The Place of Rus' in Medieval Europe

Abstract

Rus', the medieval kingdom that was the progenitor of modern Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, has had a complicated historiography due to modern political trends. The chief problem that has shaped scholarship on medieval Rus' is what to do with it. Where does it belong? Over the last century alone, scholars have suggested that Rus' should be studied on its own, either as an autochthonous entity or otherwise; that Rus' was the mid-point on a thousand mile trek from the Varangians (in Scandinavia) to the Greeks (Byzantines) and Muslims; that Rus' existed as part of a Byzantine Commonwealth and thus should be studied in that context and separate from others; and the idea that Rus' was part of medieval Europe and should be studied as such. These various mindsets have been shaped by modern political developments and have created scholarly frames into which the evidence for Rus', and Rus' itself, has been placed. This article highlights these trends over the last one hundred years in largely Anglophone scholarship, demonstrating the current historical understanding of the place of Rus' in medieval Europe.