Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Pseudo-Varangian Origins of the Kievo-Pecherskii Monastery: The "Finger in the Pie" Hypothesis

Pseudo-Varangian Origins of the Kievo-Pecherskii Monastery: The "Finger in the Pie" Hypothesis ALEXANDER V. RIASANOVSKY (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) Pseudo-Varangian Origins of the Kievo-Pecherskii Monastery: The "Finger in the Pie" Hypothesis Eighteenth and early nineteenth-century advocates of the extreme "Nor- manist" position in Russian historiography asserted outright that Scandina- vians either imported or created all of the major political, social, economic, military, juridicial-legal, cultural, and even religious institutions of Kievan Rus'.1 Characteristically, too, such sweeping pronouncements were delivered with an air of total and final authority. Little attention was paid to the need for proof or documentation. In contrast, modem "Normanist" scholars now tend to regard the institu- tional origins of Kievan Rus' from a broader historical perspective. Describing the various manifestations of the process, they no longer neglect evidence pointing to the generic importance of Slavic and of other non-Scandinavian contributions. As a result, all along the line, former Norse centered assump- tions and explanations have given way to a new pluralism. This conceptual change, in turn, has produced altered modes of expression. The language of "Normanism" has become progressively less dogmatic. Yet, on some specific issues, "Normanist" scholarship has continued to re- flect the influence of old ideas and to echo the old doctrinaire rhetoric. The recent categorical reassertion of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Russian History Brill

Pseudo-Varangian Origins of the Kievo-Pecherskii Monastery: The "Finger in the Pie" Hypothesis

Riasanovsky, Alexander V.
Russian History , Volume 7 (1): 265 – Jan 1, 1980
Download PDF
18 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/pseudo-varangian-origins-of-the-kievo-pecherskii-monastery-the-finger-29ZZfzm7A6

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1980 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0094-288X
eISSN
1876-3316
DOI
10.1163/187633180X00193
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ALEXANDER V. RIASANOVSKY (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) Pseudo-Varangian Origins of the Kievo-Pecherskii Monastery: The "Finger in the Pie" Hypothesis Eighteenth and early nineteenth-century advocates of the extreme "Nor- manist" position in Russian historiography asserted outright that Scandina- vians either imported or created all of the major political, social, economic, military, juridicial-legal, cultural, and even religious institutions of Kievan Rus'.1 Characteristically, too, such sweeping pronouncements were delivered with an air of total and final authority. Little attention was paid to the need for proof or documentation. In contrast, modem "Normanist" scholars now tend to regard the institu- tional origins of Kievan Rus' from a broader historical perspective. Describing the various manifestations of the process, they no longer neglect evidence pointing to the generic importance of Slavic and of other non-Scandinavian contributions. As a result, all along the line, former Norse centered assump- tions and explanations have given way to a new pluralism. This conceptual change, in turn, has produced altered modes of expression. The language of "Normanism" has become progressively less dogmatic. Yet, on some specific issues, "Normanist" scholarship has continued to re- flect the influence of old ideas and to echo the old doctrinaire rhetoric. The recent categorical reassertion of

Journal

Russian History – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1980

There are no references for this article.