top of page
  • Writer's picturemmapodcast1
    • Jul 25
    • 3 min read

Prince Vladimir as a Recruit in the War Between Russia and Ukraine (Ropa & Rops)

Medievalism has been a common, and hardly innocent practice, in eastern European political discourses ever since the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s. To use but one example, both Russia and Ukraine have laid claims on such prominent historical figures as Prince Vladimir / Volodymyr the Great, Princess Olga, Boris and Gleb/Hlib, as well as on such semi-legendary characters as Ilya of Murom. The recent military conflict has led to a renewal of interest in the history of medieval Rus’ and to the rewriting and falsification of this history, particularly in public sphere, education and political discourse. 

During the war between Russia and Ukraine, the use of historical and legendary characters associated with the Middle Ages by both sides has augmented. Academic circles responded in various ways to this sensitive situation, from downright refusal to discuss the matter, to supporting the claims of either side with varying degrees of critical inquiry. In our conversation, we discuss the appropriation of the historical and legendary figures of Prince Vladimir/Volodymyr the Baptizer of Rus’, Princess Olga, and Ilya of Murom in different Ukrainian and Russian media, particularly sculpture and cinema.

In this episode, scholars Anastasija Ropa and Edgar Rops begin by mentioning some manifestations of medievalism and of competing claims on historical legacy of Kievan Rus’ in Russian and Ukrainian public discourses. They go on to discuss the nineteenth-century sculpture of Prince Vladimir produced in the Russian Empire, and later statues of Volodymyr/Vladimir created in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries by Russian and Ukrainian sculpturers. Then they discuss the legendary aspects of the historical figure of Vladimir/Volodymyr the Baptizer, the way Vladimir the Red Sun becomes part of the Ilya of Murom bylinas, and how Ilya of Murom was “rediscovered” in Ukrainian culture. Ropa and Rops then introduce the Russian franchise of cartoons The Three Heroes, in which Prince Vladimir features prominently, if ambiguously, as a greedy and cowardly ruler, which can be interpreted as criticism of autocratic political rule. Finally, the researchers share some academic responses to the conflicting claims on the figures of Kievan Rus’ as one’s own exclusive cultural heritage for Russia and Ukraine.


Anastasija Ropa, PhD, is lead researcher at the Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Department of Sport Management and Communication Science. Her research interests include medieval and modern Arthuriana, history of Livonia, and Slavic manuscripts.


Edgar Rops is independent researcher from Latvia. He has presented at international venues and published in peer-reviewed editions articles on folklore studies, legal history, and the history of Livonia.


Additional resources:


Critical studies

  • Griffin, Sean. “Revolution, Raskol, and Rock ‘n’ Roll: The 1,020th Anniversary of the Day of the Baptism of Rus.” The Russian Review Vol. 80 No. 2 (April 2021): 183-208.

  • ———. “Putin’s Medieval Weapons in the War against Ukraine.” Studies in Medievalism 29 (2020): 13-20.

  • Halperin, Charles J. The Rise and Demise of the Myth of the Rus’ Land. ARC Humanities Press, 2022.

  • Mühle, Eduard. Slavs in the Middle Ages between Idea and Reality. Leiden–Boston: Brill, 2023.

  • Pelenski, Jaroslaw. The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus’. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1998.

  • Raffensperger, Christian. Reimagining Europe: Kievan Rus’ in the Medieval World, 988–1146. Harvard University Press, 2012. 

Primary sources: cartoons, artefacts, etc.


15 views0 comments

Comments

bottom of page