/asatru/ - Asatru / Heathenry / Paganism

Slightly predating the chronology of the legend of Rurik (which dates the first Norse arrival in the region around 858–860), an earlier record for the Scandinavian settlement of the region is found in the Annales Bertiniani (written up until 882) where a Rus' delegation is mentioned as having visited Constantinople in 838 and, intending to return to the Rus' Khaganate via the Baltic Sea, were questioned by Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious at Ingelheim am Rhein, where they said that although their origin was Swedish, they had settled in Northern Rus' under a leader who they designated as chacanus (the Latin form of Khagan, a title they had likely borrowed from contact with the Avars).[17][18]

The Varangian name of the city Holmgård/Holmgard (Holmgarðr or Holmgarðir) is mentioned in Norse Sagas as existing at a yet earlier stage (…) Originally, Holmgård referred only to the stronghold southeast of the present-day city, Rurikovo Gorodische (named in comparatively modern times after the Varangian chieftain Rurik, who supposedly made it his "capital" around 860). Archeological data suggests that the Gorodishche, the residence of the Knyaz (prince), dates from the mid-9th century,[16] whereas the town itself dates only from the end of the 10th century; hence the name Novgorod, "new city", from Old Church Slavonic Новъ and Городъ (Nov and Gorod), although German and Scandinavian historiography suggests the Old Norse term Nýgarðr, or the Old High German term Naugard. First mention of this Nordic or Germanic etymology to the name of the city of Novgorod (and that of other cities within the territory of the then Kievan Rus') occurs in the 10th-century policy manual De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII.

>>4750
In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki.

Four Viking kings—Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Hardrada—sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the 1030 death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, the city's community had erected in his memory Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod.

The town of Visby in Gotland functioned as the leading trading center in the Baltic before the Hansa League. At Novgorod in 1080, Visby merchants established a trading post which they named Gutagard (also known as Gotenhof).[19] Later, in the first half of the 13th century, merchants from northern Germany also established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as Peterhof.[20] At about the same time, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges, which made their position more secure.[21]

Garðaríki (anglicized Gardariki or Gardarike)[1] or Garðaveldi is the Old Norse term used in medieval times for the states of Kievan Rus'.

The meaning of the word Garðaríki is usually interpreted as "the kingdom of cities", or "the realm of towns",[2] which probably referred to a chain of forts along the Volkhov River, starting with Lyubsha and Ladoga (see Evolution of the word Gord). These forts had to assert themselves especially against the Khazar Khaganate until the end of the 9th century and therefore they developed the first East Slavic state which is known as Kievan Rus'.

Gardar contains the same root as Slavic gord ("town") and English garden. Garðr refers to a wall or fortification but came to primarily mean what it contained.

As the Varangians dealt mainly with Northern Russian lands, their sagas regard the city of Holmsgardr (Holmgarðr, Veliky Novgorod) as the capital of Garðaríki. Other local towns mentioned in the sagas are Aldeigjuborg (Old Ladoga), Kœnugarðr (Kiev), Pallteskja (Polotsk), Smaleskja (Smolensk), Súrsdalar (Suzdal), Móramar (Murom), and Ráðstofa (Rostov).

Three of the Varangian runestones, G 114, Sö 338, and U 209, refer to Scandinavian men who had been in Garðar.[3]

The Varangian Runestones are runestones in Scandinavia that mention voyages to the East (Austr) or the Eastern route (Austrvegr), or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki (what is today Russia, Belarus and Ukraine).

All of the stones were engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark and the message of many of the inscriptions can be summarized with a poem in the fornyrðislag style found on the Turinge Runestone Sö 338:

>These brothers were
>the best of men
>in the land
>and abroad in the retinue,
>held their housecarls well.
>He fell in battle
>in the east in Garðar (Russia),
>commander of the retinue,
>the best of landholders.

The Principality of the Kievan Rus' ruled over a vast area of land, stretching from the Baltic sea in the North to the Black sea in the south. They are a mix of many tribes, both Norse and Slavic, living under the rule of their princes. Many of the nobles are Varangians from Sweden who have either come with their families many years ago, or recently came searching to earn a fortune in the East.

Sometime around the year 862, a Norse chieftain named Rurik (Old Norse Rørik or Hrœrekr) arrived in the lands now known as Russia. The numerous yet unorganized Slavic tribes had been warring for centuries, and there would no end unless they were conquered by a foreign ruler. According to the Rus' Primary Chronicle, the tribes knew this and sent a message to the Varangians (another name for the Swedes) to come rule over them. And so, the foundation of the Rus' was born. Although the first years under Rurik were chaotic, his dynasty would come to rule one of the most powerful states in Europe.

Rurik passed his rule to his kinsman, Oleg, upon his death in the year 872. Though he had a son, named Igor (Old Norse Ingvar), he was much too young to rule over the Rus', and so Oleg ruled as his regent. During Oleg's reign, he pushed the Rus' even closer to their Golden Age. He wrestled control of Kiev from the two rogue Varangian warlords Haskuldr and Dyri, and moved the capital there from Novgorod (then known as Holmgarðr).

Igor's wife, Olga (the eastern germanic version of the central germanic given name Helga), ruled as regent until the year 963, when his son Svyatoslav (Sveinaldr in Old Norse) finally came of age. He was soon to become one of the greatest rulers in Kievan Rus' history.

Prince Svyatoslav's (aka Sveinaldr's) most celebrated deed was his conquest of the jewish barbarian kingdom of Khazaria in 966 following a great sea battle.

Very soon after he became King he was approached by the romans to attack his neighbors, the jewish-led Khazar Empire. He began rallying the many eastern germanic/varangian tribes subjugated under brutal jewish khazar rule to his cause, and those who did not join willingly were conquered once more.

Sveinaldr expanded his territory until finally he was close enough to attack al-Khazaria. In 965, he attacked and destroyed the cities of Sarkel and Kerch, and built the Rus' fortress Belaya Vyezha. Soon after, he proceededto the Khazar capital Atil, and destroyed it. After crushing al-Khazaria, he returned home to Kiev.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20141213185446AAgLrWf

"Unlike Normans in the West (GB, Ireland), known for their somehow discriminatory policy towards Celts, Varangians in the East assimilated into the Rus'/Eastern European society as there were actually not so many differencies between the two. Even if you look at our spiritual (I don't think "religious" would be a pertinent word here) beliefs, worldview etc they were really similar, except their names:

>Veles = Wotan/Odin,
>Perun = Thor,
>Jarilo = Baldr,
>Dazhbog = Freyr,
>Mokoš/Mokosh = Frigg,
>Chernobog = Loki,
>Mara/Marzanna/Morena = Hel,
>There are also similarities between:
>Komoeditsa and Ēostre,
>Kupala Day/Night and Midsummer,
>Solntsevorot and Yule,

Vikings/Varangians - Bogatyrs (Varangian warlord Sveneld trained the first Rus' bogatyr Dobrynya and Svyatoslav Igorevich),
Lad'ya (Ладья, Rus') - Viking ship,
and many many others.

Also, I personally believe that Old Rus' language (destroyed by Judeo-Christianity, which labeled us "slavic") was closer to Germanic languages. Just like the ancient Norse we had Runes. "