Vladimir, the Russian Viking [Paperback]

Vladimir Volkoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 1988

Vladimir of Russia (960-1015), a prince of Viking origin, founded the Russian State and converted his people to Christianity. This is the first complete biography of his life, based on Russian, Greek, German, Arabic and Icelandic sources. Endowed with exceptional talents as a warrior, diplomat and administrator, Vladimir seized his brother's throne and expanded his rule over the whole of Russia. A shrewd, hospitable and progressive ruler, later to become the benevolent "Red Sun" of Russian folklore, he adopted the Christian faith from the Greeks in 989 and is now recognized as a saint by the Christian churches. Vladimir Volkoff has written several plays and novels and has won the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise, the Prix Chateaubriand and the Prix Jules Verne.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Christianity in A.D. 989, joining Russia to Europe and the Western world, not to the Asiatic. This first full-length biography of the prince concentrates on his life prior to the conversion and on the events (both political and spiritual) that led to his decision to adopt Christianity, with less detail on subsequent events. The author has relied heavily on the Russian Chronicle of Bygone Years as his source, but supplemented it with chronicles by Arab historians, Icelandic bards, and Greek monks. Differing interpretations have been relegated to extensive footnotes. The result is a highly readable, well-paced account that will appeal to nonspecialists as well as to historians. Marcia L. Sprules, Univ. of South Dakota Lib., Vermillion
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (September 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879512342
• ISBN-13: 978-0879512347
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,547,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bias is what you make of it, January 27, 2005

By 

Sfandra "Sfandra" (10thC Kiev) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vladimir, the Russian Viking (Hardcover)

I love this book, and recommend it to friends frequently as a source of cultural information on Kievan Rus'. That said, I never noticed a 'bias' as other reviewers mentioned, and I'm not even Christian! Rather, I felt the author took a 'conversational tone' with his readers, and a number of comments others may read as 'biased' I read as being delivered as if from the point of view of the personages under discussion. From such a stance, the book becomes as engaging as a work of fiction, made all the more entertaining for its framework of history. Certainly, we cannot blame an author for depicting the excesses or biases of the past. And Volkov deserves praise for the accessability of his work, far more so than other works available regarding Kievan Rus'. In fact, his passages describing what it would be like to ride through 10C Kiev are as vivid as an Oscar-winning film. I highly recommend this book for affictionados of Kievan Rus' AND new-come visitors to the realm of Medieval Russia.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The religious conversion of Rus, December 23, 2000

By 

Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vladimir, the Russian Viking (Paperback)

Superficially at least, the subject of this book -- the Viking presence in the preChristian land of Rus' -- is of great interest to me. Historical records and artifacts reveal that Scandinavian seafarers had been raiding and trading among the Slavs for at least a century before 855 AD. According to legend, upon that date the Slavs, whose diverse tribes were incessantly warring amidst themselves, entreated the Danes: "Our land is rich and vast, but there is no order in it. Come and rule over us." Rorik (Rus' - Rurik) of Jutland responded, and settled to reign in Novgorod. The Vikings brought with them their Norse Pantheon, which was assimilated by the Slavs. Thus, AllFather Odin (Rus' - Svarog) and His son Thor (Perun), god of war and thunder, took their honored place among the ancient Slavic deities.

Vladimir (Norse - Valdimar), protagonist of this book, was a direct descendent of Rurik. His grandmother Olga (Norse - Helga) had ruled Rus' for many years, but had been converted in her old age by the Church in Constantinople. In a polytheist society, Christian converts were tolerated as merely devotees of yet another god. Vladimir, raised by his aged grandmother, had been exposed to her religion, which no doubt influenced his own, much later, conversion.

Prince Vladimir 1 has been canonized by the Orthodox Church as the Saint who converted the people of Rus'. I began reading the book aware of that historical fact, but I was not expecting its content of blatent religious propaganda. The author makes no apology for his personal Christian bias or for his use of the Church publication "The Chronicle of Bygone Years" as his exclusive reference source. It is disconcerting enough to read that polytheistic pagans are "godless", their rituals "evil" and even "satanic". But the text does not stop there, and similarly vilifies Jews and Muslims. It even gets in a swipe or two at the Roman Catholic Church, longtime adversary of the Eastern Orthodox.

The conversion of Russia did not occur peacefully, as Vladimir systematically destroyed the images of the Slavo-Nordic pantheon, burned the villages of its worshippers, and forced baptism on the reluctant survivors. In his glowing description of this violent evangelism, the author apparently misses the irony: the Slavs are saved from their idolotry of wooden heathen images, that they exchange them for wooden Christian ikons. In the footnotes is explained the "charitable" reasoning behind the "excesses" of the Eastern and Western Churches: "heretics would be burned in this world so that they would not burn in the next"!

From the perspective of a nonChristian reader, it's a shame this most interesting history is propagandized by such intolerant religious chauvinism. One anecdote is enlightening, however. After tumbling the colossal image of Perun (Thor) in Kiev, Vladimir ordered it thrown into the Dniepr. To "cleanse" Russia of the pagan presence, the image was to be carried over the cataracts and smashed to pieces on the rocks below. However, the deity survived the journey intact and came to ground on a beach thereafter known as Perun's Shoal.

Thus, the Chronicle prophesied, paganism would never be erradicated completely from the people of Rus', but in fact would flourish after a thousand years. Indeed, the Russian language still retains many of its preChristian roots. "Odin" is the word for the number One; priroda, the word for Nature, invokes the most ancient of Slavic deities, the rodi, daughters of the Moist Earth Mother Herself. Slavic heathenism is experiencing a reawakening in post-Soviet Russia. The Orthodox Church, also reempowered after 70 years of Communist repression, is again trying to erradicate paganism and other "false" faiths, through alliance with the new government to establish itself as State Religion of Russia. Indeed, at a recent Church conference in Ukraine, this goal was stated -- along with the suggestion that Vladimir Putin be "appointed Tsar!"

Certainly, though, the resurgence of Christian values in Russian youth movements such as "Nashi" is commendable. And, but for the evangelism of Vladimir 1, all of Russia might have eventually been conquered by Islam. That could have drastically changed the religious fate of the world. In fact, emnity between a future pan-Islamic Caliphate (in the Caucasus) and the Russian Orthodox Church plays a major role in Islamic "End Times" prophesy...

"Vladimir the Russian Viking" is therefore a timely read. Although I had hoped for a Russian history sympathetic toward the culture of the Vikings, the Christian-Supremecist overtone of the text was unwittingly eye-opening, and is a harbinger of conflicts to come.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining and informative book, July 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Vladimir, the Russian Viking (Paperback)

As always, beware the author's bias. This book in particular seems to wear it author's opinions heavily. That said, Volkoff's writing style is easy to follow and guides the reader page by page through a fascinating account of the life and background of Vladimir I. If you are prepared to read through the religious overtones, a great deal of insight can be gained by this book.