Svätopluk, King of the Slavs and emergence of Old Rus’
Svätopluk, King of the Slavs and emergence of Old Rus’

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the Svätoplukian imagination which is a collection of cultural signs referring to Svätopluk I. the Great, King of the Slavs († 894), in Old Rus’ and with the functions which this imagination played in the construction of the cultural, religious, and political identity of Old Rus’ since the 10th up to the beginning of the 12th centuries. The bearer of this imagination was by all accounts an influential class of exiles, Danubian Slavs / «Slovens», headed by the side branch members of the dynasty of the Moimirids, which was not willing to accept the political status on the middle Danube after the battle at Bratislava in 907 A. D. The Svätopluk imagination in Old Rus’ can be divided into four examination circles. The first circle is the occurrence of the proper name Svätopluk. The second circle of scholarly interest is connected with the problem of the direct influence of the Svätopluk’s Kingdom of the Slavs (Regnum Sclavorum) on the genesis of economic, religious and political structure of Old Rus’. The third circle of the deeper analysis of directmention of Svätopluk I. the Great in the oldest Russian historical-literary writings. The fourth examination circle is closely connected with the previous ones. It is certainly the most interesting topic, as it covers the as yet overlooked phenomenon of East Slavic religious and literary imagination. This inevitably leads to a reassessment of the reasons behind the emergence of the anti-legend (black legend) about Sviatopolk I Peter (the Accursed). After its writing in the beginning of the 12th century Svätoplukian imagination in the Orthodox religious and cultural environment of Old Rus’ started to fall gradually into oblivion as undesirable anymore. The death of the fourth Svätopluk of the House of Rurik (Sviatopolk IV Yurievich of Pinsk, † 1190) marked the moment the glorious king of the Slavs began to fall into oblivion in the East Slavic environment. At that point, Old Rus’ definitively started to move away from the world of Slavia Latina to get firmly anchored in the world of Slavia Orthodoxa.

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