• Born: Between 910 and 920
• Married: Between 930 and 935
• Died: Between 944 and 946, Iskorosten, Ukraine
• Buried: Dereva near Iskorosten, Ukraine

  Research Notes:

The Primary Chronicle names Igor as son of Rurik, adding that he was "very young" at his father´s death. This suggests a birth date in [877/79] for consistency with the report about his supposed father´s death in the same source. However, the chronology of Igor´s son Sviatoslav, which is more robust..., suggests that it is more likely that Igor was born in [910/20]. The Primary Chronicle records that Igor succeeded (his relative) Oleg in 912, but this chronology is also difficult to sustain. It is probably more accurate to suggest that Igor was established at Kiev by the end of the 930s. The existence of Igor as a historical figure is nevertheless corroborated: Liudprand of Cremona records that "rex…Inger" came to Constantinople, during the reign of Emperor Romanos I, with "mille et eo amplius navibus" (dated to 941 by Franklin & Shepard, and the De administrando imperio names his son "Sphendosthlabus Ingor Russiæ principis filius". Franklin & Shepard also refer to an apparently corroborating Khazar text, in which the leader is named 'H-L-G-W' [=Oleg?] and is said to have died in the Caspian region. Igor negotiated privileged trading terms with Byzantium in [944], the text of which is incorporated into the Primary Chronicle. The main terms of the treaty are corroborated by the De administrando imperio.

The Primary Chronicle records that Igor was killed by Derevlian Slavs, who lived to the north-east of Kiev and were unwilling to submit to his rule. ¹