Pre-modern identity No. 5: completion of the formation of Rus' identity (09.08.2025)
The fifth episode of the cycle. Dribnytsya shows how, in the late 12th and 14th centuries, the formation of a single Rus’ identity was completed in the Ukrainian lands. This was driven not only by a political factor (overcoming fragmentation) but also by large-scale migrations caused by nomadic raids (as Hrushevsky already pointed out). The struggle of the Halych-Volhynian Romanovychi and the Chernihiv Olhovychi for Kyiv and the legacy of Rus’ drew the lands into shared ethno-integration processes. He stresses that this identity encompassed mainly the elite, while peasants remained “locals” (tuteishi). A source for the article on the formation of pre-modern identity.
Key moments
- 00:40 Late 12th — 14th c.: the formation of Rus' identity is completed on the territory of Rus'-Ukraine
- 01:34 Ukraine's specificity — not only a political factor but also large-scale migrations (Hrushevsky)
- 07:55 Braichevsky: two integration centres — western (Halychyna–Volhynia) and eastern (Chernihiv)
- 10:07 The Romanovychi and the Olhovychi competed for Kyiv and the legacy of Rus', drawing the lands into integration
- 13:48 Ruthenian students at European universities in the late 15th c. called themselves Ruthenians
- 15:55 Rus' identity encompassed only a small elite stratum; peasants remained 'locals' (tuteishi)