Coats of arms appeared in Russia a long time ago, but these were only drawings that did not obey heraldic rules. Due to the lack of knighthood in Rus', coats of arms were not very common. At its very beginning (until the 16th century), Russia was a disunited state, so there could be no talk of a state emblem of Russia. However, despite the fact that the 16th century is considered the final date for the unification of Rus', the state emblem in Russia appears already under Ivan III (1462-1505). It is he who is credited with the establishment of the state emblem, as such. At that time, his seal acted as a coat of arms. On its front side there is a picture of a horseman piercing a serpent with a spear, on the back side there is a double-headed eagle.
The origins of the double-headed eagle go back a long way. The first images of him known to us date back to the 13th century BC. This is a rock carving of a double-headed eagle grabbing two birds with one stone. It served as the coat of arms of the Hittite kings.
Then the double-headed eagle is discovered in the Median kingdom - an ancient power spread over the territory of Western Asia - during the reign of the Median king Cyaxares (625-585 BC). Centuries passed. And now we already see the double-headed eagle on the emblems of Rome. Here he appeared under Constantine the Great. In 326, he chose the double-headed eagle as his emblem. After the founding of the new capital - Constantinople - in 330, the double-headed eagle became the state emblem of the Roman Empire. In Rus', the double-headed eagle appeared after the marriage of John III Vasilyevich and Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XII Paleologus. The history of the relationship between Rus' and Byzantium is very deep and interesting and is a topic for separate work. However, let us briefly address this issue. The first historical mentions of relations between Russia and Byzantium date back to 957 - the year when Princess Olga traveled to Constantinople and converted to Christianity. But then relations with Byzantium in Rus' deteriorated. So in 969-972 a war broke out between them for Bulgaria, which was conquered by Svyatoslav.
Later, in 988, Vladimir the Holy baptized Rus'.
“The adoption of Christianity from Byzantium by Russia widely opened the door to the influence of Byzantine culture, Byzantine ideas and institutions. This influence had a significant impact in the political sphere. Together with Christianity, a stream of new ideas began to penetrate into Rus' political concepts and relationships. On Prince of Kyiv the incoming clergy carried over the Byzantine concept of a sovereign appointed by God not only for the external defense of the country, but also for the establishment and maintenance of internal social order...”
However, there is no further historical evidence of relations between Rus' and Byzantium until 1469, when Pope Paul II proposed the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos Sophia as a wife to the Russian sovereign John III Vasilvich, whose wedding took place in 1472. This marriage did not lead Moscow to a religious union with Rome, but had important consequences for the rise of monarchical power in Moscow. As the latter's husband Byzantine princess, the Grand Duke of Moscow becomes, as it were, the successor of the Byzantine emperor, who was considered the head of the entire Orthodox East. At the request and on the advice of Sofia, a magnificent, complex and strict ceremony began to take place in the Moscow Kremlin at the court of the Grand Duke, following the models of the Byzantine court. From the end of the 15th century, the previously dominant simplicity of relations and direct treatment of the sovereign with his subjects gradually ceased, and he rose above them to an unattainable height. Instead of the former simple and “household” title “Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich,” Ivan III takes on the magnificent title: “John, by the grace of God, Sovereign of All Rus' and Grand Duke Vladimir and Moscow and Novgorod and Pskov and Tver and Yugorsk and Perm and Bulgarian and others.”
In relations with small neighboring lands, the title of Tsar of All Rus' appears. Another title adopted by the Muscovite sovereigns, “autocrat” is a translation of the Byzantine imperial title autocrator; This title originally meant an independent sovereign, not subordinate to any external authority, but Ivan the Terrible gave it the meaning of the absolute, unlimited power of the monarch over his subjects. Since the end of the 15th century, the Byzantine coat of arms - a double-headed eagle (which is combined with the former Moscow coat of arms - the image of St. George the Victorious) appears on the seals of the Moscow sovereign. This is how Rus' designated its continuity from Byzantium, which is the first reflection of its development on the coat of arms...
The formation of the Russian coat of arms from Ivan III to Peter I
Already at the very beginning of development Russian coat of arms we see it intertwined with the history of Rus'. An interesting fact is that the eagle on the seals of John III was depicted with a closed beak and looked more like an eaglet than an eagle. If you look at Russia of that period, you can see that it is a young state that is just beginning to take shape as a centralized one. The first reliable evidence of the use of the double-headed eagle as a state emblem is the seal of John III Vasilyevich on the exchange document of 1497 with his nephews, princes Fyodor and Ivan Borisovich Volotsky.
During the reign Vasily III Ioannovich (1505-1533) the double-headed eagle is depicted with open beaks, from which tongues protrude. This, for example, is evidenced by the seal attached in 1523 to the record of the sovereign and Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich when he departed with the army for Kazan. In short, if we approach it from a purely artistic point of view, we can say that the eagle is starting to get angry. At the same time, having examined Russia at that time, we note that it was strengthening its position and becoming a new center of Orthodoxy. This fact was embodied in the theory of the monk Philotheus “Moscow - the Third Rome”, known from the monk’s letter to Vasily III.
During the reign of John IV Vasilievich (1533-1584), Rus' won decisive victories over the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms and annexed Siberia. The growth of the power of the Russian state was also reflected in its coat of arms. Double headed eagle on state seal crowned with one eight-pointed crown Orthodox cross above her. On the obverse of the seal on the eagle's chest there is a shield of a carved, or “Germanic” shape, with a unicorn - the personal sign of the king. The fact is that all the symbols used in the personal symbolism of John IV are taken from the Psalter, which indicates the rooting of Christianity in Rus'. On the reverse side of the seal on the eagle's chest is a shield with the image of St. George beating a serpent. Subsequently, this side of the seal will play an important role in the formation of the Russian coat of arms. The image of the Moscow coat of arms on the chest of an eagle becomes traditional. However, in accordance with the ancient Russian icon painting tradition, St. George is facing the right side of the viewer, which contradicts the heraldic rules.
21 February 1613 Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom. This put an end to the Troubles, which, in the period between the death of Ivan the Terrible and the accession to the throne of Mikhail Romanov, undermined the spirit of the Russian people and almost eradicated Russian statehood. Russia was on the path to prosperity and greatness. During this period, the eagle on the coat of arms “started up” and spread its wings for the first time, which could mean the “awakening” of Russia after a long sleep, and the beginning new era in the history of the state. By this period, Russia had completely completed its unification and had already managed to become a single and fairly strong state. And this fact is symbolically reflected in the state emblem. Above the eagle, instead of an eight-pointed cross, a third crown appeared, which meant the Holy Trinity, but was interpreted by many as a symbol of the unity of Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians.
Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1645-1676) managed to end the Russian-Polish conflict by establishing the Truce of Andrusovo with Poland (1667), under which Russia was able to “show itself” to all of Europe. The Russian state occupies a fairly significant place next to European states. During the reign of Alexei Romanov, the appearance of a new image of the coat of arms was also noted. This is due to the fact that, at the request of the tsar, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I sent his king of arms Lavrentiy Khurelevich to Moscow, who in 1673 wrote an essay “On the genealogy of Russian great princes and sovereigns, showing the kinship between Russia and Russia through marriages.” eight European powers, that is, Caesar of Rome, the kings of England, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, and with the image of these royal coats of arms, and in the middle of them the Grand Duke St. Vladimir, at the end of the portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.”
It was the starting point for the development of Russian heraldry. The state eagle of Alexei Mikhailovich was the prototype of subsequent official images of the Russian armorial eagle. The eagle’s wings are raised high and fully open, which symbolized the complete establishment of Russia as a solid and powerful state; Its heads are crowned with three royal crowns, a shield with the Moscow coat of arms is placed on its chest, and a scepter and orb in its paws. An interesting fact is that before the attributes of monarchical power appeared in the eagle’s paws, the eagle’s claws, starting from the eagle on the marble slab of the Xiropotamian monastery in Athos (Byzantium, 451-453), gradually unclenched, as if in the hope of grabbing something, until they took orb and scepter, thereby symbolizing the establishment of an absolute monarchy in Rus'.
In 1667, with the help of Lavrenty Khurelevich, an official explanation of the Russian coat of arms was given for the first time: “The double-headed eagle is the sovereign coat of arms of the Great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Great and Lesser and White Russia, the autocrat, His Royal Majesty of the Russian Empire, on which three crowns are depicted , signifying the three great Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian glorious kingdoms, submitting to the God-protected and highest power of His Royal Majesty, the Most Gracious Sovereign... on the Persians is the image of the heir; in the box there is a scepter and an apple, and they reveal the most merciful Sovereign, His Royal Majesty the Autocrat and Possessor.” As you can see, the description gives a new interpretation of the elements of the coat of arms. It is dictated by diplomatic considerations and should testify to the greatness of Russia.
"From Ancient Rus' to the Russian Empire." Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
Complete collection of laws Russian Empire"Collection 1. St. Petersburg, 1830
“Collection of state charters and agreements” part 1. M, 1813
Brockhaus and Efron “Chronology of General and Russian History.” St. Petersburg, 1905
Brockhaus and Efron “Encyclopedia” vol. 17. St. Petersburg, 1893
Von Winkler P.P. "State Eagle" St. Petersburg: type. E. Hoppe, 1892
“Anthology on the history of the USSR XVI - XVII centuries.” M, 1962
Vilinbakhov G.V. “State heraldry of Russia at the end of the 17th - first quarter of the 18th century. (on the issue of the formation of absolutism in Russia)” // Abstract of the dissertation for the degree of candidate of historical sciences. L, 1982
“Heraldry” // Materials and research of the State Hermitage. L: GE, 1987 (1988)
Noble families of the Russian Empire.” St. Petersburg, 1993
“History of Russia in persons and dates” Dictionary-reference book. St. Petersburg, 1995
Kamentsev E.I., Ustyugov N.V. “Russian sphragistics and heraldry.” M, 1974
N.M. Karamzin “Tales of the Ages”. M., 1988
Lakier A.B. “Russian heraldry”. M: Book, 1990
Lebedev V. “Sovereign Eagle of Russia.” M: Rodina, 1995
Lukomsky V.K. “The coat of arms as a historical source” // Brief reports on reports and field research of the Institute of the History of Material Culture. M, 1947; issue 17.
Lukomsky V.K. “Stamp examination (cases and methods of application)” // “Archival file” 1939 N 1 (49).
Lukomsky V.K. “On heraldic art in Russia.” St. Petersburg, 1911.
“The new coat of arms approved by Emperor Paul.” 1799, B. M. and G.
Pushkarev S.G. “Review of Russian History.” Stavropol, 1993.
Khoroshkevich A.A. “Symbols of Russian statehood.” M., 1989
G. Vilinbakhov “Pedigree of the Russian coat of arms” // “Motherland” 1993 N1
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Konov A. “Russian Heraldry” // “Neva” 1985 N2.
Written sources
Kolyumny
Similarities with the personal emblems of the Rurikovichs are revealed by the Lithuanian sign known as “Columns” or “Pillars of Gediminas”. This emblem, considered the personal coat of arms of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, was used by his descendants as a family coat of arms. The first surviving image of “Column” dates back to 1397, during the reign of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. The Pillars of Gediminas are considered one of the ancient symbols Lithuania; the image of this emblem is part of the large coat of arms of the Republic of Lithuania.
Noteworthy is the similarity of the sign of Gediminas with the two- and three-pronged personal heraldic emblems of the Rurikovichs. In fact, it is built according to the same scheme: a base in the form of an inverted letter “P” with additional elements. Considering that by the 13th century the unified ancient Russian state ceased to exist, the numerous family ties between the branches of the Rurikovichs and the Lithuanian princes, as well as the extension of the power of the Grand Duke of Lithuania to part of the territories that were part of Kievan Rus, it is possible to assume that the “pillars of Gediminas” are a further development Old Russian princely emblems. It should be noted, however, that, despite the tempting and attractiveness of such a theory, it still remains only a hypothesis, not supported by documentation.
Modern use
Despite the fact that the heraldic symbols of the princes Ancient Rus' ceased to be used back in the 13th century; in the 20th century, one of them, namely the “coat of arms” of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, was pulled out of oblivion, but in a new capacity.
Emblem of Ukraine
After the liquidation of the USSR in 1991, by resolution of the Supreme Council of Ukraine dated February 19, 1992, the trident was approved as a small state
"SIGNS OF RURIKOVYCH"- a name used in historical literature for symbolic images in the form of a trident or bident, found on coins and various household items of the 10th-12th centuries.
For the first time, a sign in the form of a bident, directed high up, with a short spur downwards, is found on the seal of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, found during excavations of the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv. A similar sign was used by Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise and others. Bricks with a mark in the form of the “sign of Rurikovich” were used in the construction of the palace of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich near the Church of the Tithes, the Chernigov Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior (early 11th century), St. Michael’s Church in Ostersky Gorodets (12th century), Boris and Gleb Church in Smyadyn near Smolensk, Golden Gate in Vladimir (1164), stone canopy in Bogolyubovo. The “sign of Rurikovich” is common on the bottoms of clay products in Kyiv, Belgorod, Izyaslavl, Vyshgorod.
The mysterious images have not yet received a clear explanation from researchers. 19th century historian N.M. Karamzin considered them to be the ancestral signs of Russian princes, descended from Rurik. This view prevailed for more than a century. All R. 20th century B.A. Rybakov suggested that the strange images represent “signs of princely property”, which were placed on princely coins, on the weapons of his warriors, on princely goods; The artisans-servants who worked at the princely court - potters, brickmakers, goldsmiths, etc. - marked their tools with princely signs. Some researchers looked for the origins of this sign in the ornament of runic stones imitating snakes (10-11 centuries), which personified ships.
IN Eastern Europe this sign has been known since the first centuries AD. The Bosporan kings of the 2nd-3rd centuries placed it on their coins; objects with such a sign dating back to the 5th century were found in the Crimea, as well as among Slavic antiquities of the Dnieper region (7-8th centuries); scientists note the similarity between the “signs of the Rurikovichs” and the signs of the Saltovo-Mayatsk archaeological culture of the 8th - early. 9th centuries The trident on the coins of Vladimir Svyatoslavich is similar to a similar sign on the coins of the Frankish Merovingians of the 6th-7th centuries, English (8th-11th centuries), Czech and Polish (10th-11th centuries) kings, German kaisers from Otto I the Great (6th century. ) until Henry III (11th century).
Researchers drew attention to the similarity of the “Rurikovich sign” with a ligature (compound) of two letters of the Greek alphabet: the first is alpha and the last is omega. In Christian philosophy, their combination has a mystical meaning. In the New Testament the words belong to Christ: " I am Alpha and Omega... the beginning and the end". The monogram of Christ - "Alpha and Omega" - is a common symbol of baptism, the same as a cross, but less common. By placing the Christogram on his coins, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, like his contemporaries or predecessors on the thrones of neighboring states, announced the ownership of his states to the Christian world.On the coins of Svyatopolk the Accursed, the left prong is replaced by a cross, and above the bident there is another cross.
Despite the abundance of opinions, none of them became dominant. The mystery of the “signs of the Rurikovichs” awaits its researcher.
5 071
Coats of arms developed in close connection with another symbolic image - seals. Often the coat of arms and seal repeated each other or contained similar elements. Therefore, heraldry is studied simultaneously with sphragistics - the science of seals.
Coats of arms and seals are decals. A lot of time passed before the coat of arms and seal became what we imagine them to be today. Scientists believe that the ancestors of coats of arms and seals were signs of ownership, marks on objects indicating their ownership of a particular person.
Medieval artisans put their marks on metal, pottery and other products, peasants made notches (“lines”) on trees, marking the boundaries of land plots. Livestock owners sometimes burned a “brand” or “spot” on the skins of animals. By the way, this is where the word “tarnish” comes from.
Princely insignia can be found on coins, weapons, warrior belts and military banners.
A merchant, sending his goods abroad, hung a lead seal in it, often with the sign of the prince to whom he obeyed.
The rulers certified letters of grant for estates, titles and privileges by hanging lead (less often gold and silver) or wax seals with corresponding images.
Applied seals began to be used from the end of the 14th century. The clergy used seals, which usually depicted the Mother of God and Child on the front side and a blessing hand on the back.
A type of seal was personal rings - seals that were very common over several centuries.
Prince D. M. Pozharsky's seal ring depicts two lions standing opposite each other on their hind legs and entering into a fight. A. S. Pushkin was proud of his family seal. It depicts a hand holding a raised sword, symbolizing the faithful service of his ancestors to Russia.
Despite the poor state of preservation of the ancient seals that have come down to us, researchers believe that they were extremely diverse in their time. Studying them can be extremely difficult.
Many seals are undated and “blank”; others are so mysterious that they give rise to conflicting interpretations when trying to decipher the drawings and inscriptions.
With all this, there is a certain pattern in the development of seals, say, from the time of the formation of the Russian centralized state. Symbols of the fight against external enemies - images of an armed horseman - passed from Alexander Nevsky to the seals of the Moscow princes. And later they became entrenched in the state signs of Rus' - in the seal and coat of arms. True, for some time on Moscow seals one could see a completely peaceful horseman with a falcon. But after the Battle of Kulikovo, the image in the form of a warrior sitting on a horse and striking a dragon serpent with a spear became more and more established.
After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in the mid-15th century, the Moscow Grand Dukes adopted the Byzantine coat of arms - the double-headed eagle. Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Paleologus, which clearly influenced the state emblem of Russia.
Since then, the combination of a double-headed eagle and a horseman-spearman has become the officially recognized image on the coat of arms and seal of Rus'.
In the struggle for primacy in Rus', for the right to unite it under their own rule, the Moscow princes clashed with the Tver princes. And this was uniquely reflected in the seals of the last great princes of Tver: a horseman armed with a sword is visible on them; a snake writhes under the horse’s feet. But Tver was not destined to become a capital Russian state, and the “application” for this was...
The appearance of coats of arms is associated with the need to distinguish knights of different orders during the era of the Crusades. Symbolic images were placed on shields, cloaks, and armor. Otherwise, the warriors, clad from head to toe in iron, could not recognize where they were and where they were strangers.
The drawing up of coats of arms was subject to some general rules. Various types of coats of arms were identified - French, Spanish, Italian and others. In Rus', coats of arms were mainly used of the French type - a quadrangular shield with a point at the bottom.
Gold and silver were used for images on coats of arms. If coats of arms were reproduced on paper, conventional designations were used (gold - black dots, silver - white field without shading). Multi-colored enamel was used in the manufacture of coats of arms, which was also conveyed in a simplified form through paints and special shading.
All kinds of designs were applied to the field of the coat of arms. These were animals (real and fantastic), heavenly bodies, man-made objects (bow, arrows, sword), plants and, of course, people.
Above the shield was placed a ribbon with a motto, expressing in a brief statement the rules of life and activity of the owner of the coat of arms.
On the seals-coats of arms of individual principalities and lands, the images were formed during the times of feudal fragmentation. Then they became part of the national signs.
Changes in images on coats of arms and seals often reflected great political changes. Thus, the Vladimir-Suzdal princes at first had a common coat of arms for all Russian princes - a trident. But already at the end of the 12th century, a lion appeared in their coat of arms - a symbol of strength and power.
In 1672, skillful artists luxuriously designed the book “Ti-tularnik”. Here are brought together sketches of the coats of arms and seals of Russia at that time. Along with the national emblem, there are signs of cities and lands, sometimes reflecting characteristic local features.
Thus, the coat of arms of Yaroslavl is a bear standing on its hind legs with a protazan (a kind of spear). The bear, but in a natural position, on four legs, is depicted on the coat of arms of Perm the Great (Middle Urals). On the coat of arms of Smolensk you can see a cannon on which a bird is sitting. The deer-elk represents the symbol Nizhny Novgorod. Almost all coats of arms of Siberian cities feature fur-bearing animals. The ancient city of Vladimir was personified by a golden lion in a crown.
Sometimes it is enough to look at the city’s coat of arms to tell what this area is famous for in terms of economic activities of the population.
Kostroma has long been a major port on the Volga. On its coat of arms is a silver river and on it a boat with oarsmen. The Kineshma coat of arms reflects weaving. The mining industry is imprinted in the symbols of the cities of Yekaterinburg, Petrozavodsk, Biysk, Kuznetsk, Alapaevsk. The set of weapons represents the coat of arms of Tula. Ears of grain fall from the cornucopia - this is how the coat of arms of Kungur is represented. Beloozero, Ostashkov and other points were famous for fishing, which was reflected in the coats of arms of these cities.
Russian armorial studies received real development in XVIII century. The development of coats of arms was carried out by a special state institution - the Heraldry Office, founded under Peter I. At this time, the practice of creating coats of arms for noble families and cities became widespread. The Tsar ordered that the regiments of the Russian army stationed in different cities should have images of the coats of arms of these cities on their banners. By the way, ancient banners are also a historical source associated with heraldry emblems.
During the reforms of Catherine II (provincial, city), it was assumed that each city should have its own coat of arms. At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, a decree was issued on the creation of the “General Armorial of the Russian Empire”. But the work was not finished.
Nowadays we are seeing a return to the historical symbols of our cities, which is expressed in signs on industrial products in a particular area. There are also souvenir badges readily purchased by tourists. Treasuring the historical symbols of your area means supporting the good deeds of your ancestors.
Knowledge of coats of arms is extremely important in order to understand household items of past centuries. Especially those that have special artistic value. Noble nobles considered it a sign of good taste if the family coat of arms could be seen on dishes made of gold, silver and porcelain, on cutlery, even on the buttons of clothes. And for a historian, this is a good guide for determining the ownership of such things, dating them, and establishing historical value.
It is impossible not to say that palaces and houses, their stone and metal fences were decorated with coats of arms. Thanks to this, the development of old neighborhoods, for example, Leningrad, was clarified.
In a “family relationship” with coats of arms are book signs (ex libris), indicating the owners of the books. Sometimes bookplates coincided with coats of arms, but not always. Knowing the book marks and who they belonged to, scientists have reconstructed the composition of the once scattered libraries of prominent historical figures of the past. Bookplates are still in use today. One witty library owner, as a warning to fans not to return borrowed literature, included in the book sign the words: “This book was stolen from so-and-so’s library”...
Sergey Beletsky
THE ANCIENT HERALDRY OF RUSSIA1
In Russian literature, the term “heraldry” in relation to the study of personal and city emblems of the Russian Middle Ages is practically not used: researchers replace it with a neutral concept - emblems.
« Characteristic feature coat of arms is its heredity... An image... can be considered a coat of arms only when it passes from father to son, from generation to generation,” emphasized E. I. Kamentseva and N. V. Ustyugov in textbook on Russian sphragistics and heraldry (Kamentseva, Ustyugov 1974: 5–7).Indeed, in the XIV–XVII centuries. Russia did not know coats of arms in the strict sense of the word. Widely known from coins and seals of this time, images of warriors, animals, birds, etc., although theoretically they could be inherited, did not have canonical iconography. However, there is a large group of sources whose affiliation with symbols of power is not seriously disputed by anyone. It's about about the so-called signs of the Rurikovichs - bidents or tridents or forms derived from them, images of which are marked on a variety of objects, including on the oldest Russian coins and seals. Most researchers recognize the significance of the Rurikovich signs as personal and tribal symbols of the Russian princes of the 10th–13th centuries. But can the signs of the Rurikovichs be considered coats of arms?
Currently, more than two thousand objects bearing images of the signs of the Rurikovichs are known. The range of monuments with images of these signs is very wide: pendant seals and seals, applied seals and signet rings, items of weapons and equipment of a warrior, works applied arts and tools, household and building ceramics, etc. Thanks basic research Several generations of historians (for historiography see: Molchanov 1997: 104–115) have established that the genesis of the sign is based on the principle of the appearance or disappearance of spots that gave the sign individual features. Earliest known
signs of the Rurikovichs date back to the end of the 9th century, and in the middle of the 13th century. Rurikovich signs completely disappear from everyday life.
The problem of determining the heraldry of the signs of the Rurikovichs traditionally encounters a significant difficulty. The design of the coat of arms, as is known, was subject to strict rules, and, likewise, the inheritance of the coat of arms when passing from father to son was subject to strict rules.
Meanwhile, the literature has firmly established the opinion that the son of the owner of the trident could use the bident, and his son, in turn, could return to the trident. If this is so, then the inheritance of a sign when passing from father to son turns out to be unsystematic. But is it?
I believe that the only way to verify this is to return to the original source, that is, to objects bearing images of the signs of the Rurikovichs.
1. SIGNS OF RURIK VIEWS ON ANCIENT RUSSIAN COINS
At present, it can be considered established (Sotnikova, Spassky 1983; Sotnikova 1995) that the oldest Russian coins were minted by only three princes: Vladimir Svyatoslavich (Fig. 1, 1–5), Yaroslav Vladimirovich (Fig. 1, 9, 10) and Svyatopolk Yaropolchich (Fig. 1, 6–8). In accordance with the identity of the coins, the signs on these coins are also personalized. A trident with wide side teeth, a thinner central tooth and a triangular leg, placed on the coins of Vladimir the Holy, is attributed to Vladimir Svyatoslavich himself. A trident with wide side teeth, a slightly narrower central tooth, topped
circle, and a triangular leg, occupying central part reverse of coins of Yaroslav the Wise and imitations of these coins, attributed to the prince himself. Finally, a bident with a wide right tooth, a cruciform or topped with a cross left tooth and a triangular leg, placed on the reverse of the coins of Svyatopolk Yaropolchich, is also attributed to the prince himself.
Note that Yaroslav's trident differs from his father's trident by one element - it has a more complex top of the central prong. Otherwise, the signs of Yaroslav and Vladimir are the same. The difference in the form of the signs of Vladimir and Svyatopolk is usually explained by the origin of Svyatopolk - the posthumous son of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, nephew of Vladimir, adopted by the Grand Duke of Kyiv (Lav.: stb. 33–34).
2. SIGNS OF THE RURIK VIEWS ON ANCIENT RUSSIAN SEALS
The presence of princely signs on ancient Russian act seals is a fact long noted in the literature. Most of the known seals with images of princely signs date back to the 12th–13th centuries. By the X–XI centuries. only two seals relate2 (Yanin 1970: 34–41, No. 1, 2). The seal (Fig. 2, 1), found during excavations in 1912 in the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv, has repeatedly attracted the attention of specialists. On both sides of this seal there are identical two-prongs with vertical teeth and a leg in the shape of a triangle, pointing down. Around the bidents there were circular inscriptions, reconstructed as a distorted spelling of the name Svyatoslav - “(Σφενδο)σϑλα(βοζ)” (Molchanov 1988: 50–52; Molchanov 1994). The seal (Fig. 2, 2), found in Novgorod in an outlier from the layer of the 19th tier (1134–1161) of the Nerevsky excavation, bears on one side an image of a trident, surrounded by a fragmentarily preserved inscription “Izas(la)oso” (Yanin 1955 ; Yanin 1970: 41, No. 2; Molchanov 1985: 68, note 15). The side teeth of the trident are wide, converging to a sharp apex, the thin central tooth ends with a cross and rests on an oval, the lower part of which forms the leg of the trident, divided in two by a vertical line. Above the line of the base of the trident, the vertical line dividing the leg is itself divided into three, which, apparently, was supposed to imitate braiding. The image and inscription on the other side are not readable.
Thus, it becomes obvious that the bident of Svyatopolk Yaropolchich continues the development of the sign of his grandfather, which had the shape of a bident. The sign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich differs from his father’s tamga by one element, but this element fundamentally changes the basis of the sign - with the addition of a central prong, the bident turns into a trident. In other words, Vladimir’s trident is a derivative of Svyatoslav’s bident. Izyaslav Vladimirovich’s trident differs from his father’s tamga in the shape of the top of the central tooth. The tridents of Izyaslav and Yaroslav Vladimirovich differ from each other in the design of the top of the central tooth.
3. Rurikovich SIGNS IN GRAFFITI ON COINS
The signs of the Rurikovichs, recorded among graffiti on coins, were introduced into scientific circulation in the codes of 1991 and 1994. (Dobrovolsky, Dubov, Kuzmenko 1991; Nakhapetyan, Fomin 1994), as well as in the articles of E. A. Melnikova (Melnikova 1994; 1995; 1996; 1998; Arendar, Melnikova 1995)3.
Currently, at least thirteen signs of the Rurikovichs are known, scratched on coins. The oldest of them (Fig. 3, 3) is recorded on a coin of the 9th century. (?) from a treasure near the village of Pogorelshchina, hidden in the first or second decade of the 10th century. Thus, the sign on the coin was scratched, most likely, during the years of the great reign of Igor Rurikovich. Consequently, the bident definitely appears in Rus' not during the reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich, but already during the life of his father.
Graffito in the form of a bident (Fig. 3, 12) was applied to the coin of 974/975.
This bident could not have been scratched on the coin during the life of Svyatoslav Igorevich (†972), since the coin was minted after the death of the prince. It is very likely that Svyatoslav’s bident was inherited without changes by his eldest son, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, who took the Kiev table after the death of his father. Perhaps the bident on a coin from a treasure hidden around 975 (Fig. 3, 11) was also scratched during the years of the great reign of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich.
Among the graffiti on coins, a group of two-prongs stands out (Fig. 3, 1, 2, 7, 8), the teeth of which are depicted not as an outline, but as simple vertical lines. The presence of a triangular stem on these two-prongs allows us to confidently consider them as Rurikovich’s two-prongs. The graffito on the coin of 877/878 (Fig. 3, 1) from a treasure hidden in the first half of the 880s was applied during the reign of Rurik in Novgorod. The origin of the coin of 894 is unclear, so the graffito (Fig. 3, 2) on it could have been scratched both during the reign of Igor Rurikovich and later.
Two-prongs (Fig. 3, 7, 8) are scratched on coins of 979/980 and 988/989, minted after the death of Yaropolk. Thus, during the years of the great reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the bident continued to remain a real symbol of power. At the end of the X - beginning of the XI centuries. the only one well-known representative The senior branch of the Rurik family was Svyatopolk Yaropolchich. It was he who had the right to inherit from his father both the family bident and the great Kiev table. I guess the graffiti on the coins
979/980 and 988/989 may be associated with the period of the Turov reign of Svyatopolk Yaropolchich and confirm Svyatopolk’s opposition to Vladimir, who occupied the grand-ducal table. Svyatopolk's demonstrative use of the ancestral bident actually meant his claim to supreme power in the state. The front of the Prince of Turov could have been the reason for his arrest. Boleslav I's campaign against Kyiv (1013) forced Vladimir not only to release Svyatopolk from captivity, but also, probably, to conclude an agreement with him. The result of the agreement was, obviously, mutual concessions: Vladimir was forced to proclaim Svyatopolk as heir to the throne, and in return Svyatopolk was forced to recognize himself as Vladimir’s vassal and make a change in the form of the personal family sign. Note that this change was made by complicating the prong of the bident, that is, following the example of changing the shape of the trident when it was inherited by Vladimir’s sons.
The entire course of events of 1014–1015 convinces us of the correctness of the reconstruction. - Yaroslav Vladimirovich’s refusal to pay an annual lesson to Kyiv; Vladimir’s preparation for a campaign against Novgorod; an attempt of armed rebellion with the participation of mercenaries undertaken by Yaroslav; an attempt by the Kyiv boyars who supported Boris Vladimirovich to hide the fact of Vladimir’s death due to the presence of Svyatopolk in Kyiv; noted in the chronicle (which spoke very unflatteringly about Svyatopolk) recognition of Svyatopolk’s seniority
on the part of Boris4 - Vladimir’s favorite and the most likely, from the chronicler’s point of view, contender for the Kiev great table. It is obvious that Vladimir, Svyatopolk, and Boris behaved in accordance with the agreement reached, according to which the great reign after Vladimir was to pass to Svyatopolk.
Images of bidents (Fig. 3, 4, 5, 9) are scratched on coins of 913/914, 919/920 and 924/925. The coins are not associated with specific treasure complexes, and their origin is not established. These graffiti should be correlated with the reign of one of the great Kyiv princes - from Igor Rurikovich to Svyatopolk Yaropolchich.
Graffito on a Byzantine coin of 945–959, from the Yerilovsky treasure in the Pskov region, hidden in the late 70s. X century (Fig. 3, 13), has the shape of a winged sword and in a stylized form conveys the image of the trident of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. The leg of a bident (Fig. 5, 1) from Novgorod was stylized in exactly the same way. Dating the application of graffiti on the coin to the 960–970s, I believe it is possible to associate its appearance with the period of the Novgorod reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich.
Graffito on a dirham of the 9th century. from the Svirstroy treasure, hidden in the second decade of the 11th century, has the shape of a trident with a central tooth crowned with a rhombus (Fig. 3, 6). It is the shape of the top of the central tooth that is hallmark tridents that belonged to Izyaslav and Yaroslav Vladimirovich, so the graffiti sign most likely belonged to one of the sons of Vladimir the Saint.
Graffito scratched on a coin of 910/911. (Fig. 3, 10), can be interpreted as a bident (Beletsky 2001: 103–106). A special feature of the sign is the lower part of the leg, from the base of which two thin lines extend, ending in small crosses. If we consider crosses as an ornamental device, then the closest analogy to the sign is the sign (Fig. 4, 1), scratched on a horn ridge from a layer of the 10th - early 11th centuries. at the Idnakar site in Udmurtia (Amelkin 1987). Sign
has the appearance of a trident, the side teeth and the base of which are indicated by an outline, and the central tooth has the form of a short stroke intersecting the upper contour of the base of the sign. The triangular leg of the sign is complemented by a bifurcation. The central tooth of the sign on the ridge is carved much deeper than the rest of the outline of the sign. Thus, the forked leg of the sign on the crest refers to the original bident (Fig. 4, 2), and not to the trident into which the bident was converted. Obviously, the bident on the ridge belonged to the son of the man who used the ancestral bident of the Rurikovichs. We can hardly talk about the eldest son of the owner of the bident, since
the latter received after the death of his father the right to use the ancestral bident. The above brings us to the most likely owner of the sign - the second son of Svyatoslav Igorevich, Oleg Drevlyansky. If the personification of the sign on the crest is correct, then the sign in the graffito on the coin of 910/911 can also be attributed to Oleg Svyatoslavich. (Beletsky 2001: 103–106).
Thus, the genealogy of the signs of the Rurikovichs, taking into account the graffiti on the coins, was supplemented by the signs of Oleg of Drevlyansky and another, as yet unnamed, son of Vladimir the Holy, information about the use of the bident by Rurik, Igor and Yaropolk, as well as information about the use of the ancestral bident by Svyatopolk Yaropolchich in the earlier period 1013
4. SIGNS OF RURIK VIEWS ON DIFFERENT OBJECTS
Wooden objects with carved images of signs in the shape of a bident and a trident were found in Novgorod (Kolchin 1968: 22, fig. 12, 3, 8). A stylized bident (Fig. 5, 1) was discovered on an object from the layer of the 28th tier of the Nerevsky excavation (953–972). A trident carved on a float (Fig. 5, 2) was found in the layer of the 27th tier of the Nerevsky excavation (972–989), that is, it comes from deposits that formed during the Novgorod reign of Vladimir and during the years of civil strife between the Svyatoslavs.
The image of a trident is carved on a wooden zoomorphic pommel (Fig. 5, 3), found in the layer of the 23–24th tiers of the Trinity VII excavation in Novgorod (Dubrovin 2000: 425, Fig. 160). The leg of a bident scratched on a slate whorl from Borovsky Bath near Luga is designed in a similar way (Mikhailova, Sobolev, Beletsky 1998: 119–120). Noteworthy are the two processes extending from the base of the trident on the zoomorphic pommel.
A similar element was recorded in the trident depicted on a bone object found in the early 1960s. during excavations of a settlement near the village of Zhovnino - a child of the ancient Russian Zhelnya (Fig. 5, 7). In the latter case, the sign is presented in a ceremonial version: the base and triangular leg are decorated with a complex wicker pattern. The braid, including its free ends hanging on both sides of the leg, is a decorative element, and the sign itself on the bone object from Zhelnya can be quite definitely attributed to Vladimir the Saint (Kilievich 1965: 193). Taking into account the fact that the master who carved the sign on the Novgorod zoomorphic pommel tried rather clumsily to convey the elements of a wicker ornament, the processes at the base of this trident should also be regarded as decorative elements, and the sign itself on the wooden pommel can be attributed to Vladimir Svyatoslavich.
The image of a trident (Fig. 6, 1) is scratched on a blank stone sinker from the layer of the 24th tier of the Nerevsky excavation site (1025–1055) in Novgorod (Yanin 1982: 150). The top of the trident has a diamond-shaped end, similar to the trident in the graffito on a coin from the Svirstroy treasure (Fig. 3, 6).
The trident scratched on a bone plate (Fig. 6, 6) found during excavations of the Taman settlement in 1931 has the same diamond-shaped end to the central tooth (Miller 1932: 59). The sign on the Tmutarakan plate differs from Vladimir’s trident by not one, but two elements: in addition to the rhombus at the top of the central prong, it also has more complex shape legs, the triangular part of which is complemented by a cross. It is obvious that between the trident of Vladimir the Saint and the trident on the plate there should have been an intermediate link, ensuring the gradual nature of the development of the sign.
Such an intermediate link is the tridents depicted in the graffito on the coin and on the stone sinker blank: differing from Vladimir’s trident by one element, they also differ by one element from the trident on the Tmutarakan plate. If the sign on the sinker and in the graffito conveys the type of trident that belonged to the son of Vladimir, then the sign on the Tmutarakan overlay most likely belonged to the son of this son, that is, the grandson of Vladimir the Holy. The most likely owner of the sign on the Tmutarakan overlay is Prince Evstafiy Mstislavich - the only son of Mstislav of Tmutarakan (Laurel: 150). By the time of the death of Eustathius, who died while his father was still alive, Mstislav Vladimirovich’s residence was already Chernigov. The place of reign of Eustathius is unknown, but it is possible that after moving his residence to Chernigov, Mstislav left his son on the Tmutarakan table. In this case, the sign in the graffito and on the stone sinker blank belonged to Mstislav of Tmutarakan.
During excavations in Kyiv, an animal bone was discovered with a trident scratched on its surface (Tolochko, Gupalo, Kharlamov 1976: 44, Fig. 15, center). The top of the central tooth has not been preserved (Fig. 5, 4), so it is not possible to personify the sign.
A number of objects with images of signs of the Rurikovichs come from the Sarkel excavations. The textbook bone circle (Shcherbak 1959: 364, Fig. 1) with the image of a bident (Fig. 6, 2) can be attributed to the reign of not only Svyatoslav Igorevich, but also Yaropolk Svyatoslavich and even Svyatopolk Yaropolchich, although the first dating is preferable.
The same can be said about two schematic bidents scratched on amphorae (Shcherbak 1959: pl. VI, IX; Flerova 1997: pl. XV, 229, 230) (Fig. 6, 3, 4), comparable to graffiti on oriental coins5. The graffiti on eastern coins can also be compared with the bident (Fig. 5, 6), scratched on an amphora from the excavations of the Taman settlement (Flerova 1997: pl. XVII, 6).
An image of a trident with a cross-shaped top of the central tooth and a leg resting on a cross (Fig. 6, 5) is scratched on the bone handle of an awl found in the Izmer settlement of the 10th–11th centuries. (Kazakov 1991: 348, fig. 8; Kazakov, Beletsky 2004: 73–77). The teeth of the trident find their counterpart in the trident of Izyaslav Vladimirovich. However, it is not necessary to consider the sign on the handle as Izyaslav’s trident: the trident on the awl handle differs from Izyaslav’s trident by one element - the triangular leg is supplemented with a cross.
Exactly the same distinction was previously established for the signs attributed to Mstislav of Tmutarakan and his son Eustathius. If this personification is correct, then the sign on the handle of the awl from the excavations of the Izmer settlement can be attributed to one of the sons of Izyaslav Vladimirovich - Bryachislav or Vseslav.
The image of a bident with a cross-shaped leg was carved on a wooden counting tag (Fig. 7), found in 1998 in the layer of the 26th–27th tiers (970–1020) at the Troitsky-11 excavation site in Novgorod (Kovalev 2003: 37, fig. 1; Gaidukov, Dubrovin, Tarabardina 2001: 81). R.K. Kovalev noted that the sign on the Novgorod tag was personified by V.L. Yanin to Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (Kovalyov 2003: 38). At first glance, such an identification contradicts the previously stated assumption, according to
to whom Yaropolk in the second half of the 970s. used the ancestral bident. However, this contradiction is imaginary. If we assume that Yaropolk received the right to use the ancestral bident only after the death of Svyatoslav (†972), then the question of Yaropolk’s personal ancestral sign in the period before 972 remains open. I believe that Yaropolk Svyatoslavich used a bident with a cross-shaped leg during Svyatoslav’s life, replacing his father on the great Kiev table at those moments when Svyatoslav left Kyiv.
Thus, after considering the marks scratched on various subjects, genealogy of the signs of the Rurikovichs of the 10th–11th centuries. managed to supplement with personal family signs of Mstislav Vladimirovich, Evstafy Mstislavich, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (before 972) and one of the sons of Izyaslav Vladimirovich.
5. SIGNS OF RURIKOVITCHES IN GRAFFITI ON THE WALLS OF TEMPLES
Important information for the study of Old Russian princely signs is provided by the graffito (Fig. 8) in the Vladimir chapel of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (Beletsky 1995; Beletsky 1997: 141–145). The trident was scratched on one of the pillars of the southern gallery, which before the reconstruction was the outer northern wall of the temple (Vysotsky 1966: No. 75). The sign is formed by a complex interweaving of a “ribbon” of uneven width. The wide side teeth of the trident are bent outward, the top of the central tooth is crowned with a cross, the leg is formed by a complex braided knot and ends with an indistinct cross. The completion of the central prong finds its closest correspondence in the design of the top of the central prong of the trident on the seal of Izyaslav Vladimirovich and of the trident on the handle of the awl from the Izmer settlement.
The solution to the question of the ownership of the sign is related to the question of the time of construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. Summing up the results of a long-term discussion, P. A. Rappoport emphasized: “The ambiguity of information about the time of construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral led to the combination of two points of view... some researchers believe that the cathedral was founded in 1017 and completed in 1031–1032 or 1037 .; others believe that it was founded in 1037 and completed in the 40s. XI century It has been proven that the entire building was erected at once, without significant interruptions in construction” (Rappaport 1982: 11–13).
With any of these datings, neither Izyaslav Vladimirovich (†1001) nor Vseslav Izyaslavich (†1003) even lived to see the foundation of the temple, let alone the time of creation of the fresco decoration. And since the graffito could only be scratched onto the fresco after the temple was erected and painted, both princes can be excluded from the list of likely owners of the sign. Thus, the sign belonged to Bryachislav Izyaslavich (†1044).
By attributing the sign in the graffito to Bryachislav Izyaslavich, we thereby attribute the sign on the handle of the awl from the Izmer settlement to the same prince.
5. SIGNS OF RURIKOVYCHES ON HERALDIC PENDANTS
The so-called “heraldic pendants” are pendants, on one or both sides of which there are images of ancient Russian princely signs or their imitations. Pendants are divided into three groups: early (X–XI centuries), late (XII–XIV centuries) and doubtful (Beletsky 2004).
Here we will talk only about early pendants, represented by metal and bone objects. Metal pendants were the credentials of princely officials of the 10th–11th centuries. The bone pendants were most likely children's toys - imitations of authentic credentials (Beletsky 2011: 47–48).
Most of the princely signs recorded in images on metal pendants are already known to us. On two silver pendants - from Gnezdovo (Beletsky 2004: No. 40) and from Pskov (Ershova 2009: 297–288; Beletsky 2011a: 44–48) - there are images of simple bidents.
The sign on the Gnezdov pendant could belong to one of the great Kyiv princes - from Igor Rurikovich to Svyatopolk Yaropolchich. The Pskov pendant (Fig. 9, 2) comes from a burial that took place no earlier than the 960s - early 970s, so its holder was most likely a representative of Svyatoslav Igorevich. An image of a bident with a cross-shaped leg that belonged to Yaropolk Svyatoslavich is placed on a pendant (Fig. 9, 1) from the excavations of the Kaukai settlement (Beletsky 2004: No. 53). On silver pendants from excavations in Novgorod (Beletsky 2004: No. 29) and in the Rozhdestvensky burial ground (Beletsky 2004: No. 50) there are images of the tridents of St. Vladimir (Fig. 9, 3, 4). The location where another silver pendant was found, identical to the pendant from the Rozhdestvensky burial ground, has not been established (Beletsky, Tarlakovsky 2011: 104). The image of Vladimir's trident (?) is also recorded on a copper alloy pendant from the Peredolsky churchyard; on the other side of this pendant there is an image of a flourishing cross (Beletsky 2004: No. 42).
All other early pendants bear images of princely insignia on both sides. A pendant made of copper alloy, found in Chernigov (Fig. 10, 2), bears a ceremonial image of the trident of St. Vladimir. On the other side there is a marking for the image of a trident, which remained unrealized; most likely, this sign should have belonged to one of Vladimir’s sons (Beletsky 2004: No. 43; Novik, Beletsky 2009: 51–55).
Two almost identical pendants made of copper alloy, found in the Kelgininsky burial ground (Fig. 10, 5–6), bear on one side a ceremonial image of the trident of St. Vladimir (Beletsky 2004: No. 51–52); The left prong of the trident faces upward, and the right prong faces down. On the other side there is a ceremonial image of a trident, extremely close to the trident of Vladimir the Saint, but differing from it in the shape of the leg, the triangular part of which ends with a cross. Obviously, the sign belonged to one of the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. And since the tridents of the younger Vladimirovichs differ from their father’s trident in the shape of the top of the central tooth, I dare to assume that the sign on side “B” of the Kelginin pendants can be attributed to Vladimir’s eldest son, Vysheslav (†1010).
A pendant made of copper alloy, found in the Pobedishche burial ground near Ladoga (Beletsky 2004: No. 34), bears on one side the ceremonial image of the trident of Vladimir the Saint, and on the other - Yaroslav Vladimirovich (Fig. 10, 1).
A pendant made of copper alloy, found at the Rurik settlement near Novgorod (Beletsky 2004: No. 33), bears ceremonial images of the tridents of Vysheslav and Yaroslav Vladimirovich (Fig. 9, 5). A similar combination of ceremonial signs was recorded on two copper alloy pendants cast in the same mold, found at the site of Daugmale (Fig. 9, 6) and in Poozerie (Beletsky 2004: No. 8, 41).
Two pendants, cast from a copper alloy in the same mold (Fig. 10, 3), carry ceremonial images of the tridents of Yaroslav and Mstislav Vladimirovich; one of the pendants was found in Novgorod in the layer of the last quarter of the 11th century. (Beletsky 2004: No. 30), the origin of the other pendant has not been established.
A copper alloy pendant (Fig. 10, 4), found in the vicinity of Kyiv (Beletsky 2004: No. 37), bears on one side a ceremonial image of a trident, the central prong of which is crowned with an image of a bird. This sign most likely belongs to one of the younger Vladimirovichs. On the other side there is a ceremonial image of a trident, the top of the central tooth of which ends in a circle, like Yaroslav Vladimirovich’s trident, and the triangular leg rests on a cross.
If the inheritance of the sign by the sons of Yaroslav the Wise took place according to the same rules according to which the inheritance of the sign by the sons of Vladimir the Holy took place, then this trident can be personified to Vladimir Yaroslavich, the second son of Yaroslav the Wise, who was placed on the Novgorod table in 1034 at the age of 14 years. At that moment, Vladimir was the eldest among the Yaroslavichs, so assigning him the sign of the eldest son seems very likely. During the reign of Vladimir Yaroslavich in Novgorod, in addition to Yaroslav and Mstislav Vladimirovich, only one brother remained on the political scene of Rus' - Sudislav of Pskov. Consequently, the trident with the image of a bird on the central prong belonged to him.
Two almost identical pendants made of copper alloy (Beletsky 2004: No. 28, 38), one of which was found in Novgorod (Fig. 11, 2), and the other in the vicinity of Belgorod (Fig. 11, 1), are carried on both sides by ceremonial images of Vladimir Yaroslavich's trident, teeth facing down. One of the signs has an image of a bird on the cross-shaped end of the leg. Most likely, Vladimir Yaroslavich, being the Novgorod prince, simultaneously controlled the Pskov princely table, and the inclusion of a heraldically unmotivated image of a bird in his trident was intended to attest to the continuity of power that passed to Vladimir after the arrest of Sudislav.
A copper alloy pendant (Fig. 12), found near the village of Tsyblya in the vicinity of Pereyaslav (Beletsky 2011a: 44–45), bears on one side a ceremonial image of Vladimir’s trident. On the other side there is an image of a trident, the side teeth of which are facing different sides: one is up and the other is down. The central prong of the trident is repeated twice: once it faces up and the second time it faces down. Near the top of the central tooth there are two symmetrical curls. If these scrolls are heraldic significant, then the top of the central prong of the trident had the appearance of a miniature trident. In this case, this sign belonged to one of the younger Vladimirovichs.
A bone pendant was found in the layer of the 26th tier (954–973) at the Troitsky excavation site in Novgorod (Fig. 13, 3) (Beletsky 2004: No. 31). On one of its sides there is an image of a bident, later converted into a trident, on the other side there is an image of a trident. The editing of the sign on one of the sides indicates a change in the nature of the power that the child, who was the owner of the pendant, wanted to represent: initially he positioned himself as a representative of both the owner of the bident and the owner of the trident, and later found it necessary to represent the interests of only the owner of the trident, which required alteration of the bident on one side of the pendant into a trident, similar to the trident on the other side. In the mid-970s, as is known, there was a struggle between the Svyatoslavichs, which ended with the death of Oleg of the Drevlyans in the battle of Ovruch and the flight of Vladimir “overseas the sea” (Laur.: 74–75).
The combination of the signs of Svyatoslav and Vladimir on the pendant indicates that the owner of the pendant initially “acted” as an authorized representative of both the Grand Duke of Kyiv and his Novgorod governor.
The alteration of the pendant apparently occurred at the moment when Yaropolk Svyatoslavich replaced his father on the Kiev table: by replacing the bident with a trident, the owner of the pendant “turned” into a representative exclusively of Vladimir Svyatoslavich.
Another bone pendant found in Novgorod (Beletsky 2004: No. 32) bears on one side the image of a bident without a leg, and on the other side there is a belt of geometric ornament, above which there is a cross-shaped figure formed by two perpendicular rows of dots, the sides of the “cross” "are limited by open trapezoidal figures (Fig. 13, 1). The most likely owners of signs without stems are princesses who used simplified versions of the princely signs of their husbands (Beletsky 2004: 272–273). Judging by the exceptional rarity of signs without legs, cases of their use were not very frequent, and in each specific case they were caused by extraordinary circumstances (for example, the widowhood of the owner of the sign). In particular, the sign on the Novgorod pendant could belong to Princess Olga (†969), the widow of Igor Rurikovich.
A bone pendant from excavations of mounds near the village of Prudyanka (Beletsky 2004: No. 39; Beletsky 2011a: 47–48) bears on one side a ceremonial image of the trident of St. Vladimir, scratched extremely ineptly (Fig. 13, 2).
Thus, heraldic pendants replenished the genealogy of the signs of the Rurikovichs of the 10th–11th centuries. signs of the widow of Igor Rurikovich Olga, Sudislav Vladimirovich, Vladimir Yaroslavich and another son of Vladimir the Saint, who remains unnamed.