(Controversy has arisen among Russian historians as to the probable nationality or extraction of these “Russ” foreigners, who, like the Angles, gave their name to the country of their adoption, and some writers have assumed them to have been Slavs from Rugen or the south coasts of the Baltic, and not of Skandinavian origin. Apart, however, from the decidedly Norse form of their leaders’ names--Rurik, Sineus, Truvor, Oleg, etc.--the manner of their coming and their subsequent history harmonises exactly with that of the various Skandinavian offshoots who invaded and established themselves in Normandy, England, the Scottish islands, Ireland, and Sicily. Under their vigorous rule the Slavic settlement around Novgorod expanded in a few years into an extensive principality, imposing tribute on and drawing recruits from the neighbouring tribes, and carrying the terror of the Russian name into the Black and Kaspian Seas.) Whether the “invitation” was genuine, emanating from the desire of the Ilmen folk to secure for themselves the settled rule of capable leaders, or whether the presence of the strangers had to be accepted as a disagreeable necessity, to mitigate the humiliation of which a legendary calling-in was subsequently invented, must remain a matter for conjecture; but with the incoming of this new element Russian history develops suddenly in scope and interest.[7] FOOTNOTES: [1] The gathering of honey and wax from the combs of wild bees formed an important industry among the Polish and Russian Slavs. [2] S. Solov’ev, _Istoriya Rossie_. [3] S. Solov’ev. [4] Ralston, _Early Russian History_. [5] Gibbon. [6] _Chronicle of Nestor._ [7] S. Solov’ev, _Istoriya Rossie_. Karamzin, _Histoire de Russie_. _Chronique de Nestor_. Schiemann, _Russland, Polen, und Livland_. N. P. Barsov, _Otcherke Rousskoy istoritcheskoy Geografie_. V. Thomsen, _The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia_. CHAPTER II THE COMING OF THE VARANGIANS AND THE BUILDING OF KIEVIAN RUSSIA