Category
People
The rulers, founders, travellers and chroniclers behind the shapes on the map, and what the sources really say about them.
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People · Grand Principality of Moscow
Sophia Palaiologina: The Byzantine Princess Who Married Ivan III
Sophia (Zoe) Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor, married Ivan III in 1472. What did she really bring to Moscow, and what is legend?
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People · Tsardom of Russia
False Dmitry I: The Pretender Who Became Tsar
Who was False Dmitry I? How a runaway monk claimed to be Ivan the Terrible's dead son, took Moscow in 1605, married Marina Mniszech and was killed in 1606.
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People · Tsardom of Russia
Boris Godunov: The Real Tsar Behind Pushkin and Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov ruled Russia as regent and tsar from 1585 to 1605. Did he murder Tsarevich Dmitry? And how did Karamzin, Pushkin and Mussorgsky make his legend?
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People · Grand Principality of Moscow
Ivan III: How Ivan the Great Made Muscovy a State
Ivan III ruled Moscow from 1462 to 1505. He took Novgorod and Tver, outfaced the Horde on the Ugra, rebuilt the Kremlin and gave Russia its first law code.
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Sources & Evidence · Tsardom of Russia
Ivan the Terrible and His Son: Repin's Painting and the Death of 1581
Repin's 1885 painting of Ivan the Terrible holding his dying son was banned, slashed in 1913 and attacked in 2018. What happened in November 1581?
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People · Tsardom of Russia
Ivan the Terrible: The First Tsar, Fact and Legend
Ivan IV was crowned Russia's first tsar in 1547 and died in 1584. His reforms, wars, the oprichnina, his wives, his son, and which famous stories are myths.
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Trade & Travel · Novgorod Republic
Sadko: The Novgorod Merchant Between Chronicle and Legend
Sadko, the gusli-player who became Novgorod's richest merchant: what the bylina tells, what the chronicle says about a real Sotko, and Novgorod's trade.
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People · Golden Horde
Tokhtamysh: The Khan Who Burned Moscow and Fought Timur
Tokhtamysh reunited the Golden Horde, burned Moscow in 1382 and fought his former patron Timur. What the Russian, Persian and Arabic sources say.
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People · Mongol Empire
Subutai: Genghis Khan's Greatest General, Fact and Fiction
Subutai (1176–1248) led Mongol armies from China to Hungary. What the Yuan shi, the Secret History and the chronicles say, and where the legend begins.
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People · Mongol Empire
Jochi: Genghis Khan's Eldest Son and the Question of His Father
Jochi, eldest son of Genghis Khan, gave his name to the Golden Horde. What the sources say about his birth, the succession quarrel, and his early death.
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Sources & Evidence · Principality of Chernigov
The Tale of Igor's Campaign: The 1185 Raid, the Lost Manuscript and the Forgery Debate
The Tale of Igor's Campaign and the failed raid of 1185: what the chronicles say, how the only manuscript was lost, and why scholars think it genuine.
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Religion & Belief · Grand Principality of Moscow
Sergius of Radonezh: The Monk Behind Moscow's Rise
St Sergius of Radonezh (died 1392), founder of the Trinity monastery near Moscow: what his Life says, his role in politics, and what is later legend.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Vladimir Monomakh: The Prince Who Held Rus' Together
Vladimir Monomakh, grand prince of Kyiv from 1113 to 1125: his wars against the Polovtsians, the councils that kept Rus' together, his Instruction, and the cap.
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Religion & Belief · Rostov-Suzdal
Kitezh: The Invisible City and the Legend of 1238
The legend of Kitezh, the Russian city that became invisible to escape Batu in 1238: where the story comes from, what the chronicles say, what the lake holds.
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Religion & Belief · Grand Principality of Moscow
Rublev's Trinity: The Icon Behind the Legend
Andrei Rublev's Trinity icon, painted about 1411 or in the 1420s: what it shows, who painted it, and why its handover to the Church in 2023 alarmed experts.
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People · Bahmani Sultanate
Afanasy Nikitin: The Tver Merchant Who Travelled to India Beyond Three Seas
Afanasy Nikitin, a merchant from Tver, reached India around 1471 and wrote the Journey Beyond Three Seas. What his text says, when he went, and what is myth.
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War & Warriors · Grand Principality of Moscow
The Battle of Kulikovo (1380): Dmitry Donskoy, Mamai and the Myth of Liberation
The Battle of Kulikovo on 8 September 1380: who fought, how many, what the earliest sources say, and why the victory did not end the Tatar yoke.
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People · Mongol Empire
Batu Khan: Genghis Khan's Grandson and the Conquest of Rus'
Who Batu Khan was, how he led the Mongol conquest of Rus' and the invasion of Hungary, why he turned back in 1242, and what eyewitnesses saw at his court.
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People · Novgorod Republic
Alexander Nevsky: Warrior, Mongol Vassal, Saint
Who was Alexander Nevsky? The prince who beat Swedes and crusaders, served the Mongol khans, punished his own people and became Russia's warrior saint.
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War & Warriors · Kievan Rus'
Sviatoslav I: The Warrior Prince
Who was Sviatoslav I of Kiev? The pagan prince who broke Khazaria, conquered Bulgaria, defied Byzantium and died at the Dnieper rapids in 972.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Yaroslav the Wise: Law, Marriages and the Golden Age
Who was Yaroslav the Wise? See how Kyiv's grand prince wrote down the law, married his daughters to kings and why his bones are missing.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Igor of Kiev and the Drevlian Tribute
Igor of Kiev ruled the Rus' until the Drevlians killed him in AD 945. See how Greek fire, a costly treaty and a greedy tribute round sealed his fate.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Oleg of Novgorod: The Prophetic Prince
Who was Oleg of Novgorod? The Varangian who took Kiev, raided Constantinople and died by a snake, sorted into history and legend.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Olga of Kiev: Revenge, Regency and Sainthood
Olga of Kiev buried envoys alive and burned a city with birds, then became a saint. Here is what really happened and what the sources say.
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People · Kievan Rus'
Vladimir the Great: The Warlord Who Baptised Kievan Rus'
Vladimir the Great seized Kiev with Viking help, then baptised Kievan Rus' in 988. Here is what the sources really say about his life and legacy.
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Empires & Dynasties · Rus'
Who Was Rurik? The Viking Founder of the Rurikid Dynasty
Was Rurik real? See what the chronicles and archaeology say about the Viking founder of the Rurikid dynasty, which ruled Rus' and Russia until 1598.
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Sources & Evidence · Volga Bulgaria
Ibn Fadlan: The Baghdad Envoy Who Met the Vikings on the Volga
Who was Ibn Fadlan? Follow the Abbasid envoy from Baghdad to the Volga in 921–922 and read what he really wrote about the Rus' and their ship funeral.