The meaning of the term “fryagi” in the Tale of Past Years

It is reasonably proved that the opinion which classifies the Genoeses like the “fryagi” of the Japhet’s tribe in the Tale of Past Years isn’t based on the real facts. This statement is deeply fixed in the science and in the translations of the most ancient chronicle. It is based on the texts of the Kulikovo cycle where the term “fryagi” is used. But the analysis of these and some other sources demonstrates that this term got the specific content only if it was geographically and ethnically localizated. Without it is absolutely impersonal (as well as the term “nemtsi” which was used to name a big part of the West-European people). That is why the interpretation of the term “fryagi” of the chronicle as the Genoeses is incorrect. The true point of view was expressed by V.N. Tatishchev who stated that the “fryagi” were the Franks. Herewith the “vendizi”, the fryagi’s neighbors, are not the Venetians, but the polabian and South Baltic Slavs named “wends” which played a very important role in the history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 11th-12th centuries. They are linked to the Varangians and the Rus who came, according to the chronicle, to the eastern Slavs in 862 and took a very active part in their life.

“fryagi”, the Tale of Past Years, the texts of the Kulikovo cycle, the Genoeses, the Venetians