A "Commonwealth of Interest" in the Rus’ian-Byzantine Treaty (ca. 944)

Abstract

The preamble to the Rus’ian-Byzantine treaty, which was concluded around 944, contains dozens of anthroponyms – the names of members of the Kyivian elite, their envoys as well as merchants. Several of them can be identified as Slavonic. The author attempted to answer the question about the identity of these Slavs and their status within the “decision-making collective” of the early Rus’ian state. He has compared the information contained in the treaty with material consisting of other Rus’ian and Byzantine sources. Additionally the author compared the system of governance in the state of the first Rurikids with the model present among the Yotvingians and other medieval Baltic societies, which have also came under the influence of the Scandinavians.