Reference.com

Rurik Dynasty

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

The Rurik Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus', Rus' principalities, and early Russia from 862 to 1598.

The dynasty was established by Rurik, a semi-legendary Varangian ruler of Novgorod in 862 (according to Primary Chronicle). The founded state that existed from 862 is later called the Kievan Rus' by historians. In the middle of the 12th century Kievan Rus' transformed to a group of independent principalities (Rus' principalities), which were ruled by different branches of the Rurik dynasty. The Moscow principality won a struggle for supremacy between the Rus' states by the end of the 15th century. From the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Moscow branch of the Rurik Dynasty used the title "Tsar of all Russia" and ruled over the Tsardom of Russia. The Rurik Dynasty became extinct with the death in 1598 of tsar Feodor I.

After Feodor's death, an unstable period known as the Time of Troubles ensued, lasting until 1613. In that year, Mikhail I ascended to the throne, founding the Romanov dynasty that would last until 1917. A descendant from the Rurik Grand Prince of Tver was Catherine the Great who married Peter III of the Romanov dynasty. Likewise the historian Vasily Tatishchev was of the House of Rurik.

Among the descendants of the Rurik dynasty are noble families of Russia (Obolensky, Shuyski, Dolgorukov, Khilkoff, Repnin, Gorchakov, Gagarin, Putyatin and many others), as well as those of the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania (Ostrogski, Wareg-Massalski, Czetwertyński, and others).

List of rulers of the Rurik Dynasty

Princely families of Rurikid stock

from princes of

Noble families of Rurikid stock

who lost their princely titles, from princes of

See also

External links



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 15:16:41 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation