In March 1584, one of the most merciless rulers of the Russian state, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, died after a serious illness. Ironically, his heir turned out to be the complete opposite of his tyrant father. He was a meek, pious man and suffered from dementia, for which he even received the nickname Blessed...

A blissful smile never left his face, and in general, although he was distinguished by extreme simplicity and dementia, he was very affectionate, quiet, merciful and pious. He spent most of the day in church, and for entertainment he liked to watch fist fights, the fun of jesters and fun with bears...

Born for the cell

Fedor was the third son of Ivan the Terrible. He was born on May 11, 1557, and on this day the happy king ordered the foundation of a temple in the Feodorovsky monastery of Pereslavl-Zalessky in honor of the heavenly patron of the son of St. Theodore Stratilates.

It soon became clear that the boy, as they say, “is not of this world.” Looking at his growing son, Ivan the Terrible even once remarked:

- He was born more for a cell and a cave than for sovereign power.

Fyodor was short, plump, weak, pale-faced, with an uncertain gait and a blissful smile constantly wandering on his face.

Tsar Feodor I Ioannovich

In 1580, when the prince was 23 years old, Ivan IV decided to marry him. At that time, brides for royalty were chosen at special bridesmaids, for which girls from the most noble families came to the capital from all over the state.

In the case of Fedor, this tradition was broken. Grozny personally chose his wife - Irina, the sister of his favorite former guardsman Boris Godunov. However, the marriage turned out to be happy, since Fyodor adored his wife until his death.

The only contender

Despite the fact that Fyodor was completely unsuited to become the head of state, after the death of Ivan the Terrible he turned out to be the only contender for the throne. The Tsar's two sons, Dmitry and Vasily, died in infancy.

A worthy successor to Ivan the Terrible could be his second son, his father’s namesake, Tsarevich Ivan, who helped his father rule and took part in military campaigns with him. But he unexpectedly died three years before the death of Ivan IV, leaving no offspring. There were rumors that the king killed him in anger, without meaning to.

Another son, who, like the one who died in infancy, was named Dmitry, was not even two years old at the time of Ivan’s death; of course, he could not yet take over the state. There was nothing left but to place the 27-year-old blessed Feodor on the throne.

Realizing that his son was not capable of ruling, Ivan the Terrible, before his death, managed to appoint a regency council to govern the state. It included the Terrible’s cousin Prince Ivan Mstislavsky, the famous military leader Prince Ivan Shuisky, the Tsar’s favorite Bogdan Belsky, as well as Nikita Zakharyin-Yuryev, the brother of the first wife of Ivan IV.

However, there was one more person, although he was not included in the number of regents of the new blessed king, but also thirsted for power - Boris Godunov.

Power of the council

The reign of the regency council began with repression. Ivan the Terrible died on March 18, 1584, and the very next night the Supreme Duma dealt with all the former royal confidants who were objectionable to the new government: some were put in prison, others were expelled from Moscow.

Meanwhile, a rumor spread throughout the capital that Ivan the Terrible did not die a natural death. It was rumored that he was poisoned by Bogdan Belsky! Now the villain, being the regent of Fedor, wants to kill his son in order to place his best friend, 32-year-old Boris Godunov, on the throne.

Portrait of Boris Godunov

A rebellion broke out in Moscow. It got to the point that the rioters laid siege to the Kremlin and even brought up cannons, intending to take it by storm.

- Give us the villain Belsky! - the people demanded.

The nobles knew that Belsky was innocent, however, in order to avoid bloodshed, they convinced the “traitor” to leave Moscow. When the people were informed that the criminal had been expelled from the capital, the riot stopped. Nobody demanded Godunov’s head. Of course, he was the brother of the queen herself!

Fyodor was horrified at the sight of the popular uprising. He looked for support and found it - next to him was Boris, the brother of his beloved wife Irina, who, without any malicious intent, contributed to his friendship with the young tsar. Soon Boris became perhaps the main figure in the state.

"Man of God"

On May 31, 1584, as soon as the six-week prayer service for the repose of the soul of Ivan IV ended, Fyodor’s crowning ceremony took place. On this day, at dawn, a terrible storm with a thunderstorm suddenly hit Moscow, after which the sun suddenly began to shine again. Many regarded this as a “foreshadowing of disasters to come.”

The regency council appointed by Ivan the Terrible was not in power for long. Soon after the flight of the first regent Belsky, Nikita Zakharyin-Yuryev became seriously ill. He retired and died a year later. The third regent, Prince Ivan Mstislavsky, contacted the conspirators who were dissatisfied with the rise of Godunov.

Alexey Kivshenko “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich puts a gold chain on Boris Godunov.” 19th century painting

Mstislavsky agreed to lure Boris into a trap: invite him to a feast, but in fact bring him to the hired killers. But only the conspiracy was revealed, and Prince Mstislavsky was exiled to a monastery, where he was forcibly tonsured a monk.

So, of the regents appointed by Ivan IV, only one remained - Prince Ivan Shuisky. However, he did not have much power. By that time, everyone understood that only Godunov, who was already openly called the ruler, was at the head of the state.

What about the king? The ascension to the throne did not in any way affect Fedor’s attitude towards state affairs. He “avoided worldly vanity and boredom,” relying entirely on Godunov. If someone addressed a petition directly to the tsar, he sent the petitioner to the same Boris.

Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull.

The sovereign himself spent time in prayer, walked around monasteries, and received only monks. Fyodor loved the ringing of bells and was sometimes seen personally ringing the bell tower.

At times, Fedor’s character still showed his father’s traits - despite his piety, he liked to watch bloody games: he loved to watch fist fights and fights between people and bears. However, the people loved their blessed king, because the weak-minded in Rus' were considered sinless, “people of God.”

Childless Irina

The years passed, and in the capital hatred of Godunov, who usurped power, grew more and more.

– Boris left Fedor only the title of Tsar! - both the nobility and ordinary citizens grumbled.

It was clear to everyone that Godunov occupied such a high position only thanks to his relationship with the tsar’s wife.

“We’ll remove my sister and remove my brother,” Boris’s opponents decided.

Moreover, Irina herself did not suit many people. After all, she did not sit in the mansion with folded arms, as befits a queen, but like her brother, she was involved in state affairs: she received ambassadors, corresponded with foreign monarchs, and even participated in meetings of the Boyar Duma.

However, Irina had a serious drawback - she could not give birth. Over the years of marriage, she became pregnant several times, but was never able to carry a child to term. The opponents of the Godunovs decided to use this fact.

The wife of the quietest and most humble Russian Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, Tsarina Irina Fedorovna Godunova.

In 1586, a petition was delivered to the palace: “ Sovereign, for the sake of childbearing, accept a second marriage, and release your first queen to the monastic rank" This document was signed by many boyars, merchants, civil and military officials. They asked to send childless Irina to a monastery, as his father had done with one of his childless wives.

The Moscow nobles even chose a new bride for the tsar - the daughter of Prince Ivan Mstislavsky, the same regent whom Godunov exiled to a monastery. However, Fedor flatly refused to part with his beloved wife.

Godunov was furious at this news. He quickly revealed the names of those who were up to no good. As it turned out, the conspiracy was led by the last of the royal regents, Prince Ivan Shuisky, as well as his relatives and friends. As a result, not Irina, but her opponents were forcibly sent to the monastery.

The end of the line

Meanwhile, another heir of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, was growing up in Uglich. It was he who should have taken power if Fyodor never had children.

And suddenly in 1591 a tragedy occurred. Eight-year-old Dmitry played “poke” with his friends - they threw a sharp nail at a distance from behind the line into the ground. As eyewitnesses later claimed, when it was the prince’s turn, he had an epileptic attack and accidentally hit himself in the throat with a nail. The wound turned out to be fatal.

Since then, Fedor remained the last in the family. And since he refused to accept another woman besides Irina, all the state’s hope was in her. A year after the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, she still managed to give birth to a child, though not an heir, but an heiress.

The granddaughter of Ivan IV was named Feodosia. However, she did not live very long. Blessed Fyodor never had any other children. Therefore, when at the end of 1597 the 40-year-old tsar became seriously ill and died in January of the following year, along with his departure the famous line of Moscow rulers was interrupted.

Thus ended the rule of the Rurik dynasty, which ruled Rus' for 736 years.

Oleg GOROSOV

4. Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (04/17/1894-09/11/1971)

Soviet statesman and party leader. First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1958 to 1964. Hero of the Soviet Union, Three times Hero of Socialist Labor. The first laureate of the Shevchenko Prize, reign 09/07/1. (Moscow).

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was born in 1894 in the village of Kalinovka, Kursk province, into the family of miner Sergei Nikanorovich Khrushchev and Ksenia Ivanovna Khrushcheva. In 1908, having moved with his family to the Uspensky mine near Yuzovka, Khrushchev became an apprentice mechanic at a factory, then worked as a mechanic at a mine and, as a miner, was not taken to the front in 1914. In the early 1920s, he worked in the mines and studied at the workers' department of the Donetsk Industrial Institute. Later he was engaged in economic and party work in Donbass and Kyiv. Since January 1931, he was at party work in Moscow, during which time he was the first secretary of the Moscow regional and city party committees - MK and MGK VKP (b). In January 1938, he was appointed first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. In the same year he became a candidate, and in 1939 - a member of the Politburo.

During World War II, Khrushchev served as a political commissar of the highest rank (a member of the military councils of a number of fronts) and in 1943 received the rank of lieutenant general; led the partisan movement behind the front line. In the first post-war years he headed the government in Ukraine. In December 1947, Khrushchev again headed the Communist Party of Ukraine, becoming the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine; He held this post until he moved to Moscow in December 1949, where he became the first secretary of the Moscow Party Committee and secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Khrushchev initiated the consolidation of collective farms (kolkhozes). After Stalin's death, when the Chairman of the Council of Ministers left the post of Secretary of the Central Committee, Khrushchev became the “master” of the party apparatus, although until September 1953 he did not have the title of First Secretary. Between March and June 1953 he attempted to seize power. In order to eliminate Beria, Khrushchev entered into an alliance with Malenkov. In September 1953, he took the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In June 1953, a struggle for power began between Malenkov and Khrushchev, in which Khrushchev won. At the beginning of 1954, he announced the start of a grandiose program for the development of virgin lands in order to increase grain production, and in October of the same year he headed the Soviet delegation to Beijing.

The most striking event in Khrushchev's career was the 20th Congress of the CPSU, held in 1956. At a closed meeting, Khrushchev condemned Stalin, accusing him of mass extermination of people and erroneous policies that almost ended with the liquidation of the USSR in the war with Nazi Germany. The result of this report was unrest in the Eastern bloc countries - Poland (October 1956) and Hungary (October and November 1956). In June 1957, the Presidium (formerly Politburo) of the CPSU Central Committee organized a conspiracy to remove Khrushchev from the post of First Secretary of the Party. After his return from Finland, he was invited to a meeting of the Presidium, which, by seven votes to four, demanded his resignation. Khrushchev convened a Plenum of the Central Committee, which overturned the decision of the Presidium and dismissed the “anti-party group” of Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich. He strengthened the Presidium with his supporters, and in March 1958 he took the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, taking into his own hands all the main levers of power. In September 1960, Khrushchev visited the United States as head of the Soviet delegation to the UN General Assembly. During the assembly, he managed to hold large-scale negotiations with the heads of government of a number of countries. His report to the Assembly called for general disarmament, the immediate elimination of colonialism and the admission of China to the UN. Throughout the summer of 1961, Soviet foreign policy became increasingly harsh, and in September the USSR ended a three-year moratorium on nuclear weapons testing with a series of explosions. On October 14, 1964, by the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, Khrushchev was relieved of his duties as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. He was succeeded by becoming the First Secretary of the Communist Party, and by becoming the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. After 1964, Khrushchev, while retaining his seat on the Central Committee, was essentially in retirement. Khrushchev died in Moscow on September 11, 1971.

The direct descendants of the founder of the first Russian ruling dynasty, Rurik, considered themselves one family for a thousand years. In fact, due to someone's adultery, it split into two branches long ago

Colonel of the Medical Service Yuri Obolensky, a hereditary prince, the son of the leader of the Russian Assembly of Nobility Andrei Obolensky, was seriously alarmed when he learned that his family in the male line goes back to a certain Slavic ancestor. Prince Yuri Andreevich expected something completely different: he, a supporter of the Norman theory, was sure that, as befits Rurikovich, he was descended from this legendary Scandinavian. Newsweek journalists who examined Obolensky's DNA were surprised along with him. So, while searching for the roots of the legendary Varangian, we accidentally stumbled upon the most intimate secret of the first Russian ruling house. Which can correct modern ideas about the most tragic period in the history of Ancient Rus'.

Exactly a year ago, Newsweek published the first study of the genome of the Rurikovichs - the probable direct descendants of the legendary Varangian prince. We studied the princely family using genogeography - a science that studies the settlement of peoples and allows us to find our distant ancestors and previously unknown relatives by genetic code. The Y chromosome of modern princes, whose pedigree strictly in the male line goes back to Rurik, was studied. That is, their male chromosome should, in theory, be identical to the Varangian one. More precisely, it is almost identical: over 1200 years, mutations inevitably arose in the genetic code.

It was necessary to take into account another possible “mistake,” a much more serious one: over many generations, it could well have happened that the wife of one of the princes gave birth to another, which means that from the point of view of genetics, the family line was interrupted. Therefore, we needed to do a DNA analysis of several princes from different branches of Rurik’s rich offspring.

We hoped that as a result we would be able to resolve the Norman question, which has been tormenting the Russian elite for 300 years and has suddenly become relevant again in recent years. The invitation of the Varangian Rurik to reign, colorfully described in The Tale of Bygone Years, is, of course, nothing more than a symbol. But with its help they periodically try to resolve the geopolitical issue. Westerners, who consider Russia an integral part of Europe, are sure that Varangian means Viking, which means that the state system in Rus' came from the West. At the very least, Westerners agree that the founding father was Finnish. 18th century historian Tatishchev even referred to a certain Joachim Chronicle, which directly stated that Rurik was the son of the prince of the Finnish Varangian tribe, and Rus' was bequeathed to him by his maternal grandfather, Prince Gostomysl; This is what the soothsayers advised him to do.

Slavophiles, who believed the Joachim Chronicle to be a fake, were sure that Rurik was a Slav - the “Lomonosov” version of his origin from the Baltic branch of the Slavs was especially widespread. And Slavic origin, they say, confirms the old conclusion: Russia has always had its own, special path.

This December, we collected all the results of the analyzes and found out that the “house of Rurik” is not united at all, but is divided into two almost equal and independent branches. One can conditionally be called Scandinavian-Finnish, the other Slavic. It turns out that due to some family drama that happened more than 800 years ago, the “Norman question” received two mutually exclusive answers. It’s very symbolic: both Slavophiles and Westerners are right.

FAMILY ACCIDENTS

A year ago, we examined the DNA analysis of Prince Dmitry Shakhovsky. Then we found out that genetically the Rurikovichs are very different from both the majority of the Vikings and the majority of the Slavs. The analysis showed that Shakhovskoy - and therefore his male ancestors for thousands of years - belongs to haplogroup N3.

Scientists call haplogroups sets of genetic mutations in a person’s DNA, which can be used to find out where his ancestors came from. The distribution of haplogroups does not completely coincide with what is commonly called an ethnic group. Russians, for example, have representatives of more than ten haplogroups. And N3, which is extremely rarely found among other Slavs, is one of the main options among Russians. However, it is found just as often among Norwegians and Swedes. And among all Finno-Ugric peoples from Siberia to Finland, as well as among the Turkic-speaking Yakuts, this haplogroup is the most common.

Having learned the result of the genogeographical analysis of Shakhovsky (and therefore Rurik, as we assumed) and having written both of them into the “white-eyed miracle”, we wrote that “this is the best option for lovers of historical detective stories,” not yet suspecting how right we were.

Genogeography is a young science, but it already allows us to obtain more accurate data. Firstly, we had to exclude various “family accidents”. To do this, it was necessary to ask representatives of other branches of the Rurikovich to donate saliva for DNA analysis. If the results coincided (or were very close - after all, gene mutations, as we remember, are simply inevitable over the centuries), then we could conclude that they all had a common ancestor.

The results of the analysis then had to be checked against databases containing haplotypes of hundreds of thousands of people. Logically, the region where the most genetic relatives of our princes were found could be called the ancestral home of Rurik. Finally, over the course of a year, haplogroup N3 was studied more deeply - for example, it became possible to identify its representatives of Scandinavian origin with a fairly high probability.

The first results were extremely encouraging: two princes, Gagarin and Lobanov-Rostovsky, according to the family tree, had a common ancestor of Vsevolod the Big Nest (XII-XIII centuries), and with Shakhovsky - Vsevolod’s grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh (XII century), according to genetic analysis turned out to be very close relatives. Differences in their DNA (the same mutations) indicated that their related lines had just separated about 800 years ago. That is, at least Vladimir Monomakh and all his descendants, called “Monomashichs,” also belonged to haplogroup N3.

Then the results of two more tests came - representatives of another major branch of the Rurikovichs. Historians call them Olgovichi (named in honor of Oleg Svyatoslavovich - the main rival of Vladimir Monomakh in the feudal struggle - and, as all sources say, his cousin). And then we realized that the real historical detective story was just beginning.

Both - Prince John Volkonsky (his DNA was examined by our Polish colleague Professor Andrzej Bazhor) and Prince Yuri Obolensky - certainly turned out to be relatives (despite the fact that, according to the family tree, their common ancestor was the 13th century Chernigov prince Yuri Mikhailovich). But they have no family relation to the Rurikovichs from the Monomashich family.

It turns out that some of these long-warring branches in vain considered their ancestor the great-great-grandson of Rurik Yaroslav the Wise, for whose inheritance they fought fiercely for many decades. Moreover, if the descendants of Monomakh, like himself, were Finno-Ugric, then the family of his enemy Oleg, belonging to haplogroup R1a, can be classified as Slavs.

It is not known who Yaroslav the Wise was, but it can be assumed that his wife or the wife of one of his sons or grandchildren lacked chastity. Her child, conceived from a lover of non-grand-ducal blood, marked the beginning of an entire dynasty of false Ryurikovichs. For many centuries no one suspected this. And even now one can only guess: which branch is the product of female weakness, and which goes back to Rurik himself.

GRANDMOTHER SAID IN TWO

This entire ancient Russian family series seems to have been specially made to illustrate the history of the state in the pre-Mongol era. In the last episode there is a monstrous tragedy. Both warring branches of the grand ducal family were almost completely destroyed by the Mongols. Before this, there were hundreds of episodes of the feudal war, in which the Monomashichi were able to gain a foothold in the not very rich north-east of Rus', and the Olgovichi - in the south. Kyiv and Chernigov changed hands many times.

Yaroslav the Wise himself laid the foundation for this war, dividing the inheritance between his five sons. Two of them (Vsevolod and Svyatoslav) gave birth to the founders of two main dynasties - Vladimir Monomakh and Oleg.

The DNA of the descendants of the Monomashich princes Shakhovsky, Lobanov-Rostovsky and Gagarin and the Olgovich princes Obolensky and Volkonsky, which we studied, showed that among the Monomashichs one could suspect Monomakh’s grandmother or grandmother of treason, and among the Olgovichi, any of the princes’ wives, from Yaroslav the Wise to Mikhail Chermny, killed in 1246 at Batu’s headquarters for refusing to perform pagan rituals. It is unlikely that the enemies suspected that they were not relatives to each other, and that some of them had no right to Yaroslav’s inheritance at all. And even if they had known, it would not have stopped the war.

The picture of strife is completed by the split among the descendants of Monomakh and the war with Poland, Hungary and the Polovtsians. If we assume that as a result, Rus' split into large pieces that became dependent on the Mongols, Poles and Lithuania, then we can assume that the split has not yet been overcome: after all, there are still three independent states. But this is a story from a completely different series.

Normanists, from the 18th century. Those who talk about the Scandinavian roots of the Varangian will, of course, like the Finno-Ugric version. “It’s a pity that your results will not be published in scientific journals. In the future, we can involve anthropologists and try to extract DNA from bones in Scandinavian burials,” advises Elena Melnikova, a professor at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She considers Rurik the leader of one of the Scandinavian detachments, of which there were many. They were headed not by kings with their own plots, but by the younger scions of noble families who did not get their own land. “They were called sea kings because they went on trips on ships. A group of four or five ships was assembled; these were 150–200 professional warriors. They landed somewhere in Ladoga, but you can’t take it with your bare hands: there are fortifications there [the same as them]. So it’s better to sail further and trade. Rurik was one of these leaders - you can trade, or you can wave a sword. How it will turn out,” says Melnikova.

It was easier and more profitable to trade; furs were of enormous value. So the Scandinavians sailed along small rivers and exchanged goods with the local population. They exchanged knives for furs - “it is no coincidence that knives made using the Scandinavian technology of the 9th–10th centuries are scattered throughout the Russian north: this means that there was active trade,” the historian emphasizes.

Melnikova is sure that the Scandinavians have integrated very well into Slavic society. Unless, of course, these were not gangs of robbers, but settlers planning to settle in a new land. “I very well imagine the Slavs and Finns fitting into the squads of the Scandinavians. The social structure of both the Slavs and the Scandinavians was at approximately the same level, but the Scandinavians were active in external activities and developed more intensively,” says Melnikova.

Geneticists agree that the DNA of the Monomashichs most likely points to their Scandinavian origins. “The results of the analyzes of Shakhovsky, Gagarin and Lobanov-Rostovsky indicate that they were Scandinavians rather than Balts. Judging by the population distribution of their haplotype, it is often present in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia; and only one case in a large sample among the Poles, while not a single case among the Balts,” Boris Malyarchuk, head of the genetics laboratory at the Institute of Biological Problems of the North, told Newsweek. Another variant of N3 is found in Pskov and the Baltic states.

Our search in the largest online database Ysearch confirmed his words: among the several dozen genetic relatives of the Rurikovichs found there, 90% said that their distant ancestors lived in the center and north of modern Finland, and the remaining 10% indicated Sweden and Britain.

“It’s amazing that you discovered that we all go back to the Scandinavians and yet three of us are related. This not only means that our birth was not interrupted, but that they also go back so far into the past together. This means that the memory of our ancestors remains in our genes. My father was shot in 1938, when I was only three years old, and all I know about him is from my mother,” says physicist Andrei Gagarin.

However, if you search for relatives of the Rurikovich-Olgovichs in the same Ysearch, Slavophiles will rejoice: the search reveals people with Polish, Slovenian and Czech roots.

“Despite the fact that in the Tale of Bygone Years there is no indication that the Varangians were Slavs, this should not bother us. At that time it was such a well-known fact that there was no need to repeat it. The main proof of the Slavic origin of the Varangians is that , that most of the cities that they founded had Slavic names: Novgorod, Beloozero, Izborsk. Some Slavs invited other Slavs to help, not the Scandinavians, because they believed that their fellow tribesmen would be able to judge them, just as we would invite the Czechs to help. , Poles, Croats, not Swedes,” says Vyacheslav Fomin, leading researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This very Slavophile point of view is shared by Valentin Yanin, who led the Novgorod archaeological expedition: “These were people we had known for a long time, the South Baltic Slavs.” The academician gives an adapted quote from the Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles: “Just as other Varangians called themselves Germans, English, Swedes and Goths, these called themselves Rus.” Yanin does not deny that the South Baltic Slavs could have had a fair admixture of Scandinavian blood: “But the cultural proximity of this people and the then Slavic population is much more important.”

RENAISSANCE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Supporters of the Slavic and Norman origins of Russian statehood, according to Yanin, will be able to resolve the dispute only when they equally interpret the above quote from the chronicles.

According to Melnikova, this will not happen soon. She is much more concerned that a few years ago there was a “medieval renaissance” among historians. “Somewhere in 2001–2002, a surge of anti-Normanism suddenly began again, and it was primitive, based on the works of the mid-19th century. This surge was provoked by the presidential administration; it is a purely political order,” she claims.

Just in 2002, the sensational “anti-Normanist” conference “Rurikovich and Russian Statehood” took place in Kaliningrad, which some historians consider a patriotic PR campaign of the Kremlin. The conference was indeed sponsored by the presidential administration. The first meeting began with the reading of a welcoming telegram from President Vladimir Putin. Academician Yanin, however, does not believe that the authorities are trying to direct historical science in the right direction: “These are attempts by individual historians to curry favor; the initiative comes from the bottom up, not from the top down.”

Three years ago, when Putin visited the most famous Varangian settlement, Staraya Ladoga in the Leningrad region, the head of the excavations, Anatoly Kirpichnikov, told him that this ancient settlement was the first residence of the first head of the Russian state. Kirpichnikov reported to the president that Rurik spent several years here, which many other historians do not agree with; in their opinion, Staraya Ladoga was just a transit point. As Academician Yanin recalls, Putin later took a keen interest in this settlement: “He asked me what I thought about the Ladoga issue. I answered: you are now in Novgorod, doesn’t that make it the capital of the Russian Federation? Putin agreed: “And indeed.”

Yuri Andreevich Obolensky, a descendant of Russian princes, is also ready to agree with his Slavic origin, although he believed all his life that Rurik was a Norman: “Even though I adhered to the Norman position, you can’t go against science. According to him, there is a family legend in the Obolensky family: they say, Ivan the Terrible was not a descendant of the Monomashichs at all, but the illegitimate son of one of the Obolenskys - Prince Telepnev-Ovchina. “Everything in our family is so mixed,” says the prince.

If you look at it using modern methods, “everything is mixed up” in all of Russian history. The more scientists learn, the more it becomes clear: Russia and its statehood do not have one source. Just like the Rurikovichs from once warring clans have a common ancestor.

Rurikovich- a princely and royal dynasty that ruled in Ancient Rus', and then in the Russian kingdom from 862 to 1598. In addition, in 1606-1610 the Russian Tsar was Vasily Shuisky, also a descendant of Rurik.

Numerous noble families go back to Rurik, such as the Shuisky, Odoevsky, Volkonsky, Gorchakov, Baryatinsky, Obolensky, Repnin, Dolgorukov, Shcherbatov, Vyazemsky, Kropotkin, Dashkov, Dmitriev, Mussorgsky, Shakhovsky, Eropkin, Lvov, Prozorovsky, Ukhtomsky, Pozharsky, Gagarins, Romodanovskys, Khilkovs. Representatives of these clans played a significant role in the social, cultural and political life of the Russian Empire, and then of the Russian diaspora.

The first Rurikovichs. Period of the centralized state

The Kiev chronicler of the early 12th century brings the Rurik dynasty “from beyond the sea.” According to the chronicle legend, the peoples of the north of Eastern Europe - the Chud, the Ves, the Slovenes and the Krivichi - decided to look for a prince from the Varangians, who were called Rus. Three brothers responded to the call - Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. The first sat down to reign in Novgorod, the center of the Slovenes, the second - on Beloozero, the third - in Izborsk. Rurik's warriors Askold and Dir, having descended the Dnieper, began to reign in Kyiv, in the land of the glades, saving the latter from the need to pay tribute to the nomadic Khazars. Many scientists identify Rurik with the Scandinavian king Rorik of Jutland; F. Kruse was the first to put forward this hypothesis in 1836.

The direct ancestors of the subsequent Rurikovichs were the son of Rurik Igor (ruled 912-945) and the son of Igor and Olga (945-960) Svyatoslav (945-972). In 970, Svyatoslav divided the territories under his control between his sons: Yaropolk was planted in Kyiv, Oleg in the land of the Drevlyans, and Vladimir in Novgorod. In 978 or 980, Vladimir removed Yaropolk from power. In Novgorod (Slovenia) he planted his eldest son - Vysheslav (later Yaroslav), in Turov (Dregovichi) - Svyatopolk, in the land of the Drevlyans - Svyatoslav, and in Rostov (land Merya, colonized by the Slavs) - Yaroslav (later Boris), in Vladimir -Volynsk (Volynians) - Vsevolod, in Polotsk (Polotsk Krivichi) - Izyaslav, in Smolensk (Smolensk Krivichi) - Stanislav, and in Murom (originally the land of the Murom people) - Gleb. Another son of Vladimir, Mstislav, began to rule the Tmutorokan principality - an enclave of Rus' in the Eastern Azov region with its center on the Taman Peninsula.

After Vladimir's death in 1015, his sons launched an internecine struggle for power. Vladimir wanted to see his son Boris as his successor, but power in Kyiv ended up in the hands of Svyatopolk. He organized the murder of his three brothers - Boris and Gleb, who later became the first Russian saints, as well as Svyatoslav. In 1016, Yaroslav, who reigned in Novgorod, opposed Svyatopolk. In the battle of Lyubech, he defeated his younger brother, and Svyatopolk fled to Poland to his father-in-law Boleslav the Brave. In 1018, Boleslav and Svyatopolk set out on a campaign against Rus' and were taken to Kyiv. Having returned the Kyiv throne to his son-in-law, the Polish prince returned. Yaroslav, having hired a Varangian squad, again moved to Kyiv. Svyatopolk fled. In 1019, Svyatopolk came to Kyiv with the Pecheneg army, but was defeated by Yaroslav in the battle on the Alta River.

In 1021, the war with Yaroslav was waged by his nephew, the Polotsk prince Bryachislav, and in 1024 - by his brother, the Tmutorokan prince Mstislav. Mstislav's forces won a victory at Listven near Chernigov, but the prince did not lay claim to Kyiv - the brothers entered into an agreement under which the entire left bank of the Dnieper with its center in Chernigov went to Mstislav. Until 1036, there was dual power in Rus' between Yaroslav and Mstislav Vladimirovich, but then the second died, leaving no sons, and Yaroslav concentrated all power in his hands. To prevent a repetition of civil strife, he drew up a will, according to which Kyiv and Novgorod remained in the hands of one person - the eldest son of Izyaslav. In the south of Rus', power was to be shared with Izyaslav by his brothers Svyatoslav (Chernigov) and Vsevolod (Pereyaslavl). After the death of Yaroslav in 1054, this “triumvirate” shared supreme power in the state for 14 years, after which Rus' again faced strife. The Kiev table was captured by the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich (in 1068-1069), and then Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (in 1073-1076). After 1078, when Vsevolod Yaroslavich became the prince of Kyiv, the situation in Rus' stabilized. In 1093, after his death, internecine struggle broke out with renewed vigor: the grandchildren and great-grandsons of Yaroslav competed for power. A particularly fierce struggle took place in the South-West of Rus'; in addition to the Russian princes, foreigners - the Hungarians and the Polovtsians - were involved in it. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, the descendants of Yaroslav were able to agree on the distribution of volosts: at the congress of princes in Lyubech (1097) it was decided that the descendants of the three eldest sons of Yaroslav Vladimirovich should own the lands received from their fathers - “patterns”.

The period of strengthening the supreme power in Rus' began after the reign in Kyiv in 1113 of the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh - Vladimir Vsevolodovich, who also received the nickname “Monomakh”. He reigned in Kyiv until 1125. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Mstislav Vladimirovich, after whose death the process of separation of the principalities became irreversible. Several state entities appeared on the territory of Rus'. Of these, only the Kyiv land did not have its own dynasty or its semblance, and, as a result, until the invasion of Batu, Kyiv was the object of constant struggle between different princes.

Rurikovich during the period of fragmentation

All lands gained political independence at different times. The Chernigov land actually received it before 1132. By decision of the Lyubech Congress, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich, the sons of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, settled here, and then their descendants - the Davydovich and Olgovich. In 1127, the Murom-Ryazan land was separated from the Chernigov principality, inherited by Oleg and Davyd’s brother Yaroslav and later divided into Murom and Ryazan. The Przemysl and Trebovl principalities united in 1141 under the rule of Vladimirko Volodarievich, the great-grandson of the eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise Vladimir. Vladimirko made Galich his capital - this is how the history of the separate Galician land began. The Polotsk land in 1132 again passed into the hands of the descendants of Izyaslav Vladimirovich. Representatives of the senior branch of the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh (from his first wife) ruled in the Smolensk and Volyn lands. His grandson Rostislav Mstislavich became the first independent prince in Smolensk and the founder of an independent Smolensk dynasty. In the Volyn land, a local dynasty was founded by Izyaslav Mstislavich, the brother of the previous one, and in the Suzdal (Rostov) land - the son of Monomakh from his second marriage, Yuri Dolgoruky. All of them - Rostislav, Mstislav, and Yuri - at first received their lands only as a holding, but after some time they secured them for themselves and their closest relatives.

Another territory where the power of the Monomashichs was established was the Pereyaslavl land. However, a full-fledged dynasty did not form there - both branches of Monomakh’s descendants argued over ownership of the land.

The Turovo-Pinsk land passed from hand to hand for a long time, and only towards the end of the 1150s did the princely family, founded by Yuri Yaroslavich, the grandson of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, gain a foothold there. In 1136, the Novgorod land also finally separated from Kyiv - after the expulsion of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, the period of the Novgorod Republic began here.

In the conditions of division of the state, the most powerful princes tried to expand their possessions and political influence. The main struggle took place over Kyiv, Novgorod, and, from 1199, the Galician table. After the death of Vladimir Yaroslavich, the Galician land was captured by the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, who united the Galician and Volyn lands into a single power. Only his son Daniel, who ruled the Galicia-Volyn principality from 1238 to 1264, was able to finally restore order in these territories.

Monomashichi - descendants of Yuri Dolgoruky

Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky had several sons. In an effort to protect the Suzdal land from internal fragmentation, he allocated land to them not within its borders, but in the South. In 1157, Yuri died and was succeeded in the Suzdal land by Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174). In 1162, he sent several brothers and nephews outside the Suzdal region. After his death at the hands of the conspirators, two of his expelled nephews - Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavich - were invited by the Rostov and Suzdal residents to the throne. Meanwhile, the “younger” cities of Suzdal land supported the claims to power of Andrei’s brothers - Mikhalka and Vsevolod. In 1176, after the death of his brother, Vsevolod began to reign individually in Vladimir, and a year later he defeated the Rostov squad of Mstislav Rostislavich near Yuryev. Vsevolod Yurievich ruled until 1212, he received the nickname Big Nest. He began to title himself "Grand Duke."

After the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, his sons, and then the sons of his son, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, became the Grand Dukes of Vladimir for several decades, one after another. In 1252, Alexander Nevsky received the label for the great reign of Vladimir. Under him, the authority of the Grand Duke's power strengthened, and Novgorod and Smolensk finally entered its field of influence. After the death of Alexander, under his sons Dmitry Pereyaslavsky (1277-1294) and Andrei Gorodetsky (1294-1304), Vladimir’s political weight, on the contrary, weakened. The “ladder system” of succession to the Vladimir throne assumed that the great reign would belong to the eldest descendant of Vsevolod the Big Nest, and from the beginning of the 14th century the great princes of Vladimir preferred to live in the centers of their fiefs, only occasionally visiting Vladimir.

Moscow dynasty

The independent Principality of Moscow arose under Alexander Nevsky. Daniil of Moscow became the first prince. By the end of his life, he annexed a number of territories to his inheritance, and the young principality began to quickly gain strength. The goal of Daniel's eldest son, Yuri (1303-1325), was the great reign of Vladimir: in 1318, having defeated the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich, Yuri received the label, but in 1322 Khan Uzbek transferred it to the Tver prince Dmitry. Having gone to the Horde to defend his rights, Yuri was killed by Dmitry Tverskoy. Childless Yuri was succeeded by his younger brother Ivan Danilovich, better known by his nickname Kalita. His goal was the rise of Moscow. In 1327, he took part in the punitive campaign of the Tatars against Tver, the inhabitants of which killed a large Tatar detachment, and soon received the khan's label for the great reign of Vladimir. Both Kalita and his sons Semyon the Proud (1340-1353) and Ivan the Red (1353-1359) strove in every possible way to maintain peace in relations with the Horde. Ivan the Red was succeeded by his young son Dmitry. Under him, the great reign of Vladimir became the “patrimony” of the Moscow princes. In 1367, the Moscow ruling elite took into custody the Tver prince Mikhail, who came to the negotiations. He miraculously escaped from captivity and complained to his son-in-law, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. The Lithuanians marched on Moscow three times. In 1375, Dmitry Ivanovich marched to Tver with a large army. The city withstood the siege, but Mikhail Tverskoy decided not to risk it and recognized himself as a vassal of Dmitry of Moscow. In the mid-1370s, Dmitry began to prepare for war with the Horde. Many princes supported him. In 1380, Russian troops won a decisive victory over the forces of the Horde commander Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo, but the princes failed to quickly unite in the face of a new danger. In the summer of 1382, Moscow was captured by the troops of Khan Tokhtamysh, and Dmitry had to resume paying tribute. After Dmitry Donskoy, his son Vasily I (1389-1425) reigned. Under him, Moscow managed to avoid plunder twice: in 1395, Timur, who had already occupied the city of Yelets, unexpectedly abandoned the campaign against Moscow, and in 1408, the Muscovites managed to pay off Timur’s protege Edigei, whose troops were already standing under the walls of the city.

In 1425, Vasily I died, and a long dynastic turmoil began in the Moscow principality (1425-1453). Some of the descendants of Dmitry Donskoy and the nobility supported the young Vasily II, and some supported his uncle, Prince Yuri of Zvenigorod. A weak ruler and commander, in the summer of 1445 Vasily II was captured by the Tatars and was released in exchange for a huge ransom. The son of Yuri Zvenigorodsky, Dmitry Shemyaka, who ruled in Uglich, took advantage of the outrage over the size of the ransom: he captured Moscow, took Vasily II prisoner and ordered him to be blinded. In February 1447, Vasily regained the Moscow throne and gradually took revenge on all his opponents. Dmitry Shemyaka, who fled to Novgorod, was poisoned in 1453 by people sent from Moscow.

In 1462, Vasily the Dark died, and his son Ivan (1462-1505) ascended the throne. During the 43 years of his reign, Ivan III managed to create a unified Russian state for the first time after hundreds of years of fragmentation. Already in the 1470s, Ivan Vasilyevich ordered that in diplomatic correspondence he be called “Sovereign of All Rus'.” In 1480, with the stand on the Ugra, more than two centuries of the Horde yoke ended. Ivan III set out to gather all Russian lands under his scepter: one after another, Perm (1472), Yaroslavl (1473), Rostov (1474), Novgorod (1478), Tver (1485), Vyatka (1489), Pskov fell under the rule of Moscow. (1510), Ryazan (1521). Most of the estates were liquidated. Ivan III's heir was ultimately his son, Vasily III, born in marriage to Sophia Paleologus. Thanks to his mother, he won the long dynastic struggle with the grandson of Ivan III from the eldest son born of his first wife. Vasily III ruled until 1533, after which the throne was taken by his heir Ivan IV the Terrible. Until 1538, the country was actually ruled by a regent, his mother Elena Glinskaya. Ivan Vasilyevich's heir was his eldest son Ivan, but in 1581 he died from a blow from a staff that his father dealt him. As a result, his father was succeeded by his second son, Fedor. He was incapable of government, and in fact the country was ruled by his wife’s brother, boyar Boris Godunov. After the death of the childless Fyodor in 1598, the Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov as tsar. The Rurik dynasty on the Russian throne came to an end. In 1606-1610, however, Vasily Shuisky, from the family of descendants of the Suzdal princes, also Rurikovich, reigned in Russia.

Tver branch

The Tver principality began to gain strength in the second half of the 13th century, becoming an independent inheritance of Alexander Nevsky's younger brother Yaroslav Yaroslavich. After him, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (until 1282) and Mikhail Yaroslavich (1282-1318) reigned in Tver in turn. The latter received the label for the great reign of Vladimir, and Tver became the main center of North-Eastern Rus'. Serious political mistakes led to the loss of leadership in favor of Moscow of the Tver princes: both Mikhail Tverskoy and his sons Dmitry Mikhailovich the Terrible Ochi (1322-1326) and Alexander Mikhailovich (1326-1327, 1337-1339) were executed by order of the Horde khans. The fate of his two older brothers forced Konstantin Mikhailovich (1328-1346) to exercise extreme caution in his political steps. After his death, another son of Mikhail Tverskoy, Vasily Mikhailovich (1349-1368), reigned in Tver. As a result of long strife, he eventually lost the throne, and Tver came under the rule of the appanage prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Mikulinsky. In 1375, he made peace with Dmitry of Moscow, after which Moscow and Tver did not conflict for a long time. In particular, the Tver prince maintained neutrality during the war between Dmitry of Moscow and Mamai in 1380. After Mikhail Alexandrovich, Ivan Mikhailovich (1399-1425) ruled in Tver; he continued his father’s policies. The heyday of the Tver principality came under the successor and grandson of Ivan Mikhailovich Boris Alexandrovich (1425-1461), but the continuation of the policy of “armed neutrality” did not help the Tver princes prevent the conquest of Tver by Moscow.

Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan branches

The Principality of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod occupied a prominent position in North-Eastern Rus'. The short-lived rise of Suzdal occurred during the reign of Alexander Vasilyevich (1328-1331), who received the label for the great reign from the Uzbek Khan. In 1341, Khan Janibek transferred Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets from Moscow back to the Suzdal princes. In 1350, Prince Konstantin Vasilyevich of Suzdal (1331-1355) moved the capital of the principality from Suzdal to Nizhny Novgorod. The Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes failed to achieve the flourishing of their state: the uncertain foreign policy of Dmitry Konstantinovich (1365-1383) and the strife that began after his death undermined the resources and authority of the principality and gradually turned it into the possession of the Moscow princes.

The Ryazan principality, which emerged in the middle of the 12th century, was ruled by the descendants of Yaroslav Svyatoslavich, the youngest son of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich of Chernigov, one of the three Yaroslavichs. In the second half, Prince Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky ruled here. He tried to pursue a flexible policy, maintaining neutrality in the confrontation between the Tatars and Moscow. In 1402, Oleg Ryazansky died, and dynastic ties between Ryazan and Moscow began to strengthen. Prince Vasily Ivanovich (1456-1483) married the daughter of Ivan III of Moscow, Anna. In 1521, Vasily III included the lands of the Ryazan principality into his possessions.

Polotsk, Chernigov, Galician dynasties

The Polotsk princes did not descend from Yaroslav the Wise, like all the other Russian princes, but from another son of Vladimir the Saint, Izyaslav, therefore the Principality of Polotsk always kept itself apart. The Izyaslavichs were the senior branch of the Rurikovichs. From the beginning of the 14th century, rulers of Lithuanian origin reigned in Polotsk.

In the Chernigovo-Bryansk and Smolensk principalities, Moscow competed with Lithuania. Around 1339, Smolensk recognized the suzerainty of Lithuania over itself. In the winter of 1341-1342, Moscow established family relations with the Bryansk princes, vassals of Smolensk: the daughter of Prince Dmitry Bryansk was married to the son of Ivan Kalita. By the beginning of the 15th century, both Smolensk and Bryansk were finally captured by the Lithuanians.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the grandson of Daniil Galitsky Yuri Lvovich (1301-1308), having subjugated the entire territory of Galicia-Volyn Rus', following the example of his grandfather, took the title of “King of Rus'”. The Galicia-Volyn principality acquired serious military potential and a certain foreign policy independence. After Yuri's death, the principality was divided between his sons Lev (Galich) and Andrei (Vladimir Volynsky). Both princes died in 1323 under unclear circumstances and left no heirs. With the passing of the Yuryevichs, the Rurikovich line in Galicia-Volyn Rus', which had ruled for more than a hundred years, came to an end.

In the image you can see the sequence of changing rulers of Rus', as well as their many relatives: sons, daughters, sisters and brothers. The family tree of the Rurikovichs, the diagram of which begins with the Varangian prince Rurik, represents the most interesting material for study by historians. It was this that helped researchers find out interesting facts about the descendants of the Grand Duke - the founder of the Old Russian state, and became a symbol of the unity of family members, power and continuity of generations.

Where does the tree of the Rurik dynasty come from?

Prince Rurik himself and his wife Efanda are semi-mythical figures, and there is still debate among historians about their possible origin. The most common version, based on the Tale of Bygone Years, says that a native of the Varangians was voluntarily invited to reign, although some suggest that Rurik and his squad captured Novgorod during one of their campaigns. There are also opinions that the founder of the royal dynasty had Danish roots and was called Rorik. According to the Slavic version, the origin of his name is associated with the designation of a falcon in the language of one of the tribes. There are also those who believe that the prince, as a historical figure, did not exist at all and was a fictional character.

Ambition pushed Rurik's descendants into internecine wars and murders. In the battle for the throne, the strongest won, but the loser faced death. Bloody divisions of lands were accompanied by fratricide. The first happened between the sons of Svyatoslav: Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir. Each of the princes wanted to gain power in Kyiv and for this purpose they were ready to make any sacrifices. So, Yaropolk killed Oleg, and he himself was destroyed by Vladimir. The winner became the Grand Duke of Kyiv. This bright historical figure deserves to be told in more detail.

The rise to power of Vladimir Svyatoslavich

A photo of the Rurik family tree with dates of reign shows that the reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich’s son, Prince Vladimir, falls at the end of the 10th century. He was not a legitimate son, since his mother was the housekeeper Malusha, but according to pagan customs he had the right to inherit the throne from his father of princely origin. However, the story of his birth caused many to smile. Due to his low origins, Vladimir was dubbed “robichich” - the son of a slave. Vladimir’s mother was removed from raising the child and the boy was handed over to the warrior Dobrynya, who is Malusha’s brother.

When Svyatoslav died, a struggle for power broke out in Kyiv between Yaropolk and Oleg. The latter, retreating during a battle with his brother, fell into a ditch and was crushed to death by horses. The Kiev throne passed to Yaropolk, and Vladimir, having learned about this, moved with Dobrynya to the Varangian lands to gather an army.

Together with his soldiers, he conquered Polotsk, which was on the side of Kyiv at that time, and decided to marry Yaropolk’s bride, Princess Rogneda. She did not want to take the slave’s son as her husband, which greatly offended the prince and aroused his rage. He forcibly took the girl as his wife and killed her entire family.

To overthrow Yaropolk from the throne, Vladimir resorted to cunning. He lured his brother to negotiations, where the Kyiv prince was stabbed to death by Vladimir’s soldiers with swords. So power in Kyiv was concentrated in the hands of the third son of Svyatoslav Igorevich, Grand Duke Vladimir. Despite such a bloody background, a lot was done during his reign for the development of Rus'. The most significant merit of Vladimir is considered to be the baptism of Rus' in 988. From that moment on, our state turned from pagan to Orthodox and received a new status in the international arena.

Branching of the family tree of the Rurik dynasty

The direct heirs through the line of the first prince were:

• Igor
• Olga
• Svyatoslav
• Vladimir

There are documents in which you can find references to Igor’s nephews. According to sources, their names were Igor and Akun, but little is known about them. The ramifications in the scheme of the Rurikovich tree began after the death of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir. In the previously united family, a struggle for power began between the princes, and feudal fragmentation only aggravated the situation.

Thus, the son of the Kyiv prince Vladimir, Svyatopolk the Accursed, killed his brothers Boris, Gleb and Svyatoslav in the battle for the throne. However, another figure claimed power, which can be seen in the photo of the family tree of the Rurik dynasty. Svyatopolk's opponent was Prince Yaroslav the Wise. A destructive internecine war was waged between the two contenders for the throne for a long time. It ended with the victory of Yaroslav in the battle on the Alta River. Kyiv came under the rule of Yaroslav the Wise, and Svyatopolk was recognized as a traitor to the Rurik family.

Yaroslav the Wise died in 1054, after which the tree changed radically. Over the years of Yaroslav's reign, the unity of the clan came to an end, the state was divided into fiefs with their own way of life, laws, power and government. Most of the inheritance and lands were divided between the three sons of the Wise:

• Izyaslav – Kyiv, Novgorod
• Vsevolod – Rostov-Suzdal possessions and the city of Pereyaslavl
• Svyatoslav – Murom and Chernigov

As a result, the previously united government split and the so-called triumvirate was formed - the rule of three Yaroslavich princes.

Local dynasties began to form in appanage lands. The photo shows that it was from this period that the genus began to expand greatly. This happened mainly due to the large number of dynastic marriages that princes entered into in order to increase their authority, maintain and consolidate power. Previously, only the most influential and significant princes could afford to look for a spouse abroad. Now many people have begun to enjoy this privilege.

Family tree of the Rurikovichs: branching diagram

There could no longer be any talk of the original unity of the clan; the branches multiplied and intertwined. Let's take a closer look at the largest of them.

Izyaslavich Polotsk

The line received its name from the founder of the branch - Izyaslav, the son of Vladimir Yaroslavich and the Polotsk princess Rogneda. According to legend, Rogneda decided to take revenge on her husband for what he did to her and her family. At night, she snuck into his bedroom and wanted to stab him, but he woke up and deflected the blow. The prince ordered his wife to put on an elegant dress and stood in front of her with a sword in his hands. Izyaslav stood up for his mother and Vladimir did not dare to kill his wife in front of his son.

The prince decided to send Rogneda and Izyaslav to live in the Polotsk lands. This is where the line of Izyaslavichs of Polotsk came from. There is information that some descendants of Izyaslav attempted to seize power in Kyiv. Thus, Vseslav and Bryacheslav tried to oust Yaroslav the Wise, but their expectations were not destined to come true.

Rostislavichy

They originate from Prince Rostislav. He was an outcast and had no right to claim the throne after the death of his father, but with the help of wars he managed to gain power in Tmutarakan. He left behind three sons:

• Vasilko
• Volodar
• Rurik

Rurik left no descendants behind, and Vasilko’s sons ruled Terebovlya and Galich. Volodar's son, Vladimirko, trying to expand the estates of the Rostislavichs, annexed Galich to the lands. His cousin Ivan Galitsky helped him. He added Terebovl to his possessions. This is how the large and influential Principality of Galicia was formed. The Rostislavich branch was interrupted when Vladimir Yaroslavich, the son of the famous prince Yaroslav Osmomysl, died. After this event, Roman the Great, one of the heirs and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise, began to rule in Galich.

Izyaslavich Turovsky

Another descendant of the Wise, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, ruled in Turov. The prince died in 1078, his brother Vsevolod began to rule in Kyiv, and his youngest son Yaropolk began to rule in Turov. However, a fierce struggle was waged for these lands, as a result of which Izyaslav’s descendants died one after another. In the end, they were forever expelled from their possessions by Vladimir Monomakh. Only in 1162, Izyaslav’s distant descendant Yuri was able to regain his lost possessions and strengthen them for himself. According to some sources, some Lithuanian-Russian princely dynasties originate from the Izyaslavichs of Turov.

Svyatoslavichy

This branch of the Rurik family tree originates from Svyatoslav, one of the members of the triumvirate formed after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. After the death of their father, the sons of Svyatoslav fought with their uncles Izyaslav and Vsevolod, as a result of which they were defeated. However, one of the sons, Oleg Svyatoslavich, did not lose hope of regaining power and expelled Vladimir Monomakh. The lands rightfully belonging to the Svyatoslavichs were divided among the surviving brothers.

Monomakhovichi

The line was formed from Vladimir Monomakh, the son of Prince Vsevolod. He also had a brother who died fighting the Polovtsians. Thus, all princely power was concentrated in the hands of Vladimir. The princes of Kyiv gained control and influence in all Russian lands, including Turov and Polotsk. But the fragile unity did not last long. With the death of Monomakh, civil strife resumed and power in the destinies again became fragmented.

It is noteworthy that a descendant of the Monomakhovich branch on the family tree of the Rurik dynasty was Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. It is he who is indicated in the chronicles as the founder of Moscow, which later became the collector of Russian lands.

The Rurik family tree is full of tyrants, murderers, traitors and conspirators. One of the most cruel sovereigns of Rus' is consideredIvan IV the Terrible. The atrocities that occurred during his reign on Russian lands are still remembered with shudder. Murders, robberies, raids on civilians, which the guardsmen carried out with the permission of the tsar, are bloody and terrible pages in the history of our state. It is not for nothing that the sculpture of Ivan the Terrible is absent from the “Millennium of Russia” monument, erected in honor of the great sovereigns of our country.

Among the Rurikovichs there were also wise rulers - the pride of the family and defenders of their state. ThisIvan Kalita- collector of Russian lands, brave warriorAlexander Nevskyand liberated Rus' from Tatar-Mongol dependence, the Grand DukeDmitry Donskoy.

Compiling a family tree of the Rurik dynasty with dates and years of reign is a difficult task for historians, requiring deep knowledge and lengthy research. The point here is both in the remoteness of the era and in the numerous intertwining of surnames, clans and branches. Since the great princes had many descendants, it is now almost impossible to find the person on whom the royal dynasty was finally interrupted and ceased to exist. It is only known that the last kings from this ancient family before the Romanovs came to power were Fyodor Ioannovich and Vasily Shuisky. It is difficult to answer the question whether the descendants of the first Russian prince exist today or whether the family has sunk into oblivion forever. Researchers have tried to find out this using a DNA test, but reliable data on this matter still does not exist.