Yakun
Encyclopedia
Varangians
The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
(Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
) leader who is mentioned in the Primary Chronicle
Primary Chronicle
The Primary Chronicle , Ruthenian Primary Chronicle or Russian Primary Chronicle, is a history of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113.- Three editions :...
and in the Cave monastery
Kiev Pechersk Lavra
Kiev Pechersk Lavra or Kyiv Pechersk Lavra , also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine....
in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. The chronicle tells that he arrived in Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
in the year 1024 and fought in the Battle of Listven
Battle of Listven
The Battle of Listven was part of the succession struggle following the death of Vladimir the Great in 1015. It was fought between Mstislav of Chernigov and Kievan forces supporting Yaroslav the Wise; Mstislav defeated Yarslav...
between the half-brothers Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...
and Mstislav of Chernigov
Mstislav of Chernigov
Mstislav of Chernigov was the earliest attested ruler of Chernigov . He was Vladimir the Great's son, probably by Rogneda of Polotsk, although his exact position in the family has been disputed. It is not clear, for instance, whether Yaroslav the Wise was his younger or elder brother...
.
Account
Yaroslav had arrived in Novgorod and sent a request to ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
that he needed Norse warriors. Yakun arrived as the leader of the Varangians and he was dressed in a robe that was woven with gold. In the autumn of 1024, Yaroslav and Yakun marched with their forces to Chernigov, but Mstislav had been informed of their approach and met them at Listven.
In the evening, when the battle took place, a thunderstorm appeared with rain that fell on the combatants. Mstislav had put his own retinue on the flanks, while he had positioned the Severians
Severians
The Severians or Severyans or Siverians were a tribe or tribal union of early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper river around the rivers Desna, Sejm and Sula on the territory of the archaeological Romny culture....
in the centre to engage with the Varangians. Mstislav ordered the Severians to attack and after a while the Varangians had exhausted themselves by fighting against the Severians. Seeing that the Vikings had become tired, Mstislav ordered his own troops to attack them as well.
In the darkness of the thunderstorm, it was only when the lightning flared that they could see their own swords, and so they accidentally killed their own. After a while Yaroslav saw that his army was overpowered and he ordered retreat. Yakun lost his golden robe during the departure.
Yaroslav returned to Novgorod, while Yakun returned overseas and he died there. Mstislav observed the many dead Severians and Varangians, and was happy that no one in his own retinue had fallen.
Blind or handsome
In the Primary Chronicle, Yakun is described as slěpъ which has been interpreted as either sь lěpъ meaning "the handsome one" or sьlěpъ which means "blind". Omeljan PritsakOmeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Pritsak was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.-Career:Pritsak began his academic career at the University of Lvov in interwar Poland where he...
notes that it is difficult to imagine a blind Viking commander although there have been blind generals in history, such as the Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo — anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus — was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1195 until his death...
. He also argues that a blind Viking commander during the 11th century would have been remembered in Scandinavian sources.
Scandinavian sources
Although old Russian sources often mention that the rulers of Kievan Rus'Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
requested warriors from Scandinavia, Yakun is the only commander who is mentioned by name. However, his identification is rendered difficult by the fact that Old Russian sources and Old Norse sources rarely agree, as in the case of the Swedish princesses who married Yaroslav and Mstislav, where Russian sources give no hints of their origins.
In Sweden, there are two runic inscriptions that mention a jarl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
named Hákon, U 617 and Sm 76, but scholars disagree on whether the two runestones refer to the same person and who they were. All known Hakon Jarls have been involved in the debate: Hákon Sigurðarson
Haakon Sigurdsson
Haakon Sigurdarsson was the de facto ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995.-Background:Haakon was the son of Sigurd Haakonsson, Jarl of Lade and ruler of Trøndelag and Hålogaland. His mother was Bergljot Toresdatter, daughter of Tore Ragnvaldsson, Earl of Møre...
(d. 995), his grandson Hákon Eiríksson
Håkon Eiriksson
Håkon Eiriksson was Earl of Lade and king of Norway as a vassal under Knut the Great.Håkon Eiriksson was from a dynasty of Norwegian rulers in the eastern part of Trondheim, bordering the Trondheimsfjord. He was the son of Eirik Håkonson, ruler of Norway and earl of Northumbria...
(d. 1029), Hákon Ívarsson (d. 1062) and Hákon Pálsson (d. 1122). The most common view among runologists (Brate, von Friesen, Wessén, Jansson, Kinander and Ruprecht) is that the two stones refer to different Hakon Jarls and that U 617 refers to a Swede and that Sm 76 refers to the Norwegian Hákon Eiríksson together with U 16.
Based on the interpretation that Yakun was handsome, Pritsak identifies him as the Norwegian jarl Håkon Eiriksson whose family is said to have been unusually handsome in Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
's Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar ch 40-41. Moreover, the fact that Håkon Eiriksson belonged to a royal dynasty would explain why the Primary Chronicle mentioned him as a king and an equal to Yaroslav. Additionally, in Austrfaravísur (strophe 19) it is reported that when the skald
Skald
The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...
Sigvatr Þórðarson
Sigvatr Þórðarson
Sigvatr Þórðarson or Sigvat the Skald was an Icelandic skald. He was a court poet to King Olaf II of Norway, as well as Canute the Great, Magnus the Good and Anund Jacob, by whose reigns his floruit can be dated to the earlier eleventh century.Sigvatr was the best known of the court skalds of...
arrived in Sweden in 1023, he learned of "treason" in Kievan Rus' (probably in respect to Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
) which would have been done by a man of Eiríkr Hákonarson
Eiríkr Hákonarson
Eiríkr Hákonarson or Eric of Norway or Eric of Hlathir was earl of Lade, ruler of Norway and earl of Northumbria.-Background:...
's family. Eirík had been banished from Norway by Olaf II of Norway in 1014.
Family
In the cave monastery in KievKiev Pechersk Lavra
Kiev Pechersk Lavra or Kyiv Pechersk Lavra , also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine....
there is a collection of stories on saints and one of them tells of the Varangian Šimon
Šimon
Šimon was a Varangian whose story is related in the Kievan Patericon and his story concerns the creation of the Kievan cave monastery, where he is reported to have been its most important donor.-Story:...
(Sigmundr) who was the son of the Varangian lord Afrikan (Alfrekr). The latter was the brother of Yakun and after Afrikan's death Yakun banished Šimon from his kingdom and he lived the rest of his life in exile in Kievan Rus' serving both Yaroslav and his son.