6 – The Rus’ Trilogy (860, 907 & 941)
The Rus’ were Norsemen who made their way to northeastern Europe and gave their name to the lands of Belarus, Russia, and Ruthenia. They made three unsuccessful attempts to take the city of Constantinople in less than a century. The origin of the Rus’ dispute with the Byzantines seems to stem from the creation of the fortress Sarkel in the 830s. Byzantine engineers created it for the Khazars, and it restricted the Rus’ trade route along the Don River.
The Rus’ clearly had good intel because their attack in 860 was exceptionally well-timed. It came just as the Byzantines were struggling to repel the Abbasids in Asia Minor. On June 18, 860, approximately 200 Rus’ vessels sailed into the Bosporus and attacked the countryside surrounding Constantinople. The sudden attack caught the Byzantines off-guard and Emperor Michael III, and the navy (along with its Greek Fire) was absent. The invasion apparently lasted until August 4. Historians aren’t sure why the Rus retreated. Perhaps Michael returned and forced the invaders to retreat?
The second Rus’ attack on Constantinople occurred in 907 and, according to Oleg of Novgorod’s Primary Chronicle; it was part of the Rus’-Byzantine War that year. He claims that a Rus’ fleet of 2,000 ships, led by Oleg of Kiev, outsmarted the Byzantines and circumnavigated the iron chains which initially prevented his ships from reaching the gates of the city. The Primary Chronicle suggests that Oleg forced the Byzantines into peace negotiations and left with an enormous sum of money.
According to the Khazar Correspondence, Igor of Kiev led another Rus’ attack on Constantinople in 941. Along with the Pechenegs, the Rus’ reached Bithynia in May 941 and were informed that the Byzantine capital was vulnerable because the Empire’s fleet was fighting the Arabs on the Mediterranean while the land army was stationed on eastern borders. Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus could only muster 15 retired ships and fitted them with Greek Fire.
Unaware of the power of Greek Fire, Igor’s fleet surrounded the Byzantines. The ships were so close together than the fire ravaged the entire fleet of the Rus’ and their allies and some of the Rus’ jumped overboard and drowned while the captured Rus’ were beheaded. In September, two Byzantine generals returned to Constantinople with their armies while the navy also returned. A surprise attack led to the destruction or capture of most of the Rus’ fleet while captured Rus’ were executed. Igor escaped to the Caspian Sea but was killed while fighting the Arabs.