In this episode, we catch up with the development and Christianization of Rus Civilization, and discuss its hybridization with the other societies of Inner Europe. In doing so, we introduce some of the dynastic conflicts, rapidly changing peripheral strongholds, and family ties that the non-imperial powers of Inner Europe would develop amongst themselves just prior to the flourishing of the High Middle Ages.

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Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1948.

Schmidt, Knud Rahbek. The Social Structure of Russia in the Early Middle Ages. University of Aarhus. 1960.

Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453. Praeger Publishers, 1971.

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.