Sveneld

Sveneld(also calledSvenaldorSveinald;Old Norse:Sveinaldr;Church Slavonic:Свѣналдъ,romanized:SvěnaldŭorСвѣнелдъ,Svěneldŭ),is a semi-legendary 10th-centuryVarangianwarlord in the service ofSviatoslav Iand his family. Most of the information about Sveneld is scarce. He is described as a rich man and avoevoda( "troop commander") ofKievan Rus',but his relation to the reigningRurikidprinces, if it existed, has not been positively established.

Svenald
Свѣналдъ
Voivode of Kiev
Monarchs	Igor I of Kiev Sviatoslav I
Succeeded by	Blud
Personal details
Born	Sveinaldr c. 920s
Died	c. 970s
Nationality	Varangian
Children	Lyut Mstisha
Military service
Allegiance	Kievan Rus'
Years of service	940s - 970s
Rank	Voivode
Commands	Expedition forces to Albania
Battles/wars	Expedition against Ulichs Expedition against Albania Expedition against Byzantium(Siege of Dorostolon) Rus Civil War of 970s

Biography

Sveneld started his military career under (or perhaps independently of)Igor of Kiev,when he put to the sword the tribe ofUlichsand secured for himself the right to exact tribute from them and from theDrevlians.The historianLev Gumilevsuggests that Sveneld's enormous fortune, recorded in thePrimary Chroniclein 945, was acquired during the944 expedition of the Rus'against the city ofBerdaainCaucasian Albania,nowAzerbaijan,in which Sveneld is presumed to have been the commander-in-chief.

Igor'sdruzhinabecame jealous of Sveneld's wealth and attempted to levy tribute in his lands, but the Drevlyans revolted and killed Igor.Aleksey Shakhmatovtheorizes that the Drevlyan uprising against Igor was led by Sveneld's son Mstisha. This theory is not universally agreed upon, though.

Igor's successor Svyatoslav seemed to have been on better terms with Sveneld, who was the second in command during hiscampaignsinBulgariaandByzantium.In 971, he was in charge of the defense ofPreslavagainst the Greeks. Although the Byzantine historiansJohn SkylitzesandLeo the Deacontestify that Sphangel (as he was known to them) met his death atDorostolonthe same year, the Slavonic chronicles mention Sveneld's activities several times thereafter.

It has even been suggested that Sveneld's own tales found reflection in the chronicle's account of Svyatoslav's campaigns.For example, not entirely impartial is a passage about Sveneld's attempts to warn Svyatoslav to avoid the Dnieper cataracts on his way back toKiev.According to the chronicle, Svyatoslav slighted Sveneld's wise advice and was ambushed and killed by thePechenegs,while the old general successfully returned to Kiev by land.

Sveneld seems to have held much of the true power during the minority of Svyatoslav's sonYaropolk.The chronicle blames him for having fomented a fratricidal war between Yaropolk and his brotherOleg of the Drevlyans.Indeed, Sveneld may have coveted Oleg's Drevlyan lands as his own ancient possession. In later centuries it was said that the war was sparked by Oleg's order to kill Sveneld's son Lyut (Ljótr) when he hunted in the Drevlyan lands which Oleg regarded as his own.

After the death of Lyut Sveneld is not mentioned further in the chronicles. Instead, it is Blud who acts as his successor in command of Yaropolk's army, to become the ultimate traitor of this prince. Most historians conclude naturally that Sveneld who was certainly very old by the end of 970s should have died before the war between Yaropolk andVladimir I of Kiev.

In popular culture

Sveneld is a major supporting character in theSoviethistorical filmThe Legend of Princess Olga,played by Ukrainian actorKonstantin Stepankov.Sveneld also appears in the 2016 filmVikingas an antagonistic character, played by veteran Russian theatrical actorMaksim Sukhanov.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Ostrowski, Donald; Birnbaum, David J. (7 December 2014)."Rus' primary chronicle critical edition – Interlinear line-level collation".pvl.obdurodon.org(in Church Slavic).Retrieved5 May2023.
• Cross, Samuel Hazzard; Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P. (1953) [1930].The Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text. Translated and edited by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor(PDF).Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America. p. 325.Retrieved26 January2023.
• Thuis, Hans (2015).Nestorkroniek. De oudste geschiedenis van het Kievse Rijk[Nestor Chronicle: the oldest history of the Kievan Realm] (in Dutch). Nijmegen: Uitgeverij Vantilt. p. 304.ISBN9789460042287.