Rus'–Byzantine Treaty (911)

It is not likely that the Russian [sic] princes of the tenth century, who were by no means superior to Scandinavian freebooters elsewhere on the Continent, attached any grave significance to these scraps of paper, and the fact that there is but one Greek allusion to them would indicate that to the Byzantine authorities they were more a gesture than a contract.

The obscurity, the grammatical uncertainty, and the general disregard of style shown by these treaty-texts lead to the conclusion that they were translated at a moment when they had no further value except as casual relics of the past.

Indeed, there is good reason to believe that the treaties are at least partly the result of later creative editing of original texts, either by the author of the Primary Chronicle or by his predecessors.

[6] The text has many affinities in content and phrasing with the trade treaties later concluded by Byzantium with the merchant republics of Italy.

[citation needed] All the names of the Rus' envoys mentioned in the treaty appear to be Scandinavian[7] (attested or reconstructed Old Norse forms in parentheses): Farlof (Farulfr), Ver/lemud (Vermu(n)dr), Rulav (Rollabʀ), Fost (*Fastuʀ), Frelavc (Frilleifr), Inegeld (Ingjaldr), Karly (Karli), Karn (Karna, attested in a Swedish runic inscription), Lidul(f) (Lidulif < Leiðulfr, but litulf is attested from a runic inscription), Ruald (Hróaldr), Rjuar (Hróarr), Truan (Þróndr or Þrandr).