HIS 241 Unit 2

HIS 241 Unit 2: Origins of Rus'

Oh, those lovable Vikings! Did they, or didn't they? The argument continues today over their precise role in the formation of the early Kievan state in the tenth century. The image on the left is the monument in Kiev to the Vikings; the image on the right is a reconstructed "Oseberg" Viking ship in the Viking museum near Oslo, Norway.

What you must do in this unit

Read the textbook chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6
Check the remarks by Professor Blois and Professor Evans on the early Kievan state
Please read the Sample Historical Document Analysis, based on some short excerpts from Hammurabi's code of law. The sample illustrates some of the questions that a historian asks when reading a historical document. This is what you will be doing in this course.
Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
Submit the Primary Chronicle paragraph.
Post (or respond) your thoughts/ideas about this Unit's reading and assignment in the Blackboard online discussion forum. Do not post your assignment there.

What you can do in this unit

Have a look at a genealogy of the House of Riurik.
Read chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4 and chapter 5 from Mary Platt Parmele (1843-1911) A Short History of Russia (1907, 4th edition). These are short chapters, and this is optional reading.

Some videos that you can watch for this unit

The Varangian Rus 1/3
Global Treasures: Kiev Monastery of the Caves Ukraine
Kiev
Engineering an Empire - Russia
Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols: Crash Course World History #20
For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the url and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.

Extra Credit Options

For 25 points maximum extra credit, read the Pravda Rus'skaia (Russian Law Code) and write a paragraph in which you offer some analysis of the social structure of Kievan Rus'.
For 25 points maximum extra credit, read Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh's Instruction to His Children and write a paragraph in which you explain the Grand Prince's conception of the political state.