The era of Kievan Rus’ in the assessments of the Czech historian Michal Téra

Abstract

The fundamental monograph written by the Czech historian Michal Tera and published in 2019, is a synthesis of the most important aspects of history and culture of Kievan Rus’. The Czech researcher, relying on impressive source base and extensive historiography, traces the complex process of the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs, the peculiarities in the formation of their state and its subsequent evolution. He notes the key role of Prince Vladimir in the formation of borders and of the full-fledged state organism of Kievan Rus’, as well as in the Christianization of the Old Russian lands. The author pays much attention to the analysis of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and various aspects of the cultural development of Old Rus’. A separate extensive chapter is devoted to the Christianization of Kievan Rus’ and the subsequent role of the church in the development of the state, society and culture. The Czech historian repeatedly emphasizes the cultural unity of the people of Old Rus’ and the common identity of the East Slavic population of Kievan Rus’, the catalyst for the formation of which was the adoption of Christianity. According to M. Tera, the awareness of their unity by the population of the lands of Old Rus’ far outlived the period of existence of the politically unified state.