Garðaríki



Garðaríki (anglicized Gardariki or Gardarike) or Garðaveldi was the Old Norse term used in the Middle Ages for the lands of Rus'. According to Göngu-Hrólfs saga, the name Hólmgarðaríki (also used as a name for Novgorodian Rus') was synonymous with Garðaríki, and these names were used interchangeably in several other Old Norse stories.

As the Varangians dealt mainly with the northern lands of Rus', their sagas regard the city of Hólmgarðr/Hólmgarðaborg (usually identified with Novgorod) as the capital of Garðaríki. Other important places of Garðaríki mentioned in the sagas that have generally been identified with well known historical towns are Aldeigja/Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga), Kœnugarðr/Kænugarðr (Kiev), Pallteskja/Pallteskia (Polotsk), Smaleskja/Smaleskia (Smolensk), Súrdalar (Suzdal), Móramar (Murom), and Rostofa (Rostov).

At least seven of the Varangian runestones, G 114, N 62, Sö 148, Sö 338, U 209, U 636, and Öl 28, refer to Scandinavian men who had been in Garðar.

Etymology
The word Garðaríki, which first appeared in Icelandic sagas in the twelfth century, could stem from the words Garðar and (an empire, realm, kingdom) according to the common Scandinavian pattern for state formations X+ríki. Garða is the genitive form of Garðar, therefore the compound Garðaríki could be translated into English as "the kingdom of Garðar" or "the empire of Garðar". The name Garðar itself was used in skaldic poems, runic inscriptions and early sagas up to the twelfth century to refer to the lands to the east of Scandinavia populated by the Rus' people, primarily to Novgorodian Rus'.

Garðar is a plural form of the Old Norse word which referred to 1) a fence; 2) a fortification; 3) a yard; 4) a court; 5) a farm; 6) a village house, while the related Old Russian word городъ referred to 1) a fence; 2) a fortification; 3) a field defensive work; 4) a settlement. Since there is an overlapping meaning among the ones these related words once had ("a fence, a fortified place"), both garðr and городъ could mean the same at one time in the past. Thus, some researches interpreted Garðar as a collective name for Old Rus' towns encountered by Scandinavians on their way from Lyubsha and Ladoga down the Volkhov River into other Slavonic lands. The younger toponym Garðaríki could mean "the realm of towns", or "the country of towns".

Legendary kings

 * Odin (Hervarar saga)
 * Sigrlami (Hervarar saga)
 * Rollaugr or Hrollaugr (Hervarar saga)
 * Ivar Vidfamne (Hervarar saga)
 * Ráðbarðr (Sögubrot)
 * Hreggviðr (Göngu-Hrólfs saga)
 * Hálfdan Brönufostri (king of Svíþjóð hin kalda in Sörla saga sterka)
 * Vissavald (king from Garðaríki, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar)
 * Hertnið (king of Ruziland, Þiðreks saga)

Literature

 * Brandt, Dagmar: Gardariki. Ein Stufenbuch aus dem russischen Raum (novel). 2 Volumes, Berlin 1943. Reprint Faksimile Verlag Bremen 1981.
 * Jakobsson, Sverrir, The Varangians: In God’s Holy Fire (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), ISBN 978-3-030-53796-8