majority of the population.

Lack of knowledge Is, of course, no bar to historiographical speculation: just how<br>

many of the rural population were or were not dependent or free, In which senses? At what stage is tt or Is it not<br>
legitimate to speak of feudal structures and relations? visions of early Rus range from a cluste city states<br>
sustalnedpartly by slave labour and partly by the surplus produce of a free peasantry, to 28 RZ,, vol. I, pp. <br>
13540; cf. Kaiser, The Laws of Rus, pp. 424. 25 -SeeRZ,, vol. I, pp. 168/0 (short version); <br>
cf.Kalser,TheLawsofRus, pp. 4556 (expanded verslon).30 See Franklin, Writing, Society and Culture, pp. <br>
12586. 8/ slmon franklin a feudal economy based on the growth of aristocratic manorial estates and a largely<br>
dependent peasantry..?! in, addition,, the overall picture may have to accommodate wide regional differences.<br>
These are, of course, major Issues, but the visible pieces of the jigsaw allow too many plausible but conflicting<br>
reconstructions to justify full confidence In any of them. external relations For most of the history of Rus<br>
therewas no such thing as a Rus foreign, policy.In, those periods when, political power In Rus was relatively<br>
unitary, one can, construe the actions of the prince of Kiev, or the agreed joint actions of senior princes, as the<br>
policy of Rus. Sole rule and joint action, were more common during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries<br>
than- at any subsequent period, but still the normwas for the regional princes to pursue their own. Interests<br>
Indealing with their neighbours. Collective diplomacy such as thatwhlch had led to the tenth-century trade<br>
agreements with Constantinople was Increasingly Implausible, If not yet wholly Impossible. Cur tour of the<br>
regions begins In the north, laroslavs ties with Scandinavia were established during the decades he spent in<br>
Novgorod. Hewas married to Inglgerd, daughter of the king of Sweden, and In the battles of 101515 may<br>
also haveformed an alliance with the king of Lenm«rk.32 Scandinavian sagas speakwarmly of the hospitality<br>
of Prince larlslelf ofHolmgarthr (= Novgorod) and of the aid he provided to distinguished vikings on their<br>
journeys along the cast way.33 However, laroslav was the last significant Rus prince to maintain such close<br>
traditional ties with In part the abrupt decline from the mid-eleventh ceny was due to the strains<br>
of the relationship Itself. The chronicle hints at antagonism between the mercenaries and the settled<br>
Novgorodlan population, just as It hints that vladlmlr himself had been pleased to offload Scandinavian<br>
warriors to Constantlnople.34 in part, however, thesi For a history of the debates In Russia see M. K. Sverdlov, <br>
Cbshchestvennyl strol Drevnel Rusl v russkol Istorlcheskol nauke XVIIIXX vv. (St Petersburg: Fmltrll Bulanin,
<br>
1556); also Vernadsky, Kievan Russia, pp. 14351. 32 see A. V. Na;zareio,)zo, C russko-datskom soluze v pervol<br>
chetvertl XI v., Lrevnelshle gosudarstva na terrltorll SSSR. Materlaly I Issledovanlla. 1 550 god (Moscow:<br>
Nauka, 1551), pp. 16/50.33 H. R. cllls pavldson, The viking Road to Byzantium (London: c]eoyqe ALUK and<br>
wnwln/15/6), pp. isg/3; Henrik Blrnbaum, laroslavs varanglan Connection, Scandoslavlca 24 (15/8): 525. <br>
For an array of sources see T. N. pzhakson, Islandskle korolevskle saglo vostochnol Cvrope (seredlna Xl-
seredlna<br>
Xili v.) (teksty, perevod, ommentarll) (Moscow: Ladomlr, 2000). 34 PVL, vol. I, pp. 56, 55, 5/. 88 Kievan Rus<br>
(1C15H25) yediAced Intensity of direct political links with Scandinavia reflects the doM^ayodi^q, In the<br>
second half of the eleventh century, of the autonomy of the Novgorod prince. For much of the eleventh ceychtyy<br>
the north-eastern settlements such as Rostov and Suzdal were still remote outposts In the midst of often hostile<br>
peoples. A bishop sent In the 10/Os was reportedly murdered, the Primary Chronicle tells of pagan-led uprisings,
<br>
and vLctdiiody Monomakh In his autobiography Indicates that a march through the vlatlchl (the tribe separating<br>
the middle pnleper region from the north-eastern settlements) was particularly hazardous.35 However, the<br>
region hadobvlous economic potential, with Its vast reserves of valuable furs and Its strategic position on the<br>
trade route between the Baltic and the middle Volga. Towards the end of the century there was already fierce<br>
competition among the southern princes of Kiev, Chernigov an elaslavl for tribute-collecting rights In the north-
<br>
east. The Llubech agreement of105/ was prompted In part by just such a conflict between vladlmlr Monomakh<br>
and his cousin cleg Svlatoslavlch of Chernigov. Nevertheless, therelatlvely lowstatus of Suzdal Is reflected In<br>
the fact that Monomakh allocated It to lurll, the youngest of his many sons. The story of Its transformation<br>
Into a powerful abondon principality under lurll, later known as polgorukll (Long Arm), belongs to another<br>