Ukrainian-norwegian Relations Through the 9th Up to the 20th Century

BackgroundThe relations between Kievan Rus and
In this article I present a revised text from theScandinavia were particularly strong during the
Institute of Ukrainian History at the Nationalgrand duchy of Mstislav Vladimirovich (1125 -
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine research1132). By his mother he was a descendant of a
performed. This research elaborates on thefamous English royal family. His first wife Christina
Norwegians relations with Ukraine through awas the daughter of the Swedish king Ingi
decade of centuries.Steinkelsson. Mstislav's daughters were married to
Several facts are presented, but also there areSigurd Norwegian (Sigurd Jordsalsfare), Erik the
several sagas or myths that contribute to storiesDane, and Knut Obodritsky respectively. Malmfrid
of the communication and the relationshipwas probably no more than 15 years old when
between the two countries. We have to beshe came to Norway with Sigurd. After Sigurds
aware of the fact that some of the sagas ordeath she married the Danish prince Erik Ermune
legends are not supported by writtenand thus later also became the queen of
documentation found within Ukraine, so we haveDenmark.
to be cautious to how strong the relationship hasWhen describing Ukrainian-Norwegian ties during
been through time. But the fact remains, thelate Medieval Ages, one must take into
Ukrainians and Norwegians have enjoyed a closeconsideration that after the Kalmar union of 1397
relationship and the mix of the two countriesDenmark, Sweden and Norway formed a triunion
people is clearly documented and is still ongoing.state, ruled by the Danish kings. In 1523 Sweden
My interest for this country began first in a strictwithdrew from the union, after witch the union
business sense, and later evolved to involve meconsisted of Denmark and Norway. Moreover, in
on a personal level as I found my present wife in1536 Norway lost its internal autonomy and
Ukraine. Her spirit has guided me in writing theseturned into a powerless part of the Danish
words and to find as much information as possiblekingdom. Yet, despite its political subordination to
about the relationship between the two countries,Denmark, in the XV-XVII centuries Norway
since I am a Norwegian myself.continued to be in fact a separate state with its
The increasing globalization taking part in the worldown economy and merchant class which pursued
today and possible in the future, makes this mixtheir own interests. At the same time, it should
between countries increase as well, both onbe noted that over the mentioned period of time
private as well as in commercial levels. Ukrainethere were practically no relations between the
rapidly develops to be provider of high-tech asUkrainian and Norwegian lands.
well as agricultural products to the world. InSocial-political relations during 1762-1917
addition foreign investors find this country ofIn this period the situation in both regions was
interest as it blossoms in its market economy.much alike: the area with the centre in Kristiania
Introduction(future Oslo) was part of the Swedish-Danish
It is possible to trace the relations between thekingdom, while the lands along the upper part of
Ukrainian and Norwegian lands more than athe Dnieper basin belonged to the Austrian (later
thousand years back in time. We will try to giveAustro-Hungarian) and Russian Empire. Only in
some insight into these relations from the1905 the Danish Prince Carl, guided by the
foundation of the Kievan Rus up till theprovisions of the Karlstad treaty ascended the
establishment of the independent Ukraine in 1991.Norwegian throne under the name of Haakon VII,
Varangians in Kievan Rus.and some 10-15 years later state-formation
Norsemen played an essential part in formation ofprocesses began around "the Mother of the
the first Kievan state. In 8th to 14th centuries theRussian cities".
Scandinavian population were called the Norsemen.The above processes had a definite impact on
The famous chronicle "The Tale of Bygonethe overall status of the relations between the
Years" contains a legend about the elders of thetwo countries. Until the end of the 14th century
Slavic tribes inviting the Varangians to come toethnic Norwegians placed their primary interest in
Rus and become its rulers. The Varangians orthe water area of the White and Kara Seas, the
Varyags sometimes referred to as Variagiansthen Russian subject Grand Duchy of Finland and
were Scandinavians, who migrated eastwards andArkhangelsk province.
southwards through what is now Russia, BelarusNorwegians in Ukraine
and Ukraine. The legend then tells about the threeChristian Steven (1781-1863), a prominent
brothers - Rurik, Sineus and Truvar who came tobotanist, a Swede with Norwegian background. He
Rus and began reigning in the Slavic cities ofwas born in Finland, studied in St Petersburg. His
Novgorod, Bilozer and Izborsk. The youngerfirst important assignment was the position of the
brother died, and all the power over the Northerndirector of the newly founded Nikita botanical
Eastern Slavic tribes of Slavs and Kriviches wasgarden near Yalta. He also contributed greatly to
transferred to Rurik. There is no doubt about thecreation of the Magarach School of Winemaking
historical existence of Rurik, and, as the Tale(1828); after death of Marshall von Biberstein in
says, he came to Rus with his relatives and wife.1826 he was in charge of the region's sericulture.
Rurik is therefore seen as the founder of theIn 1841 Steven became a chief agricultural
princely dynasty in Rus. Rurik's establishment insurveyor in the region.
the northern Rus resulted from an agreementIn 1853 a Ukrainian town of Izmail was visited by
concluded with the tribes of the Novgorodthe director of the Norwegian Geographical
confederation..Department, Professor Hansten, who was at that
It is known that the Varangian used to betime working on the measurement of the Earth
summoned to the southern Rus for participation inmeridian arc.
military campaigns. The military assistance wasIt is also necessary to mention the Norwegian
needed mainly for external military actions of thecultural influence in the region. In particular, in 1874
Kievan Rus. Some of these campaigns would bethe audience in Odessa and Yalta had an
the ones of Oleg, Igor and Vladimir to Bysantium;opportunity to enjoy Johan Svensen's (1840-1911)
the war of Yaroslav the Wise with theopera "Carnival in Paris" and the symphonic legend
Pechenegs. The summoning was also used for"Zorahaida".
sorting out relations between the princes. TheTwenty-five years later the southern provinces
texts of the 907, 911 and 944 treaties betweenwere visited by the future Nobel prize winner and
Rus and Bysantium bear witness that among theauthor of the book "In Fairyland" Knut Hamsun
Rusian envoys were people with Scandinavianduring his trip to the Caucasus.
names. The Scandinavians in Rus were not onlyIn 1910 Christian Sinding arrived in Odessa, in
employed as hired warriors but also as diplomats.which connection the Russian Musical Paper wrote
Several versions exist in the historical sciencethe following in its issue no.12: "On 29 January the
regarding considerable involvement of Danes andImperial Russian Musical Society held the VII
Swedes in the Rus-Scandinavian medieval ties.symphonic gathering led by the outstanding
There are also some, less numerous, facts of theNorwegian composer and conductor Christian
relations between Kievan Rus and Norway. AnSinding with the participation of the pianist Karl
example of this is archaeological finds, such asNissen. The program consisted solely of the music
silver coins found in Nesbu, Norway, which werewritten by the famous guest, namely symphony
minted in the Kievan Rus in the times of Vladimirde-bemoll #1, the piano concert D-major with the
and Yaroslav.orchestra, variations of "Fatum" and "Rondo
Tradinginfinito" for a grand orchestra. Sinding was warmly
Trading between Rus and Norway were of lessreceived by the audience, and was given a long
extended than those with Denmark and Sweden,standing ovation."
and are poorly reflected in written sources. TheNorwegian Colonel Petersen, a participant of the
Icelandic sagas contain only two direct records ofRussian-Turkish wars of the end of 18th century,
commercial voyages of Norwegians to Rus. Oneas well as a witness and historiographer of signing
of them mentions a Norwegian merchant sailorthe Kuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty that initiated
Gudleik of Agda, who often traveled to Rus andinclusion of Crimea to the territorial possessions of
was therefore called Gudleik Rusian". The sagaSt Petersburg of that time.
about Olav Tryggvason tells about a large cargoJoseph Igelstrom, a Swedish-Norwegian by
of silk that he probably bought in the Rusian landsbackground, was in charge of the Tavria province.
and brought on his ship to Norway. Kievan RusDuring his trips along the Black Sea coast he
was mainly used by the medieval Norway as aattracted the major part of the local magnates to
transit territory for goods from the Middle East.the side of Ekaterina II. Igelstrom collected,
There are reasons to believe that the Balticcatalogued and described a huge collection of
voyages of Norwegians to Rus continued in theTatar-Arabic charts, and was the author of
7th and 13th centuries. A law issued by thecomprehensive letters to Count Grigoriy Potemkin
Norwegian King Magnus in 1276 says that at theregarding living conditions of the population and the
time of creating the law, Norwegians continuedclimate of Crimea.
commercial voyages to the countries situatedThe members of the Baggovut noble family, a
along the Baltic seashore, including Gardarike whichfamily of Norwegian descent, beside being the
is the same as Rus.owners of breweries and estates in Eastland and
Another evidence of existence of certain tradinghaving relation to the descendants of the
between Rus and Norway is that, of the nineteenchancellor of the Uppsala University Svebelius (Julia
Norwegian small coins found in ten sites located inFedorovna Baggovut), also took part in the
the Eastern Europe, fifteen coins were found inAckendorf battle in May 1807 against the
seven sites on the territory of Kievan Rus. TenNapoleon army. One of the streets in Kiev was
coins belong to the times of Harald the 3rd (yearsnamed Baggovutivska.
1047-1066), another two were minted during theThe famous Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne
reign of Olav Kyrre (years 1066-1093), the restBjørnson had extensive contacts with
are undated (9th century)Ukrainian writers and journalists for instance
Political relations.Roman Sembratovich, Yaroslav Fedorchuk and
Of a considerable interest is the history ofVolodymyr Kushnir. In Taras Shevchenko
relations between the Kievan prince Vladimir theAcademy of Sciences in Lviv there was a large
Great (980-1015) and Norway. According tocollection of Bjørnson's writing in Russian,
existing data, he may have fought the NorwegianGerman and Czech. But famous writers like Ivano
prince Erik. The juvenile prince Olav Tryggvason,Franko and Mykhailo Pavlyk also translated his
the nephew of Vladimir's grandee Sigurd, and hiswritings into Ukrainian language. Bjørnson
mother were given refuge in Kiev. Sigurd rescuedwrote a number of articles in the European press
the 9-year old Olav, who was held captive in thewhere he spoke for the sake of Ukraine. He
Baltic land, and brought him to the court of Grandstrongly condemned a decree issued by Tsar
Prince Vladimir. Prince Olav was a loyal servant toAleksandr II, which introduced a ban on the use
Vladimir, but fell a victim to slander and wasof Ukrainian language in literature, in translations
forced to resign. A few years later, possibly withand in theatre.
Prince Vladimir's help, he dethroned Erik, makingThe 20th Century
him flee to Sweden, to become the king ofIn the first days of the First World War
Norway. Later on he began fighting with Prince(1914-1918) in the Galician city of Lviv, which was
Vladimir over the North-Western lands of Rus.at that time part of the Austrian-Hungarian
The war lasted four years and resulted in himempire, a group of emigrants from the upper
being driven away.regions of the Dnieper basin formed a non-party
The maintenance by Prince Vladimir of traditionallypolitical organisation "Union for the Liberation of
good relations with the Scandinavian countriesUkraine". The national-political platform was
appears quite logical, as the Rurik dynasty, toUkraine's independence, with the constitutional
which he belonged, had Scandinavian origin. Amongmonarchy as a government form. The union
Vladimir's numerous wives was abelieved it necessary to inform the public opinion
Scandinavian-born - Rogneda - whom he marriedin the war-neutral Balkan and Scandinavian states
in 977. Good relations with the Scandinavianabout the issues of Ukraine and liberation of other
states ensured to Prince Vladimir the stability onenslaved nations of the Russian Empire.
the north-western borders of Rus and servedTo this end ULU assigned to Norway its envoy
primarily his local tactical purposes.Osyp Nazaruk, who had meetings with the
According to ancient Scandinavian sources, Olavpresident of the Storting J. Løvland and the
Haraldsson also called Olav the Holy (yearsMinister of Foreign Affairs Ihlen, and discussed
995-1030) who was the Norwegian King fromwith them the war and the attitude of Ukrainians
1014 till 1028, lived in Rus from autumn 1029 tilltowards it. Owing to Osyp Nazaruk a number of
spring 1030. His political opponents in Norway tookarticles on the Ukrainian issues appeared in the
the side of the King of England and Denmark,Norwegian Morgenbladet.
Knut the Great, who also sought power in,b>Ukrainian-Norwegian relations during the Soviet
Norway. Olav was defeated in the war againstUnion period.
Denmark and was forced to flee to Sweden,Very few facts and evidence are found of the
then onwards to Kievan Rus. Olav the Holy wasUkrainian-Norwegian relations of the Soviet time.
married to Astrid, the sister of Yaroslav theThe 1921-1922 famine in Ukraine evoked the
Wise's wife Ingigerda. It is known that Ingigerdamovement of solidarity with the starving people in
persuaded her husband to foster Olavs' sonthe Scandinavian countries. In Norway this
Magnus, who was left in Kiev when Olav leftmovement took shape of public agitation, the
Kievan Rus.so-called charity weeks and months, the
Thus, Magnus Olavsson, the future king ofproceedings from which were then directed to
Norway (1035-1047) and of Denmark (1042-1047)the starving population in Ukraine and Volga region.
also called Magnus the Good, spent at least fiveThe charity included one-off fundraisings, individual
years of his life in Kievan Rus. Later, members ofdonations, as well as systematic subscriptions
Norwegian nobility came to Kiev and took himfrom the individuals' incomes.
back to Norway. Some sagas contain an evidenceYet, creation in 1923 of the Union of Soviet
of Yaroslav and Ingigerda's active involvement inSocialist Republics virtually brought to an end
raising Magnus to the Norwegian throne.Ukraine's communication with the world
The sagas also tell us of the Norwegian Kingcommunity - individual diplomatic missions of
Harald Hard Ruler's (1046-1066) two visits toUkraine were closed, and the entire international
Kievan Rus. In 1031 he started his "voyageactivity was taken over by the People's
eastwards to Gardarike, to King Jarisleiv", whereCommissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet
he lived for several years (ca 1034-1043) in Kiev,Union.
at the court of Yaroslav the Wise and, accordingThe Norwegian polar explorer, scientist and
to Snorri Sturluson, served as a retinue chief.humanist Fridtjof Nansen served as a high
Later Harald spent several years serving thecommissioner of the International Red Cross,
Byzantine emperor Konstantin IX Monomachus.which provided relief for famine stricken Ukraine in
Upon his return to Kievan Rus in 1043 he married1921-23. Nansen did a lot to inform Europe about
Elizabeth, the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise.the famine in Ukraine and he collected money for
Harald wrote the Song of Joy dedicated tothe relief work. He also used money he earned
Elizabeth, the daughter of King Yaroslav, whom hefrom the Nobel Peace Prize for the aid work. On
sought in marriage". It should be noted that this23 January 1923 Nansen came to the city of
kind of love lyric poetry is not typical for theKharkiv to discuss with the Soviet government of
works of Scandinavian scalds. A translation intoUkraine the plans for fighting the famine. Nansen's
Ukrainian was made by the famous Ukrainian poetmission established a number of orphanages, and
Ivan Franko.provided scholarship for students and teachers at
Harald and Elizabeth had two daughters - MariaKharkiv University. Nansen also established a
and Ingigerda. This marriage strengthened tiesnumber of model farms - the most famous of
between Kievan Rus and Norway and resulted inthem in the town of Mykhailovka between
a temporary alliance between Harald and theKharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. In these farms he
mighty Earl Svein Ulfsson, the future Danish king.introduced modern technology and principles for
The assistance provided by Yaroslav the Wise tofarming.
Harald, namely preserving his treasure, offering aLater, during World War II in 1944 Ukraine
temporary refuge and helping Harald prepare hisregained its lost status by passing the law On
trip to the homeland, on the one hand, andEstablishment of the People's Commissariat for
furthering a political alliance between Harald andForeign Affairs in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic
the enemies of King Magnus through the marriage(from 1946 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In
with Elizabeth, on the other hand, resulted in ancompliance with this Law, the Constitution of
agreement between Magnus and Harald to divideUkraine was amended by Article 15-b, which
the rule of Norway.established the right of the Ukrainian Soviet
Elizabeth remained the Norwegian queen for overRepublic to be directly involved in international
20 years - from the winter 1043/1044 until therelations. However, due to the totalitarian nature
death of Harald on 25 September 1066 during theof the political regime existent in the Soviet Union,
battle of Stamford Bridge. Later she married thethe above documents proved to be a mere
Danish king Svein.formality.
The fact that Rusian written sources ofDuring World War II a considerable number of
information about the Scandinavians presence inUkrainian prisoners of war ended up in labor
Rus do not mention names of the Norwegiancamps in Norway. Many of these people
kings which served the Rusian princes, nor theirestablished contact with or were helped in various
sons who were brought up there, reveals aways by Norwegian civilians. Soviet troops took
strong overstatement in the sagas of their role inpart in the liberation of Norway in 1944-45.
Rus. Moreover, the life of Norwegian kings in RusOnly in 1991, after Ukraine gained independence
is pictured rather concisely in sagas - a fewand entered the international scene, did the
general words. It may well be due to lack ofrelations between Ukraine and Norway begin to
specific information, as well as tendency of theimprove. In 1992 Ukraine and Norway established
authors of sagas to exaggerate the importancediplomatic relations.
of Scandinavian noblemen in Rus. Yet, despite theThis article was prepared by members of the
lack of information in the Rusian sources, thereInstitute of Ukrainian History at the National
exists an evidence of their presence in KievanAcademy of Sciences of Ukraine, and then
Rus. The reason for such an assertion is versestranslated and edited by the Royal Norwegian
of Scalds, laconic in content yet offering reliableEmbassy in Kiev.
factual information.