Byzantium, the Rus, and Medieval Typologies of the Other

Authors:

Pages: 13-28
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/MKNH6280

Abstract:

The aim of this article is to analyse the discourse about the people known as 𝑅𝑢𝑠 and 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 which was prevalent among the erudite minority of the medieval Roman Empire. The earliest image of the Rus in Eastern Roman sources, found in the sermons of Patriarch Photios from 860, is one of inhumanity in the most basic sense of the word: the Rus are likened to a hailstorm and a roaring sea, they are wild boars and merciless barbarians. In a later letter, however, Photios adopts a different view: the Rus are no longer inhuman insofar as they are on their way to becoming members of the community of Christian nations. The images of the Rus in works from the time of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 945–959) are very different from their representations in the writings of Photios as the Rus had become subjects of diplomatic efforts by the imperial court. The Rus are still very different from the Romans, but they are identified as people with their own government, their own hierarchy, and their own interests. The texts 𝐷𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑖𝑠 and 𝐷𝑒 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜 offer both peaceful and aggressive models of co-existence, each characterized with a different gender aspect. In the eleventh century, a group of Scandinavians known as Varangians became separated from the Rus. Although not mentioned in works earlier than from the 1070s, they are referred to in connection with events happening as early as in the 1030s. Unlike the Rus, the identity of the Varangians was tied to their service to the Romans, as members of the Roman army, or even an independent group of soldiers. Loyalty was regarded as an important characteristic of the Varangians. The picture of the Varangians as supremely loyal subjects, yet with a clearly demarcated identity of their own, is the one that entered posterity as the archetype of the Varangian.

Keywords:

Eastern Roman Empire; Rus; Varangians; the Other; image; archetype

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