the East (527-565).




CHAPTER V

PRINCIPALITIES--EXPANSION NORTHWARD

When Vladimir died, in 1015, the partition of his dominions among
numerous heirs inaugurated the destructive system of _Appanages_. The
country was converted into a group of principalities ruled by Princes
of the same blood, of which the Principality of Kief was chief, and its
ruler _Grand Prince_. Kief, the "Mother of Cities," was the heart of
Russia, and its Prince, the oldest of the descendants of Rurik, had a
recognized supremacy over the others; who must, however, also belong to
this royal line. No prince could rule anywhere who was not a
descendant of Rurik; Kief, the greatest prize of all, going to the
oldest; and when a Grand Prince died, his son was not his rightful
heir, but his uncle, or brother, or cousin, or whoever among the
Princes had the right by seniority. This was a survival of the
patriarchal system of the Slavs, showing how the Norse rulers had
adapted themselves to the native customs as before stated.

So while in thus breaking up the land into small jealous and rival
states independent of each other--with only a nominal headship at
Kief--while in this there was a movement toward chaos, there were after
all some bonds of unity which could not be severed: A unity of race and
language; a unity of historical development; a unity in religion; and
the political unity created by the fact that all the thrones were