Sveneld
| Sveneld | |
|---|---|
| Свенельд | |
| Voivode of Kiev | |
| Monarch |
Igor I of Kiev Svyatoslav I of Kiev |
| Preceded by | Oleg |
| Succeeded by | Blud |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sveinaldr c. 920s |
| Died | c. 970s |
| Nationality | Varangian |
| Children | Lyut Mstisha |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Kievan Rus |
| Years of service | 940s - 970s |
| Rank | Voivode |
| Commands | Expedition forces to Albania |
| Battles/wars | Expedition against Ulichs Expedition against Albania Expedition against Byzantium (Siege of Dorostolon) Rus Civil War of 970s |
Sveneld (Old Norse: Sveinaldr, Cyrillic: Свенельд) is a semi-legendary 10th-century Varangian warlord in the service of Svyatoslav I of Kiev and his family. Although he seems to have been the richest and the most influential Rus' leader after the ruling prince, his relation to the House of Rurik, if it existed, has not been positively established. Most of information about Sveneld is scarce.
Sveneld started his military career under (or perhaps independently of) Igor of Kiev, when he put to the sword the tribe of Ulichs and secured for himself the right to exact tribute from them and from the Drevlyans. The historian Lev Gumilev suggests that Sveneld's enormous fortune, recorded in the Primary Chronicle in 945, was acquired during the 944 expedition of the Rus' against the city of Berdaa in Caucasian Albania, now Azerbaijan, in which Sveneld is presumed to have been the commander-in-chief.
Igor's druzhina became jealous of Sveneld's wealth and attempted to levy tribute in his lands, but the Drevlyans revolted and killed Igor. Aleksey Shakhmatov theorizes that the Drevlyan uprising against Igor was led by Sveneld's son Mstisha. This theory is not universally agreed upon, though.
Igor's successor Svyatoslav seemed to have been on better terms with Sveneld, who was the second in command during his campaigns in Bulgaria and Byzantium. In 971, he was in charge of the defense of Preslav against the Greeks. Although the Byzantine historians John Skylitzes and Leo the Deacon testify that Sphangel (as he was known to them) met his death at Dorostolon the same year, the Slavonic chronicles mention Sveneld's activities several times thereafter.
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