The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860
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www.RodnoVery.ru THE RUSSIAN ATTACK ON CONSTANTINOPLE IN 860 BY ALEXANDER A. VASILIEV t < i THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 1946 www.RodnoVery.ru The publication of this book was made possible in part a grant from the Reisinger Fund for Slavic Studies in Harvard University COPYRIGHT, 1946 BY THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA I:x rie. (o V G e o r g e B a n t a P u b l is h in g C o m p a n y , M e n ash a, W is c o n s in www.RodnoVery.ru FOREWORD NE may ask why, dealing with a single episode, the first Russian O attack on Constantinople, I have not confined myself to a mere article but have instead written a book. The question is natural, and I feel that to justify writing a book on such a subject I should allege my reasons. They are as follows: First, my aim is to study this event not as a separate and isolated fact but in connection with the Viking incur sions in Western Europe, in order to show that the Russian attack was one of the constituent and essential parts of general European history of the ninth century; for this purpose, I have outlined the Viking invasions in Western Europe, and particularly stressed their operations in the Mediterranean, to which I have tried to give a new interpretation. Second, I have thought it appropriate to study in detail the original sources, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Russian, both for the West European Viking expeditions and for the Russian attack. Third, with the second ary works I have not limited myself to mere statements of titles or to a few words of summary, but I have often reproduced exact quotations, having in view that these works are not always at the disposal of the reader, and that many of them are written in Russian, a language which, unfortunately, for the time being, is not generally known. These excerpts from the secondary works have no doubt enlarged the size of my study; but the advantages for the reader which I have just mentioned will I believe justify me. Fourth, I have had to discuss several questions which are connected with the central subject of the book only indirectly, but which contribute a great deal to our better understanding of the facts of the Russian attack; for example, I have re-examined the question whether, before the year 860, the Russians had raided Byzantine terri tory; and I have used new material for an adequate estimate of the im portance of the reign of the Emperor Michael III, under whom the Rus sian attack took place, and whose personality has heretofore appeared in history in a very distorted and intentionally degraded form. These reasons may, I believe, justify me in writing a book on the Russian attack on Constantinople in 860-861. Since in my study I deal in detail with the primary sources on the Rus sian campaign of 860 and with secondary works on the same subject as well, and since ultimately I give my own presentation of the same event, some unavoidable repetitions are to be found in this book; aXid I am the first fully to recognize this particular defect of my work among many others. www.RodnoVery.ru vi Foreword First of all, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the New York Public Library and in particular to its Slavonic Room, without the use of which I could never have written this book. M y grateful acknowledg ments are also due the Mediaeval Academy of America, which accepted this book as an item in its Monograph Series, and to the Reisinger Fund for Slavic Studies in Harvard University which contributed substan tially to its publication cost. I tender my warmest thanks to Mrs Ednah Shepard Thomas who, with remarkable conscientiousness, has revised my manuscript and corrected the inadequacies of my English. www.RodnoVery.ru TABLE OF CONTENTS Page F o r e w o r d ......................................................................................................................... v I ntroduction ................................................................................................................. xi V a r io u s T e r m s t o D e s ig n a t e S candinavian V i k i n g s ............................. 3 The First Appearance of Russians (Roa) in Constantinople and I n g e l h e im in 8 3 8 -8 3 9 ............................................................................................ 6 W e s t e r n E u r o p e a n d t h e N o r m a n s in t h e N in t h C e n t u r y . 14 R . D o zy a s H is t o r ia n o f M u h a m m e d a n S p a i n ..................................................15 S o u r c e s o n t h e N o r m a n R a id s in t h e M editerranean in t h e N in t h C e n t u r y .........................................................................................................................17 A ra bian s o u r c e s ...........................................................................................................17 I b n - a l - K u t i y a .......................................................................................................... 17 al-B ekri ( B a k r i ) .......................................................................................................... 18 Ib n ’u l-Idari ( A d a r i ) ................................................................................................... 19 L a tin s o u r c e s .......................................................................................................... 20 A nnales B e r t i n i a n i ................................................................................................... 20 A lfon so I I I or Sebastian o f S a l a m a n c a .........................................................21 Johannes D i a c o n u s ................................................................................................... 22 S axo G r a m m a t ic u s ................................................................................................... 26 A n d rea D a n d o l o ................................................................................................... 28 F laviu s B londus ( B i o n d o ) ..................................................................................... 30 S om e Italian unpublished s o u r c e s ....................................................................... 33 Cronaca Magno, C arold o ..................................................................................... 33 L it e r a t u r e o f t h e N in e t e e n t h a n d T w e n t ie t h C e n t u r ie s o n t h e N o r m a n R a id s in t h e M editerranean in t h e N in t h C e n t u r y . 35 N o r m a n R a id s in t h e M editerranean in t h e N in t h C e n t u r y . 42 a. Norman raids in the Western M editerranean ................................... 42 b . N orm an raids in th e E astern M e d ite r r a n e a n ...........................................55 T h e Q u e s t io n o f t h e O r ig in o f t h e R u s s ia n St a t e ....................................64 T h e Life o f G e o r g e o f A m a s t r is a n d t h e Life o f St e p h e n o f S u r o zh . 71 G r e e k So u r c e s o n t h e A t t a c k o n C onstantinople in 860 .... 90 P h o t i u s .........................................................................................................................90 N iceta s P a p h l a g o n ................................................................................................... 94 T h e H y m n A k a t h i s t o s ............................................................................................ 97 C on sta n tin e C ephalas and his iam bic p o e m s ...........................................98 T h e C on tin u a tor o f T h e o p h a n e s ....................................................................... 100 S ym eon L o g o th e te and his g r o u p .......................................................................101 T h e A n on y m ou s Brussels C h r o n i c l e ................................................................ 102 S cylitzes, C edren u s, Z o n a r a s .............................................................................. 103 Theodore II L a sca ris ............................................................................................ 103 L a ter C h r o n i c l e r s ....................................................................................................105 vii I www.RodnoVery.ru Ch. Loparcv and ‘An Old Text on the Placing of the Garment of the Mother of God in B lachernae*.............................................................105 L atin and Arabian So u r c e s ......................................................................... 106 R ussian or Old Slavonic So u r c e s .............................................................107 Russian Annals (Letopisi) ......................................................................... 108 Nikonovskaya Chronicle {Letopis') and Zonaras’ Paralipomena . 108 Stepennaya K n i g a .....................................................................................112 The Chronograph of 1512 and the Chronograph of West-Russian R e d a ctio n .................................................................................................112 The Old Slavonic Version of Simeon Logothete.................................... 113 The Old Slavonic Version of George Hamartolus* Continuator 113 T he R ussian E xpedition of 860 in R ussian L iterature . .114 S yn op sis....................................................................................................... 114 Mankiev’s Yadro of Russian H istory .......................................................115 T. S. B a y e r ................................................................................................. 115 M . V. L o m o n o s o v ..................................................................................... 117 V. N. T a t i s h c h e v ..................................................................................... 118 V. T r e d y a k o v s k i..................................................................................... 119 N. N o v ik o v ................................................................................................. 120 M.