Europe Rus' Khaganate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus’_Khaganate
The ruler of the Rus’ is mentioned by the title of “khagan” in several historical sources. Most of them are foreign texts dating from the 9th century. Three others are East Slavic sources from the 11th and 12th centuries.
The earliest European reference related to the khaganate comes from the Frankish Annals of St. Bertin. The Annals refer to a group of Norsemen, who called themselves Rhos (qi se, id est gentem suam, Rhos vocari dicebant[clarification needed]) and visited Constantinople around the year 838.[7]Fearful of returning home via the steppes, which would leave them vulnerable to attacks by the Magyars, these Rhos travelled through Germanyaccompanied by Greek ambassadors from the Byzantine emperor Theophilus. When questioned by the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious atIngelheim, they informed him that their leader was known as chacanus (the Latin for “Khagan” – almost common opinion, or “Hakan”, minority opinion)[8] and that they lived far to the north, and that they were Swedes (comperit eos gentis esse sueonum[clarification needed]).[3]
Thirty years later, in spring 871, the eastern and western emperors, Basil I and Louis II, quarreled over control of Bari, which had been conquered by their joint forces from the Arabs. The Byzantine emperor sent an angry letter to his western counterpart, reprimanding him for usurping the title of emperor. He argued that the Frankish rulers are simple reges, while the imperial title properly applied only to the overlord of the Romans, that is, to Basil himself. He also pointed out that each nation has its own title for the supreme ruler: for instance, the title of chaganus is used by the overlords of the Avars, Khazars (Gazari), and “Northmen” (Nortmanno). To that, Louis replied that he was aware only about the Avar khagans, and had never heard about the khagans of the Khazars and Normanns.[9][10] The content of Basil’s letter, now lost, is reconstructed from Louis’s reply, quoted in full in the Salerno Chronicle.[11] The correspondence between Louis and Basil indicates that at least one group of Scandinavians had a ruler who called himself “khagan”.
Ahmad ibn Rustah, a 10th century Muslim geographer from Persia, wrote that the Rus’ khagan (“khaqan rus”) lived on an island in a lake.[4][12] Constantine Zuckerman comments that Ibn Rustah, using the text of an anonymous account from the 870s, attempted to accurately convey the titles of all rulers described by its author, which makes his evidence all the more precious.[13] The Muslim geographer mentions only two khagans in his treatise — those of Khazaria and Rus. A further near-contemporary reference to the Rus’ comes from al-Yaqubi, who wrote in 889 or 890 that the Caucasus mountaineers, when besieged by the Arabs in 854, asked for help from the overlords (sahib) of al-Rum (Byzantium), Khazaria, and al-Saqaliba (Slavs).[14] Hudud al-Alam, an anonymous Arabicgeography text written in the late 10th century, refers to the Rus’ king as “rus-khaqan”.[15] As the unknown author of Hudud al-Alamrelied on numerous 9th-century sources, including ibn Khordadbeh, it is possible that his reference to the Rus’ Khagan was copied from earlier, pre-Rurikid texts, rather than reflecting contemporary political reality.[16] Finally, the 11th century Persian geographerAbu Said Gardizi mentioned “khaqan-i rus” in his work Zayn al-Akbar. Like other Muslim geographers, Gardizi relied on traditions stemming from the 9th century.[17]
There are good grounds for believing that the title “khagan” was still remembered in Kievan Rus’ during the Christian period.Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev applied the title “khagan” to the Grand Princes of Kievan Rus - Vladimir I of Kiev and Yaroslav I the Wisein the earliest surviving example of Old Kiev Rus literature, Slovo o Zakone i Blagodati (“Sermon on Law and Grace”), written around 1050.[18] Hilarion referred to Vladimir as “the great khagan of our land” (velikago kagana nashea zemlja, Vladimera) and Yaroslav as “our devout khagan.”[19] A graffito in the north gallery of Saint Sophia Cathedral reads “O Lord, save our khagan”, apparently in reference to Sviatoslav II (1073–1076).[20] As late as the end of the 12th century, The Tale of Igor’s Campaignrefers in passing to a “kogan Oleg”,[17] traditionally identified with Oleg of Tmutarakan.[21]
