# Money of Kievan Rus' Canonical: https://web4.xpay.bi/en/wiki/wp-en-60707760/ Language: en Published: 2026-10-25T22:55:35.273Z Updated: 2026-10-25T22:55:35.273Z The history of money in Kievan Rus' is divided into two main phases: ## Key facts ## Overview The history of money in Kievan Rus' is divided into two main phases: the period of use of foreign silver coins (from the 9th century to the beginning of the 12th century); and the coinless period (from 12th century). ## 9th – early 12th century The fur of small fur animals has long been one of the main types of monetary substitutes. It was highly valued in other countries, which allowed for a profitable trade. Also known as a substitute for money were small cowries shells (Cypraea). But nevertheless finds of skins and shells come across not so often. The basis of all the treasures dating back to this period were foreign silver coins. Together with the emergence of the first ancient settlements in the late 8th - early 9th century, foreign coins appeared on Slavic lands of Eastern Europe. The formation of money circulation started when active trade in Northern and Eastern Europe with the countries of the Caliphate began. Eastern European countries, deprived of large ore reserves of monetary metal, actively imported silver. In the first third of the 9th century, coins (dirhams) which were minted in the African centers of the Caliphate and which reached Rus' via the Caucasus and Central Asian trade routes became widespread in Kievan Rus'. Dirhams were used as a means of payment, worn as jewelry and melted down. Old East Slavic mentions of a щьляг (shchĭlyag) or скълѧѕь (skŭlędzĭ), probably derived from West Germanic schilling, shilling or shekel (a pound in Hebrew), likely refer to dirhams. In the northern regions, Western European denarius of German, English and Scandinavian coinage came to replace dirhams. They were in circulation until the beginning of the 12th century, when the circulation of foreign coins ceased, most likely due to a decrease in the silver sample, and replaced by silver bars (grivna), held out until the middle of the 14th century. The main means of circulation in Rus' (Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, etc.) were cuttings from dirhams weighing 1.38 grams (Rezanas), which were 1/200 of Byzantine litras. Similar cuttings were used on the lands of Rus', but their weight was 1.04 grams or 1/200 silver grivna. At the turn of the 10th - 11th centuries at the time of Vladimir the Great and Svyatopolk was made an attempt to stamp Rus' coins. ## Grivna – Kuna monetary system The early grivna could be divided into 20 nogatÿ, 25 kunÿ, or 50 rezanÿ. It has been thought that these names derived from various types of fur that these coins could be exchanged for, as the word kuna (Church Slavonic: кѹна́, modern Russian and Ukrainian: ку́на) originally meant a marten-skin. For example, in the Primary Chronicle, Oleg the Wise, prince of Kiev, is reported sub anno 6391 (883) as having subjugated the Derevlians, and imposing upon them 'the tribute of a black marten-skin apiece'. Similarly sub anno 6488 (980) is recorded: 'And Volodimir' said to them: 'Wait, until for you the kunȳ (translated as "marten-skins" or "money") will be collected in a month'. The diminutive words куница (kunitsa) in modern Russian and a куниця (kunytsya) in modern Ukrainian still mean "marten". ## Kuna Kuna is a weight and monetary unit, as well as the name of the coins used in Kievan Rus' and the Russian lands from the 10th to 15th centuries. The circulation of money in Rus' arose at the beginning of the 9th century due to the massive penetration into the Rus' lands of the eastern dirham weighing 2.73 g which gets the name "Kuna". Later, with the advent of Western European silver coins in money circulation, the European denarius became also known as kuna. As a result, money began to be called kuna in general. As the currency of Kievan Rus', kuna was 1/25 grivna in the 10th–11th centuries, 1/50 grivna before the beginning of the 13th century. A “Kuna system” has taken shape: 1 kuna = 2 g of silver = 1/25 grivna = 2 rezanas = 6 vekshas. ## Grivna The grivna was the monetary and weight unit in Kievan Rus'. It was used, in particular, to measure the weight of silver and gold (from which its monetary equivalent appeared). The golden grivna was 12.5 times more expensive than the silver one. It is the first weight unit referred to in Rus' chronicles. ## Veksha Veksha (squirrel, veveritsa) is the smallest monetary unit in Rus' from the 9th to 12th centuries. It was first mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years; also it was mentioned in the Russkaya Pravda. It was equal to 1/6 kuna. Silver veksha weighed about 1/3 grams. In real money circulation, 2 vekshas were equal to Western European denarius. The translators of Byzantine authors identified veksha with the Byzantine copper coin “Nummi”. Proponents of the so-called fur theory of monetary circulation in Kievan Rus' consider the Veksha to be tanned squirrel skin, which was used simultaneously with its coin counterpart (part of the silver Arab dirham). ## Rezana Rezana was the monetary unit in Rus' and neighboring lands. Cuted half of the Arab dirham was called Rezana, that is, 1 cut was equal to about 1.38 grams of 900th sample silver. The name Rezana (рѣзана) is derived from the verb REZAT'(рѣзати) and originated from Old East Slavic. When dirham received the name “Kuna”, the equivalent of a part of kuna was called “rezana”. Fragments of dirhams (1/2, 1/4, etc.) are often found in treasures. The fragmentation of dirhams indicates that the whole coin was too large for small trade transactions. In the 9th century. Rezana was equal to 1/50 of the grivna, in the 12th century equated to kuna due to the fact that kuna became twice as light and was not 1/25, but 1/50 grivna. Kuna and rezana existed in parallel, but gradually the counting on the kuna became more common. Rezanas existed until the 12th century, when the flow of silver dirhams from Muslim countries finally dried up. ## Zolotnik The zolotnik (also zlatnik, in both cases sounding like a Sultan - whose face might have been engraved) was the first gold coin, minted in Kiev in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, shortly after the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir the Great. The real name of these coins is unknown; the terms "zolotnik" and "zlatnik" are traditionally used in numismatics. It is mentioned in the text of the Rus'–Byzantine Treaty of the year 911 of the Prophetic Oleg. 1 zlatnik was 1/35 of kievan gold grivna. The mass of Zlatnik (about 4.2 g) was later used as the basis for the Russian weight unit, the zolotnik. The appearance of coinage in Rus' was the result of the revival of trade and cultural ties with Byzantium. The obvious model for Vladimir's Zlatniks was the Byzantine Solidus of the emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII, which are similar to the Zlatniks by weight (about 4.2 grams) and the arrangement of images. ## General information It has been repeatedly suggested that the start of minting in Rus' of its own coin (gold and silver) did not so much meet the requirements of the economy (money circulation in Rus' was provided by imported Byzantine, Arab and Western European coins; there were no sources of monetary metal in Rus') but the significance of the Kievan Rus' state. Silver coinage continued at the beginning of the 11th century under the reign of Svyatopolk and Yaroslav, however, the coinage of Zlatniks after the death of Vladimir no longer resumed. Judging by the small number of copies that have come down to us, the release of Zlatniks was extremely short in time (perhaps one or two years) and small in volume. However, all currently known copies of Zlatniks found in treasures, along with other coins of that time, bear traces of being in circulation - therefore, these coins were not ritual, award or gift. In the 11th century, judging by the findings of these coins in the treasures in Pinsk and Kienburg, Zlatniks also participated in international money circulation. ## Description of the coin type Reverse: a chest portrait of Prince Vladimir in a hat with pendants topped with a cross. Bent legs are schematically shown below. With his right hand, the prince holds a cross, his left hand on his chest. Above the left shoulder is shown a characteristic trident, a generic sign of Rurikovich. Around in a circle Cyrillic inscription: ВЛАДИМИРѢ НА СТОЛѢ (Vladimir on the throne). On two coins from known 11, the inscription is different: ВЛАДИМИРѢ А СЕ ЕГО ЗЛАТО (Vladimir and his gold). Obverse: the face of Christ with the Gospel in the left hand and with the blessing right hand. In a circle inscription: ІСУСѢ ХРИСТОСѢ.(Jesus Christ). ## Srebrenik Srebrenik (also - Serebryanik) - the first silver coin minted in Kievan Rus' at the end of the 10th century, then - at the beginning of the 11th century with arbitrary weight from 1.73 to 4.68 g. ## General information The issue of the coin was not caused by real economic needs (the trade network of Kievan Rus' was served by Byzantine and Arab gold and silver coins) but by political goals: the coin served as an additional sign of the sovereignty of the Christian sovereign. Srebreniks were issued in small quantities and not for long, that's why they did not have a big impact on monetary circulation in Kievan Rus'. Arabian silver coins were used for minting. Srebreniks were minted in Kiev by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (978-1015), Svyatopolk (c. 1015) and Yaroslav the Wise in Novgorod (until 1015). A separate group is formed by coins of the Tmutarakan prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, minted in 1083–1094. ## Sources - Money of Kievan Rus' · Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=60707760 Source: Wikipedia contributors — https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=60707760&oldid=1314432535 Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation notice: Reformatted for XPay; the source may be abridged, restructured or translated. Consult the cited revision for the original.