Introduction
The story of Russia began when Vikings established a Princedom in Great Novgorod just across the Baltic Sea. At the same moment, the Vikings’ Great Army was also swarming over England, and King Alfred the Great was preparing to do battle; but a Viking past is not all that the two nations have in common.
IN 988, Prince Vladimir I of Kiev was baptised a Christian;* so when the English princes Edmund and Edward, sons of Edmund Ironside, fled the Danish invasion of 1016 they naturally sought refuge with Vladimir’s son Yaroslav, in one of Europe’s great Christian courts; Edward later married one of Yaroslav’s daughters. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Gytha, daughter of defeated English king Harold Godwinson, married Yaroslav’s grandson Vladimir II Monomakh.*
Kiev fell to Batu Khan of the Golden Horde in 1240. Irksome as the servitude was, Russia’s princes accepted it, rather than accept servitude to the Pope and Europe’s Catholic states.* The English kings meanwhile doggedly pursued their losing battle for the French crown, and for a time Russia was forgotten. But in 1480, Prince Ivan III of Moscow broke free from the Horde, and in 1534 Henry VIII broke free from Rome. The English began to look for new diplomatic friends and commercial contacts, and a fresh chapter in Anglo-Russian relations opened.
Vladimir’s epic quest to find a religion for Rus’ began in 987, but the Baptism of Rus’ is dated to the following year, and celebrated to this day on July 15th. See The Conversion of Vladimir the Great.
So, at any rate, the Norse sagas say. See Gytha and Vladimir. For more Russian ties to Anglo-Saxon England, see Edward the Exile.
Précis
Scandinavian settlers established the first states of Rus’ in the late 9th century. From Novgorod centre of dominance moved first to Kiev, then to Vladimir in the 12th century, and finally Moscow in the fourteenth, and just before Tudor adventurer Richard Chancellor found his way to Russia, Ivan the Terrible proclaimed himself the first Tsar of all the Russias. (59 / 60 words)
Scandinavian settlers established the first states of Rus’ in the late 9th century. From Novgorod centre of dominance moved first to Kiev, then to Vladimir in the 12th century, and finally Moscow in the fourteenth, and just before Tudor adventurer Richard Chancellor found his way to Russia, Ivan the Terrible proclaimed himself the first Tsar of all the Russias.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: despite, if, must, otherwise, ought, since, unless, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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