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Ruric Biography

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RURIK (ONorse Hrörekr, Russ. Rjurik). The founder of a Russian Empire. According to Nestor, the earliest Russian chronicler, he was the leader of a band of Northmen or Varangians (q.v.) who, in response to an invitation extended by the Slavs of Novgorod, settled in that city in 862. He died in 879. Many noble families in Russia still claim descent from Rurik. Consult: V. L. P. Thousen, The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia and the Origin of the Russian State (Oxford, 1877); V. 0. Klutchevski, History of Russia, vol. i (New York, 1911); K. Gjerset, History of the Norwegian People, vol. i (ib., 1915).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 230.