Святослав Игоревич (Рюриковичи) Рюрикович (abt. 942 - 972)

Born about 0942 in Kievan Rus

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 26 Mar 0972 at about age 30 in near Dnieper River, Kiev, Kievan Rus

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Biography

Name

Sviatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: С~тославъ / Свѧтославъ[1] Игорєвичь, Sventoslavŭ / Svantoslavŭ Igorevičǐ; Russian: Святослав Игоревич, Sviatoslav Igorevich; Ukrainian: Святослав Ігорович, Sviatoslav Ihorovych; Bulgarian: Светослав, Svetoslav, Greek: Σφενδοσθλάβος, Sphendosthlabos) (c. 942 – March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was a prince of Rus. ^[1]

Name: Sviatoslav (Suitislaus) Kiev

Given Name: Sviatoslav (Suitislaus)

Surname: Kiev

Name: Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Given Name: Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Name: Svyatoslav I

Name: Sviatoslav I The Brave

Name: Svyatoslav of KIEV

Name Suffix: , Grand Duke of Kiev

Name Suffix: [Grand Duke of]

Title

Grand Duke of Kiev

Prince of Kiev

Birth

942

Born between 920 - 945 ^[2]

Appearance

Sviatoslav's appearance has been described very clearly by Leo the Deacon, who himself attended the meeting of Sviatoslav with John I Tzimiskes. Following Deacon's memories, Sviatoslav was a blue-eyed male of average height but of stalwart build, much more sturdy than Tzimiskes. He shaved his blond head and his beard but wore a bushy mustache and a sidelock as a sign of his nobility.[11] He preferred to dress in white, and it was noted that his garments were much cleaner than those of his men, although he had a lot in common with his warriors. He wore a single large gold earring bearing a carbuncle and two pearls.^[3]

Event

Type: lis.

Father: , Igor I of Kiev, Prince of Kiev, b. ABT 875

Mother: , Olga of Kiev, Regent of Kiev, b. ABT 890

Associated with , Malusha

Child 1: , Vladimir (St.) the Great of Kiev, Grand Prince of Kiev, b. 960

Married to , Predeslava of Hungary

Child 2: , Yaropolk I of Kiev, Prince of Kiev, b. ABT 958

Child 3: , Oleg, b. ABT 959

Religion

Religion: Wikipedia: Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life

Sviatoslav's mother, Olga, converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957.^[4] However, Sviatoslav remained a pagan all of his life. In the treaty of 971 between Sviatoslav and the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes, the Rus' are swearing by Perun and Veles.^[5] According to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors (druzhina) would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.^[6] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.^[7]

Death

MAR 972

973

Kiev, Ukraine

Dnieper Cataracts, Russia

Age: 30-31

Cause: Ambushed and killed by the Pecheneg warriors of Khan Kurya, his skull was made into a chalice for Kurya.

Sviatoslav Sculpure

Sviatoslav_sculputre

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev
2. ↑ Бахрушин С. В. Держава Рюриковичей // Вестник древней истории. – 1938. – № 2. — М., 1938. — С. 88-98.
3. ↑ Vernadsky 276–277. The sidelock is reminiscent of Turkic hairstyles and practices and was later mimicked by Cossacks. Wikipedia: Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev#cite_note-12
4. ↑ Based on his analysis of De Ceremoniis, Alexander Nazarenko hypothesizes that Olga hoped to orchestrate a marriage between Sviatoslav and a Byzantine princess. If her proposal was peremptorily declined (as it most certainly would have been), it is hardly surprising that Sviatoslav would look at Byzantium and her Christian culture with suspicion. Nazarenko 302.
5. ↑ Russian traditional culture: religion, gender, and customary law, Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer. Books.google.com. p. 4. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
6. ↑ Primary Chronicle
7. ↑ Wikipedia: Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev#cite_note-13