To the Question of the Date of Capture of Polotsk by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich

The paper offers a refutation of the annalistic dating and a new analytical dating of the time of capture of Polotsk by Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the prince of Novgorod on the Volkhov, and his subsequent marriage to Rogneda, the daughter of the Polotsk prince. Proceeding from available at our disposal reliable dates, it is necessary to think that this event took place in 975—977. This article offers a specification of the date of birth of the second son of Vladimir and Rogneda, Jaroslav – in the interval from 20 (21).02.977 to 19 (20).02.978. Based on a number of indirect data, this interval can be narrowed down to 01.01 — 19 (20).02.978. Thus, this example once again shows that the dates of the events of the 10th century used in historiography, taken from the early chronicle writing, are unreliable. Moreover, in a number of cases, including the one considered in this paper, the time interval between the events is also unreliable, which is quite natural for the historiographical narrative based on the mythopoeic tradition of the Rus’ people who were unfamiliar with writing and had no calendar.

Keywords

Rus’, 10th century, chronology, chronology of the Russian chronicle, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Rogneda, date of Yaroslav Vladimirovich’s death

Acknowledgment

The study is an output of the research project “Sociocultural Evolution: Theory Development at the Intersection of History and Anthropology” implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Received

03.09.2023

Publication date

27.12.2023

Number of characters

14645

Cite

GOST	Schavelev A. To the Question of the Date of Capture of Polotsk by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich // ISTORIYA – 2023. – V. 14. – Issue 12 (134). Part 1 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840028458-2-1 (circulation date: 19.05.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840028458-2
MLA	Schavelev, Aleksey "To the Question of the Date of Capture of Polotsk by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich." ISTORIYA 14.12-1 (134) (2023) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840028458-2
APA	Schavelev A. (2023). To the Question of the Date of Capture of Polotsk by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. ISTORIYA 14(12-1 (134)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840028458-2

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