Say a word about the forgotten "Stork"

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Sometimes details, mailboxes or doorknobs can communicate more about a country than landmarks. In Estonia, weather vane on the roof not only shows where the wind is blowing from, but also tells its difficult story.

A couple of years ago I watched the film by M. Zadornov, and recently I remembered how at the beginning of the film the father gives his son a book to read and says: - Not everything that is taught at school is true.

Once I opened the book of VN Tatishchev “Russian History”. The times of Rurik's calling to Russia are interestingly described in the Joachim Chronicle: Gostomysl had four sons and three daughters. His sons were either killed in wars, or died, and not a single son of his remained, and his daughters were given to the neighboring princes as wives. And Gostomysl was sad about this … and sent to Zimegoly for the prophetic ones, so that they would decide how to inherit him from his descendants. However, the sleeping man had a dream, how from the womb of his daughter Umila a tree grows and covers the Great city, from its fruits people of the whole earth are satisfied. Getting up from sleep, he called the prophet, and told them the dream. They decided: "He should inherit from her sons." Gostomysl, anticipating the end of his life, summoned all the elders from the Slavs, Rus, Chud, Ves, Mer, Krivich and Dryagovich, told them a dream and sent the chosen ones to the Varangians to ask the prince. And after the death of Gostomysl Rurik came with two brothers and their relatives.

Well, who was Rurik's grandfather is clear, and who reigned before him? Yes, and pay attention: already in those days the Balts were giving advice to the “Politburo”.

After the death of Vladimir and his mother, Advinda reigned his sons and grandsons up to Burivoy, who was ninth after Vladimir … Burivy, having a difficult war with the Varangians, repeatedly defeated them and began to possess all of Byarmia up to Kumeni. Finally, by this river, he was defeated, he destroyed all his soldiers, he barely escaped himself, went to the city of Byarma, which stood on the island, strong built, where the ruled princes stayed, and, while staying there, died. The Varangians, who came, captured the Great City and laid the tribute on the Slavs, Russia and Chud. People, who endured the burden of the Varangians, sent to Burivaya, to ask him for the son of Gostomysl, so that he would reign in the Great City. And when Gostomysl took power, immediately the Varangians, which were beaten, which were expelled, and the Vikings refused to pay tribute, and, having gone to them, won.

It turns out that Burivy was the great-grandfather and he spent his last days on an island in a well-built city. Tatishchev explained: - “the city of Byarma is among the Russians Korela, among the Finns Kekskolm, i.e. on two islands”. But in the chronicle it is said on the island, and at Tatishchev on two islands, and the excavations of Korela, at best, give the XIV century. But then, what kind of hail was such that there was a strong built on the island?

Kumen, Kymijoki (Fin.), Kymmene (Swede.) - a river in Finland, flows in a southerly direction. Not far from the mouth, the river bifurcates, and it already flows into the Gulf of Finland in five branches. According to the Treaty of Abo (1743), the border between Sweden and Russia ran along Kumeni.

I open the map, look for Kumen and see a little in the southwest there is a huge island, which in all languages is called the Island. In the Scandinavian sagas, it is known as Eisusla, from (isl) ey "island" and sýsla "district". Hence the German Ösel and the Swedish Ösel. The Novgorod first chronicle mentions Ostrovskaya land, literally the same means Sārma (liv), Saaremaa (est) and Saarenmaa (fin). The Russian "Ostrov" is indicated by the mention in the letters of the title "bishop Ostrovsky" - the bishop of the island of Ezel. Another name - the island of Rusel is found in the middle of the 17th century in N. Vitsen's notes "A Journey to Muscovy". Anders Trana, while traveling from Stockgod to Moscow through Riga, wrote the following in 1655: … the outlines of Courland appeared. First, Ryusero appeared, and immediately after him - the Courland castle Wandall, in the chronicles Prince Vandal is described as the grandfather of Burivy and the great-grandfather of Gastomysl.

And where is the strong hail? It is worth looking at the map in more detail. What is this city? Kuressare, kurgan (plural kured) means a stork, and saar means an island. That is, the island of storks.

I will give the floor to the guide: … and the rheological findings indicate that the island was inhabited 8000 years ago. The island was the richest land and a base for pirates, sometimes called Eastern Vikings. It can be assumed that the old name used for Saaremaa was Kuressaare and used for the main island, while Saaremaa extended over the entire archipelago. The Chronicles of Livonia report their fleet of 16 ships and 500 men devastating lands in southern Scandinavia, then Danish. In 1206, the Danish king Valdemar II landed on the island and made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a fortress there. Independence ended for the islanders in 1227 with the conquest of the crusaders …

Let's compare: Kuresaare - the orientation of the diagonal to the north magnetic pole, but the orientation of the sides (the magnetic pole does not coincide with the geographic one used by google), and the Novodvinsk fortress near Arkhangelsk.

Here is what historians write: “The inhabitants of Western Estonia and the islands built their fortifications mainly on small hills, surrounding them with circular ramparts. A feature was the strengthening of defensive structures due to the construction of not only earthen or sandy, but also stone ramparts. In the north and west, such structures were built using the "dry masonry" method without the use of mortar. Perhaps this served as the basis for the message placed in the chronicle of Henry of Latvia about how the Semigallians tried to knock down the tower of the Ikskile castle into the Daugava, thinking that the stones in it were not fastened with mortar. The remains of an ancient fortress discovered by archaeologists under the fortress in Ladoga were built using the same technology."

"Dry masonry" can be seen in the ancient settlement of the 6th - 8th centuries practically opposite the Old Ladoga fortress where the Lyubsha river flows into the Volkhov.

From the fortifications around the castle of the Livonian Order, where there was once a settlement of the Wends at the mouth of the Venta River, only a drawing remains.

The plan of the castle at the mouth of the Pregolya river near the Vistula bay, Aistmares is the old Lithuanian name of the bay. Some historians suggest that these are the remains of the ancient trade and craft center of Truso, from where the famous "Amber Route" began. This region was called Samland (lat.). The fact that it was inhabited by the same people is also confirmed by the name of the island of Kuressaare in Latvian - Sāmsala. In Latvian sala is an island, the word sām has no logical translation, it turns out "island of sām -ov". The Samo Principality is an early medieval Slavic state mentioned in written sources. Greek historians wrote that the Pelasgians called the island the word "samos", it turns out "O island of the islanders". A similar fortification lies at the base of Klaipeda. Many residents of the island of Muhu, neighboring Saaremaa, believe that their ancestors once sailed from the Curonian Spit.

Let's try to understand who lived there in those ancient times. Estonian textbooks refer to the Roman historian Tacitus (55 - 117 AD) and his treatise Germany, in which he mentions the ancient Aestians (aestiorum gentes). “Aestia is worshiped by the foremothers of the gods and as a distinctive sign they wear images of boars; they replace weapons with them and protect those who honor the goddess even in the midst of enemies … they ransack the sea and on the shore, and on the shoals themselves are the only ones of all to collect amber, which they themselves call glesum. They themselves do not use it in any way; they collect it in its natural form, deliver it to our merchants as unprocessed and, to their surprise, get a price for it."

F. I. Wiedemann refers to a very ancient Anglo-Saxon poem Scopes vidsidh, where under the Gothic king Germanarich (Eormanrice), next to the Istami, there are also the Idumings, who can be mistaken for one people with the Idumees of the chronicler Henry.

The Yngling saga gives the following description: Ingvar, the son of Eistain Koning, became then a Konung in the land of the Svei. He was very guilty and often went to the maritime poods, for the land of the sves then all the time was raided by people from the land of the Saxons, and from the land of the East. Ingvar Konyng connected the world with the Saxons and began to go to the poxodes in the eastern country. In one summer he took the war and departed to the eastern country, and dissected it in the place that is called the island. Tyt fueled the eastern ones with a great war, and a battle ensued. Boysko eastern was so great that the Swedes could not oppose him. Ingvar konung fell, and his friend fled … … And the sea of eastern songs of Gyumir will satisfy him. (around the beginning of the 7th century)

In describing the life of Charlemagne, Einhard writes: … a struggle has opened with the Slavs, who are called Viltsy in our own way, but in their own way they are called Veletaby. In this campaign, among other peoples following the royal banner by order, the Saxons also participated as allies, albeit with feigned, little faithful obedience. The reason for the war was that, once the allies of the Franks, were encouraged, insulted them with continuous raids and could not be deterred by orders alone. The bay stretches to the east from the western ocean: … the eastern coast is inhabited by the Slavs and storks (Aisti) and other various peoples; among them the first place is occupied by the veletabs, to which the king declared war. On one campaign, personally leading an army, Charles so amazed them that they did not consider it useful to renounce obedience on another occasion (789). I hope you don’t need to translate this phrase? After all, Einhard does not give a definition - numerous or large, but they take the first place! Well, what does this mean, let everyone decide for himself.

The 6th century historian Jordan writes about the "Hestii" tribes, who, along with the more northern Fennians and the Veneti spread to the south, lived behind the Vidivari tribe who lived near the mouth of the Vistula. Talking about them, Jordan noted their peacefulness and the fact that they sought support from Theodoric, the king of the Goths, by sending him amber as a gift.

At the end of the 9th century, the English king Alfred the Great, in the notes to the translation of the works of Orosius, indicated the position of the country of Eastland near the country of the Wends - Weonodland. Eastland is very big and there are many cities, and every city has a king. In the Scandinavian sagas, Eistland is localized between Virland or uirlant (Virumaa in northeastern Estonia) and Livland or iflant (Livonian country). On stones in Scandinavia people are mentioned: Aistafir, Aistulf, Aistr, Aists, Estulfr, Est (t) mon, Estr, Est and the place names Estlatum and Eistland.

Saxon Grammaticus wrote that the house of the berserker Starka rusbut was in Yeistland. Al-Idrisi in 1154 describes the country of Astland, mentioning Dvina and the city of Mezhotne, I. Leymus believes.

Let's see what they write about the inhabitants of that time: At the end of the III and especially at the beginning of the II millennium BC. Finno-Ugric peoples appeared on the shores of the Baltic Sea. At about the same time, the Balts, a European tribe, the ancestors of the Lithuanians and Latvians, appeared in the Baltic States. The language of the Finno-Ugric belongs to the Uralic family of languages. The Finno-Ugric peoples are: Veps, Vod, Izhorians, Karelians, Komi, Livs, Mansi, Mari, Mordovians, Sami, Udmurts, Finns, Hungarians, Khanty, Estonians and some others. Finno-Ugric by origin Mongoloids, i.e. they are closer to the Chinese than to their neighbors.

Here is what the famous American scientist M. Gimbutas writes about the outward appearance of the Finno-Ugric people: “Skeletons from burials of the Kurgan culture are long and Caucasoid type, people from the settlements of hunters and fishermen were of medium height or short with wide faces, a flat nose and high eye sockets. The latter features in general terms are similar to those possessed by the Finno-Ugric peoples who came out of Eastern Siberia."

In the section devoted to the settlement of the Slavs, she says: “The process of Slavization began in the prehistoric period and continued until the 19th century. Someone might argue that modern Estonians are not like Mongols or Chinese. Is not it? Look closely and you will see wide cheekbones and slightly slanted eyes. Of course, these features are not striking for all Estonians, but nevertheless, this is the core on which everything else is strung. Look at the Laplanders or at the representatives of the peoples of the Russian north who are engaged in reindeer herding, because this is how the ancestors of the Estonians who came to the shores of the Baltic looked like.“Everything seems to converge, but geneticists say that R1a carriers (Slavs) lived here at least 1000 years earlier than N1c (Finno-Ugric) came.

Henry of Latvia focuses more on the territory of residence than explains ethnicity, highlighting the Islanders (Osiliani), Estones, Pomorians or Pomors (Maritime), Estones maritime, Rotalians, Russians (Rutheni), Ugavnians, Sakkalantsev, Virontsev, Gerventsev (Rugeltsev) and many others. Pomorian names are also traced in the Baltic states: Barth near Rügen and Bārta in Kurzeme; Groben in Poland and Grobiņa;, Kołobrzeg and the town of "namesake" Saulkrasti (sunny beach - Soneberg); Bauska and Bautzen (near Radibor); Kolska and Kolka in Latvia, Kolga in Estonia and Kol's speech, which gave the name to the Kola Peninsula; legendary Dobin and Doblin (Dobele). Kujawa (Kuyaba) in the Pomorian dialect is a sandy hill, Kujawa is a steep hill in Ukrainian, and the ancient Kubbe mountain, where the Vendians lived and near which Riga was built.

An interesting moment looks when the Teutons, Saxons, Frisians and Livs attacked the Estons, then the islanders came to restore order and filled the mouth of the Dune with stones (introduced economic sanctions, blocked trade routes). That is, they "extinguish" some, while others come to "disassembly"? Imagine the number of those stones, because the length of the shortest bridge across the Dvina in Riga is more than 500 meters, and also keep in mind that at that time both Lielupe and Dvina fell into the Vendian Gulf (Wijen dōnes), Poles still call zatoka Ryska, one stream ! This created such a flow that it was at least dangerous to go out to sea, but it was possible, but to enter against the current at the mouth of the river was very problematic. The Germans were forced to deepen the mouth. But over time, the rivers brought sand, then the Dvina washed out another mouth for itself and now flows into the sea in another place.

Where do modern Estonians get the ratio of R1a genes - 37.3% is comparable to N1c - 40.6%, because the difference is less than 10%, and it turns out that Lithuanians are quite sensitive, but more Finno-Finnish than Estonians, because in Lithuania N1c is 42% and R1a - 38%? And the neighboring Finns have N1c 63.2% (in some places 71%), while R1a does not exceed 5%. In Latvia R1a - 40% N1c - 38%. while in Belarus R1a is 51% and N1c is only 10%. In Estonia, haplogroup R1a is represented by old branches, with ancestors that lived more than 4500 years ago. The emergence of these branches dates back to the Bronze Age or Chalcolithic. It is interesting to note that one of the subclades is the North Eurasian Z92 branch, from which the Z280 branch originated, which is typical for a significant part of modern Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The Z92 branch is one of the possible from the Vends. Where did all this come from? And what kind of people who live on the island of Storks and are called Storks, Eisti or Aesti? Maybe where else is found?

Let's see how storks are called in other languages: It is instructive, but far from the Baltic shores of India in the Malayalam language, a stork is pronounced as peru ñā ṟa, which without an ending is consonant with the Slavic Perun (Perkūnas, Pērkons, Percuns). Peruñāṟa in post-word comprehension is the protector of the sun.

In Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian - Roda. Is this not the origin of our reverent attitude towards storks and the good old belief that storks bring little babies?

In Kaarma, at the entrance to the church, on the left side, the face of Rod, turned on its side, is immured into the wall. As the guide said: - The Germans did it on purpose so that people coming to pray would see how high the Christian god had ascended and how low their pagan idol had fallen, and those who had not yet accepted the Christian faith could bow to the Rod, even if it was defeated, but coming to churches.

In Pöyde, some fanatic showed all his irrepressible strength. Many will say that this is a cross, but I ask you to take a closer look at the finds in 1859 made in the south of Norway in Estfall (385-670 g.). And to be sure, I will give a rock carving in EstherGötland 1000 BC and the same on the island of Rügen. But this is just a symbol of the sun.

Although the god Yar (Yarila) is not mentioned in the "official" mythology of the Eastern Balts, the respect for him has been preserved to this day. So in the Latvian language there is a word ārsts, which means a doctor.

For many peoples, the stork is a sacred animal, about which there are many legends and beliefs. In one of the legends, it is said that in the fall the stork flies to a mysterious distant land in which the souls of deceased ancestors live - to Vyri or Irey. The word "Vyri" itself is sometimes interpreted as "to paradise" or as "to the Aryan country". There is a version that the word Irey is associated with distant lands beyond the sea: "z. rus. Vyray, ukr. Viriy, virey, bel. Vyray, pol. Dial. Wyraj -" a mythological land where migratory birds live. "Perhaps so Virumaa (Viru land) got its name.

The Pomeranian estons, as Heinrich writes, promised to accept priests and the duties of Christians, if only to save them from the attacks of the Danes.

It suggests that a part of the population, whom Henry of Latvia called the Livs, considered themselves Philistines: “Kaupo went with an army to his castle, where there were his relatives and friends, pagans. When they suddenly saw the unexpectedly appeared army, they were seized with fear and only a few climbed the walls to defend the castle, the majority climbed over the rampart at the rear of the castle and fled to the forests and mountainous places. The Christians courageously laid siege to the castle and, at last, bravely climbed the ramparts. The enemies were defeated and driven out of the fortifications, the Christians entered the castle and, pursuing the pagans there, killed up to fifty people, and the rest fled. Having seized all the property and big booty, the castle was lit. When the Livs, who were on the other side of Koiva in the Dabrela castle, noticed a column of smoke and fire and saw that the Kaupo castle was burning, they, fearing that the same would happen to them and their castle, gathered everyone in the castle, climbed the rampart in anticipation enemy and met him, bravely resisting. Dabrel, their elder, encouraged and supported them, saying, like the Philistines: "Be strong and fight, Philistines, so as not to become slaves of the Jews." The pilgrims who besieged the castle all day along with the Semigalls could not take it; some of them tried to climb with a few on the other side, but they lost five people killed there. Seeing that the castle is very strong and impregnable, they retreated …"

What do we see in this description: an area divided by a river, in which, in a distance of visibility, there are castles with different owners, in one castle are the relatives of Kaupo, in another the people of Dabrela. The inhabitants of the castle of the Kaupo family are very frightened, but they do not seek protection in the castle of Dabrela, but simply run into the forests and mountainous places. Can you call them friends of the inhabitants of Dabrela Castle? At best, neighbors, and those from whom they did not seek protection. Ask yourself the question: - Where did the people come from who, as historians say, could not read and write and were idolaters, especially the Europeans' Bible was clearly not in Livonian, they could know who the Philistines were, and even the Jews, and why the Jews should take them into slavery? After all, if Dabrel had simply “thrown phrases” that are not understandable to those around him, I doubt that this would have encouraged and supported the defenders of the castle. Considering that the Edomites, another people mentioned in the Bible, lived a little north of the Philistines in Latvia, this version does not seem so implausible.

I remember when I was still a pioneer, we once went on an excursion to the Turaida Castle with the whole class. In the basement of the castle, there is one notable pebble that asks more questions than it answers. Slightly below the oblique cross, which eventually took on the form of a crossed staff and a cross or sword, there is an inscription Rus … Where in a German castle a stone with an inscription Rus?

I remember there was an elderly caretaker and I asked her a question: - Where does this stone come from? She replied: - They say that this stone was found on the banks of the river, when they were collecting stones for the construction of the castle. Then the following question arose: - Why was it not used in the construction of the castle? - There was an inscription on it and they decided to keep it.

The oblique cross is a very ancient symbol. Even before the time of ancient Rome, it was used to mark the border, the passage beyond which was prohibited. It turns out that the symbol of the ancient state of Rus is preserved in our museum, literally the “border post” of those times.

Bishop Hartwig II of Bremen appointed Meinard in 1186 “Bishop of Ikskül in Russia”. Pope Clement III in 1186 approved Maynard for the bishopric of Ixskül in Russia (in Ruthenia). Two years later (1 X 1188), his knowledge of geography did not change, and in his letter to the Archbishop of Bremen, he continued to assert that the Ikskül bishopric was in Russia and that the same name was found in various documents (including Swedish) until the 17th century., and the sea off the coast was called Rugsky. Otto named the Baltic Sea in a letter of 946 - mare Rugianorum, and in Old German it bears the name Ostersalt.

I admit that one person might not know something, but several and several times? However, this does not affect the opinions of “modern historians”. Maybe I'm wrong … As Uncle Fyodor's mother used to say: “They go crazy one by one. It's just that everyone is sick with the flu”. Though? Maybe it's not me who is mistaken, but Uncle Fyodor's mom?

There are few similar border pillars, but they have survived:

In Pomorie, in Kem, people believed that the Chud had a reddish skin tone and left to live from these places to Novaya Zemlya. It is pertinent to recall that the inhabitants of ancient Egypt, whose self-name was "Land of Kem", considered themselves red-skinned settlers from the country of Upper Kem.

Sergey Mulivanov