Rus' Genealogy

The Rus’ Genealogy component of the MAPA project is part of a larger attempt to shift the perceptions of modern scholars to include Rus’ in the wider narrative of medieval Europe, and to create a picture of the medieval European world that fits the evidence from the primary sources -- one that stretches from the Atlantic in the west to the Dnieper River in the East. One of the chief ways to do this is by looking at the connectivity between Rus’ and the rest of Europe, and one of the richest sources of data is in the arena of dynastic marriage. The ruling family of Rus’, the Volodimerovichi (also known as the Riurikids), had marital connections with the ruling families of most of medieval Europe.

Rus webmap The Rusian Genealogy Web Map is an attempt to render visually the dynastic connections made between the ruling family of Rus’ (the Volodimerovichi) and the rest of medieval European royalty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The information represented on the map comes from the Rusian Genealogical Database compiled by Christian Raffensperger, with technical assistance by David J. Birnbaum. Both projects highlight the extreme interconnectivity of Rus’ with the rest of medieval Europe and are part of a larger goal of reimagining medieval Europe.