Rus-Czech Relations in the Second Half of the 10th – 11th Centuries

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of relations between Kyivan Rus and Czechia during the second half of the 10th – 11th centuries. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive study of the outlined problem in the context of the international situation in Central Europe. First of all, attention is focused on the spread of the Church-Slavic heritage of Great Moravia in Rus. After the decline of the Great Moravian state, the Czech principality, ruled by the Premyslovych dynasty, began to play a leading role in Central Europe. References to contacts between the Czechs and the Rusychies are enclosed in the oldest chronicles. Thus, the author of the "Tale of Bygone Years" on the first pages of the monument mentions the Czechs among the Slavic peoples close to the Rusychies.

         Narrative sources, as well as archaeological artifacts, indicate that in the second half of the 10th – 11th centuries. Kyivan Rus and the Czech principality maintained active trade relations. The main trade route ran from Kyiv to Prague via Krakow. Another place of trade contacts was the upper Danube region, where Czech and Rus merchants met at slave markets.

         Also the matrimonial policy became an important component of the relations of Kyivan Rus with the Czech state. Two wives of the Kyivan prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavovych were Czechs. The daughter of Prince Predslav was probably married to the Czech prince Boleslav III the Red.

         A significant manifestation of the oldest relations was the veneration in Kyivan Rus of the cult of Czech saints, which is confirmed by works of a hagiographic nature. It’s about the spread in Rus of such works as the Life of St. Liudmyla, the Life of St. Vaclav (in the Rus tradition he is known as St. Viacheslav), and liturgical canons in their honor. Apparently, the Life of St. Methodius also reached Rus from the Czech lands. The influence of cultural contacts with Kyivan Rus can also be detected in the Czech environment. The sources indicate that the relics of the Kyiv Saints Borys and Hlib were venerated in the Sazavsky Monastery, whose monks zealously cultivated Church Slavonic worship and bookishness.