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- Sviatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: С~тославъ / Свѧтославъ[1] Игорєвичь, Sventoslavŭ / Svantoslavŭ Igorevičǐ; Old Norse: Sveinald Ingvarsson) (c. 942 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav was a Grand prince of Kiev[2][3] famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He also conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars,[4][5] and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars.
His decade-long reign over the Kievan Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe, and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital in 969 from Kiev (modern-day Ukraine) to Pereyaslavets (identified as the modern village of Nufăru, Romania)[6] on the Danube. In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life. Due to his abrupt death in ambush, his conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his three sons, resulting in two of them being killed.
Name
The Primary Chronicle records Sviatoslav as the first ruler of the Kievan Rus' with a name of Slavic origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names had Old Norse forms). The name Sviatoslav, however, is not recorded in other medieval Slavic countries. Nevertheless, Sveinald is the Old East Norse cognate with the Slavic form as attested in the Old East Norse patronymic of Sviatoslav's son Vladimir: Valdamarr Sveinaldsson. This patronymic naming convention continues in Icelandic and in East Slavic languages. Even in Rus', it was attested only among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, and Mstislav.[7][need quotation to verify] Some scholars see the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", as an artificial derivation combining the names of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (whose names mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).[8]
Early life and personality
Virtually nothing is known about Sviatoslav's childhood and youth, which he spent reigning in Novgorod. Sviatoslav's father, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians around 945, and his mother, Olga, ruled as regent in Kiev until Sviatoslav reached maturity (ca. 963).[9] Sviatoslav was tutored by a Varangian named Asmud.[10] The tradition of employing Varangian tutors for the sons of ruling princes survived well into the 11th century. Sviatoslav appears to have had little patience for administration. His life was spent with his druzhina (roughly, "company") in permanent warfare against neighboring states. According to the Primary Chronicle, he carried on his expeditions neither wagons nor kettles, and he boiled no meat, rather cutting off small strips of horseflesh, game, or beef to eat after roasting it on the coals. Nor did he have a tent, rather spreading out a horse-blanket under him and setting his saddle under his head, and all his retinue did likewise. [11]
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 man 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.[12] He pre ferred 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.[13]
Religious beliefs
Sviatoslav's mother, Olga, converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957,[14] at the approximate age of 67. 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.[15] According to the Primary Chronicle, he believed that his warriors (druzhina) would lose respect for him and mock him if he became a Christian.[16] The allegiance of his warriors was of paramount importance in his conquest of an empire that stretched from the Volga to the Danube.
Family
Very little is known of Sviatoslav's family life. It is possible that he was not the only (or the eldest) son of his parents. The Russo-Byzantine treaty of 945 mentions a certain Predslava, Volodislav's wife, as the noblest of the Rus' women after Olga. The fact that Predslava was Oleg's mother is presented by Vasily Tatishchev. He also speculated that Predslava was of a Hungarian nobility. George Vernadsky was among many historians to speculate that Volodislav was Igor's eldest son and heir who died at some point during Olga's regency. Another chronicle told that Oleg (? - 944?) was the eldest son of Igor. At the time of Igor's death, Sviatoslav was still a child, and he was raised by his mother or under her instructions. Her influence, however, did not extend to his religious observance. Sviatoslav had several children, but the origin of his wives is not specified in the chronicle. By his wives, he had Yaropolk and Oleg.[17] By Malusha, a woman of indeterminate origins,[18] Sviatoslav had Vladimir, who would ultimately break with his father's paganism and convert Rus' to Christianity. John Skylitzes reported that Vladimir had a brother named Sfengus; whether this Sfengus was a son of Sviatoslav, a son of Malusha by a prior or subsequent husband, or an unrelated Rus' nobleman is unclear.[19]
Five wives: Maloucha & Maloucha Malkonva & Debrime & Maria Monomakh & Kilikiya Dietmarschen
Notes
^ "E.g. in the ''Primary Chronicle'' under year 970". Litopys.org.ua. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
^ "Svyatoslav I - Prince of Kiev". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^ "Vladimir I - Grand Prince of Kiev". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^ A History of Russia: Since 1855, Walter Moss, pg 29
^ Khazarian state and its role in the history of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus A.P. Novoseltsev, Moscow, Nauka, 1990. (in Russian)
^ Stephenson, Paul (2000). Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-77017-0. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^ Литвина, А. Ф.; Успенский, Федор Борисович (2006). Выбор имени у русских князей в X-XVI вв: династическая история сквозь призму антропонимики [The choice of personal names for the Russian princes of the 10th-16th centuries: a dynastic history through the prism of anthroponymy]. Труды по филологии и истории: Именослов, имя (in Russian). Индрик [Indrik]. p. 43. ISBN 5-85759-339-5. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
^ See А.М. Членов. К вопросу об имени Святослава, in Личные имена в прошлом, настоящем и будущем: проблемы антропонимики (Moscow, 1970).
^ If Olga was indeed born in 879, as the Primary Chronicle seems to imply, she should have been about 65 at the time of Sviatoslav's birth. There are clearly some problems with chronology.
^ Primary Chronicle entry for 968
^ Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Primary Chronicle, p. 84.
^ For the alternative translations of the same passage of the Greek original that say that Sviatoslav may have not shaven but wispy beard and not one but two sidelocks on each side of his head, see e.g. Ian Heath "The Vikings (Elite 3)", Osprey Publishing 1985; ISBN 978-0-85045-565-6, p.60 or David Nicolle "Armies of Medieval Russia 750–1250 (Men-at-Arms 333)" Osprey Publishing 1999; ISBN 978-1-85532-848-8, p.44
^ Vernadsky 276–277. The sidelock is reminiscent of Turkic hairstyles and practices and was later mimicked by Cossacks.
^ 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 the Byzantine Empire and her Christian culture with suspicion. Nazarenko 302.
^ Froianov, I. Ia.; A. Iu. Dvornichenko; Iu. V. Krivosheev (1992). "The Introduction of Christianity in Russia and the Pagan Traditions". In Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer. Russian Traditional Culture: Religion, Gender, and Customary Law. M.E. Sharpe. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-56324-039-3. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
^ Primary Chronicle _____.
^ Shared maternal paternity of Yaropolk and Oleg is a matter of debate by historians.
^ She is traditionally identified in Russian historiography as Dobrynya's sister; for other theories on her identity, see here.
^ Indeed, Franklin and Shepard advanced the hypothesis that Sfengus was identical with Mstislav of Tmutarakan. Franklin and Shepard 200-201.
Additional History:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Святослав_Игоревич
https://www.ffish.com/family_tree/descendants_igor/d1.ht
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942 - 972 (30 years)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10] 
