Editing Igor of Kiev

{{Short description|Prince of Kiev from 912 to 945}}
{{for|the later prince of Kiev|Igor II of Kiev}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Igor
| title        = 
| image        = Igor RC.png
| caption      = Igor in the [[Radziwiłł Chronicle]], 15th century
| succession   = [[Prince of Kiev]]
| reign        = 912–945
| predecessor  = [[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]]
| successor    = [[Sviatoslav I]]
| succession1  = [[Prince of Novgorod]]
| reign1       = 879–945
| predecessor1 = [[Rurik]]
| successor1   = [[Sviatoslav I]]
| regent1      = [[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]] (879–912)
| spouse       = [[Olga of Kiev|Olga]]
| issue        = [[Sviatoslav I]]
| dynasty      = [[Rurik dynasty|Rurik]]
| father       = [[Rurik]]
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = {{circa|877}}
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 945
| death_place  = [[Korosten|Iskorosten]]
| date of burial = 
| place of burial = 
}}
'''Igor''' ({{langx|cu|Игорь}};<ref>{{cite book |last1=Клосс |first1=Борис |title=Полное собрание русских летописей. Том 1. Лаврентьевская летопись |date=15 May 2022 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-107383-1 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwNTDwAAQBAJ |language=ru}}</ref>{{efn|{{langx|ru|Игорь Рюрикович}}; {{langx|uk|Ігор Рюрикович|Ihor Riurykovych}}}} {{langx|non|Ingvarr}};<ref>{{cite book |last1=Winroth |first1=Anders |title=The Age of the Vikings |date=1 March 2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-16929-3 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E26YDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> {{circa|877}} – 945)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Войтович |first1=Леонтій Вікторович |title=Генеалогія Рюриковичів і Гедиміновичів |date=1992 |isbn=5-7702-0506-7 |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Biographical Index of the Middle Ages |date=1 March 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-091416-0 |page=571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=486s3eMkLfgC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanak |first1=Walter K. |title=The Nature and the Image of Princely Power in Kievan Rus', 980-1054: A Study of Sources |date=10 October 2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-26022-1 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfV0AQAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> was [[Prince of Kiev]] from 912 to 945.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosser |first1=John Hutchins |title=Historical Dictionary of Byzantium |date=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7567-8 |page=245 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYpqikYr3Q8C |language=en}}</ref> Traditionally, he is considered to be the son of [[Rurik]], who established himself at [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]] and died in 879 while Igor was an infant.<ref name="Langer"/> According to the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', Rurik was succeeded by [[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]], who ruled as regent and was described by the chronicler as being "of his kin".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franklin |first1=Simon |last2=Shepard |first2=Jonathan |title=The Emergence of Russia 750-1200 |date=6 June 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87224-5 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMoFBAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Life==
Information about Igor comes mostly from the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', which states that Igor was the son of [[Rurik]]:
<blockquote>
6378–6387 (870–879). On his deathbed, [[Rurik]] bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor', for he was very young.

6388–6390 (880–882). Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the [[Chuds]], the Slavs, the [[Merians]] and all the [[Krivichians]]. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before [[Smolensk]], captured the city, and set up a garrison there. Thence he went on and captured [[Lyubech]], where he also set up a garrison. He then came to the hills of Kiev, and saw how [[Askold and Dir]] reigned there. He hid his warriors in the boats, left some others behind, and went forward himself bearing the child Igor'. He thus came to the foot of the Hungarian hill, and after concealing his troops, he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor', the prince's son, and requesting that they should come forth to greet them as members of their race. Askold and Dir straightway came forth. Then all the soldiery jumped out of the boats, and Oleg said to Askold and Dir, "You are not princes nor even of princely stock, but I am of princely birth." Igor' was then brought forward, and Oleg announced that he was the son of Rurik. They killed Askold and Dir, and after carrying them to the hill, they buried them there, on the hill now known as Hungarian, where the castle of Ol'ma now stands.<ref name="laurentian">{{cite book|url=http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a011458.pdf|title=The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text| publisher=Crimson Printing Company|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=1953|access-date=16 February 2014|translator-last1=Cross|translator-first1=S. H.|translator-last2=Sherbowitz-Wetzor|translator-first2=O. P.|pages=60–61}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Little is known about him between the years 912 and 941 due to a gap in the chronicle record.<ref name="Langer">{{cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Lawrence N. |title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval Russia |date=15 September 2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1942-6 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8I6EAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Igor [[Rus'-Byzantine War (941)|twice besieged]] [[Constantinople]], in 941 and 944, and although [[Greek fire]] destroyed part of his fleet, he concluded [[Rus'-Byzantine Treaty (945)|a favourable treaty]] with the [[Byzantine]] Emperor [[Constantine VII]] (945), the text of which the chronicle has preserved. In 913 and 944, the [[Rus' people|Rus']] plundered the [[Arabs]] in the [[Caspian Sea]] during the [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus']], but it remains unclear whether Igor had anything to do with these campaigns.

[[Image:Knyaz Igor in 945 by Lebedev.jpg|thumb|180px|''Prince Igor Exacting Tribute from the [[Drevlyans]]'', by [[Klavdiy Lebedev]] (1852–1916).]]

Igor was killed while collecting [[tribute]] from the [[Drevlians]] in 945. The Byzantine historian and chronicler [[Leo the Deacon]] (born {{circa|950}}) describes [[Dismemberment#Torn apart by two trees|how Igor met his death]]: "They had bent down two [[birch tree]]s to the prince's feet and tied them to his legs; then they let the trees straighten again, thus tearing the prince's body apart."<ref name="korosten">
{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/korostencity/iskorosten.htm |title=Korosten (Iskorosten): A small town with a great history |publisher=geocities.com |date=27 February 2008 |access-date=16 February 2014 |last=Tarasenko |first=Leonid |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026051916/http://geocities.com/korostencity/iskorosten.htm |archive-date=26 October 2009 }}</ref> Igor's widow [[Olga of Kiev|Olga]] avenged his death by punishing the Drevlians. The ''Primary Chronicle'' blames his death on his own excessive greed, indicating that he tried to collect tribute for a second time in a month. As a result, Olga changed the system of tribute gathering (''[[poliudie]]'') in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe.
[[File:B02 Death of Igor.jpg|thumb|Igor's death as imagined by [[Fyodor Bruni]]]]

==Historiography==
Drastically revising the chronology of the ''Primary Chronicle'', [[Constantin Zuckerman]] argues that Igor actually reigned for three years, between summer 941 and his death in early 945. Zuckerman argues that the 33-year reign attributed to Igor in the ''Chronicle'' is the result of its author's faulty interpretation of Byzantine sources.<ref name="zuckerman">{{cite journal|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/rebyz_0766-5598_1995_num_53_1_1906.pdf|title=On the Date of the Khazars' Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor: A Study of the Anonymous Khazar Letter from the Genizah of Cairo|journal=Revue des études byzantines|volume=53|issue=1|date=1995|access-date=5 July 2016|last=Zuckerman|first=Constantin|author-link=Constantin Zuckerman|pages=237–270|issn=0766-5598|doi=10.3406/rebyz.1995.1906}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Indeed, none of Igor's activities recorded in the ''Chronicle'' is dated before 941.

Referring to the [[Ioachim Chronicle]], [[Vasily Tatishchev]] argues that the Swedish princess Efanda, whose existence has been questioned by many historians, was Igor's mother. According to Tatishchev, the name "Ingor" comes from the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] (Izhora) name ''Inger''.<ref>[http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/history/tatisch/tatis004.htm Tatishchev. The History of Russia. Part 1, Chapter 4]</ref> Tatishchev also gives Igor's birth dates from various manuscripts: 875 in the Schismatic manuscript, 861 in the Nizhny Novgorod manuscript, 865 in the Orenburg manuscript.

According to [[Olof von Dalin]], another Igor had land in Sweden and was a frequent guest in Russia. 
He was coregent with [[Eric Anundsson]] and had land in [[Västergötland]] which he had inherited from his father. After his reign, Eric Anundsson became the sole ruler of the Swedish mainland. Igor also aided Eric when Norwegians under [[Harald Fairhair]] raided the Baltic coast. Harald Fairhair lost his son Halfdan the White in a siege of a Swedish fortification in the Baltic. Thanks to Igor Olofsson's help the attack on the Baltic fortifications was thwarted. Igor also took part in a Viking raid on Brittany in 931 described in Frankish chronicles as Incon. This Igor was the son of [[Olof (Swedish king 852)]]. Igor Olofsson led a Swedish expedition helping Igor Ruriksson in his war against the Byzantines. Igor and Igor were related.<ref>https://sv.wikisource.org/wiki/Svea_Rikes_historia/F%C3%B6rsta_delen/Kapitel_18 
</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
<references />

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Katchanovski |first1=Ivan |last2=Kohut |first2=Zenon E. |author-link2=Zenon Kohut |last3=Nesebio |first3=Bohdan Y. |last4=Yurkevich |first4=Myroslav |date=2013 |title=Historical Dictionary of Ukraine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-h6r57lDC4QC |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]]; [[Toronto]]; [[Plymouth]] |publisher=Scarecrow Press |pages=992 |isbn=9780810878471 |access-date=26 January 2023}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|Rurikovich|| 9th century ||945||name=Igor of Kiev|Igor Rurikich}}
{{s-reg}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Grand Prince of Kiev|Prince of Kiev]]|years=914–945}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Olga of Kiev|Olga]]|as=regent}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Igor of Kiev}}
[[Category:9th-century births]]
[[Category:945 deaths]]
[[Category:Princes of Kiev]]
[[Category:Varangians]]
[[Category:Rurikids]]
[[Category:10th-century princes from Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Germanic pagans]]
[[Category:Dismemberments]]