resso rs.
Furtherm ore, at the same time that Vladim ir’s forces captured
this city, rebellion was brewing anew in the Byzantine Empire.65
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To make matters even worse for the Greeks, the Bulgarians had
also begun to take advantage o f Byzantium ’s weakened state by
taking possession o f their stronghold, Berroia.66 With Vladimir
threatening to “do to C onstantinople w hat he has done to
Cherson,” Basil II was forced to make an exception to Byzantine
tradition.67
There has been some historical contention over V ladim ir’s
motives in attacking Cherson. In 1976, historian Andrzej Poppe
published a revisionist history o f the Cherson affair, which has
been criticized by some scholars but unequivocally accepted by
others.68 In it, he argues that “V ladim ir’s cam paign against
Cherson was not directed against the Byzantine Empire, but was
intended rather to support his brother-in-law, the legitim ate
Byzantine emperor, by suppressing an internal re v o lt.”69
\ccording to Poppe, Basil II willingly gave away his daughter
as a token of appreciation to the Kievan king.70 To prove his
thesis he reinterprets the chronology o f the events o f 987 to 989,
tries to link Cherson’s geographical location with Bardas Phokas’
supporters and relies heavily on his own interpretation o f the
wording in the Russo-Byzantine treaty o f 944.71 In 1989, historian
Dmitri Obolensky advanced a critical review o f Poppe’s thesis.72
He meticulously refutes all o f Poppe’s arguments, demonstrates
where the problems in Poppe’s chronology lie, points out that
there are no records of Cherson’s sympathies to Bardas Phokas
and criticizes his interpretation o f the Russo-Byzantine treaty.73
Though Obolensky’s work offers a competent critique o f Poppe’s
revisionist history, scholars are still split on the interpretation o f
the Cherson affair. Either way, the capture o f Cherson was a keen
political manoeuvre that allowed Vladimir to obtain what few
barbarian kings had acquired before him: a Byzantine bride.
At some point in the midst o f this turmoil, V ladim ir was
married and baptised. Scholars have generally accepted the
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official year o f his conversion and marriage to be 988; however,
some place the baptism either a year earlier or a year later.74The
location o f the baptism is also debateable. For example, Franklin
and Shepard write:

Controversy was already underway at the time o f the

compilation o f the Primary Chronicle: ‘those who
do not know the truth say that he was baptised in
Kiev, but others say Vasilev and yet others say
elsew here.’ The chronicle, for its part, insists on
Cherson as the spot...75

Suffice it to say that around the year 988, Vladimir o f Kiev was
m arried to Anna Porphyrogenata and baptised in the Greek
Christian tradition. The idols he had set up in Kiev so many years
ago were torn down and the Rus were baptised en masse.
It is im portant to again examine why Vladim ir chose
Byzantine Christianity over the other options available to him.
Historian M ykhailo Hrushevsky, for example, argues that the
m arriage to Anna was the strongest motivating factor in his
decision to pursue Christianity. Vladimir’s pursuit o f this marriage
is strikingly similar to the way in which he had previously married
Rogneda. At first, both women refused him because o f his base
origins, but V ladim ir obtained their marriage vows through
m ilitary intim idation.76 In both instances, the Kievan king had a
chance to inflate his international prestige by having a princess
o f a powerful state become his bride and he fought dearly for
this opportunity. It was especially desirable to attach oneself to
the Byzantine court. Even in 988, it still carried with it the glory
and m agnificence o f the former Roman Empire. To ‘barbarians’
such as Vladimir, Hrushevsky contends that “Byzantium was the
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epitome o f brilliance, glory, and culture and the Byzantine
emperor was the unattainable pinnacle o f power, might, influence
and prestige.”77 With a Byzantine princess at his side and Greek
Christianity at his back, Vladimir had finally secured his position
as the ruler of Kiev and dispelled any qualms about his illegitimate
birth.
With Vladimir’s marriage to Anna, a certain measure o f
her culture was imported into Rus. As Franklin and Shepard
assert, “in associating his rule with another cult, he needed to
make the latter visibly more impressive than its predecessors or
alternatives.”78 Shortly after V ladim ir’s baptism , Byzantine
architects started planning and building new structures in the
barbarian nation. The first o f these was the Church o f the Tithe,
also called the Church of the Holy Virgin, which was symbolically
constructed on the very site where Vladimir had placed those
pagan idols so many years before. An imposing but magnificent
stone structure, it was completed in 996, a scant five years after
its initial plans were drawn u p .79 This new C hurch was to
represent the newfound glory o f Rus now that its citizens were
unified under Greek Christianity.80
During this period, Byzantine arts and literature also
flooded into Kiev and Vladimir began to focus on education.
The Chronicle notes that he “began to take children o f prominent
subjects and to set them to the study o f book learning.”81 Vladimir
wanted to ensure the B yzantine cultural pro g ram he was
implementing would carry on to the next generation o f Rus.
Furthermore, he introduced a B yzantine-inspired coinage in
Kiev.82 This is a significant marker o f R us’ cultural evolution
because this was the first time a king o f the Rus had issued
currency.83 Yet again, Vladimir reinforced his legitim acy to the
Kievan throne by associating him self with the power and prestige
o f the Byzantine empire.84 Finally, Church Slavonic, a language
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that used the G reek C yrillic alphabet, became the primary
language in which liturgical and official literature was written.
M artin writes that Church Slavonic “drew upon Slavic words
and grammar, but cast them into Byzantine styles.”85 In a way,
this hybrid language was the perfect representation of Vladimir’s
kingdom after the introduction o f Christianity since it still retained
much o f its Slavic character, but it was noticeably reshaped by
Byzantine influence. Before its Christianization, Rus had been
the midpoint between the East and the West. Now that Vladimir
had strongly associated it with the Byzantine Empire, it began to
re je c t E astern c u ltu ra l in flu e n ce s and to m ove strongly
w estw ard.86 The new forms o f art and literature stand as proof of
this.
The last fifteen years o f Vladimir’s life are barely mentioned
in the Chronicle}1Although much desirable information has been
om itted from this account, it is known that the tensions between
the Rus and the Pechenegs, a nomadic people who strongly
adhered to their pagan religion despite their exposure to Islam
and Christianity, spiked during the second half o f his reign. They
fought battles with the Rus in 992,995 and 996 respectively.88 In
order to defend Kiev against their increasingly frequent attacks
and raids, Vladim ir ordered the construction o f a network of
fortifications. The ‘Snake Ramparts,’ as they came to be called,
stretched for 500 kilometres to the south and west o f Kiev.89They
stood three and a half to four metres off the ground and were
reinforced by ditches up to twelve metres deep.90 This new
defence line facilitated Kievan trade and reduced the number of
Pecheneg attacks on Rus.
In order to reinforce his political authority over his territory,
Vladim ir set up a dynastic system o f governance, similar to the
one that his father Sviatoslav had used before him.91 Martin writes
that “he reportedly placed his sons, each with his own druzhina,
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in towns on the frontiers o f Kievan Rus. He thus assigned
Novgorod to Vyshelav, Polotsk to Iziaslav, Turov to Sviatopolk,
and Rostov to Iaroslav.”92 Vladim ir’s sons were charged with
the defence of the new churchmen and the collection o f taxes
and tribute payments from the tribes bordering on Rus.93 This
helped to both strengthen secular control and to reinforce the
importance of Christianity on the fringes o f his empire. Although
this system was more complex and effective than any that
V ladim ir’s predecessors had im plem ented, it still had its
shortcomings. Naturally, the farther one got from Kiev, the more
difficult it was to im pose authority. A lth o u g h V lad im ir
subordinated the tribes, such as the Viatichi and Radimichi, with
which he had fought at the beginning o f his reign, he was never
able to press them into complete subm ission to Kiev. They
rejected Christianity and safeguarded their idiosyncratic cultural
traditions for generations after Vladim ir’s rule.94
The most significant shortcoming o f V ladim ir’s system
of governance was its internal instability rather than its failure to
subject neighbouring tribes to its authority. When V ladim ir’s
father Sviatoslav died, Vladimir and his brothers were unable to
maintain peaceful relations as co-rulers o f Kiev. A sim ilarly
volatile situation eventually developed between Vladim ir and
his sons.95 This time, the elderly Vladimir did not emerge as the
victor. By 1014, Vladimir’s son Iaroslav, the prince o f Novgorod,
had become dissatisfied with the amount o f revenue he was
obliged to give to Kiev.96 When he steadfastly refused to surrender
the necessary two-thirds o f his income to the capital, both parties
began to prepare for war.97 While he was getting ready for the
impending military confrontation against his rebellious son
Iaroslav, Vladimir suddenly fell ill and died.98 The next several
years in Rus were marred by yet another fratricidal war.
Though Vladimir’s death was every bit as bloody as those
of his father and grandfather before him, he differentiated him self
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from them even in death. Hrushevsky compares the treatment
that the Chronicle gives their deaths to great effect:

Volodymyr’s grandfather died the death of an ordinary

Raubritter (robber knight), in retaliation for his ‘raids’
on the Derevlianian land...Volodymyr’s father died
as a chivalrous adventurer in a distant campaign,
leaving the memory o f a wandering warrior with
nominal ties to his own land. Volodymyr died in his
own capital, and the people, upon learning of his death
‘gathered in countless numbers and lamented over
him ...’99

These three generations o f Kievan rulers could not have been

more different. Indeed, their deaths mark different stages in the
evolutionary process o f Rus. Vladim ir’s regal funeral is evidence
that his Kiev was not the same state his grandfather had governed
two generations earlier. Through his skilful political manoeuvring
and personal ruthlessness, Vladimir had changed the state in
which he lived indefinitely. Vladimir’s introduction of Christianity
to Rus was not the central focus o f his rule. It was merely an
element o f his quest to rebuild and consolidate power in Kiev. A
politician to the end, V ladim ir’s attraction to Christianity was
strategic rather than spiritual as he dearly wished to associate his
budding nation w ith the glory and prestige o f Byzantium.
Furthermore, Vladim ir dedicated an equal amount o f energy to
other state-building initiatives as he did to the Christianization
o f his country. He subdued aggressive neighbouring tribes,
solidified a dynastic network o f political administrators and built
a long-lasting system o f fortifications around Kiev. In 988 a new
Rus certainly was born, but not for the reasons that are popularly
believed.
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NOTES

1John Fennell, A History o f the Russian Church to 1448 (New York:

Longoman Group Ltd, 1995), 11.
2Andrzej Poppe, “The Political Background to the Baptism ofRus:
Byzantine-Russian Relations Between 986-989,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers
30 (1976): 210.
3 Ibid.
4 Francis Butler, Enlightener o f Rus: The Image o f Vladimir
Sviatoslavich Across the Centuries (Bloomington: Slavica Publishers, 2002),
74.
5 Ibid., 75.
6 Ibid., 74.
7Ibid., 74-75.
8 Poppe, 205.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 202
11Mykhailo Hrushevsky, History ofUkraine-Rus: From Prehistory to
he Eleventh Century, Volume 7, trans. Marta Skorupsky (Toronto: Canadian
institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1997), 357.
12 Ibid., 365.
13 Ibid., 357.
14 Ibid.
15Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, The Emergence o f Rus 750-
1200 (Harlow: Longman Group Ltd., 1996), 152.
18Janet Martin, Medieval Russia: 980-1584, 2nd Edition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2007), 1.
19 Ibid.
20 Franklin and Shepard, 152.
21 Ibid., 153.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Hrushevsky, 367.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
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29 Franklin and Shepard, 153.
30 Ibid., 154.
31 Hrushevsky, 368.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid.
34 Martin, 17.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Hrushevsky, 369.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid., 370.
43 Ibid.
44 Martin, 6.
45 Ibid.
46 Franklin and Shepard, 160.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 Martin, 7.
51 Ibid.
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid.
54 Martin, 7.
55 Hrushevsky, 377.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid., 378.
61 Fennell, 39.
62 Poppe, 219.
63 Hrushevsky, 384.
64 Ibid., 379.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid., 384.
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68 Dmitri Obolensky, “Cherson and the conversion o f Rus: An Anti-
Revisionist View,” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 13 (1989): 244.
69 Poppe, 211.
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid.
72 Obolensky, 246.
73 Ibid.
74 Hrushevsky, 381.
75 Franklin and Shepard, 162.
76Hrushevsky, 384-385.
77 Ibid., 385.
78 Franklin and Shepard, 164.
79 Martin, 10.
80 Ibid.
81 Hrushevsky, 399.
82 Franklin and Shepard, 167.
83 Ibid.
84 Ibid.
85 Martin, 11.
86 Ibid., 14.
87 Ibid., 11.
88 Martin, 20.
89 Franklin and Shepard, 170.
90 Ibid., 171.
91 Ibid., 371.
92 Martin, 12.
93 Ibid., 12-13.
94 Franklin and Shepard, 179.
95 Martin, 14.
96 Ibid.
97 Ibid.
98 Fennel, 11.
99Hrushevsky, 406-407.

B IB LIO G R A P H Y

Butler, Francis. Enlightener o f Rus: The Image o f Vladimir Sviatoslavich

across the Centuries. Bloomington: Slavica Publishers, 2002.
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Fennell, John. A History o f the Russian Church to 1448. New York:
Longman Group Ltd., 1995.

Franklin, Simon and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence o f Rus 750-1200.

Harlow: Longman Group Ltd., 1996.

Hrushevsky, Mykhailo. History o f Ukraine-Rus: From Prehistory to the

Eleventh Century, Volume /.Translated by Marta Skorupsky.
Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1997.

Martin, Janet. Medieval Russia: 980-1584, 2ndEdition. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Obolensky, Dimitri. “Cherson and the conversion of Rus: an anti-revisionist

view.” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 13 (1989): 244-256.

Poppe, Andrzej. “The Political Background to the Baptism of Rus:

Byzantine-Russian Relations Between986-989.” Dumbarton Oaks
Papers 30 (1976): 195-244.

Meagan Fairholm is a fourth year History and French student

at Q ueen’s University. This is her first publication. She has
been interested in pre-revolutionary Russian history for
several years and hopes to get an MA and PhD in this Field
after she graduates from Q ueen’s. Outside of the classroom,
she has been involved in creating and designing costumes
for theatrical productions.