Prince Ivar 'the Boneless' Erikson of Kiev falls in love with and marries Princess Helga (Olga) of Chernigov. While taxing her people to finance a war against Denmark, the Chernigov 20 ambush and capture the prince and his retinue and threaten to e...
Gorm 'the Old' Ivarson was his older half-brother in Denmark, but
Svein 'the Old' Ivarson was born in Kiev, Hraes', and so too was
his byname from 'the Old' Fridlief/Frode Line of Skioldung Kings.
In the Hraes' Primary Chronicle he was often called Sveinald, but
his Slav subjects knew him as Prince Sviatoslav 'the Brave'.
Brian Howard Seibert
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Roman Midwife at Work
(943 AD) The merchant fleets of the north began arriving early, first the Danish fleet, then the Swedes, followed by the Norwegians and Icelanders, the Angles of Northumbria, the Normans of Frankia and lastly the Irish. The City of Kiev was full up to the rafters and the Dnieper held two thousand ships within the quays of Kiev. The Pechenegs that ran the Dnieper portages had never seen so many ships and the Greeks of Cherson bolted up their city gates until the throngs of longships had passed. But one Kievan Christian ship did not turn east across the Scythian Sea, but continued on south sailing past Constanza and Messembria. It was going to Constantinople under a white shied of truce with an embassy that was to protest the inhumane use of Greek fire and the crucifixion of captured Christians, which was against Roman laws of the time. The ambassadors were also instructed to plant an idea in the emperors' ears, that General Kourkouas took credit for a false victory in Nicomedia because he has eyes on the throne.
The northern merchant fleet was soon joined by the merchant fleet of Tmutorokan, adding another five hundred ships to the already massive flotilla as it passed by, hugging the north coast of the Scythian Sea. Soon it reached the city of Phasis and turned inland. The Rioni River seemed to swell at the influx of ships as though the billowing sails were drawing salty furrows up into the Georgian hills.
"I'm stopping here to visit my Roman wife," Ivar told his father, "and I'll have to tell the store start-up crew here to prepare to go to India."
"Good luck with that," Erik shouted from his ship. "They were supposed to go back to Denmark after the Tiflis start-up. And give my best to the consul's wife!" he laughed as he waved goodbye to his son. Erik had his men rowing while sailing to catch up with the warships at the vanguard of the fleet. Two Hraes' legions were being transported in those ships, one from Kiev and one from Tmutorokan, and a combined legion of cataphracts. The cataphracts were to secure the Rioni-Kura portage and ride patrols between Phasis and Tiflis and one legion of foot would be stationed in Tiflis to protect the city. The second legion would accompany the fleet as it passed by Bardha, and scouting parties would be sent into the city to look for Romans from General Kourkouas' legions of the Levant. Then the legion would melt into the merchant fleet and embed themselves inauspiciously amongst the merchants as a security precaution.
