Calling of the Varangians

Lore & Background

The legend appears in multiple manuscript versions, including the Laurentian, Hypatian, and Radziwiłł codices of the Primary Chronicle, as well as the Novgorod First Chronicle. According to the common tradition, some Slavic and Finnic tribes east of the Baltic Sea paid tribute to Varangians, then revolted and drove them back across the sea, but soon fell into inter-tribal conflict. To resolve this, the tribes agreed to seek a prince from across the sea and invited the three Varangian brothers Rurik, Sineus, and Truvor to reign over them. After establishing themselves in locations such as Novgorod, Staraya Ladoga, Beloozero, Izborsk, or 'Slovensk' (depending on the text), two brothers died, leaving Rurik as sole ruler.

Reader's Guide

The Calling of the Varangians has long been understood by scholars as a kind of starting point of the Russian state, despite widespread doubt about its historicity. Modern scholars generally find the narrative an unlikely series of events, probably made up by 12th-century Orthodox priests to explain Viking conquests and legitimize the Rurikid dynasty. Rurik is considered a legendary character; some scholars think he may be mythical or entirely fictional, while others do not consider him necessarily entirely fictional. The scholarly consensus holds that Varangians (Rus') came from Scandinavia and gave rise to the Kievan Rus' state, though it was built on existing local cities and traditions. The legend's significance lies in its role as a founding myth for Kievan Rus', later adopted through translatio imperii as a founding myth for the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Muscovite Daniilovichi dynasty in the 15th–16th centuries. Despite uncertainties, the legend remains favored as a starting point over more obscure narratives such as the possible mention of a 'Rus' Khaganate' in the Annales Bertiniani.

Did You Know?

• The Primary Chronicle never calls Rurik a prince of Kiev.
• The term 'Rurikid dynasty' was only coined in the 16th century by Muscovite churchmen.
• Some scholars instead name the dynasty the Volodimerovichi, after grand prince Volodimer I of Kiev.
• The younger version of the Novgorod First Chronicle preserves an older text than the Primary Chronicle and sometimes directly contradicts it.

The Invitation Narrative and Its Manuscript Witnesses

The core legend tells of Slavic and Finnic tribes living east of the Baltic Sea who, after expelling their Varangian overlords and plunging into inter-tribal warfare, resolved to summon a foreign prince capable of restoring order. They crossed the sea and called upon three brothers—Rurik, Sineus, and Truvor—to take the throne. Where each brother settled varies by manuscript: most recensions place Rurik at Novgorod, while the Hypatian codex locates him at Staraya Ladoga; Sineus and Truvor are assigned Beloozero and Izborsk in the majority of texts, though the Pskov Third Chronicle substitutes the name Slovensk. Once the two brothers perished, Rurik governed the territory alone. This account survives in multiple divergent recensions across the six principal witnesses of the Primary Chronicle—the Laurentian, Hypatian, and Radziwiłł codices—alongside the Novgorod First Chronicle and later compilations such as the Sofia First Chronicle. The sheer number of textual variants has made the passage one of the most fiercely contested passages in early Rus' historiography.

The Normanism Controversy and the Problem of Identity

Translators Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor observed that no other disputed point in Russian history has provoked as much scholarly argument as the Varangian invitation. The central divide separates Normanists, who contend that Scandinavians established the Kievan state, from Anti-Normanists, who insist that East Slavs built Kievan Rus' and merely engaged a Varangian military retinue. The dispute turns on whether the ethnonym Rus' designates the Varangians or the Slavic population, and which manuscript preserves the oldest, most trustworthy text. The younger recension of the Novgorod First Chronicle (N1L) retains an older stratum than the Primary Chronicle and at times flatly contradicts it. The Primary Chronicle's compiler, a non-Scandinavian who nonetheless identified as Rus', struggled to explain why the word Varangians vanished from the Rus'-Byzantine Treaties of 907, 911, 944, and 971 while Rus' persisted. Lind (2006) reminded readers that ethnicity is a politically charged cultural construct that ninth- and tenth-century peoples would not have recognized in its modern form.

Rurik—Historical Figure or Chronicler's Invention?

Most modern scholars regard the invitation narrative as an improbable sequence of events, likely composed by twelfth-century Orthodox priests who authored the Primary Chronicle. Their apparent motives were twofold: to explain how Vikings so effortlessly conquered the Varangian route, and to underwrite the legitimacy of the ruling dynasty. Rurik himself is treated as a legendary figure. Nicholas Riasanovsky (1947) noted that no Kievan source predating the early twelfth century acknowledged him, and genealogies of Kievan princes typically halted at Igor. Donald Ostrowski (2018) went further, proposing that the chronicler may have fabricated a ruler named Riurik to justify Igor's reign; he pointed out that the passage describing Oleg taking up residence in Kiev makes no reference to Rurik, and the Primary Chronicle never styles Rurik a prince of Kiev. Yet not every scholar dismisses him outright. Norman W. Ingham and Christian Raffensperger (2007) argued that Ryurik is not necessarily entirely fictional, leaving open the possibility of a historical kernel beneath the mythic layer.

From Founding Myth to Dynastic Propaganda

The label Rurikid dynasty did not exist in the early medieval period. It was coined in the sixteenth century by Muscovite churchmen who crafted the concept of a R(i)urikid line specifically to shore up the Muscovite dynastic state. Through a translatio imperii, the calling of the Varangians was adopted as a founding myth of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the fifteenth century and later of the Muscovite Daniilovichi dynasty in the sixteenth. Because of these anachronistic layers, some scholars prefer the designation Volodimerovichi (or Volodymyrovichi), tracing descent from Grand Prince Volodimer I of Kiev rather than from the semi-legendary Rurik. The broader scholarly consensus holds that while Varangians from Scandinavia did give rise to the Kievan Rus' state, they built it upon pre-existing local cities, socio-economic structures, and cultural traditions. By the early ninth century, bands of Scandinavian adventurers were already plundering Slavic villages in the region, a gradual process that the chronicles later recast as a single, dramatic founding act.