Editing Grand Prince of Kiev (section)

=== Origins ===
[[File:Khlebnikov Codex regnal list start.jpg|thumb|[[Regnal list]] in the opening lines of the ''[[Khlebnikov Codex]]'': 'In Kiev, the first to begin reigning together were [[Askold and Dir|Dinar and Askold]], after them came [[Olga of Kiev|Olga]], after Olga [[Igor of Kiev|Igor]]...'{{sfn|Jusupović|2022|p=12}}]]
According to a founding myth in the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', [[Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv]] and their sister Lybid co-founded the city of Kiev ([[Kyiv]]), and the oldest brother [[Kyi]] was "chief of his kin" ({{langx|orv|кнѧжаше в родѣ|translit=knyazhashe v rodie}}).{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1930|p=54–55}} Some western historians (i.e., Kevin Alan Brook) suppose that Kiev was founded by [[Khazars]] or [[Magyars]]. Kiev is a Turkic place name (''Küi'' = riverbank + ''ev'' = settlement).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-history.html|title=An Introduction to the History of Khazaria|website=www.khazaria.com}}</ref><!---Irrelevant; we're talking about Kievan Rus', not the city of Kiev/Kyiv.---> At least during the 8th and 9th centuries Kiev functioned as an outpost of the Khazar empire (a hill-fortress, called ''Sambat'', "high place" in [[Old Turkic]]). According to [[Omeljan Pritsak]], [[Constantine Zuckerman]] and other scholars, Khazars lost Kiev at the beginning of the 10th century.<ref>Pritsak, Omeljan (1981). ''The origin of Rus''. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.</ref><ref>Zuckerman, Constantine (2007). ''The Khazars and Byzantium – The First Encounter''. In ''The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives – Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium'', eds. Peter Benjamin Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas, pp. 399–432. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.</ref><!---Dubious relevance; we're talking about the title "Grand Prince of Kiev", not about when Kievan Rus' supposedly became independent of the Khazar Khaganate.--->

At some point, [[Rurik]], a [[Varangian]] prince, allegedly founded the "[[Rurik dynasty]]" (named after him in the 16th century) in 862 through the "[[calling of the Varangians]]", but he is considered to be a legendary, mythical and perhaps even entirely fictional character by modern scholars.{{efn|Christian Raffensperger (2012, 2017), Ostrowski (2018), Halperin (2022).{{sfn|Halperin|2022|p=viii}}{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=47}}}} The ''Primary Chronicle'' never calls Rurik a prince of Kiev; the passage wherein Oleg "sat in Kiev" ({{langx|orv|понелѣже сѣде въ Кыевѣ|translit=ponelězhe sěde vŭ Kyevě}}) makes no mention of Rurik, suggesting the author was 'more interested in the first Rus' ruler to reside in Kiev than with any founder of a dynasty'.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=32}}

Kiev was captured by [[Askold and Dir]], whose existence is also debatable, and are called "[[boyar]]s" who "did not belong to [Rurik's] family" by the ''Primary Chronicle''.{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1930|p=60}}{{sfn|Dimnik|2004|p=259}} According to some Russian historians (i.e., Gleb S. [[Lebedev]]), Dir was a ''chacanus'' of Rhos ([[Rus' Khaganate|Rus khagan]]).<ref name=duczko>Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. {{ISBN|90-04-13874-9}}</ref> [[Thomas S. Noonan|Thomas Noonan]] asserts that one of the Rus "sea-kings", the "[[High king]]", adopted the title khagan in the early 9th century.<ref>Noonan, Thomas (2001). ''The Khazar Qaghanate and Its Impact on the Early Rus' State: The translatio imperii from Itil to Kiev''. Nomads in the Sedentary World, Anatoly Mikhailovich Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds. p. 76-102. Richmond, England: Curzon. {{ISBN|0-7007-1370-0}}</ref> [[Peter Benjamin Golden]] maintained that the Rus became a part of the Khazar federation, and that their ruler was officially accepted as a vassal khagan of the Khazar Khagan of Itil.<ref>Golden, Peter Benjamin (1982). ''The Question of the Rus' Qaganate''. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. pp. 77–92</ref><!---Dubious relevance; we're talking about the title "Grand Prince of Kiev", not about the hypothesis that some early 9th-century monarchs residing in Kiev or possibly elsewhere held the title "khagan".--->

Before the mid-15th century, no historical source claims that Rurik founded a dynasty;{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=30–31}} the [[Hypatian Codex]] of {{circa}} 1425 began its list of ''[[knyaz]]i'' of Kiev with "Dir and Askold", then "Oleg", then "Igor", up to 1240, and does not mention Rurik anywhere.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=36}} Similarly, the ''[[Khlebnikov Codex]]'' starts with a regnal list stating: 'In Kiev, the first to begin reigning together were Dinar and Askold, after them came Olga, after Olga Igor, after Igor Sviatoslav, (...)'.{{sfn|Jusupović|2022|p=12}} There is no mention of a "Rurik"; instead, the list starts with "Dinar and Askold".{{sfn|Jusupović|2022|p=12–13}} Unlike ''Hypatian''{{'}}s second place for Oleg the Wise,{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|p=36}} however, ''Khlebnikov'' appears to assert [[Olga of Kiev]] succeeded them, and preceded her own husband [[Igor of Kiev]].{{sfn|Jusupović|2022|p=12}}