Primary Chronicle in the context of Theodosius of Kiev

Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The name was coined by Russian historians in the 19th century to describe the period when Kiev was preeminent. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.

According to the Primary Chronicle, the first ruler to unite East Slavic lands into what would become Kievan Rus' was Varangian prince Oleg the Wise (r. 879–912). He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, and took control of the city of Kiev, laying the foundation of the state and becoming prince of Kiev. Sviatoslav I (r. 943–972) achieved the first major territorial expansion of the state, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great (r. 980–1015) spread Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus' reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda, shortly after his death.

The Varangians (/vəˈrændʒiənz/ və-RAN-jee-ənz; Old Norse: Væringjar; Medieval Greek: Βάραγγοι, romanized: Várangoi; Old East Slavic: варяже, romanized: varyazhe, or варяги, varyagi) were Viking warriors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden, who settled in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from the 8th and 9th centuries and established the state of Kievan Rus' as well as the principalities of Polotsk and Turov. They also formed the Byzantine Varangian Guard.

According to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, a group of Varangians known as the Rus' settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik. Before Rurik, the Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity known as the Rus' Khaganate. Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Rurik's descendants.

Rurik (also spelled Rorik, Riurik or Ryurik; Church Slavonic: Рюрикъ, romanized: Rjurikŭ; Old Norse: Hrøríkʀ; died 879) was a Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who, according to tradition, was invited to reign in Novgorod in the year 862. The Primary Chronicle states that Rurik was succeeded by his kinsman Oleg who was regent for his infant son Igor.

Traditionally, Rurik has been considered the founder of the Rurik dynasty, which was the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus' and its principalities, and ultimately the Tsardom of Russia, until the death of Feodor I in 1598. As a result, he is considered to be the traditional founder of the Russian monarchy.

Oleg (Old East Slavic: Ѡлегъ, romanized: Ōlegǔ, Ольгъ, Olǐgǔ; Old Norse: Helgi; died 912), also known as Oleg the Wise, was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who became prince of Kiev, and laid the foundations of the Kievan Rus' state.

According to the Primary Chronicle, he succeeded his "kinsman" Rurik as ruler of Novgorod, and subdued many of the East Slavic tribes to his rule, extending his control from Novgorod to the south along the Dnieper river. Oleg also launched a successful attack on Constantinople. He died in 912 and was succeeded by Rurik's son, Igor.

The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes also Grand Duke) was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev (modern Kyiv) from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality, first of the grand prince of Vladimir and the Mongol Golden Horde governors, and was later taken over by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Rus' chronicles such as the Primary Chronicle are inconsistent in applying the title "grand prince" to various princes of Kievan Rus'. Although most sources consistently attribute it to the prince of Kiev, there is no agreement which princes were also "grand prince", and scholars have thus come up with different lists of grand princes of Kiev.

Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv were the three legendary brothers—often mentioned along with their sister Lybеd' —who, according to the Primary Chronicle, founded the city of Kiev (modern Kyiv), which eventually became the capital of Kievan Rus', and is the present-day capital of Ukraine.

There is no precise and historically established information about the existence of the four legendary siblings and the establishment of the city of Kiev. It has been claimed by some scholars that Kyi was also a prince (knyaz) and founded the so-called Kyi dynasty, from the Slavic tribe of Polans.

Kyiv, before 1991 commonly known as Kiev, has a history spanning well over a millennium, serving as the capital city of several countries up until present-day Ukraine, but its exact origins are uncertain and debated. In the 1970s, the city was officially designated to have been founded in 482, and thus its 1500th anniversity was celebrated in 1982, but depending on various criteria, the city or settlement may date back at least 2,000 years. Archaeologists have dated the oldest-known settlement in the area to 25,000 BC.

Legend recorded in later writings such as the Primary Chronicle has it that Saint Andrew (d. AD 60/70) visited the hilly shores of the Dnieper River and prophesied that a great city would emerge there. The same Chronicle reports another legend asserting that the three brothers Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and their sister Lybid founded the city and, after the eldest brother Kyi, named it Kyevû (киевъ, amongst many other attested spelling variations). The earliest more reliable evidence suggests it was initially an early medieval Slavic settlement paying tribute to the Khazars. Reportedly conquered or otherwise acquired by Varangians in c. 880, Kyiv would be the capital of medieval Kievan Rus' until 1240.

Nestor the Chronicler, or Nestor the Hagiographer, (Church Slavonic: Нестор Летописец, romanized: Nestor Letopisec; c. 1056 – c. 1114) was a monk from Kievan Rus' who is known to have written two hagiographies: the Life of the Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves and the Account about the Life and Martyrdom of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb.

Traditional historiography has also attributed to Nestor the Primary Chronicle (PVL), the most revered chronicle of Kievan Rus', which earned him the nickname "the Chronicler," though many modern scholars doubt this authorship. Given this controversy, some scholars refer to Nestor as "the Hagiographer," to identify him with the two hagiographies he did author.

Rogneda or Rogned (Church Slavonic: Рогънѣдь, romanized: Rogŭnědĭ; Christian name: Anastasia; c. 960 – c. 1000), also known as Ragnhild (Ragnheiðr), is a person mentioned in the Primary Chronicle as having been a princess of Polotsk, the daughter of Rogvolod (Ragnvald), who came from Scandinavia and established himself at Polotsk in the mid-10th century. Vladimir the Great is narrated as having killed her father and taking her as one of his wives.

In a closely related, but separate story in the Suzdalian Chronicle, the daughter of Rogvolod of Polotsk is called Gorislava, and Vladimir rapes her in front of her parents before killing her father and taking her as a wife, after which Gorislava attempts to kill Vladimir in revenge.

"Polish tribes" is a term used sometimes to describe the tribes of West Slavic Lechites that lived from around the mid-6th century in the territories that became Polish with the creation of the Polish state by the Piast dynasty. The territory on which they lived became a part of the first Polish state created by duke Mieszko I and expanded at the end of the 10th century, enlarged further by conquests of king Bolesław I at the beginning of the 11th century.

In about 850 AD a list of peoples was written down by the Bavarian Geographer. Absent on the list are Lechitic-speaking Polans, Pomeranians and Masovians, who became known later and were written about by Nestor the Chronicler in his Primary Chronicle (11th/12th century).

Igor (Church Slavonic: Игорь; Old Norse: Ingvarr; c. 877 – 945) was Prince of Kiev from 912 to 945. Traditionally, he is considered to be the son of Rurik, who established himself at Novgorod and died in 879 while Igor was an infant. According to the Primary Chronicle, Rurik was succeeded by Oleg, who ruled as regent and was described by the chronicler as being "of his kin".

Muromian is an extinct Uralic language formerly spoken by the Muromian tribe, in what is today the Murom region in Russia. They are mentioned by Jordanes as Mordens and in the Primary Chronicle. Very little is known about the language, but it was probably either closely related to the Mordvinic languages, or a language closely related to Meryan. Muromian probably became extinct in the Middle Ages around the 10th century, as the Muromians were assimilated by the Slavs. The Muromian language is unattested, but is assumed to have been Uralic, and has frequently been placed in the Volga-Finnic category.

Roderick, Rodrick or Roderic (Proto-Germanic *Hrōþirīks, from *hrōþiz, lit. 'fame, glory' + *ríks, 'king, ruler') is a Germanic name, recorded from the 8th century onward. Its Old High German forms are Hrodric, Chrodericus, Hroderich, Roderich, Ruodrich, etc.; in Gothic language Hrōþireiks; in Old English language it appears as Hrēðrīc or Hroðrīc, and in Old Norse as Hrǿríkʀ (Old East Norse Hrø̄rīkʀ, Rø̄rīkʀ, Old West Norse as Hrœrekr, Rœrekr).

In the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, the name is reflected as Рюрикъ, i.e. Rurik. In Spanish and Portuguese, it was rendered as Rodrigo, or in its short form, Ruy or Rui, and in Galician, the name is Roy or Roi. In Arabic, the form Ludharīq (لُذَرِيق‎), used to refer Roderic (Ulfilan Gothic: *Hroþareiks), the last king of the Visigoths. Saint Roderick (d. 857) is one of the Martyrs of Córdoba.

The Laurentian Codex or Laurentian Letopis (Russian: Лаврентьевский список, Лаврентьевская летопись) is a collection of chronicles that includes the oldest extant version of the Primary Chronicle and its continuations, mostly relating the events of the northeastern Rus' principalities of Vladimir-Suzdal.