Про норманнскую теорию
Помню в универе рассказывали такую, то ли шутку, то ли шутливую правду про академика Бориса Рыбакова, который в советское время был автором большинства учебников по истории России. Идет академик вдоль археологического раскопа, а внизу, в глубине ямы радостно копошатся студенты-археологи. Что-то нашли. "Что там, ребята?", - спрашивает Рыбаков. "Да, варяг опять, Борис Александрович". "Что, варяг? Закапывайте его обратно!"
Чтобы оценить юмор ситуации необходимо вспомнить о том, как ломались (и до сих пор ломаются) копья сторонников и противников норманнской теории происхождения русской государственности. Вот написано в летописи, что призвали славяне и финны варягов править собой, а как же патриотизм и особенность? А эти варяги, ну, прямо, везде. Где ни копнет археолог, так сразу ему и застежки для плащей, и гребни, и оружие варяжское в руки идет. Приходилось закапывать назад, чтобы не навредить стройной теории, что варягов и вовсе не было. Это все, конечно, шутка. Но в каждой шутке есть...
А вот о том, что есть в каждой шутке, читайте ниже по английски.
The "Norman Problem" of the Origin of the Russian State
The Norman theory was formulated by German scholars who worked at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the second quarter of the 18th century. Evidence for the Norman origin of the ancient Russian state was provided by The Tale of Bygone Years (The Primary Chronicle), which contains an account of the summoning of the Varangian princes Riurik, Sineus, and Truvor to Rus’ in A.D. 862.
Simply put, the “Norman problem” is the debate over whether Scandinavians founded and ruled the first Russian state. Supporters of the “Norman theory” have used their research to argue that Russia would never have developed “civilization” without influences from the West. Opponents say the Slavs developed civilization independently. Others have argued that the first Russian state was a melding of Scandinavian and Slavic influences.
In the middle of the 18th century, the theory was criticized by M. V. Lomonosov, who pointed out that it was unsound from the standpoint of scholarship, and that it was politically biased against Russia.
The Norman theory still has supporters, and opponents. Its opponents say that the calling of Varangians is merely a legend. The question who were the first Russian princes and where did they come from is still unsolved. The versions about the foreign origin of this or that dynasty are quite typical of Antiquity and Middle Ages. Russian chronicles on the basis of which we form our view on the first centuries of the Russian history were written much later than the events themselves, so they were likely to put good portion of mystery over the Russian statehood creation. Archeological excavations confirm that Varangians indeed lived among Slavs that testifies to their deep mutual relations. Slavs and Varangians were at the same stage of social development. And Varangians could not and did not fundamentally influence the economy, social relations and culture of eastern Slavs. Though they started the first ruling dynasty in Russia, the first Varangians princes (Rurick, Oleg, Igor, Olga) had Scandinavian names, but the son of Igor and Olga and their grandson were called by Slavic names -Svyatoslav and Vladimir respectively. Some generations after the calling of Rurick from Varangians passed and all that was left from these times - were only a number of legends about the origin of the most noble Slavic kings.
So, although it is clear that the Russian origin problem has not yet been resolved, it can be researched further, particularly with the numerous new primary sources.
