FARID ALAKBARLI
On Presence of Scandinavians in
Caspian Sea during Middle Ages (9th-11th Centuries)
International
Medieval Congress
IMC 2004 (12-15 July 2004):
Special Thematic Strand: Clash of
Cultures
Leeds, UK
- Paper 1123-c
ABSTRACT
Until recently the question
about presence of Northmen in the Caspian region during the 9th-11th centuries
was not sufficiently investigated. To study this problem, a number of medieval chronicles
in Persian, Arabic and Russian have been analyzed by the author of the present
paper. According to the medieval historian Al-Tabari, Vikings appeared in
Caspian in the 7th century. Other medieval authors don't confirm it and show
other dates: between the 9th and 10th centuries. Al-Masudi describes a Northmen
invasion in Azerbaijan and Shirvan in 912-
INTRODUCTION
Vikings, which were known also as 'Norsemen' or
'Northmen', were members of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and
colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose
disruptive influence profoundly affected European history.
These pagan Danish,
Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids
by a combination of factors, ranging from overpopulation at home to the
relative helplessness of victims abroad.
The greatest eastern movement
of the Scandinavians was that which carried them to the lands of ancient
Ukraine, called at that time Rus (which mistakenly has been transcribed as the
modern word "Russia"). The “conquering" of Ukraine-Rus was much
less violent. Later, the Rus attacked the western shores of the Caspian Sea,
including the territory of the Shirvan state.
Medieval Arabic and Persian
sources kept in the Institute of Manuscripts in Baku provide rich information
about these voyages of the Rus. This information is analyzed in the present
paper.
ON THE ETHNIC ORIGIN OF THE RUS
Despite all these evidences,
the debates around ethnic origin of the Rus still continue. According to books
published in the former USSR during the Soviet period, the Rus who came in
Caspian in the 9th-12th centuries AD were the pure Slavs and had no any
relations with Scandinavia (Huseynov, 1958; Ribakov, 1966; Prokopov, 1975;
Mirzoyev, 1988, etc.). This explanation was the result of nationalism typical
of the Communist leaders of USSR who dictated how the history of the country
should be written [5, 12].
As to the Rus attacking
Azerbaijan, there are various theories about their origin in modern
historiography. Some Azeri scholars still believe that they were a Slavic
people living in the territory of the Kiev Russia. It is supposed that they
came to Azerbaijan by a marsh route “the Dnepr River, Black sea, Don River and
carrying their vessels overland to the Volga River and then the Caspian” [4].
Some researchers believe that
the Rus who invaded Azerbaijan were a people of mixed ethnic origin (Turks,
Slavs and Scandinavians). Alekperov A. referring to the Arabian historian Ibn
Miskaveih writes that the Rus (“the Urus”) first adopted Christianity and then
Islam. He cites the medieval historians Stepanos of Taron (Asohic) and
Aristakes Lastivertsi and names Ruses according to the following terms: Ruz,
Aruz, Vrangs. He also points out that some of them served the Georgian king and
Byzantine emperor.
Actually, it is known that 700
warriors of the Rus participated in military raids of Byzantine in 911, and 629
Rus warriors participated the raids in 949 AD and 955 AD. Two ships of the Rus
participated in battles on the shores of Italy in 968 AD. Alekperov, citing Ibn
al-Asir and Nizami Ganjavi, describes the domination of the Turks in complex
ethnic constitution of Ruses and asserts that separate tribes of the Ruses
lived in the North coast of Black sea, too.
The Azerbaijani authors
N.A.Aliyev and S.A.Ahmadov (Baku, 2003) write that there was a state of Ruses
on the northern shores of Caspian. According to these authors, the Rus were a
nation of the mixed Slavic-Turkic-Scandinavian origin in all stages of their
history [3]. However, the facts cited above prove that it is a mistake. How
could the Rus have their state on the northern shores of Caspian, if this land
was under power of the Khazar state? Besides if this is true, why didn’t the
Arabian historians write anything about the Caspian state of the Rus?
We know precisely who the Ruses
in Ukraine were in the 9th AD. Undoubtedly, they were Normans. The Rus
signatories of this period have indoubtably a Scandinavian name – “We, who are
of the Rus origin: Karl, Ingelot, Farlav, Veremid, Rulav, Gudi, Raul, Karn,
Flelav, Ruar, Aktutruyan, Lidulfost, Stemid”. Therefore in the 10th-11th AD,
the Rus in Kiev Russia were Scandinavians. However, their existence as a
separate people did not continue past 1050 at the latest. Vikings (“Variags” as
they were called in Slavic) merged with the local Slavic population. Chieftains
married daughters of nobles, while "druzhyna" (footmen, small army in
Slavic) blended with freemen, so that by beginning of 1000s, only names
remained as reminders of Variags presence.
The Eastern Normans also
penetrated in the Caspian floating in the marsh route—the Baltic Sea, Riga Bay,
The Western Dvina River, The Dnepr and the Volga, and coming then to the Black
and Caspian seas. Old Scandinavian treaties and of the 12th-14th centuries
compiling on the basis of the practical experience of Vikings contain many
information about Caucasian Albania and Caspian (Girkan) sea. A number of
Swedish runic stones record the names of men who went with Yngvarr on his
journeys. These journeys were to the East, but only legendary accounts of their
precise direction and intention survive.
THE EARLY, MIDDLE AND LATE RUS
I am convinced that the early
invasions in the Caspian (880, 913- 914 AD) were undertaken by the Scandinavian
warriors, the Vikings. However, during companies of 943-944 and 1031, the Rus
military forces had a multinational composition. Their army included the
Scandinavian and Slavic warriors and the Turkic cavalry (Kipchaks, Khazars and
Savirs). Over time, the Scandinavians in Kiev were completely assimilated by
Slavs. The Slavic warriors adopted the Scandinavian self-naming “Rus” and
continued to use Viking helmets, shields, battle axes and chain arms. However,
they were Slavs and spoke Slavic. These Slavic Rus (the ancestors of Russians
and Ukrainians) together with the Nomadic Turkic tribes and war-like peoples of
the North Caucasus undertook the military companies to the shores of Caspian in
1175 AD. Therefore, we must distinguish between:
(1) the early Rus - Scandinavians (the 9th-10th AD);
(2) the middle Rus - the united military forces of Vikings, Slavs and Turks (the 10th-11th AD)
(3) and the late Rus - the Slavic people in Ukraine (the 12th AD).
However, there is a
possibility that the name “Rus” was used by the medieval Arab historians very
freely. By this name they could have meant not only the Ruses, but also a
number of peoples living in the neighbourhood with the Kiev Russia - Kipchaks,
Khazarians, and even Caucasian peoples. The medieval historians were not very
precise in such situations.
For example, the Greek and
Roman authors called “Barbarians” all tribes which did not speak Greek or
Roman. Arabs often called Slavs by the name “Turks”. Therefore, they could
mistakenly have named some Turkic and Northern Caucasian tribes by the name
“Rus”. This would explain why the feudal rulers of Azerbaijan often called the
Rus for help in wars, and the Rus would appear immediately. It’s hardly
imaginable that the Azerbaijani rulers might have asked for help from such
distant country as the Kiev Russia. Therefore, these Rus were not real Rus, but
only allies of the Rus – such as Kipchaks, Alans, Avars, Khazarians and other
warlike nomadic tribes.
EXTERNAL LOOK AND ARMAMENT OF THE RUS IN
CASPIAN
Information from the Arabic sources
allow us to reconstruct the external look of the Rus attacking Azerbaijan:
stout body; great height; white or pink faces; tattoo; clothes and arms of
Scandinavian-Slavic-Turkic style, mustaches and beards. It is written about them also “they are brave
and never run away from the battle field” [8].
Their armament consisted of
the shirt of metallic rings, helmet (usual, whole-metallic or made from
strips), javelins (occasionally), shield, sword, dagger, wooden stick with a
heavy metallic ball on the end, and battle-axe (the most usual arm of Vikings).
Usually, they fought on land and were distinguished by their solidarity, deep
rows in defence and rapid attack.
The poet Nizami Ganjavi (12th
AD) even cites the name of one of the chiefs of the Rus—Kintal [9].
Ibn Fadlan was an Arab
chronicler. In
During the course of his
journey, Ibn Fadlan met a people called the
Rus, a group of Swedish origin, acting as traders in the Bulgar capital.
The fragments from this description is given below [8]:
§ 80. I has seen the Rus as
they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the Volga. I have never
seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blonde and ruddy;
they wear neither tunics nor caftans, but the men wear a garment which covers
one side of the body and leaves a hand free.
§ 81.Each man has an axe, a
sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times. The swords are broad and
grooved, of Frankish sort. Every man is tattooed from finger nails to neck with
dark green (or green or blue-black) trees, figures, etc.
SHIPS OF THE RUS IN CASPIAN
Information about the ships
of the Rus is extremely limited. It is known only that each ship of the Rus was
able to hold up to 100 persons. To identify the external look of ships of the
Rus which attacked Azerbaijan, the ships sailing in the Volga (“Itil” in
Turkic) River have been studied.
As a result, it has been
established that despite the fact that all Volga ships of Vikings were known as
“strugs” or “ladyas” (the Slavic name for the Scandinavian boats), between the
9th-13th centuries, they were divided into two categories. The ships of the
first type were typical mostly of the northern part of the river. These were
sailing ships
Drakar appeared under
influence of the Scandinavians from Volga and this type of ships was not used
during attacks to Azerbaijan. Had Drakars
be used by the Rus in Caspian, the medieval Arab historians would have
pointed out this as unusual event. However, this issue was not represented in
sources. Therefore, the Rus used types of ships familiar to local people. This
type of ship could only be the Shneka (the Slavic version of the Scandinavian
“Shneker”). This type of ship was widely used in the Southern Volga mostly for
military and pirate invasions. The Shneker had a length of 20-
NUMBER OF THE RUS IN THE CASPIAN SEA
Information about the number
of the Rus is insufficient and incomplete.
Thus, in a raid in 909 AD 1000-1700 people were involved. In a raid in 943-944
at Barda it is said that 3000 people participated. From them, 1500 died in
battle for Barda (700 peoples were
captured and brought inside a circle and killed), and others were killed in the
delta of the Volga River.
In the raids of 10th-11th
century AD, 1.5-3.5 thousands warriors were involved. Absolutely unreal
information is given about the raid in 913-914. Thus, a number of researchers
without critical approach just repeat the words of medieval chronicles who
asserts that 50,000 warriors of the Rus came from the Dnepr River and attacked
Aran (a province between the Kur and Araz rivers in Azerbaijan). It is known
from olden times that medieval historians easily exaggerated the number of
warriors when they had no any information and how easily they wrote about tens
and hundreds thousands of enemies.
Exaggeration of the number of the enemy’s army and the number of the enemy soldiers who were killed, while minimizing of number of soldiers in national army and minimizing the number of killed national warriors often was dictated by patriotic feelings or feelings of devotion to the king and, therefore, it is necessary to deal with these facts cautiously. It is proved that all United Europe sent not more than 8,000 warriors in Crusade wars to Palestine, and the army of the Muslim states of Salahaddin (“Saladin” in the Medieval European sources) was not more than 15,000. The army of Atabek Jahan Pehlevan in Azerbaijan(Eldegizid dynasty, 12th AD) in years of its greatest strength was about 25,000. The Mongolian army of Chingis khan in his best days was not more than 127 000 warriors.
Such facts make us sceptical
about 50,000 warriors of the Rus. The main problem of the army in medieval
times was the problem of food supply. Just to feeding of 50,000 warriors during
a day would require 100 tons of dry food, and during a month – 3,000 tons of
dry food. It would not possible to acquire so much food by robbing the local
population.
Nomads were escaped owing to
their herd of domestic animals, but Ruses did not have them. It is necessary to
take into account that 3,000 warriors of the Rus in the raid of 943-944 could
penetrate deep inside territory of Azerbaijan and overwhelmed one of biggest
cities of Middle East—Barda. That same army was liquidated only after a year
with accumulation of all national forces and with great tension and difficulty.
How could it have been that in the raid of 913-914 AD, 50,000 warriors of the
Rus captured only a few islands around Baku and went away without great
success? We see that information about 50 000 warriors of the Rus was
substantially exaggerated. Analyzing sources we may conclude that the army of
the Rus in their major raids consisted from 1,500 to 5,000 warriors.
EARLY MILITARY RAIDS OF THE RUS TO
CASPIAN
After weakening of the Arabic
Caliphate in the 9th-10th centuries AD, the independent states appeared in
Azerbaijan. At that time especially the Shirvan state became strong. At the
same time, invasions of conquerors from the North, especially the Rus, started
taking place. Starting in the 9th century, the appearance of the Rus in the
Caspian was quite usual. Ibn Khordadbeh (9th century AD) and Ibn Fakih (10th
century AD) write about this. Thus, Ibn Khordadbeh in his book, “The Book of
Roads and States” (840-850) writes that the Rus merchants move in the Jurjan
(Caspian) Sea and arrive at any coast that they want [6]. The Rus were clearly
in the main traders, and two of their commercial treaties with the Greeks are
preserved in the Primary Chronicle under 912 and 945.
Occasionally, however, the
Rus attempted voyages of plunder like their kinsmen in the West. Towards the
end of the 9th century, the Rus, along with civil sea traders sea travelling
undertook several major military attacks in the Caspian. The densely populated south-western shores of
the Caspian had always attracted the attention of conquerors. When merchants of
the Rus sailed in their ships along the Caspian shores, they saw that
Azerbaijan was a rich country.
It was a new event for a
local people living on the shores of this sea. Thus, Masudi in his work points
out that the peoples living on the shores on this sea were crushed because they
had never experienced such an attack before by an enemy from sea as only
fishery and commercial ships sailed the Caspian [3].
On the whole, the naval
attacks by the Rus in Caspian and Southern Caucasus are divided into two
stages. The first stage was until 10th century, when the coming of the Rus was
related mostly to trade and rarely was of military nature. The second stage starts from the middle of
the 10th century when the Rus tried to capture the western shores of the
Caspian sea. All the invasions of the Ruses were associated with destruction
and robbery.
The first significant
invasion of the Rus occurred in
“Shirvanshahs” were rulers of
Shirvan, the state in the Northen Azerbaijan existing from the 8th-century to
1534 AD. During this period the shirvanshahs already had a fleet in Caspian. In
turn, the Rus had their own wooden ships with oars and sails. During sea
travels, they always tried to sail along the coastline.
ATTACKS OF THE RUS IN THE 10th –11th AD.
The greatest attack of the Rus
in this period occurred in 913-914. According to medieval chronicles their fleet consisted of 500 ships having 100 warriors each. As we already noted above, this information is absolutely unreal, fantastic exaggeration. In fact, there might be only a few thousands warriors. During this expedition, the Rus made a raid on the Southern
coast of the Caspian and continued to undertake rivers along the Shirvan coast
and, perhaps, landed on the Boyuk Zira Island. Shirvanshah Ali Ibn Haysam along
with his army approached these islands nearby Baku. However, the Rus who had
more sophisticated vessels could overwhelm the Shirvan troops and killed and
drowned thousands of them.
Masudi writes that the Ruses
remained at sea for several months and no one nor any form of vessel in the
Caspian was able to stop the Rus who had captured islands nearby the Absheron
Peninsula and caused danger for commercial ships. Having taken great booty on
the Absheron Peninsula, the Rus returned to the Khazarian region (North
Caspian), the delta of Volga and Northern Caucasus where Khazars (a Turkic
people) attacked them. Even though Khazars had no ships they attracted the Rus
to land and, after three days of fighting were able to overwhelm them. Only an
insignificant number of the Rus were able to return to their native land.
The next great voyage was of
the Vikings to the Caspian which occurred in 943-944 and was described in such
sources as “The Book of Examining of the People”, “Geographical Dictionary” by
Yakut Hamavi [10], “Chronography” by Abu Faraj [1] ,“History” by Abu al-Fada
[2], “The Chronicle” by Ibn al-Asir [6],
as well as by Nizami Ganjavi [9], the great poet from the Ganja city in
Azerbaijan.
The Rus reached the delta of
the Kur River and anchored their ships along the river. Soon, they approached
the Mubaraki village near the city of Barda and established a base for their
ships here. The army of the Rus was bigger than the army of the Barda defenders.
As a result of attack the Rus were able to capture Barda. As distinct from the
previous robbery raids, this voyage of the Rus aimed creation of political
centre in the Southern Caucasus and shore of the Kur River with its capital in
Barda. Such a colony had been founded by the Rus earlier on the Taman Peninsula
on the delta of the Kuban River and with its centre in the city of Tmutarakan.
However, the Rus could not
stay in Barda. After several bloody battles with Marzuban Ibn Muhammad of the
Salarid Dynasty, at which time, the Rus lost many warriors and after epidemia
in their camp, the Rus left Barda in haste. The next attempt was made by the
Rus in 958, when they arrived in 18 vessels in the Kur delta. As a result of strong resistance by the local
people, the Rus could not stay here for a long time.
After several decades, the
Rus again came to the Caspian. In 38 ships they undertook a raid on Shirvan.
Shirvanshah Manuchehr (1027-1034) met them with his army near Baku. As a result
of severe battle, the Shirvan army lost many soldiers and the Rus sailed up the
Kur River and reached the Araz River. The shirvanshah tried to stop the
movement of the Rus by closing off Araz by special dam, but it didn’t work.
Nevertheless, the resistance of Shirvanis prevented the Ruses from moving along
the Araz. However, the ruler of Ganja,
Musa Ibn Fadl Shaddadid hired the Rus and used them to stop the uprising in the
city of Beylagan. After this, the Rus left the territory of Aran and went to
Byzantium and then returned to their native land.
In 1031, the Rus again
appeared near Baku, but this time they were defeated by the ruler of Aran
Abulfat Musa ibn Fadl and most of them were killed. In 1032, the united
military forces of the Rus, Savirs and Alans attacked Shirvan, but while
returning back they were attacked by Mansur, the ruler of the Darband city.
Only a small detachment of Alans were able to escape.
The main force that prevented
aggression from the North was the Shirvan state in Azerbaijan, which possessed
a sufficiently strong military system including both the land and navy forces.
On the whole, the army of shirvanshahs (i.e., kings of Shirvan) had a
sufficiently complex structure, as the military history in this country is
associated with ancient Caucasian Albania dating back to the 4th BC. The army
consisted of land warriors, cavalry and military ships. Resistance of the
Shirvan army prevented Caucasian countries from the possibility of being
captured by Ruses. Especially great was
the victory of the Shirvan navy in 1175 AD when the Shirvan fleet overwhelmed
the fleet of the Rus nearby the Sara Island in the vicinity of Baku. Most of
the Rus were killed and their vessels sunk. The poet Khagani Shirvani describes
the victory of the shirvanshah Akhsitan I with such words:
"Your victory on the troops of
Ruses opened a new era,
For those who are high like Heavens (i.e., kings),
One of your arrows like an arrow of the prophet Khidr,
Completely overwhelmed the 73 enemy ships"[11].
It was the last documented
raid of the Rus to Caspian and they never tried to attack Southern Caucasus
again.
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Translated into English by Aloys Sprenger. London, Allen, 1841
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The History of the Shirvanshah Fleet. Baku, 2003.
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