nc33/MultiSpan_SQUAD huggingface dataset:
Kievan_Rus%27

Relations between the Rus' and Byzantines became more complex after Oleg took control over Kiev, reflecting commercial, cultural, and military concerns. The wealth and income of the Rus' depended heavily upon trade with Byzantium. Constantine Porphyrogenitus described the annual course of the princes of Kiev, collecting tribute from client tribes, assembling the product into a flotilla of hundreds of boats, conducting them down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, and sailing to the estuary of the Dniester, the Danube delta, and on to Constantinople. On their return trip they would carry silk fabrics, spices, wine, and fruit. The importance of this trade relationship led to military action when disputes arose. The Primary Chronicle reports that the Rus' attacked Constantinople again in 907, probably to secure trade access. The Chronicle glorifies the military prowess and shrewdness of Oleg, an account imbued with legendary detail. Byzantine sources do not mention the attack, but a pair of treaties in 907 and 911 set forth a trade agreement with the Rus', the terms suggesting pressure on the Byzantines, who granted the Rus' quarters and supplies for their merchants and tax-free trading privileges in Constantinople.

Question: When did the relations between the Rus and Byzantines start to become more complicated?
Answer: after Oleg took control over Kiev

Question: What were the primary concerns the Rus and Byzantines had with oleg?
Answer: commercial, cultural, and military concerns

Question: When did the Rus attack the Constantinole once again?
Answer: 907
Kievan_Rus%27

The Chronicle provides a mythic tale of Oleg's death. A sorcerer prophesies that the death of the Grand Prince would be associated with a certain horse. Oleg has the horse sequestered, and it later dies. Oleg goes to visit the horse and stands over the carcass, gloating that he had outlived the threat, when a snake strikes him from among the bones, and he soon becomes ill and dies. The Chronicle reports that Prince Igor succeeded Oleg in 913, and after some brief conflicts with the Drevlians and the Pechenegs, a period of peace ensued for over twenty years.

Question: What known document tells of the death of Oleg?
Answer: The Chronicle

Question: What was prophesised by a sorcerer involving Oleg's death?
Answer: certain horse

Question: WHo succeeded Oleg in 913?
Answer: Prince Igor

Question: What does Oleg do to his horse?
Answer: has the horse sequestered
Kievan_Rus%27

In 941, Igor led another major Rus' attack on Constantinople, probably over trading rights again. A navy of 10,000 vessels, including Pecheneg allies, landed on the Bithynian coast and devastated the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. The attack was well-timed, perhaps due to intelligence, as the Byzantine fleet was occupied with the Arabs in the Mediterranean, and the bulk of its army was stationed in the east. The Rus’ burned towns, churches, and monasteries, butchering the people and amassing booty. The emperor arranged for a small group of retired ships to be outfitted with Greek fire throwers and sent them out to meet the Rus’, luring them into surrounding the contingent before unleashing the Greek fire. Liutprand of Cremona wrote that "the Rus', seeing the flames, jumped overboard, preferring water to fire. Some sank, weighed down by the weight of their breastplates and helmets; others caught fire." Those captured were beheaded. The ploy dispelled the Rus’ fleet, but their attacks continued into the hinterland as far as Nicomedia, with many atrocities reported as victims were crucified and set up for use as targets. At last a Byzantine army arrived from the Balkans to drive the Rus' back, and a naval contingent reportedly destroyed much of the Rus' fleet on its return voyage (possibly an exaggeration since the Rus' soon mounted another attack). The outcome indicates increased military might by Byzantium since 911, suggesting a shift in the balance of power.

Question: What year did Igot led a Rus attack on Constantinople?
Answer: 941

Question: Why did the attack by the Rus go so well on the coast at the start?
Answer: Byzantine fleet was occupied with the Arabs

Question: What did the emperor of Byzatine do to some of the old retired ships to help fight the Rus?
Answer: outfitted with Greek fire throwers

Question: How large was the fleet that attacked the Bithynian coast along with the Pecheneg allies?
Answer: 10,000 vessels
Kievan_Rus%27

Igor returned to Kiev keen for revenge. He assembled a large force of warriors from among neighboring Slavs and Pecheneg allies, and sent for reinforcements of Varangians from “beyond the sea.” In 944 the Rus' force advanced again on the Greeks, by land and sea, and a Byzantine force from Cherson responded. The Emperor sent gifts and offered tribute in lieu of war, and the Rus' accepted. Envoys were sent between the Rus’, the Byzantines, and the Bulgarians in 945, and a peace treaty was completed. The agreement again focused on trade, but this time with terms less favorable to the Rus’, including stringent regulations on the conduct of Rus’ merchants in Cherson and Constantinople and specific punishments for violations of the law. The Byzantines may have been motivated to enter the treaty out of concern of a prolonged alliance of the Rus', Pechenegs, and Bulgarians against them, though the more favorable terms further suggest a shift in power.

Question: Where did Igor get warriors from after returning to Kiev after being drivin out by the Byzatines?
Answer: Slavs and Pecheneg allies

Question: IN what year was the peace treaty signed between the Rus,  Byzantine and the Bulgarians.
Answer: 945

Question: When did the Rus return to Byzatine seeking revenge?
Answer: 944
Kievan_Rus%27

Following the death of Grand Prince Igor in 945, his wife Olga ruled as regent in Kiev until their son Sviatoslav reached maturity (ca. 963). His decade-long reign over Rus' was marked by rapid expansion through the conquest of the Khazars of the Pontic steppe and the invasion of the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in 969. In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav, like his druzhina, remained a staunch pagan. Due to his abrupt death in an ambush in 972, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his sons, which resulted in two of his three sons being killed.

Question: When did Prince Igor past away?
Answer: 945

Question: In what year did Sviatoslav take over as leader?
Answer: 963

Question: Who ruled in Prince Oleg's place following his death?
Answer: his wife Olga

Question: Where did Sviatoslav move the capital to?
Answer: Pereyaslavets
Kievan_Rus%27

It is not clearly documented when the title of the Grand Duke was first introduced, but the importance of the Kiev principality was recognized after the death of Sviatoslav I in 972 and the ensuing struggle between Vladimir the Great and Yaropolk I. The region of Kiev dominated the state of Kievan Rus' for the next two centuries. The Grand Prince ("velikiy kniaz'") of Kiev controlled the lands around the city, and his formally subordinate relatives ruled the other cities and paid him tribute. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and Prince Yaroslav I the Wise (1019–1054). Both rulers continued the steady expansion of Kievan Rus' that had begun under Oleg.

Question: What year did Sviatoslav pass away?
Answer: 972

Question: How long did the region of Kiev dominate the State of the Rus?
Answer: two centuries

Question: What years did Vladimir the Great reign as leader?
Answer: 980–1015
Kievan_Rus%27

Vladimir had been prince of Novgorod when his father Sviatoslav I died in 972. He was forced to flee to Scandinavia in 976 after his half-brother Yaropolk had murdered his other brother Oleg and taken control of Rus. In Scandinavia, with the help of his relative Earl Håkon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, Vladimir assembled a Viking army and reconquered Novgorod and Kiev from Yaropolk. As Prince of Kiev, Vladimir's most notable achievement was the Christianization of Kievan Rus', a process that began in 988. The Primary Chronicle states that when Vladimir had decided to accept a new faith instead of the traditional idol-worship (paganism) of the Slavs, he sent out some of his most valued advisors and warriors as emissaries to different parts of Europe. They visited the Christians of the Latin Rite, the Jews, and the Muslims before finally arriving in Constantinople. They rejected Islam because, among other things, it prohibited the consumption of alcohol, and Judaism because the god of the Jews had permitted his chosen people to be deprived of their country. They found the ceremonies in the Roman church to be dull. But at Constantinople, they were so astounded by the beauty of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the liturgical service held there that they made up their minds there and then about the faith they would like to follow. Upon their arrival home, they convinced Vladimir that the faith of the Byzantine Rite was the best choice of all, upon which Vladimir made a journey to Constantinople and arranged to marry Princess Anna, the sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II.

Question: What territory was Vladimar Prince of before his father died?
Answer: Novgorod

Question: In 976, where did Vladimir have to flee to?
Answer: Scandinavia

Question: When did the Christianization of Kievan begin?
Answer: 988

Question: Who did Vladimir marry that was the sister of the Byzantine emperor?
Answer: Princess Anna
Kievan_Rus%27

Vladimir's choice of Eastern Christianity may also have reflected his close personal ties with Constantinople, which dominated the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the Dnieper River. Adherence to the Eastern Church had long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences. The church had a liturgy written in Cyrillic and a corpus of translations from Greek that had been produced for the Slavic peoples. This literature facilitated the conversion to Christianity of the Eastern Slavs and introduced them to rudimentary Greek philosophy, science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek (there were some merchants who did business with Greeks and likely had an understanding of contemporary business Greek). In contrast, educated people in medieval Western and Central Europe learned Latin. Enjoying independence from the Roman authority and free from tenets of Latin learning, the East Slavs developed their own literature and fine arts, quite distinct from those of other Eastern Orthodox countries.[citation needed] (See Old East Slavic language and Architecture of Kievan Rus for details ). Following the Great Schism of 1054, the Rus' church maintained communion with both Rome and Constantinople for some time, but along with most of the Eastern churches it eventually split to follow the Eastern Orthodox. That being said, unlike other parts of the Greek world, Kievan Rus' did not have a strong hostility to the Western world.

Question: What was considered too be Kiev's most important route for trade?
Answer: Dnieper River

Question: What language did the church write  the liturgy in?
Answer: Cyrillic

Question: What did this literature help with that was written in Cyrillic?
Answer: facilitated the conversion to Christianity
Kievan_Rus%27

Yaroslav, known as "the Wise", struggled for power with his brothers. A son of Vladimir the Great, he was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his father's death in 1015. Subsequently, his eldest surviving brother, Svyatopolk the Accursed, killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev. Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Viking mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the grand prince of Kiev in 1019. Although he first established his rule over Kiev in 1019, he did not have uncontested rule of all of Kievan Rus' until 1036. Like Vladimir, Yaroslav was eager to improve relations with the rest of Europe, especially the Byzantine Empire. Yaroslav's granddaughter, Eupraxia the daughter of his son Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev, was married to Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. Yaroslav also arranged marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary and Norway. Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code, Russkaya Pravda; built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system. Yaroslav's sons developed the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery), which functioned in Kievan Rus' as an ecclesiastical academy.

Question: What was Yaroslav also known as?
Answer: the Wise

Question: Who was Yaroslav's father?
Answer: Vladimir the Great

Question: In what year did Yaroslav become the prince of Kiev?
Answer: 1019
Kievan_Rus%27

An unconventional power succession system was established (rota system) whereby power was transferred to the eldest member of the ruling dynasty rather than from father to son, i.e. in most cases to the eldest brother of the ruler, fomenting constant hatred and rivalry within the royal family.[citation needed] Familicide was frequently deployed in obtaining power and can be traced particularly during the time of the Yaroslavichi rule (sons of Yaroslav) when the established system was skipped in the establishment of Vladimir II Monomakh as the Grand Prince of Kiev,[clarification needed] in turn creating major squabbles between Olegovichi from Chernihiv, Monomakhs from Pereyaslav, Izyaslavichi from Turov/Volhynia, and Polotsk Princes.[citation needed]

Question: What did the rota system do?
Answer: power was transferred to the eldest member

Question: What was the name of the UN-conventional system that was implemented?
Answer: rota system

Question: What was often deployed when trying to gain power?
Answer: Familicide
Kievan_Rus%27

The most prominent struggle for power was the conflict that erupted after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. The rivaling Principality of Polotsk was contesting the power of the Grand Prince by occupying Novgorod, while Rostislav Vladimirovich was fighting for the Black Sea port of Tmutarakan belonging to Chernihiv.[citation needed] Three of Yaroslav's sons that first allied together found themselves fighting each other especially after their defeat to the Cuman forces in 1068 at the Battle of the Alta River. At the same time an uprising took place in Kiev, bringing to power Vseslav of Polotsk who supported the traditional Slavic paganism.[citation needed] The ruling Grand Prince Iziaslav fled to Poland asking for support and in couple of years returned to establish the order.[citation needed] The affairs became even more complicated by the end of the 11th century driving the state into chaos and constant warfare. On the initiative of Vladimir II Monomakh in 1097 the first federal council of Kievan Rus took place near Chernihiv]in the city of Liubech with the main intention to find an understanding among the fighting sides. However even though that did not really stop the fighting, it certainly cooled things off.[citation needed]

Question: What country did the fleeing Grand Prince run off to?
Answer: Poland

Question: What immediately occurred after Yarsolav the Wise past away?
Answer: conflict

Question: Who was fighting for Tmutarakan following Yarsolav's death?
Answer: Rostislav Vladimirovich

Question: Where did the first federal council of Rus take place in 1097?
Answer: city of Liubech
Kievan_Rus%27

The decline of Constantinople – a main trading partner of Kievan Rus' – played a significant role in the decline of the Kievan Rus'. The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, along which the goods were moving from the Black Sea (mainly Byzantine) through eastern Europe to the Baltic, was a cornerstone of Kiev wealth and prosperity. Kiev was the main power and initiator in this relationship, once the Byzantine Empire fell into turmoil and the supplies became erratic, profits dried out, and Kiev lost its appeal.[citation needed]

Question: What played a major role in the decline of the Rus?
Answer: decline of Constantinople

Question: Which terrirory was the main power in this trade relatinship?
Answer: Kiev

Question: What terriroty did the trade from the Varangians to the Greeks route mainly go through?
Answer: Byzantine
Kievan_Rus%27

The last ruler to maintain united state was Mstislav the Great. After his death in 1132 the Kievan Rus' fell into recession and a rapid decline, and Mstislav's successor Yaropolk II of Kiev instead of focussing on the external threat of the Cumans was embroiled in conflicts with the growing power of the Novgorod Republic. In 1169, as the Kievan Rus' state was full of internal conflict, Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir sacked the city of Kiev. The sack of the city fundamentally changed the perception of Kiev and was evidence of the fragmentation of the Kievan Rus'. By the end of the 12th century, the Kievan state became even further fragmented and had been divided into roughly twelve different principalities.

Question: Who was the last ruller to keep the region united?
Answer: Mstislav the Great

Question: When did Mstislav die?
Answer: 1169

Question: When did the Kievan state break up into twelve seperate principalities?
Answer: 12th century,
Kievan_Rus%27

The Crusades brought a shift in European trade routes that accelerated the decline of Kievan Rus'. In 1204 the forces of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, making the Dnieper trade route marginal. At the same time the Teutonic Knights (of the Northern Crusades) were conquering the Baltic region and threatening the Lands of Novgorod. Concurrently with it the Ruthenian Federation of Kievan Rus' started to disintegrate into smaller principalities as the Rurik dynasty grew. The local Orthodox Christianity of Kievan Rus', while struggling to establish itself in the predominantly pagan state and losing its main base in Constantinople was on the brink of extinction. Some of the main regional centres that developed later were Novgorod, Chernigov, Galich, Kiev, Ryazan, Vladimir-upon-Klyazma, Vladimir of Volyn and Polotsk.

Question: What helped speed up the decline of the Kievan Rus?
Answer: The Crusades

Question: In what year did the Crusade sack Constantinople?
Answer: 1204

Question: What group was attacking the the Baltic Region in 1204?
Answer: Teutonic Knights
Kievan_Rus%27

In the northeast, Slavs from the Kievan region colonized the territory that later would become the Grand Duchy of Moscow by subjugating and merging with the Finnic tribes already occupying the area. The city of Rostov, the oldest centre of the northeast, was supplanted first by Suzdal and then by the city of Vladimir, which become the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal'. The combined principality of Vladimir-Suzdal asserted itself as a major power in Kievan Rus' in the late 12th century. In 1169 Prince Andrey Bogolyubskiy of Vladimir-Suzdal sacked the city of Kiev and took over the title of the (Великий Князь/Velikiy Knyaz/Grand Prince or Grand Duke) to Vladimir, this way claiming the primacy in Rus'. Prince Andrey then installed his younger brother, who ruled briefly in Kiev while Andrey continued to rule his realm from Suzdal. In 1299, in the wake of the Mongol invasion, the metropolitan moved from Kiev to the city of Vladimir and Vladimir-Suzdal.

Question: The Slavs from Kievan would eventually settle in the North East of the region, What would this region later become?
Answer: Grand Duchy of Moscow

Question: What was the name of the oldest city in the north east?
Answer: Rostov

Question: In what year did the mongol invasion begin?
Answer: In 1299
Kievan_Rus%27

To the southwest, the principality of Halych had developed trade relations with its Polish, Hungarian and Lithuanian neighbours and emerged as the local successor to Kievan Rus'. In 1199, Prince Roman Mstislavich united the two previously separate principalities. In 1202 he conquered Kiev, and assumed the title of Grand Duke of Kievan Rus', which was held by the rulers of Vladimir-Suzdal since 1169. His son, Prince Daniil (r. 1238–1264) looked for support from the West. He accepted a crown as a "Rex Rusiae" ("King of Russia") from the Roman papacy, apparently doing so without breaking with Constantinople. In 1370, the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople granted the King of Poland a metropolitan for his Russian subjects. Lithuanian rulers also requested and received a metropolitan for Novagrudok shortly afterwards. Cyprian, a candidate pushed by the Lithuanian rulers, became Metropolitan of Kiev in 1375 and metropolitan of Moscow in 1382; this way the church in the Russian countries was reunited for some time. In 1439, Kiev became the seat of a separate "Metropolitan of Kiev, Galich and all Rus'" for all Greek Orthodox Christians under Polish-Lithuanian rule.

Question: Who united the two previously separated principalities?
Answer: Prince Roman Mstislavich

Question: Which neighbors did Halych develop trade relations with?
Answer: Polish, Hungarian and Lithuanian

Question: In what year did Mstislavich defeat the Kiev?
Answer: 1202

Question: Who became metropolitan in 1370?
Answer: Cyprian
Kievan_Rus%27

Due to the expansion of trade and its geographical proximity, Kiev became the most important trade centre and chief among the communes; therefore the leader of Kiev gained political "control" over the surrounding areas. This princedom emerged from a coalition of traditional patriarchic family communes banded together in an effort to increase the applicable workforce and expand the productivity of the land. This union developed the first major cities in the Rus' and was the first notable form of self-government. As these communes became larger, the emphasis was taken off the family holdings and placed on the territory that surrounded. This shift in ideology became known as the verv'.

Question: How did the leader of Kiev gain political control?
Answer: Due to the expansion of trade

Question: From what did this new princedom emerge from?
Answer: from a coalition of traditional patriarchic family communes

Question: What type of government came from the coalition of traditional patriachic family?
Answer: first notable form of self-government
Kievan_Rus%27

In the 11th century and the 12th century, the princes and their retinues, which were a mixture of Slavic and Scandinavian elites, dominated the society of Kievan Rus'. Leading soldiers and officials received income and land from the princes in return for their political and military services. Kievan society lacked the class institutions and autonomous towns that were typical of Western European feudalism. Nevertheless, urban merchants, artisans and labourers sometimes exercised political influence through a city assembly, the veche (council), which included all the adult males in the population. In some cases, the veche either made agreements with their rulers or expelled them and invited others to take their place. At the bottom of society was a stratum of slaves. More important was a class of tribute-paying peasants, who owed labour duty to the princes. The widespread personal serfdom characteristic of Western Europe did not exist in Kievan Rus'.

Question: Which two groups dominated the society of Kievan Rus?
Answer: mixture of Slavic and Scandinavian elites

Question: What was severely lacking in Kievan in the 12th century?
Answer: class institutions and autonomous towns

Question: What was the group called that owed labour duty to the princes?
Answer: tribute-paying peasants