"Prince Svyatoslav" by Boris Vasiliev, summary Automatic translate

Boris Vasiliev’s historical novel, published in 2006, strips the image of the famous Kyiv ruler of its familiar heroic aura, revealing the tragedy of a gifted commander whose blind thirst for battle led to disaster for his native land and the death of his mother. The book is part of a series of novels about the history of Ancient Rus’, along with "Oleg the Prophet" and "Olga, Queen of the Rus’." It is the third in the series.

Childhood and secrets of the Kyiv court

From an early age, Svyatoslav was raised as a future warrior. At the age of five, still wearing a child’s dress, he rode out on horseback before an armed retinue. The boy threw his small spear between the horses’ ears. The warriors cheered, taking this as a good omen. The prince’s childhood was spent under the strict supervision of his uncle Zhivan and the great commander Sveneld. The boy grew accustomed to winning and commanding.

The court is in constant tension. Grand Duchess Olga is secretly expecting a child by Sveneld. Her legitimate husband is murdered, and the birth of an illegitimate heir will inevitably provoke a rebellion among the rebellious Slavic tribes. Olga secretly flees to a remote Novgorod hermitage. Christian nuns deliver the child. The infant is given to a strange family, and Olga swears secrecy. Sveneld takes control of the principality. He acquires his own secret informant — the quiet and inconspicuous Neslykh, son of the blind boyar Bersen. Neslykh creates a network of spies, monitoring every move of the Kievan boyars.

Bitter youth and the cruel laws of the king

The years pass. Svyatoslav is completely absorbed in military affairs. Sveneld assigns the young voivode Morozko to him. He drives the prince’s guards until they sweat. The young men hack with blunt swords so hard they pierce thick cotton crucibles, learn to build a "turtle" to defend against arrows, and throw heavy knives with precision. Always by the prince’s side are his faithful childhood friends — the sturdy brothers Sfenkl and Ikmar.

The Byzantine Empire is constantly weaving intrigues. The Greek governor, Kalokir, sends a secret agent, Shom, to the young prince. He disguises himself as a simple fisherman afraid to bathe in the bathhouse because of the water spirit’s tricks. Svyatoslav orders the youth to be forcibly washed. In the bathhouse, Shom takes off his shirt and shows Svyatoslav his back. A terrible secret is tattooed on it in Greek letters. The prince reads the inscription and learns that his real father is the voivode Sveneld. This news breaks the young prince’s soul. The son of fornication is deprived of his rightful claim to the great throne.

Svyatoslav summons an old Varangian, who teaches him the harsh laws of a true king. The king sleeps on the bare ground, rests his saddle on his head, eats half-raw meat, and lives for the sake of his warriors alone. The Varangian forces the prince to kill his beloved dog with his own hands. The young man weeps, but slaughters the dog with a knife. From that day on, pity leaves his heart forever.

Seeking revenge on his mother and father for his disgrace, Svyatoslav publicly rapes Malusha. The girl grew up with him; they had been close since childhood. Sveneld brutally beats his son. Svyatoslav leaves the Kiev palace forever and moves to a camp in the field. Malusha soon gives birth to a son, Vladimir.

Mistakes and tricks of the commander

Svyatoslav sets out on his first independent campaign against the Vyatichi tribe. The operation ends in failure. The Vyatichi lure the heavily armed Rus’ into the forest swamps and shoot them with impunity. The prince retreats in disgrace. Sveneld sternly explains his mistake: the enemy must be lured into the open and surrounded.

The lord of Novgorod the Great asks Svyatoslav to become prince. Arriving in the city, the prince frightens the local nobility with a rude feast. He feeds the boyars raw meat, live crayfish, and tough boar. The mayor realizes he is facing a dangerous predator. They strike a deal. The Novgorodians give the prince approximately 650 kilograms of gold and unique self-sharpening kharaluzh swords. In exchange, Svyatoslav promises to destroy the Khazar Khaganate. The mayor’s nephew, the cunning young man Radypya, joins Svyatoslav’s retinue.

The Bloody Road to Itil

Having assembled a new army, the prince descends the rivers to Volga Bulgaria. The Bulgars kill the secret envoy Neslykh. Enraged, Svyatoslav attacks the Bulgar city. Morozko saves his army from slaughter by secretly entering the city walls and starting a massive fire. The Grand Prince holds a horrific pagan funeral feast. The body of the slain envoy is placed in a boat along with forty severed heads of captives and burned in the river.

The army approaches the lands of Khazaria. Father Morozko, an old man disguised as a dervish with a bell, conducts secret reconnaissance. The Khazars deploy against the Rus’ the light cavalry of the White Khazars, the armored heavy cavalry of the Black Khazars, and select mercenaries. Svyatoslav employs military cunning. He negotiates with the Pecheneg Khan Chagandai, the leader of the Berendeys, and Ildar, the leader of the Black Klobuks. The Russian infantry forms a wedge formation. Allied horsemen hide on the flanks.

When the White Khazars attack, the steppe dwellers strike them in the back. The Berendeys, with their kharaluzh swords, deftly cut the girths of the Khazar saddles. The iron-clad Black Khazars fall with a crash under their hooves. The prince throws down his shield, takes up his dagger, and is the first to cut into the enemy ranks. Young Radypa’s detachment pelts the Khazar commanders with heavy knives. The Khazars falter and flee.

Svyatoslav approaches the impregnable fortress of Sarkel. An old dervish distracts the guards at the gate with long tales. Meanwhile, the Rus’ silently swim along the moat, cast grappling hooks, and scale the walls. The fortress is taken. The Khazar Khaganate is destroyed.

Rebellion and Byzantine Gold

On his return journey, the prince suppresses a rebellion by the Radimichi tribe, who, out of hunger, were plundering merchant ships. He burns their villages and sells the captive Prince Boriska into slavery. Voivode Morozko refuses to serve the cruel leader and leads his men to Kyiv. Boriska, while crossing the Dnieper rapids, cunningly escapes from the galleys. He joins forces with the Pecheneg Khan Kurya and Ruslan, Sveneld’s adopted son. The three avengers swear an oath to kill Svyatoslav.

Meanwhile, the Byzantine agent Kalokir brings gold to the prince’s camp. He hires Svyatoslav for a war against Bulgaria. The prince assembles a huge army of mercenaries and invades the Balkans. He dreams of moving his capital to the city of Pereyaslavets on the Danube.

The collapse of hopes and death

While Svyatoslav plunders Bulgarian cities, the Pechenegs, bribed by the Greeks, lay siege to the defenseless Kyiv. Grand Duchess Olga and her grandchildren narrowly escape death. Olga’s secret son, the young man Gleb, makes his way through the nomad encirclement and summons the retinue of Voivode Pretich to his aid.

Svyatoslav returns to the capital. He distributes Russian cities among his sons. Young Vladimir sets off to rule Novgorod. The Novgorod assembly greets him with whistles and curses. Uncle Dobrynya silently descends into the crowd, kills nine of the rebel ringleaders, and restores perfect silence. Vladimir forces the boyars to hire Varangian guards for him.

Olga begs Svyatoslav to stay home, but he is adamant. The princess dies of grief right there in the palace, in the arms of her faithful Sveneld. Svyatoslav takes Gleb with him into his camp and heads south again.

The cunning commander John Tzimiskes seizes power in Byzantium. He quickly makes peace with the Bulgarians and cuts off the Russian army from their safe crossings. Svyatoslav is besieged in the fortress of Dorostol. The fighting is uneventful. The Greeks kill the prince’s best friend, Sthenklos. Then the mighty Ikmar dies.

Driven mad by grief, Svyatoslav carries out a bloody judgment. Forty severed heads of civilians burn on the brothers’ funeral pyre, and young Gleb perishes with them. The Byzantines gather flamethrower warships. Old Sveneld cuts a hole in the enemy lines and leads the remnants of the Kievan army home.

Left without reserves, Svyatoslav shouts his famous words before the line: "The dead have no shame!" The forces are unequal. The prince surrenders. He promises never to attack the empire again. The historian Leo the Deacon records their meeting: the ruler of the Rus’ rows himself, with a flat nose, blue eyes, and a tuft of hair on his shaved head. Svyatoslav sails back to his homeland. An ambush awaits him at the Dnieper rapids. Khan Kurya’s Pechenegs surround a handful of exhausted warriors. Prince Boriska challenges Svyatoslav to single combat. The weary king, having lost the meaning of life, takes a saber blow. Boriska sever his head. Khan Kurya makes a silver-covered goblet from the commander’s skull. The life of the ruler, who traded his native land for the mirage of foreign dominion, ends on the cold stones of the Dnieper.