Древняя Русь и Скандинавия: Избранные труды

The legal regulation of trade connections between Ancient Russia and Scandinavian countries is usually supposed to start in the late twelfth century[1237] as the earliest extant trade treaty is dated to 1191–1192[1238]. The treaty was concluded by Novgorod authorities with Gotland (OR Gotskij bereg, the Gothic coast) and German towns. It provided for freedom of trade and safety of merchants, defi ned trade procedures, duties, etc., and promoted diplomatic relations.

In the preamble to the treaty, however, an earlier agreement is mentioned. Novgorod prince «Jaroslav Volodimerich having consulted posadnik Miroshka and tysjatskij Jakov confi rms the old treaty [OR mir, peace, peace treaty]…»[1239]. This phrase gave rise to a supposition that the treaty of 1191–1192 was not the first one and that it was preceded by at least one, or more treaties. E. Bonnell suggested that the «old treaty» was concluded not later than in 1160[1240]. W. Rennkamp dated it to 1160–1180[1241] assuming that it appeared as a result of the activities of Heinrich the Lion of Bavaria and Saxony who, according to Helmold’s «Chronica», sent two ambassadors to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia[1242]. W. Rennkamp regarded it to be a bilateral treaty which regulated trade connections between Russia and Germany. A diff erent dating and interpretation of the «old treaty» was suggested by E. A. Rybina. She thought that it appeared during the domination of Gotland on the Baltic Sea, i. e. in the fi rst half or at the beginning of the twelfth century, and that it regulated the trade between Visby and Novgorod[1243].

In her recent study A. L. Choroškevič accepted W. Rennkamp’s dating of the agreement mentioned in the text of the 1191–1192 treaty, but she thought that there could have been two or even more earlier agreements of Novgorod with diff erent partners. She isolated three chronological strata corresponding to earlier treaties in the 1191–1192 text, the oldest one dating to the early eleventh century, the «old treaty» concluded in the 1160s, and the extant text compiled in 1191–1192. The oldest part of the treaty, according to A. L. Choroškevič, comprised clauses concerning payments for diff erent off ences of free men, their wives, and daughters as well as the procedure of extracting debts on merchants. These regulations resemble, in A. L. Choroškevič’s opinion, those codifi ed in the short version of the «Russian Law» compiled in 1015–1016 by Jaroslav the Wise to improve the relations between his Varangians and the Novgorodians[1244].

This hypothetical early eleventh-century treaty of Novgorod left no traces in Old Russian written sources. However, there seems to exist an allusion to a possible trade agreement of Ancient Rus’ and Norway in the times of Olaf Haraldsson in one of the Old Norse-Icelandic kings’ sagas. This allusion is incorporated in a story about the voyage of two Norwegians, Björn and Karl, to Rus’. The story forms a part of a narration about the stay of Magnus the Good, the son of Olaf Haraldsson, in Rus before his return to Norway.

Magnus’s stay in Rus’ is described at length only in «Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða» which is included in «Morkinskinna» and «Flateyarbók» and its fi rst part as a separate «Saga Magnúsar konungs ens góða» exists in «Hulda». The compilation found in «Morkinskinna», GkS 1009 fol. (ca. 1275), is thought to be originally produced at the beginning of the thirteenth century and revised in 1220–1230. The compiler used «Ágrip af noregs konunga sögum» (ca. 1190) and skaldic verses, but his sources for the major part of the text, including «Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds hardráða» are obscure[1245]. According to Finnur Jónsson, the compiler of «Morkinskinna» based on separate sagas about Magnus, Harald and other kings which were composed between 1150 (or 1160) and 1180[1246]. At the moment, the existence of only one separate early saga, that of Harald the Hard-Ruler, seems probable. G. Inderbø found no proofs for the existence of early separate sagas about Norwegian kings after Olaf Haraldsson. He supposed that «Morkinskinna» was an original composition and it was the fi rst attempt to present the history of Norwegian kings after Olaf the Saint[1247]. Though with some reservations, Th.M. Andersson shared this opinion and included «Morkinskinna» into a group of original kings’ sagas created between 1190 and 1220 and defined it as «a firsthand narrative drawn directly from skaldic and oral prose tradition»[1248].

The same narration about Magnus’s stay in Rus’ is also present in «Flateyjarbók», GkS 1005 fol. (1387–1394), in «Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds hardráða» written on additional leaves of the second half of the fi fteenth century and in «Saga Magnúsar konungs ens góða» in «Hulda», AM 66 fol., compiled in the mid-fourteenth century on the basis of «Morkinskinna» and «Heimskringla».