Vadim the Bold

Vadim the Bold (

in the 9th century.

According to the Nikon Chronicle, a historic 16th-century Russian chronicle that covered events of 859–1520 CE, the Novgorodians broke into rebellion against Rurik, their ruler, but his Varangian druzhina managed to quell the riots and murdered their leader, Vadim. The first modern Russian historian, Vasily Tatishchev, conjectured that Vadim's mother was the elder daughter of Gostomysl. Hence, Vadim was Rurik's elder cousin and had a better claim to the throne.

In Russian literature

After Tatischev's publications, Vadim became one of the most popular characters in the 18th-century

and all printed copies of his play were to be burnt.

Authenticity issues

In the 19th century, Sergey Solovyov and other major historians cast a doubt on the historicity and authenticity of Vadim.^[1] Currently, he is considered a legendary personage. Yet his freedom-loving character appealed to the spirit of Romanticism. Three leading Russian poets of the era, Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky and Mikhail Lermontov, based their poems on the subject of Vadim's legendary exploits.

References

Sources

•  "Вадим Храбрый" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.