PreRussia

PreRussia
Julius Chance

The discoveries of recent years indicate that Russia may be older than Ancient Greece. This book includes the most valuable from dozens of sources and gives the reader a clear picture with the optimal amount of information from different fields of science on 28 pages with illustrations. At first the measured narrative gradually heats up the topic to the temperature of a supernova. The drawing "The Slavs serve their gods on the island of Ruyan" by an unknown author of the 19th century from the Wikipedia resource under CC License was used for the cover.

Julius Chance

PreRussia

For a couple of decades, scientists have been arguing with unprecedented passion about when Russia arose, the Slavic race and the Russian ethnos were formed. There are several main hypotheses at once with solid ground each. Some of them contradict, while others rather complement each other. Historians still cannot agree on a single opinion. However, most of them agree on one thing – millennia of the fascinating history of Russia have hitherto been hidden from the Russian people and many facts have been deliberately distorted. Let's look at the most common and well-reasoned of these hypotheses.

The first Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" was written by the monk Nestor in 1110-1118 in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. The monk proceeded from both oral traditions passed down from generation to generation and historical written sources in the monastery itself, comparing and verifying them against each other. The monk narrated events from biblical times to 1113. The linguist Shakhmatov revealed that this chronicle had predecessors. However, this is the first reliably confirmed Russian chronicle. It was rewritten several times, the original was lost. Shakhmatov, not without reason, believes that in the course of rewriting significant changes were made to the chronicle. Indeed, after the death of Prince Svyatopolk Stanislavich in 1113, the monk Sylvester from the Mikhailovsky Vydubitsky monastery rewrites the "Tale of Bygone Years" (bringing the story to 1117) in order to substantiate the claims of Monomakh, married to the daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harald, to the grand ducal throne. The gaps in the narrative were filled with info from Byzantine chronographs such as George Amartol and from folk legends (for instance, from the story of Olga's revenge on the Drevlyans)[1 - Конт Франсис "Хронология российской истории".], as well as from English sources[2 - Миролюбов Ю.П. «Сакральное Руси»].

The oldest copy of Nestor’s chronicle that has come down to our days is the Laurentian manuscript of 1377, named after its creator Monk Lavrentius, to which he added a chronicle of North-Eastern Russia’s events before 1305. The book is written on a "charter" – a parchment made of specially treated calfskin. The chronicle was written either in the Nativity Monastery in the city of Vladimir or in the Annunciation Monastery in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. A later Ipatiev’s manuscript, discovered at the beginning of the XV century by a historian N.M. Karamzin in the library of the Ipatievsky Monastery in the city of Kostroma, is valuable for its description of events in Kiev, Galich and Volhynia before 1292. There are several other rewritings of Nestor’s chronicle as well.

According to the" Tale of Bygone Years", Russia, as a state, arose in 862, when the leaders of the Russian tribes called a Varangian (a Viking) – the Scandinavian Prince Rurik to rule. According to the chronicle, such a step was taken in order to stop the endless internecine struggle of the leaders of Russian tribes for leadership, because the foreign ruler equalized them all, so that no one was particularly offended. This allowed forcing everyone to obey and, thus, restore order in the Russian lands. We must note here, that till that event, Russian land did not bear the name of Russia. It was a union of several Slavic tribes or rather countries.

The chronicle entry for 862 says: "[The Prarussians] drove the Varangians out over the sea and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves on their own. And there was no truth among them, and some clans arose against other clans, and there was strife among them, and they began to fight with themselves. And they said to themselves: ’Let's look for a [foreign] prince who would rule us and judge us rightfully'. And they went across the sea to the Varangians (…). Those Varangians were called Russ, just as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others – Gotlanders (…). Chud, Slavs, Krivichi and all [other tribes] said to Russ: 'Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it, so come in to reign and rule us'".

That is, as follows from the chronicle record, the Varangians initially came to the Prarussian tribes to impose tribute on them, but were defeated and driven away. And then our ancestors turned to another tribe of Varangians (logically not to the one that attacked them), which was called "Rus", which later gave the name to the entire Russian state.

The artist Vasnetsov V.M. in 1909 captured on canvas his vision of the moment of Rurik's meeting in the painting "The Invitation of the Varangians":

The image from https://ru.wikipedia.org. According to international and Russian legislation it is free from licensing restrictions on publication as more than 80 years have passed since the author's death in 1926.

Rurik (Rorik) of Jutland (a peninsula in Denmark) came with his squad and two brothers. "And the eldest, Rurik, settled down in Novgorod, and Sineus in Beloozero, Truvor in Izborsk". Since the names of the brothers Sineus and Truvor sound exotic even for the Varangians, there is an opinion that they are the phrases (distorted by the chronicler) from the old Norman language “sine hus” and “thru varring”, which mean “with their home” (with relatives and servants) and a “loyal army”. Rurik really managed to stop internecine princely wars, unite tribes and principalities, and restore order.

All theories about the origins of Russia can be divided into three groups. Those which assert that Rurik was a foreigner from Scandinavia and that it was he with his squad and retinue who formed the state of Russia from "unorganized" Slavic tribes, are called a "Norman" group. The Normans are a generalized name for the neighboring Scandinavian peoples in the Northern Baltic States – the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians, who ravaged Western Europe and Eastern Slavic lands with sea robber raids from the VIII to the XI century. Therefore, the "Norman" group is divided into three almost identical versions, which differ mainly by whether Rurik was a Swede, a Dane or a Norwegian.

The dashing "raiders" from across the sea were called either Vikings or Varangians. Some historians consider these words synonymous. Others believe that the Vikings are sea robbers who, unlike pirates, did not rob ships, but neighboring countries. They say that the Varangians were not robbers at all, but the defenders of their commercial business (for example, on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks") or military mercenaries in various countries including in Byzantium and Russian principalities. The chronicle however says that it was the very Varangians, not the Vikings who raided and tried to impose tribute on Russia. So, there was a very fine line between Vikings and Varangians at that time. The hypotheses claiming that Rurik was a Slav, just from an overseas tribe, or that Russian statehood was formed long before the arrival of Rurik, belong to a "Slavic" group.

The theories of the third group claim that there was some other strong and militant Varangian state "Rus", which was at war with almost every country around (including Byzantium) and was located not in Scandinavia, but somewhere else. This Russia subsequently merged with the Slavic lands, exerted its "civilizational" influence on the Slavic principalities, leading most of them, and gave the united state its name. Such versions are called either by the location of this "other" Russia, or by the people who inhabited it. The main theories of each group are briefly outlined below.

Although to this day, based on the "Norman" theories, the year 862 is considered the official date of the formation of Russia, this date can only be accepted as just another milestone in its history. Western historians insist on this date in order to belittle the role of Russia, the ancient origin of the Russian people and the fact that the Russians created their own statehood independently. Obviously, the Russian tribes lived on these lands long before the arrival of Rurik. And not as wild nomadic hordes, but as organized principalities, with large cities already built up, some of which are mentioned in the chronicles. The ability to build fortresses at that time meant that the people were at a very high civilizational level, that there were already engineering solutions for the construction of buildings and fortifications, production technologies for both household and military products. That is, there were a division of labor, the classes of artisans, merchants, etc.

The historian Natalia Pavlishcheva in her book "False Rurik. What historians are silent about", writes that the Varangian Rurik did not come to an "empty place" as by the IX century the Slavic civilization had flourished for several millenniums, having long ago formed a special way of life that was radically different from the Western one and was based not on "law and order", but on justice and will. She points out that Rurik was not called to "own us" at all – but was simply hired as an "effective manager", "equidistant" from all local clans and, thus, able to serve the national interests. The modern "Westerners" worshiping the European pseudo-democracy, do not want to understand the main thing – from time immemorial in Russia, then the government did not "own the people", but was its hired worker: an objectionable ruler could not only be kicked out of the princely chorus with a kick in the ass, but generally executed. Let us recall the execution of Prince Igor, who was tied to two birch trees for his brazen attempt to collect tribute from the Drevlyans twice and was torn apart in half. Even famous Alexander Nevsky was expelled from Novgorod, despite his victory over the Swedes on the Neva, because, contrary to the opinion of the Veche, he attempted forcing Novgorod to pay tribute to the Tatar-Mongol Horde, although the city was not conquered by it. And Alexander's father was also expelled from Novgorod. The same fate would have befallen Rurik, if he had not justified the trust of the Slavs. Pavlishcheva proves that Rurik's epic was not the "beginning of the beginnings", but only a passing chapter of the several thousand year chronicle of Russia. [3 - Наталья Павлищева "Ложный Рюрик. О чем молчат историки". Редактор: Незвинская Л., Эксмо, 2013 г.ISBN: 978-5-699-66990-5, 224 с.]

The incorrectness of the official date of the emergence of Russia is confirmed even by the fact that the first "official and reliable" mention of the Russian state in foreign chronicles, recognized in the West, falls on the year 839. That is 23 years before the coming of Rurik. There is a mention in the Bertin Annals (the chronicle of the Saint-Bertin monastery in France) that the ambassadors of the Ross people arrived to the Byzantine emperor Theophanes in 839 to establish diplomatic and trade relations and that their ruler was a Khagan. Here the title of the ruler is somewhat surprising, but the Russian Khaganate apparently existed indeed as it is written below. The Arabs and sometimes the Slavs themselves (on especially solemn occasions) called the prince of Kiev by the word Khagan up to and including the X century (possibly under the influence of the Khazar Khaganate). Whether these ambassadors came from Novgorod, Kiev, Ladoga or another part of Russia is unclear.

Thus, long before the advent of Rurik the Russian state had already been establishing diplomatic and trade missions with the neighboring countries. The material collected by several generations of individual Russian scientists indicates that the age of Russian statehood is about the same as that of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Although this point of view has not yet been officially recognized, it is gaining more and more supporters among scientists over time.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, in his work "Ancient Russian History from the beginning of the Russian people to the death of Grand Duke Yaroslav the First or until 1054," was resolutely against the "Norman" theory and wrote "about the distant antiquity of the Slavic people." Here is a quote from the 6th volume of his complete works (Moscow, Leningrad, 1952).

"At the beginning of the sixth century after Christ, the Slavic name became very famous; and the power of this people was not only terrible in Thrace, Macedonia, Istria and Dalmatia, but also contributed very much to the destruction of the Roman Empire. The Vends and Ants, uniting with their kindred Slavs, multiplied their strength. The unity of these peoples is not only shown by the current similarity in languages, but is also testified twelve hundred years ago by Iornand, who left the message that "from the beginning of the Vistula River to the north, there are populous Vendian peoples living in an immeasurable space, whose names, although different for different generations and places, but the Slavs and Ants are generally called." He also adds that from the Vistula they extend to the Danube and to the Black Sea. Before him, Ptolemy in the second century by Christ places the Vendians near the entire Vendian Bay named after them, that is, near the Finnish and Kurland bays. This author, moreover, let us know that Sarmatia was taken over by the great Vendian peoples. And Pliny also testifies that in his time the Vendians and Sarmatians lived near the Vistula… So, the Slavic-polish people justly call themselves Sarmatian; and I will not hesitate to conclude with Kromer that the Slavs and the Vendians in general are ancient Sarmatians… About antiquity [of the Slavs, – translator’s remark] we have a satisfied and almost obvious assurance in the greatness and power of the Slavic tribe, which has been standing on almost one measure for more than a thousand and a half years; and it is impossible to imagine that in the first century after Christ, it suddenly multiplied to such a great multitude..".

"In Southern Europe, the antiquity and power of the Slavs is evident from Herodotus, who Venedov and the Illyrians regard as one people and describe their habits, similar to those of the Medes [Euterpia, p. 36; Terpsichore, p. 128], which confirms the unity shown above. The antiquity of the Illyrians extends to fabulous centuries; the strength of their military dealings with the Greeks and Romans is known."

"Campaigns from the north of the Goths, Vandals and Lombards serve a lot to prove the multiplication of Slavic power. For although I separate them fairly from the Slavic generations, however, I have good reasons to assert that Slavs made up a considerable part of their armies; and not only ordinary, but also the main leaders were of Slavic breed. So, now it is quite clear how great the Slavic tribe was already in the first centuries after the Birth of Christ."

Lomonosov also claimed, based on the results of his historical research, that the Varangians were not a nationality, but a certain social group and could be either Swedes or Danes, or Slavs. He substantiates that the Varangians invited to Novgorod were the Slavs who lived on the shores of the Baltic between the Dvina and the Vistula and Rurik himself was the grandson of the Novgorod prince Gostomysl who invited him. Michael Lomonosov believed that Prince Rurik was a Slavic Varangian prince from Prussia, not Scandinavia. "The eastern shoulder of the Nemeni River, flowing into the Gulf of Kursk, is called Rusa which bears the name of the Varangian Russ." That is the name Rus (as well as Ros) has a purely Slavic origin and not brought from the outside by another people. And the Russian people have their roots as ancient as the Greeks and Romans do or even older. This is the essence of the "Lomonosov’s theory".

Lomonosov also points out the absence of Scandinavian words in the Russian language for this reason. In fact there are some but a very few indeed. Wilhelm L.P. Thomsen (1842 –1927) the professor of Copenhagen University and the President of the Danish Academy of Science (plus the member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland) counted 16 Scandinavian words in Russian. And even these 16 are under question. For instance, the Russian word “Yakor (anchor) he refers to the Swedish word "ancare" or the Old Norse "akkeri". However, in Latin dictionary we find "ancora" – anchor and the mark – "Greek". So, this word had entered Latin from Ancient Greek thousands of years before the world heard of Scandinavia. As shown above, Russia had an intense relationship with Byzantine Empire where the Greeks were perhaps a major nation (the Slavs also were numerous there among others). Therefore it is almost certain that this word entered Russian from the Greeks of Byzantine, not Scandinavia. The majority of other words of those 16 are also more likely to be German, French or Greek rather than Scandinavian. But even if we assume all of these Russian 16 words to be of Scandinavian origin, it is still too miserable number. The numbers of German, French and Greek words in Russian are greater by a couple of orders of magnitude. This adds more doubts that the Variangians of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" were Scandinavians and especially that Rurik came from Scandinavia.

The Ioakim chronicle confirms that Rurik and his two brothers were Slavs and grandsons of the previous Russian Grand Duke of Novgorod Gostomysl (in the "Tale of Bygone Years" Gostomysl is not mentioned). Excerpts from it were presented by the historian Tatishchev in 1748 according to the manuscript of Joachim, the first bishop of Novgorod, appointed after the baptism of Russia. He died in 1030. Scientists have long been skeptical of the Ioakimov Chronicle as of an invention of Tatishchev, since its original was lost. But suddenly several facts from this chronicle were confirmed by archaeological excavations. In addition, Gostomysl was found recorded by the first prince in two Novgorod chronicles. Moreover, a certain Prince Gostomysl is also mentioned in Western chronicles. This was the name of the leader of the West Slavic tribe of the Veneds, who, according to some sources, died in 844 in a battle against King Louis II of Germany, and according to others, was able to escape to Novgorod, where he was "seated" (chosen) to reign. Today, historians no longer consider it "bad form" to refer to the Joachim Chronicle, but with reservations such as "perhaps" and "probably".

The "Legend of Slovene and Rus" by an unknown author also echoes the Joachim Chronicle, which some historians consider to be rather a recorded legend than a real story. According to these two works, the state of Russia was founded by the sons of Prince Scythian. The brothers Sloven and Rus came to Lake Ilmen and built two cities there: the first – the "great city" Slovensk in 2409 BC (later renamed to Veliky Novgorod, as some believe), the second – the city of Rus (now Staraya Russa, meaning “Old Rus”). From Sloven power passed to one of his sons, Vandal. It was he who actually created the so-called Russian Kaganate, "having conquered many lands and peoples on the coast of the sea." When Prince Burevoy, the grandson of a Vandal, ruled the state, the overseas invaders—Varangians (Vikings) coveted the wealth of the lands under his control. The prince resisted the invasion, but was defeated near the Kumeni River (now Kyumijoki, Finland) and with the rest of the squad took refuge in the city of Byarmy where he died soon after. The Varangians imposed heavy tribute on the conquered lands. But Burevoy’s son Gostomysl (“seated” on the throne in Novgorod) came to his father's aid. He managed to gather a strong army, expel the Varangians , stop paying tribute and re-unite the peoples into a single state. Gostomysl made peace deal with the Varangians (Vikings), and since then "there has been silence all over these lands."

Further, the Joachim Chronicle and the "Legend of Slovene and Rus" diverge somewhat. According to the legend, Gostomysl had two sons, but both of them did not survive their father. Therefore, Gostomysl had no one to transfer power to. Civil strife was brewing. Then, just before his death (in 844), the prince ordered to send envoys "across the sea to the land of Prussia" so that they would ask for a ruler from the family of Caesar Augustus. And so it was done. Rurik was invited. Note that Gostomysl sends an ambassadors to Prussia for some reason not by land, but by sea. The legend is largely consonant with the "Lomonosov theory", since Rurik was invited from somewhere in Prussia (although the Vistula and Dvina rivers are not mentioned), albeit Rurik is not the grandson of Gostomysl here.

By the Joachim chronicle, Gostomysl had four sons and three daughters, but all his sons either died in the war or of illness, and all the daughters were married to neighboring princes. One his daughters, Umila was married to one of the West Slavic princes from the island of Rugen (now in Germany, in old slavic – “Rujan”) and gave birth to three sons. Rurik, the eldest of them, was invited by Gostomysl to the Grand duchy in Novgorod in order to observe dynastic succession, the legality of power and prevent civil strife. Rurik came along with his brothers. The chronicle in the main also does not contradict the "Lomonosov’s theory", except that the grandson Rurik was invited not from the place of residence of the Rosses near the Rus River between the Dvina and the Vistula in Prussia, but from the then Slavic island of Rujan (Rugen).

The Rugs (Rujans in slavic) are often mentioned in foreign chronicles and the island Rugen is located just next to Prussia. At that time the island was inhabited by militant pagan Slavs who worshipped their gods in the Arkone temple in the city of the same name. Thus it becomes clear why Gostomysl sent ambassadors to Prussia "across the sea" according to the Joachim Chronicle. He probably sent them to Rugen.

Here is how the early medieval chroniclers described the Rujan Slavs: "… these are cruel people that live in the heart of the sea and are overly devoted to idolatry. They excel among all Slavic tribes; have a king and a famous sanctuary. (…) completely neglecting the benefits of agriculture, they always ready to make attacks on the sea, laying their only hope and all their wealth on ships. That is, the Rujans led the real Varangians’ (Vikings’) way of life.

The Rujans had a large fleet and extensive trade relations with Scandinavia and the Baltic States. They carried out frequent military attacks. For example, some provinces of Denmark before the era of King Valdemar I paid tribute to the Rujans. At one time their kingdom became so powerful that it controlled almost the entire Baltic Sea, which then was called the Sea of Rugs (Rujans) for quite a long time.

The island was the main pagan worship place of the Western Slavs. Back in the XI century, pilgrims from the distant and already seemingly Christian Czech Republic came to its main four-headed shrine – the idol of Svyatovit. The popularity of the four–faced idols was not limited only to Western Slavs – archaeologists found such idols in Eastern Slavic countries – in Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria. The Slavs of the island defended their independence and their faith for a very long time – until 1168, when they were defeated by the Danish king. The temple of Arkon was destroyed. According to the Danish chronicles, King Rujana – Jaromir became a vassal of the Danish king, and the island became part of the bishopric of Roskilde. The Rujans were converted to Christianity. However, already in 1234, the Rujans not only freed themselves from Danish rule, but soon captured part of the nearby coast – Western Pomerania (now part of Germany), founding the city now known as Stralsund. Further, the Rujans participated in numerous wars. In the end they lost their independence and, being part of various German state formations over the next few centuries, gradually became culturally Germans. The Rujan Slavic dialect was still heard in some places on the island until the XVI century.

It is assumed that the island of Buyan, from Pushkin's famous fairy tale, is the island of Rujan. Today lighthouses are installed on the cape of the island where the temple city of Arkon once stood. The photo shows the remains of the Slavic fortress of Arkona. The rampart that used to protect the fortress is still clearly visible. There is an exhibition of Arcona Fortress artifacts in the tower.

As we see, the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", the Joachim Chronicle and the "Legend of Slovene and Rus" overlap with each other. According to each of them, Russia as a state entity (at least at the level of individual principalities) was actually formed centuries before the arrival of Rurik in 862. Also, all three sources agree that a certain Rurik was invited from across the sea. By origin Rurik is either a Varangian (Viking) or a Prussian, or a Western Slav.

If we suppose that Rurik came from the island of Rujan, then the inconsistencies between the three sources are significantly smoothed out since in this case Rurik is at the same time a Varangian from across the sea and a Slav living near Prussia. Some historians are inclined to this version. In this scenario Eastern Russia simply invited a Varangian (Viking) ruler from Western Russia. Understandably he became "legitimate" in both parts of Russia and therefore was able to unite the Eastern Slavic principalities with some Western ones into a single state.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian artist Ilya Glazunov was suddenly irresistibly drawn to visit the island of Rujan during his stay in the Western German Republic. At that time the students of the University of Berlin were conducting archaeological excavations there. He learned from them that a few days ago they had dug up a Slavic wooden boat of the IX century. Then Glazunov asked the archaeologists what other artifacts they found and received a somewhat irritated response from a Teuton which was forever etched into his memory: “Everything to magma here is Slavic!.." In Berlin Glazunov told about this to the deputy professor Herman. "I can tell you that in the Western Germany we have a huge warehouse full of Slavic artifacts and the ancient books written in Old Slavonic. After the end of the [Second World] War we took a lot of things to this vault and so far no one has been digging in it. <…> None of your Soviet or our scientists showed any interest in this." – the professor replied. Glazunov wrote about his trip in his book "Russia Crucified".[4 - Глазунов И.С. "Россия распятая", Издательство: АСТ, 2017 г., ISBN: 978-5-17-104398-8, 1008 С.]

"The map of the placement of the West Slavic tribal unions of the Bodrichs (Obodrits) and Lyutichs (Velets) in the VIII—X centuries", by Vladislav Matveev (p.n. Trevbus) taken from the website https://commons.wikimedia.org under CC license.

It is worth noticing that there was also another Slavic union of several tribes called the Obodrits (Bodrichs) living not far from both the island of Rujan (Rugen) and Prussia on the mainland.[5 - Boll, Ernst. Geschichte Meklenburgs mit besonderer Ber?cksichtigung der Culturgeschichte. Bd. 1, Neubrandenburg, 1855, S. 4. «Nach Adam hie?en die Abodriten auch Reregen.»] In the 16th century an Austrian baron Sigismund von Herberstein, the ambassador to Moscow, wrote a book about Russia. He outlined the then generally accepted history of the emergence of the Russian state in medieval Europe. According to it the Varangians came from the Vagria region in northern Germany. Then it was inhabited by the union of Slavic tribes of the Obodrits (Bodrichs). The center of all Vagria was Stargard (Stargrad). After the capture by the Germans it now bears the name Oldenburg, which means the same thing in translation – the Old Town, that is Stargrad. And the capital of the tribe of the Obodrites in Vagria was Veligrad (Wiligrad, Lat. Magnopolis). This city is mentioned under the year 965 in the work of the Arab author Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub [6 - Йоахим Херрман. Ободриты, лютичи, руяне // Славяне и скандинавы: Сб. – М., 1986. – С. 338.] (at the end of the X century captured by the Germans and renamed to Mecklenburg). In the east, the Obodrites had founded Novgorod even earlier. When the inhabitants of Novgorod had discord they naturally turned to their ancestral homeland with a request to send them an authoritative prince. So Rurik and his brothers arrived in Novgorod to reign. The Obodrites played a significant role in the history of Germany and Prussia taking part in many of their foreign and internecine wars. In the end the fate of the Rujans (Rugs) befell them – they gradually became culturally like Germans lost their independence, were converted to Catholicism and forgot their native language.

"The map of the location of the West Slavic tribal unions of the Bodrichs (Obodrites) and Lutiches (Velets) in the 8th-10th centuries" by Vladislav Matveev (under the pseudonym Trevbus) taken from the site https://commons.wikimedia.org under the CC License.

Now let have a closer look at the Prussians. As proved by Lomonosov, in ancient times the Slavs formed a single Russian-Prussian tribe. When the Prussians separated into a separate ethnic group and became "independent", other Slavic tribes continued to live right next to them. Among them were those who continued to consider themselves Slavs – not only the Rujans and Obodrites already mentioned above, but also others, shown in the map (colored).

In pagan times a significant part of "independent" Prussia was again subordinated to Russia. The regions of Prussia, which directly bordered Russia at that time were inhabited by Prussians and Jews. Since 983, after the successful campaign of Prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko (Vladimir Red Sun), these areas of East Prussia were again listed among the Russian possessions. Apparently not for long, since in 1037-1038, the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav Mudriy (Yaroslav the Wise) made a campaign against the Yatvyags as part of a large several-year Russian offensive in the western directions. [7 - Лаврентьевская летопись // Полное собрание русских летописей. Т. 1. С. 35. СПб., 1846. Стб. 163.]

The Prussians willingly went to the service of the Russian princes. In 1215 the Prussian combat detachment acted on the side of the freedom-loving Novgorod boyars’ veche (a parliament of the nobles) in their struggle with their prince as a striking military force[8 - Новгородская первая летопись старшего и младшего изводов. М.-Л., 1950.]. In Novgorod, one of its most ancient streets was inhabited by Prussian settlers and even bore the name “Prussian” (now Zhelyabov Street). So, the Prussians lived on the Russian soil since ancient times.

In 1225-1226 the Polish Prince Konrad Mazowiecki turned to the German Teutonic Order to protect against military incursions of pagan Prussians into the lands of Catholic Poles (although the Poles themselves committed predatory campaigns against Prussia). In 1230 the Papal curia approved the Teutonic Order for the conquest of Prussia issuing a special papal bull. Pope Gregory IX addressed the knights in it: "Gird up and be courageous and ready to fight with these pagans who have gathered to destroy us and our holiness; it is better to die in battle than to see the calamities of our people and the sanctity.[9 - Очерки истории Восточной Пруссии / Г.В. Кретинин, В.Н. Брюшинкин, В.И. Гальцов, и др. – Калининград: ФГУИПП «Янтарный сказ», 2002.]" Of course there was no threat from the Prussians to the Catholic world, it was pure propaganda. As a result of four difficult crusades stretching over half a century from 1231 to 1283 the Teutonic Order with the support of Poland eventually conquered Prussia piece by piece.

The map of the "Principality of late Kievan Rus" by SeikoEn, processed by the user Das steinerne Herz, taken from the Swedish site https://sv.m.wikipedia.org under the CC license.

The Prussians regularly raised uprisings and at one time the power of the order hung by a thread. But the Teutons won over the majority of the Prussian nobility by granting them privileges and was able to hold on. Since the Prussians put up such fierce resistance and did not belong to the peoples of the German group, they were subjected to almost total extermination and displacement outside their lands. The South Russian Chronicle reports on the mass migration of Prussians expelled by the Germans to the lands of Northwestern Russia in 1276-1277. [10 - Ипатьевская летопись // Полное собрание русских летописей. Т. 2. С. 35. СПб., 1998. Стб. 886–887. Стб. 874–875.]

After the final conquest of Prussia by the Teutons in 1283, the second even greater wave of migration of Prussians to the Russian and Lithuanian principalities surged. The main areas of resettlement were the Novgorod, Pskov, Galician-Volyn principalities and Lithuanian Rus. It is no coincidence that more than 70 notable Russian noble families (including the Romanov royal family which Peter-I the Great belongs to) trace their ancestry from immigrants from ancient Prussia. In their ancestral coats of arms there are corresponding symbols – a crown as a sign of origin from the legendary kings of Prussia, two crosses signifying the conversion of the Gland-Kambila and his descendants to Orthodoxy and a pagan oak. In some coats of arms there is a generic symbol of the most ancient Prussian rulers – a black single-headed eagle with outstretched wings, clawed paws, sometimes with a crown on the neck. [11 - Лакиер А.Б. «Русская геральдика». М., 1990 , с.299] Below is the Romanov family coat of arms which shows that not German but Slavic, essentially Russian blood coursed in the veins of Peter the Great.

This image of the "Coat of Arms of the Romanov Boyars" by Taubiy taken from the German website https://de.wikipedia.org under the CC License.

One of the Prussian settlers was Michael Prushanin, who arrived in Novgorod at the beginning of the XIII century with a large retinue and laid the foundation for the families of the Mishinich–Onciferoviches, Morozovs, Saltykovs, Burtsevs, Sheins, Rusalkins, Kozlovs, Tuchkovs and Cheglokovs. Having converted to Orthodoxy and settled on Prusskaya (Prussian) Street he as a wealthy man built in 1231 the church of St. Michael where he was subsequently buried. In the battles with the Swedes and Livonians (after 1237 the knights of the Order of the Sword was renamed to the Livonian Order) Michael showed himself to be an outstanding military commander. For instance, in the Battle of the Neva River in 1240 in the army of Alexander Nevsky the squad under his command destroyed three Swedish ships. His grandson Michael Krivets was at one time a Novgorod Head. [12 - Шаскольский И.П. «Борьба Руси против крестоносной агрессии на берегах Балтики в XII – XIII веках». Л., 1978, с.183] The Russian writer M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin belonged to the Prussian Saltykov family. [13 - Петров П.Н. История родов русского дворянства. В двух книгах. М., 1991, Кн. 2., с.49]