Rulers of Kievan Rus

Budiniku Bojanu Volimiru Volimirišše (Volyamir in Russian), a Nassian duke, was at the roots of Kievan Rus. He founded the Volyamirich dynasty that would rule Russia for the next 800 years. Volyamir's capital was the northern city of Novgorod. His successor Oleg relocated the capital to Kiev at around 880, thus laying the foundation of what has become known as Kievan Rus.

While the early rulers of Rus were of Nassian and Scandinavian origin (Volyamir's wife Helga was Scandinavian), they gradually merged into the local East Slavic population. Still, in the 11th century, Yaroslav, (called Arosilavu in Nassian chronicles and Jarisleif in Scandinavian) maintained the dynastic links, married a Nassians princess, and gave asylum to king Olaf II of Norway.

The movement of nobility also went in the opposite direction. According to Adam of Bremen, Anant Gordeku (Anund Gårdske in Swedish), a man from Kievan Rus was elected king of Sweden, ca 1070. However, as he was a Christian, he refused to sacrifice to the gods at the Temple of Uppsala and he was deposed by popular vote.

The unity of Kievan Rus gradually declined, and was all but gone by 1132. After that period Kievan Rus shattered into a number of smaller states all of which contested for the throne of Kiev.

Kievan Rus was finally destroyed by the Mongols in 1240, but the Volyamirich line persisted and continued to rule northern Russian principalities until the early seventeenth century.

Rulers of Kievan Rus' held the titles knyaz and later velikiy knyaz, traditionally translated as duke and grand duke, respectively.

List of rulers of Kievan Rus

Princes of Novgorod/Novogord

Volyamir (862–879)
Oleg (879–912)