Editing Rurik (section)

== Life ==
{{Further|Calling of the Varangians}}
{{See also|Rurik dynasty#Genealogical issues}}
The earliest mention of Rurik is contained in the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', traditionally ascribed to [[Nestor the Chronicler|Nestor]] and compiled in {{circa|1113}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Langer |first=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=145 |edition=Second}}</ref> which states that [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] and [[Finnic peoples|Finnic]] tribes in 860–862 (including the [[Chud]]s, [[Novgorod Slavs|Slovenes]], [[Krivichs]], [[Meryans]] and [[Vepsians#History|Ves]]) "drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves".<ref>{{cite book |last=Mägi |first=Marika |title=In Austrvegr. |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |location=Boston |isbn=9789004363816 |pages=207}}</ref> Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite the Varangians, led by Rurik, to reestablish order. Rurik came along with his younger brothers [[Sineus and Truvor]] and a large retinue.<ref name="sawyer">{{cite book |title=The Oxford illustrated history of the Vikings |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [England] |isbn=9780192854346 |pages=138–139}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ketola |first1=Kari |last2=Vihavainen| first2=Timo |title=Changing Russia? : history, culture and business |date=2014 |publisher=Finemor |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-9527124017 |pages=1 |edition=1.}}
*{{cite book |last=Dixon-Kennedy |first=Mike |title=Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=9781576070635 |pages=232}}</ref>

According to the chronicle, Rurik was one of the [[Rus' people|Rus']], a [[Varangian]] tribe. Most historians believe that the Rus' were of Scandinavian origin,<ref>{{cite book |last=Wickham |first=Chris |title=Medieval Europe |date=2016 |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300208344 |pages=175}}
*{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Gwyn |title=A history of the Vikings |date=1984 |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192801340 |pages=246 |edition=Revised}}</ref> more specifically from what is currently coastal [[East Middle Sweden|eastern Sweden]] around the eighth century.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-vikings-at-home/ |title=The Vikings at home |date=24 September 2012 |work=History Extra |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=4 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504155730/https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-vikings-at-home/ |url-status=live }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/ |title=Kievan Rus |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |first=Joshua J. |last=Mark |date=3 December 2018 |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414072503/https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/ |url-status=live }}
*{{cite encyclopaedia |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vikg/hd_vikg.htm |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |title=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: The Vikings (780–1100) |first=Jean |last=Sorabella |date=October 2002 |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=23 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423235801/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vikg/hd_vikg.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the prevalent theory, the name ''Rus''{{'}} is derived from an [[Old Norse]] term for "the men who row", from an older name for the Swedish coastal area of [[Roslagen]].<ref name="Blöndal2007">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vFRug14ui7gC&pg=PA1|title=The Varangians of Byzantium|last=Blöndal|first=Sigfús|date=1978|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521035521|page=1|access-date=2 February 2014|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031004/https://books.google.com/books?id=vFRug14ui7gC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Brink, Stefan. "Who were the Vikings?', in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wuN-AgAAQBAJ The Viking World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414030955/https://books.google.com/books?id=wuN-AgAAQBAJ|date=14 April 2023}}'', ed. by Stefan Brink and Neil Price (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 4–10 (pp. 6–7).</ref>

Sineus established himself at [[Belozersk|Beloozero]], and Truvor at the town of [[Izborsk]]. Truvor and Sineus died shortly after the establishment of their territories,<ref name="langer">{{cite book |last=Langer |first=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=176 |edition=Second}}</ref><ref name="dixon-kennedy">{{cite book |last=Dixon-Kennedy |first=Mike |title=Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=9781576070635 |pages=232}}</ref> and Rurik consolidated these lands into his own territory, extending his rule in northern Russia.<ref name="sawyer"/> [[Askold and Dir]], followers of Rurik who were sent to [[Constantinople]], seized [[Kyiv|Kiev]] before launching an [[Siege of Constantinople (860)|attack]] recorded in Byzantine sources for the year 860.<ref>{{cite book |last=Duczko |first=Wladyslaw |title=Viking Rus: studies on the presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe |date=2004 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004138742 |pages=204}}</ref><ref name="langer"/>

The [[Laurentian Codex]] of 1377, which contains the oldest surviving version of the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', states that Rurik first settled in [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]] ("newtown"), while the [[Hypatian Codex]] of the 1420s states that Rurik first settled in [[Staraya Ladoga|Ladoga]], before moving his seat of power to the newly founded city of Novgorod, a fort built not far from the source of the [[Volkhov River]], where he stayed until his death.<ref name="dixon-kennedy"/><ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge history of Russian literature |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521425674 |pages=12–13 |edition=Rev.}}</ref><ref name="A history of the Vikings">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Gwyn |title=A history of the Vikings |date=1984 |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192801340 |pages=246 |edition=Revised}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Somerville |first1=Angus A. |title=The Viking age : a reader |last2=Mcdonald |first2=Andrew R. |date=2020 |isbn=9781487570477 |edition=Third |location=Toronto |pages=282}}</ref>

Rurik is said to have remained in power until his death some time in the 870s.{{efn|name=death}} On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to [[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]], who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son [[Igor of Kiev|Igor]], for he was very young. Oleg moved the capital to [[Kiev]] (by murdering the then-rulers and taking the city) and founded the state of [[Kievan Rus']], which was ruled by Rurik's successors (his son Igor and Igor's descendants). The state persisted until the [[Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'|Mongol invasion]] in 1240.