The title of the lists of the Tale of Bygone Years. The Tale of Bygone Years as a historical source

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is an ancient Russian chronicle created by the monk Nestor at the beginning of the 12th century.

The story is a large work that describes the events taking place in Rus' from the arrival of the first Slavs to the 12th century. The chronicle itself is not a complete narrative; it includes:

• historical notes;
• yearly articles (starting from 852); one article talks about events that happened in one year;
• historical documents;
• the teachings of princes;
• lives of saints;
• folk tales.

The history of the creation of “The Tale of Bygone Years”

Before the appearance of The Tale of Bygone Years, there were other collections of essays and historical notes in Rus', which were compiled mainly by monks. However, all these records were local in nature and could not represent full story life of Rus'. The idea of ​​​​creating a single chronicle belongs to the monk Nestor, who lived and worked in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries.

There are some disagreements among scholars about the history of the story. According to the generally accepted theory, the chronicle was written by Nestor in Kyiv. The original edition was based on early historical records, legends, folklore stories, teachings and records of monks. After writing, Nestor and other monks revised the chronicle several times, and later the author himself added Christian ideology to it, and this edition was considered final. As for the date of creation of the chronicle, scientists name two dates - 1037 and 1110.

The chronicle compiled by Nestor is considered the first Russian chronicle, and its author is considered the first chronicler. Unfortunately, no ancient editions have survived to this day; the earliest version that exists today dates back to the 14th century.

Genre and idea of ​​“The Tale of Bygone Years”

The main goal and idea of ​​​​creating the story was the desire to consistently present the entire history of Rus' since biblical times, and then gradually supplement the chronicle, painstakingly describing all the events that took place.

As for the genre, modern scientists believe that the chronicle cannot be called a purely historical or purely artistic genre, since it contains elements of both. Since “The Tale of Bygone Years” was rewritten and expanded several times, its genre is open, as evidenced by the parts that sometimes do not agree with each other in style.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” was distinguished by the fact that the events told in it were not interpreted, but were simply retold as dispassionately as possible. The chronicler's task is to convey everything that happened, but not to draw conclusions. However, it is worth understanding that the chronicle was created from the point of view of Christian ideology, and therefore has a corresponding character.

In addition to its historical significance, the chronicle was also a legal document, as it contained some codes of laws and instructions of the great princes (for example, “The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”).

The story can be roughly divided into three parts:

• at the very beginning it tells about biblical times (the Russians were considered the descendants of Japheth), about the origin of the Slavs, about their reign, about the formation of Russia, about the Baptism of Rus' and the formation of the state;
• the main part consists of descriptions of the lives of princes (Princess Olga, Yaroslav the Wise, etc.), descriptions of the lives of saints, as well as stories of conquests and great Russian heroes (Nikita Kozhemyaka, etc.);
• the final part is devoted to a description of numerous wars and battles. In addition, it contains princely obituaries.

The meaning of "The Tale of Bygone Years"

“The Tale of Bygone Years” became the first written document in which the history of Rus' and its formation as a state were systematically outlined. It was this chronicle that later formed the basis of all historical documents and legends; it is from it that modern historians drew and continue to draw their knowledge. In addition, the chronicle became a literary and cultural monument Russian writing.

After the flood, Noah's three sons divided the earth - Shem, Ham, Japheth. And Shem got the east: Persia, Bactria, even to India in longitude, and in width to Rhinocorur, that is, from the east to the south, and Syria, and Media to the Euphrates River, Babylon, Corduna, the Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Oldest, Elimais, Indi, Arabia Strong, Colia, Commagene, all of Phenicia.

Ham got the south: Egypt, Ethiopia, neighboring India, and another Ethiopia, from which flows the Ethiopian Red River, flowing to the east, Thebes, Libya, neighboring Kyrenia, Marmaria, Sirtes, another Libya, Numidia, Masuria, Mauritania, located opposite Ghadir. In his possessions in the east are also: Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Camalia, Lycia, Caria, Lydia, another Mysia, Troas, Aeolis, Bithynia, Old Phrygia and some islands: Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus and the river Geona, otherwise called the Nile.

Japheth got it Nordic countries and western: Media, Albania, Armenia Lesser and Greater, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Colchis, Bosphorus, Meots, Derevia, Capmatia, inhabitants of Taurida, Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia, Malosia, Thessaly, Locris, Pelenia, which is also called Peloponnese, Arcadia, Epirus, Illyria, Slavs, Lichnitia, Adriakia, Adriatic Sea. They also got the islands: Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Kythira, Zakynthos, Cefallinia, Ithaca, Kerkyra, a part of Asia called Ionia, and the Tigris River flowing between Media and Babylon; to the Pontic Sea to the north: the Danube, the Dnieper, the Caucasus Mountains, that is, the Hungarian Mountains, and from there to the Dnieper, and other rivers: the Desna, Pripyat, Dvina, Volkhov, Volga, which flows east to the Simov part. In the Japheth part there are Russians, Chud and all sorts of peoples: Merya, Muroma, Ves, Mordovians, Zavolochskaya Chud, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Ugra, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Letgola, Livs. The Poles and Prussians seem to be sitting near the Varangian Sea. The Varangians sit along this sea: from here to the east - to the borders of the Simovs, they sit along the same sea and to the west - to the lands of England and Voloshskaya. The descendants of Japheth are also: Varangians, Swedes, Normans, Goths, Rus, Angles, Galicians, Volokhs, Romans, Germans, Korlyazis, Venetians, Fryags and others - they adjoin the southern countries in the west and neighbor the tribe of Ham.

Shem, Ham and Japheth divided the land by casting lots, and decided not to enter into anyone’s brother’s share, and each lived in his own part. And there was one people. And when people multiplied on earth, they planned to create a pillar up to heaven - this was in the days of Nectan and Peleg. And they gathered in the place of the field of Shinar to build a pillar up to heaven, and near it the city of Babylon; and they built that pillar 40 years, and they did not finish it. And the Lord came down to see the city and the pillar, and the Lord said: “Behold, there is one generation and one people.” And God mixed up the nations, and divided them into 70 and 2 nations, and scattered them throughout the whole earth. After the confusion of the peoples, God destroyed the pillar with a great wind; and its remains are located between Assyria and Babylon, and are 5433 cubits high and wide, and these remains have been preserved for many years.

After the destruction of the pillar and the division of the peoples, the sons of Shem took the eastern countries, and the sons of Ham took southern countries The Japhethites took the west and northern countries. From these same 70 and 2 languages ​​came the Slavic people, from the tribe of Japheth - the so-called Noriks, who are the Slavs.

After a long time, the Slavs settled along the Danube, where the land is now Hungarian and Bulgarian. From those Slavs the Slavs spread throughout the land and were called by their names from the places where they settled. So some, having come, sat down on the river in the name of Morava and were called Moravians, while others called themselves Czechs. And here are the same Slavs: white Croats, and Serbs, and Horutans. When the Volochs attacked the Danube Slavs, and settled among them, and oppressed them, these Slavs came and sat on the Vistula and were called Poles, and from those Poles came the Poles, other Poles - Lutichs, others - Mazovshans, others - Pomeranians.

In the same way, these Slavs came and sat down along the Dnieper and were called Polyans, and others - Drevlyans, because they sat in the forests, and others sat between Pripyat and Dvina and were called Dregovichs, others sat along the Dvina and were called Polochans, after a river flowing into the Dvina , called Polota, from which the Polotsk people took their name. The same Slavs who settled near Lake Ilmen were called by their own name - Slavs, and built a city and called it Novgorod. And others sat along the Desna, and the Seim, and the Sula, and called themselves northerners. And so the Slavic people dispersed, and after their name the letter was called Slavic.

When the glades lived separately in these mountains, there was a path from the Varangians to the Greeks and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper - a drag to Lovot, and along Lovot you can enter Ilmen, the great lake; The Volkhov flows from the same lake and flows into the Great Lake Nevo, and the mouth of that lake flows into the Varangian Sea. And along that sea you can sail to Rome, and from Rome you can sail along the same sea to Constantinople, and from Constantinople you can sail to the Sea of ​​Pontus, into which the Dnieper River flows. The Dnieper flows from the Okovsky forest and flows to the south, and the Dvina flows from the same forest and heads north, and flows into the Varangian Sea. From the same forest the Volga flows to the east and flows through seventy mouths into the Khvalisskoe Sea. Therefore, from Rus' you can sail along the Volga to the Bolgars and Khvalis, and go east to the inheritance of Sima, and along the Dvina to the land of the Varangians, from the Varangians to Rome, from Rome to the tribe of Khamov. And the Dnieper flows at its mouth into the Pontic Sea; This sea is reputed to be Russian, - as they say, St. Andrew, Peter’s brother, taught it along its shores.

When Andrei taught in Sinop and arrived in Korsun, he learned that the mouth of the Dnieper was not far from Korsun, and he wanted to go to Rome, and sailed to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. And it so happened that he came and stood under the mountains on the shore. And in the morning he got up and said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? The grace of God will shine on these mountains, there will be a great city, and many churches will be erected.” And having ascended these mountains, he blessed them, and put up a cross, and prayed to God, and came down from this mountain, where Kyiv would later be, and went up the Dnieper. And he came to the Slavs, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people living there - what their custom was and how they washed and whipped themselves, and he was surprised at them. And he went to the country of the Varangians, and came to Rome, and told about how he taught and what he saw, and said: “I saw a marvel in the Slavic land on my way here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up, and they would undress and be naked, and they would douse themselves with leather kvass, and they would pick up young rods on themselves and beat themselves, and they would finish themselves off so much that they would barely get out, barely alive, and douse themselves with cold water, and This is the only way they will come to life. And they do this constantly, not tormented by anyone, but tormenting themselves, and then they perform ablution for themselves, and not torment.” Those who heard about this were surprised; Andrei, having been in Rome, came to Sinop.

The Glades lived separately in those days and were governed by their own clans; for even before that brethren (which will be discussed later) there were already glades, and they all lived with their clans in their own places, and each was governed independently. And there were three brothers: one named Kiy, the other - Shchek and the third - Khoriv, ​​and their sister - Lybid. Kiy sat on the mountain where Borichev now rises, and Shchek sat on the mountain that is now called Shchekovitsa, and Khoriv on the third mountain, which was nicknamed Khorivitsa after his name. And they built a city in honor of their elder brother, and named it Kyiv. There was a forest and a large forest around the city, and they caught animals there, and those men were wise and sensible, and they were called glades, from them glades are still in Kyiv.

Some, not knowing, say that Kiy was a carrier; At that time, Kyiv had transportation from the other side of the Dnieper, which is why they said: “For transportation to Kyiv.” If Kiy had been a ferryman, he would not have gone to Constantinople; and this Kiy reigned in his family, and when he went to the king, they say that he received great honors from the king to whom he came. When he was returning, he came to the Danube, and took a fancy to the place, and cut down a small town, and wanted to sit in it with his family, but those living around did not let him; This is how the inhabitants of the Danube region still call the settlement - Kievets. Kiy, returning to his city of Kyiv, died here; and his brothers Shchek and Horiv and their sister Lybid died immediately.

And after these brothers, their clan began to hold a reign near the glades, and the Drevlyans had their own reign, and the Dregovichi had theirs, and the Slavs had their own in Novgorod, and another on the Polota River, where the Polotsk people were. From these latter came the Krivichi, sitting in the upper reaches of the Volga, and in the upper reaches of the Dvina, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, their city is Smolensk; This is where the Krivichi sit. The northerners also come from them. And on Beloozero he sits all over, and on Lake Rostov he meryas, and on Lake Kleshchino he also meryas. And along the Oka River - where it flows into the Volga - there are the Muroma, speaking their own language, and the Cheremis, speaking their own language, and the Mordovians, speaking their own language. Just who speaks Slavic in Rus': the Polyans, the Drevlyans, the Novgorodians, the Polochans, the Dregovichis, the Northerners, the Buzhanians, so called because they sat along the Bug, and then began to be called the Volynians. But here are other peoples who give tribute to Rus': Chud, Merya, Ves, Muroma, Cheremis, Mordovians, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Narova, Livs - these speak their own languages, they are from the tribe of Japheth and live in northern countries.

When the Slavic people, as we said, lived on the Danube, the so-called Bulgarians came from the Scythians, that is, from the Khazars, and settled along the Danube and were settlers in the land of the Slavs. Then the White Ugrians came and settled the Slavic land. These Ugrians appeared under King Heraclius, and they fought with Khosrov, Persian king. In those days there were also obras, they fought against King Heraclius and almost captured him. These obrins also fought against the Slavs and oppressed the Dulebs - also Slavs, and committed violence against the Duleb wives: it happened that when an obrin rode, he did not allow a horse or an ox to be harnessed, but ordered three, four or five wives to be harnessed to a cart and carried him - obrin, - and so they tortured the Dulebs. These obrins were great in body and proud in mind, and he destroyed them, they all died, and not a single obrin remained. And there is a saying in Rus' to this day: “They perished like obras,” but they have no tribe or descendants. After the raids, the Pechenegs came, and then the Black Ugrians passed by Kyiv, but this happened after - already under Oleg.

The Polyans, who lived on their own, as we have already said, were from a Slavic family and only later were called Polyans, and the Drevlyans descended from the same Slavs and were also not immediately called Drevlyans; Radimichi and Vyatichi are from the family of Poles. After all, the Poles had two brothers - Radim, and the other - Vyatko; and they came and sat down: Radim on the Sozh, and from him they were called Radimichi, and Vyatko sat down with his family along the Oka, from him the Vyatichi got their name. And the Polyans, Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi and Croats lived in peace among themselves. The Dulebs lived along the Bug, where the Volynians are now, and the Ulichi and Tivertsy sat along the Dniester and near the Danube. There were many of them: they sat along the Dniester all the way to the sea, and their cities have survived to this day; and the Greeks called them “Great Scythia”.

All these tribes had their own customs, and the laws of their fathers, and legends, and each had their own character. The Polyans have the custom of their fathers being meek and quiet, being bashful before their daughters-in-law and sisters, mothers and parents; They have great modesty before their mothers-in-law and brothers-in-law; They also have a marriage custom: the son-in-law does not go for the bride, but brings her the day before, and the next day they bring for her - whatever they give. And the Drevlyans lived according to animal customs, lived like bestials: they killed each other, ate everything unclean, and they did not have marriages, but they kidnapped girls near the water. And the Radimichi, Vyatichi and northerners had a common custom: they lived in the forest, like all animals, ate everything unclean and dishonored themselves in front of their fathers and daughters-in-law, and they did not have marriages, but they organized games between the villages, and gathered at these games, on dances and all sorts of demonic songs, and here they kidnapped their wives in agreement with them; they had two and three wives. And if someone died, they held a funeral feast for him, and then they made a large log, and laid the dead man on this log, and burned him, and after collecting the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed them on poles along the roads, as they still do now. Vyatichi The Krivichi and other pagans, who do not know the law of God, but set the law for themselves, adhered to the same custom.

George says in his chronicle: “Every nation has either a written law or a custom, which people who do not know the law observe as the tradition of their fathers. Of these, the first are the Syrians living at the edge of the world. They have as a law the customs of their fathers: not to engage in fornication and adultery, not to steal, not to slander or kill, and, especially, not to do evil. The same law applies to the Bactrians, otherwise called Rahmans or islanders; these, according to the behests of their forefathers and out of piety, do not eat meat or drink wine, do not commit fornication and do no evil, having great fear of God's faith. Otherwise, for their neighboring Indians. These are murderers, filth-makers, and wrathful beyond all measure; and in the interior regions of their country - they eat people there, and kill travelers, and even eat them like dogs. Both the Chaldeans and the Babylonians have their own law: to take mothers to bed, to commit fornication with the children of brothers and to kill. And they do every kind of shamelessness, considering it a virtue, even if they are far from their country.

The Gilii have a different law: their wives plow, and build houses, and do men’s work, but they also indulge in love as much as they want, not restrained by their husbands and without being ashamed; There are also brave women among them, skilled in hunting animals. These wives rule over their husbands and command them. In Britain, several husbands sleep with one wife, and many wives have an affair with one husband and commit lawlessness like the law of their fathers, without being condemned or restrained by anyone. Amazons do not have husbands, but, like dumb cattle, once a year, close to spring days, leave their land and combine with the surrounding men, considering that time as a kind of triumph and great holiday. When they conceive from them in the womb, they will scatter from those places again. When the time comes to give birth, if a boy is born, then they kill him, but if it is a girl, then they will feed her and diligently raise her.”

So, with us now, the Polovtsians adhere to the law of their fathers: they shed blood and even boast about it, they eat carrion and all unclean things - hamsters and gophers, and take their stepmothers and daughters-in-law, and follow other customs of their fathers. We, Christians of all countries where they believe in the Holy Trinity, in one baptism and confess one faith, we have one law, since we were baptized into Christ and put on Christ.

As time passed, after the death of these brothers (Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv), the Drevlyans and other surrounding people began to oppress the glades. And the Khazars found them sitting on these mountains in the forests and said: “Pay us tribute.” The glades, having consulted, gave a sword from the smoke, and the Khazars took them to their prince and the elders, and told them: “Behold, we have found a new tribute.” They asked them: “Where from?” They answered: “In the forest on the mountains above the Dnieper River.” They asked again: “What did they give?” They showed the sword. And the Khazar elders said: “This is not a good tribute, prince: we got it with weapons that are sharp only on one side - sabers, but these have double-edged weapons - swords. They are destined to collect tribute from us and from other lands.” And all this came true, for they did not speak of their own free will, but by God’s command. So it was under Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, when they brought Moses to him and the elders of Pharaoh said: “This is destined to humiliate the land of Egypt.” And so it happened: the Egyptians died from Moses, and at first the Jews worked for them. It’s the same with these: first they ruled, and then they rule over them; so it is: the Russian princes still rule the Khazars to this day.

In the year 6360 (852), index 15, when Michael began to reign, the Russian land began to be called. We learned about this because under this king Rus' came to Constantinople, as it is written about in the Greek chronicles. That is why from now on we will start and put numbers. “From and to the flood 2242 years, and from the flood to Abraham 1000 and 82 years, and from Abraham to the exodus of Moses 430 years, and from the exodus of Moses to David 600 and 1 year, and from David and from the beginning of the reign of Solomon to the captivity of Jerusalem 448 years" and from the captivity to Alexander 318 years, and from Alexander to the birth of Christ 333 years, and from christmas to Constantine there are 318 years, from Constantine to Michael this is 542 years.” And from the first year of the reign of Michael to the first year of the reign of Oleg, the Russian prince, 29 years, and from the first year of the reign of Oleg, since he sat down in Kyiv, to the first year of Igor, 31 years, and from the first year of Igor to the first year of Svyatoslavov 33 years, and from the first year of Svyatoslavov to the first year of Yaropolkov 28 years; and Yaropolk reigned for 8 years, and Vladimir reigned for 37 years, and Yaroslav reigned for 40 years. Thus, from the death of Svyatoslav to the death of Yaroslav 85 years; from the death of Yaroslav to the death of Svyatopolk 60 years.

But we will return to the former and tell what happened in these years, as we have already begun: from the first year of the reign of Michael, and arrange them in order of the year.

6361 (853) per year.

Per year 6362 (854).

6363 (855) per year.

6364 (856) per year.

Per year 6365 (857).

6366 (858) per year. Tsar Michael went with his soldiers to the Bulgarians along the coast and by sea. The Bulgarians, seeing that they could not resist them, asked to baptize them and promised to submit to the Greeks. The king baptized their prince and all the boyars and made peace with the Bulgarians.

Per year 6367 (859). The Varangians from overseas collected tribute from the Chuds, and from the Slovenians, and from the Meris, and from the Krivichi. And the Khazars took from the field, and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi, a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke.

Per year 6368 (860).

Per year 6369 (861).

Per year 6370 (862). They drove the Varangians overseas, and did not give them tribute, and began to control themselves, and there was no truth among them, and generation after generation rose up, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right.” And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, just as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, so are these. The Chud, the Slovenians, the Krivichi and all said to the Russians: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers were chosen with their clans, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, in Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before they were Slovenians. Two years later, Sineus and his brother Truvor died. And Rurik alone took over all power and began to distribute cities to his husbands—Polotsk to one, Rostov to another, Beloozero to another. The Varangians in these cities are the Nakhodniki, and the indigenous population in Novgorod are the Slovenes, in Polotsk the Krivichi, in Rostov the Merya, in Beloozero the whole, in Murom the Muroma, and Rurik ruled over them all. And he had two husbands, not his relatives, but boyars, and they asked to go to Constantinople with their family. And they set off along the Dnieper, and when they sailed past, they saw a small city on the mountain. And they asked: “Whose town is this?” They answered: “There were three brothers” Kiy” Shchek and Khoriv, ​​who built this town and disappeared, and we sit here, their descendants, and pay tribute to the Khazars.” Askold and Dir remained in this city, gathered many Varangians and began to own the land of the glades. Rurik reigned in Novgorod.

6371 (863) per year.

Per year 6372 (864).

6373 (865) per year.

Per year 6374 (866). Askold and Dir went to war against the Greeks and came to them in the 14th year of the reign of Michael. The tsar was at that time on a campaign against the Hagarians, had already reached the Black River, when the eparch sent him the news that Rus' was marching on Constantinople, and the tsar returned. These same ones entered the Court, killed many Christians and besieged Constantinople with two hundred ships. The king entered the city with difficulty and prayed all night with Patriarch Photius in the Church of the Holy Mother of God in Blachernae, and they carried out the divine robe of the Holy Mother of God with songs, and soaked its floor in the sea. At that time there was silence and the sea was calm, but then suddenly a storm arose with the wind, and huge waves arose again, scattering the ships of the godless Russians, and washed them to the shore, and broke them, so that few of them managed to avoid this disaster and return home .

Per year 6375 (867).

6376 (868) per year. Vasily began to reign.

Per year 6377 (869). The entire Bulgarian land was baptized.

Per year 6378 (870).

Per year 6379 (871).

Per year 6380 (872).

Per year 6381 (873).

Per year 6382 (874).

Per year 6383 (875).

Per year 6384 (876).

Per year 6385 (877).

Per year 6386 (878).

Per year 6387 (879). Rurik died and handed over his reign to Oleg, his relative, giving his son Igor into his hands, for he was still very small.

Per year 6388 (880).

Per year 6389 (881).

Per year 6390 (882). Oleg set out on a campaign, taking with him many warriors: the Varangians, the Chud, the Slovenians, the Meryu, the whole, the Krivichi, and he came to Smolensk with the Krivichi, and took power in the city, and installed his husband in it. From there he went down and took Lyubech, and also imprisoned his husband. And they came to the Kyiv mountains, and Oleg learned that Askold and Dir reigned here. He hid some soldiers in the boats, and left others behind, and he himself began, carrying the baby Igor. And he sailed to the Ugrian Mountain, hiding his soldiers, and sent to Askold and Dir, telling them that “we are merchants, we are going to the Greeks from Oleg and Prince Igor. Come to us, to your relatives." When Askold and Dir arrived, everyone else jumped out of the boats, and Oleg said to Askold and Dir: “You are not princes and not of a princely family, but I am of a princely family,” and showed Igor: “And this is the son of Rurik.” And they killed Askold and Dir, carried him to the mountain and buried Askold on the mountain, which is now called Ugorskaya, where Olmin’s court is now; Olma placed Saint Nicholas on that grave; and Dirov’s grave is behind the Church of St. Irene. And Oleg, the prince, sat down in Kyiv, and Oleg said: “Let this be the mother of Russian cities.” And he had Varangians, and Slavs, and others who were called Rus. That Oleg began to build cities and established tribute to the Slovenes, and Krivichi, and Meri, and established that the Varangians should give tribute from Novgorod 300 hryvnia annually for the sake of preserving peace, which was given to the Varangians until the death of Yaroslav.

Per year 6391 (883). Oleg began to fight against the Drevlyans and, having conquered them, took tribute from them by black marten.

Per year 6392 (884). Oleg went against the northerners, and defeated the northerners, and imposed a light tribute on them, and did not order them to pay tribute to the Khazars, saying: “I am their enemy” and there is no need for you (to pay them).

Per year 6393 (885). He sent (Oleg) to the Radimichi, asking: “Who are you giving tribute to?” They answered: “The Khazars.” And Oleg said to them: “Don’t give it to the Khazars, but pay me.” And they gave Oleg a cracker, just like they gave it to the Khazars. And Oleg ruled over the glades, and the Drevlyans, and the northerners, and the Radimichi, and fought with the streets and Tivertsy.

Per year 6394 (886).

Per year 6395 (887). Leon, the son of Vasily, who was called Leo, and his brother Alexander reigned, and they reigned for 26 years.

Per year 6396 (888).

Per year 6397 (889).

Per year 6398 (890).

Per year 6399 (891).

6400 (892) per year.

Per year 6401 (893).

6402 (894) per year.

Per year 6403 (895).

6404 (896) per year.

6405 (897) per year.

Per year 6406 (898). The Ugrians walked past Kyiv along the mountain, which is now called the Ugric Mountain, came to the Dnieper and became vezhas: they walked the same way as the Polovtsians do now. And, coming from the east, they rushed through the great mountains, which were called the Ugric Mountains, and began to fight with the Volokhs and Slavs who lived there. After all, the Slavs sat here before, and then the Voloks captured the Slavic land. And after the Ugrians drove out the Volokhs, inherited that land and settled with the Slavs, subduing them; and from then on the land was nicknamed Ugric. And the Ugrians began to fight with the Greeks and captured the land of Thracia and Macedonia all the way to Seluni. And they began to fight with the Moravians and Czechs. There was one Slavic people: the Slavs who sat along the Danube, conquered by the Ugrians, and the Moravians, and the Czechs, and the Poles, and the glades, which are now called Rus'. After all, it was for them, the Moravians, that the letters called Slavic letters were first created; The same charter is held by both the Russians and the Danube Bulgarians.

When the Slavs were already baptized, their princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel sent to Tsar Michael, saying: “Our land is baptized, but we do not have a teacher who would instruct us and teach us and explain the holy books. After all, we do not know either Greek or Latin; Some teach us this way, and others teach us differently, so we don’t know either the shape of the letters or their meaning. And send us teachers who could interpret for us the words of the books and their meaning.” Hearing this, Tsar Michael summoned all the philosophers and conveyed to them everything that the Slavic princes had said. And the philosophers said: “In Seluni there is a man named Leo. He has sons who know Slavic language ; His two sons are skilled philosophers.” Hearing about this, the king sent for them to Leo in Selun, with the words: “Send your sons Methodius and Constantine to us without delay.” Hearing about this, Leo soon sent them, and they came to the king, and he said to them: “Behold, the Slavic land sent ambassadors to me, asking for a teacher who could interpret the sacred books for them, for this is what they want.” And the king persuaded them and sent them to the Slavic land to Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel. When (these brothers) arrived, they began to compile the Slavic alphabet and translated the Apostle and the Gospel. And the Slavs were glad that they heard about the greatness of God in their language. Then they translated the Psalter and Octoechos and other books. Some began to blaspheme the Slavic books, saying that “no people should have their own alphabet, except the Jews, Greeks and Latins, according to the inscription of Pilate, who wrote on the cross of the Lord (only in these languages).” Hearing about this, the Pope condemned those who blaspheme the Slavic books, saying: “Let the word of Scripture be fulfilled: “Let all nations praise God,” and another: “Let all nations praise the greatness of God, since the Holy Spirit has given them to speak.” If anyone scolds the Slavic letter, let him be excommunicated from the church until he corrects himself; These are wolves, not sheep, they should be recognized by their actions and beware of them. “You, children, listen to the divine teaching and do not reject the church teaching that your mentor Methodius gave you.” Constantine returned back and went to teach the Bulgarian people, and Methodius remained in Moravia. Then Prince Kotzel installed Methodius as bishop in Pannonia on the table of the holy Apostle Andronikos, one of the seventy, a disciple of the holy Apostle Paul. Methodius appointed two priests, good cursive writers, and translated all the books completely from Greek into Slavic in six months, starting in March and finishing on the 26th day of October. Having finished, he gave worthy praise and glory to God, who gave such grace to Bishop Methodius, Andronicus’ successor; for the teacher of the Slavic people is the Apostle Andronicus. The Apostle Paul also went to the Moravians and taught there; Illyria is also located there, to which the Apostle Paul reached and where the Slavs originally lived. Therefore, the teacher of the Slavs is the Apostle Paul, and we, Rus', are from the same Slavs; Therefore, for us, Rus', Paul is a teacher, since he taught the Slavic people and appointed Andronicus as bishop and governor of the Slavs. But the Slavic people and the Russians are one; after all, they were called Rus from the Varangians, and before there were Slavs; Although they were called Polyans, their speech was Slavic. They were nicknamed Polyans because they sat in the field, and the language they shared was Slavic.

6407 (899) per year.

6408 (900) per year.

6409 (901) per year.

6410 (902) per year. Tsar Leon hired the Ugrians against the Bulgarians. The Ugrians, having attacked, captured the entire Bulgarian land. Simeon, having learned about this, went against the Ugrians, and the Ugrians moved against him and defeated the Bulgarians, so that Simeon barely escaped to Dorostol.

6411 (903) per year. When Igor grew up, he accompanied Oleg and listened to him, and they brought him a wife from Pskov, named Olga.

6412 (904) per year.

6413 (905) per year.

6414 (906) per year.

6415 (907) per year. Oleg went against the Greeks, leaving Igor in Kyiv; He took with him many Varangians, and Slavs, and Chuds, and Krivichi, and Meryu, and Drevlyans, and Radimichi, and Polans, and Northerners, and Vyatichi, and Croats, and Dulebs, and Tiverts, known as interpreters: these were all called Greeks "Great Scythia". And with all these Oleg went on horses and in ships; and there were 2000 ships. And he came to Constantinople: the Greeks closed the Court, and the city was closed. And Oleg went ashore and began to fight, and committed many murders to the Greeks in the vicinity of the city, and broke many chambers, and burned churches. And those who were captured, some were dissected, others were tortured, others were shot, and some were thrown into the sea, and the Russians did many other evils to the Greeks, as enemies usually do.

And Oleg ordered his soldiers to make wheels and put ships on wheels. And when a fair wind blew, they raised sails in the field and went to the city. The Greeks, seeing this, were frightened and said, sending to Oleg: “Do not destroy the city, we will give you the tribute you want.” And Oleg stopped the soldiers, and they brought him food and wine, but did not accept it, since it was poisoned. And the Greeks were afraid and said: “This is not Oleg, but Saint Dmitry, sent to us by God.” And Oleg ordered to give tribute to 2000 ships: 12 hryvnia per person, and there were 40 men in each ship.

And the Greeks agreed to this, and the Greeks began to ask for peace so that the Greek land would not fight. Oleg, moving a little away from the capital, began negotiations for peace with the Greek kings Leon and Alexander and sent Karl, Farlaf, Vermud, Rulav and Stemid to their capital with the words: “Pay me tribute.” And the Greeks said: “We will give you whatever you want.” And Oleg ordered to give his soldiers for 2000 ships 12 hryvnia per rowlock, and then give tribute to Russian cities: first of all for Kyiv, then for Chernigov, for Pereyaslavl, for Polotsk, for Rostov, for Lyubech and for other cities: for according to In these cities sit the great princes, subject to Oleg. “When the Russians come, let them take as much allowance for the ambassadors as they want; and if merchants come, let them take monthly food for 6 months: bread, wine, meat, fish and fruits. And let them give them a bath - as much as they want. When the Russians go home, let them take food, anchors, ropes, sails and whatever else they need from the Tsar for the journey.” And the Greeks obliged, and the kings and all the boyars said: “If the Russians do not come for trade, then let them not take their monthly allowance; Let the Russian prince, by decree, prohibit the Russians who come here from committing atrocities in the villages and in our country. Let the Russians who come here live near the church of St. Mammoth, and send them from our kingdom, and write down their names, then they will take their monthly allowance - first those who came from Kyiv, then from Chernigov, and from Pereyaslavl, and from other cities . And let them enter the city only through one gate, accompanied by the king’s husband, without weapons, 50 people each, and trade as much as they need, without paying any fees.”

Kings Leon and Alexander made peace with Oleg, pledged to pay tribute and swore allegiance to each other: they themselves kissed the cross, and Oleg and his husbands were taken to swear allegiance according to Russian law, and they swore by their weapons and Perun, their god, and Volos, the god of cattle, and established peace. And Oleg said: “Sew sails for Rus' from fibers, and for the Slavs from coprine,” and so it was. And he hung his shield on the gates as a sign of victory, and left Constantinople. And the Russians raised sails of grass, and the Slavs raised their sails, and the wind tore them apart; and the Slavs said: “Let’s take our thicknesses; the Slavs were not given sails made of pavolok.” And Oleg returned to Kyiv, carrying gold, and grasses, and fruits, and wine, and all sorts of ornaments. And they called Oleg the Prophetic, since the people were pagans and unenlightened.

6417 (909) per year.

6418 (910) per year.

6419 (911) per year. Appeared in the west big star in the form of a spear.

Per year 6420 (912). Oleg sent his men to make peace and establish an agreement between the Greeks and Russians, saying this: “A list from the agreement concluded under the same kings Leo and Alexander. We are from the Russian family - Karla, Inegeld, Farlaf, Veremud, Rulav, Gudy, Ruald, Karn, Frelav, Ruar, Aktevu, Truan, Lidul, Fost, Stemid - sent from Oleg, the Grand Duke of Russia, and from everyone who is at hand him, - the bright and great princes, and his great boyars, to you, Leo, Alexander and Constantine, the great autocrats in God, the Greek kings, to strengthen and certify the long-term friendship that existed between Christians and Russians, at the request of our great princes and by command, from all the Russians under his hand. Our Lordship, desiring above all in God to strengthen and certify the friendship that constantly existed between Christians and Russians, decided fairly, not only in words, but also in writing, and with a firm oath, swearing with their weapons, to confirm such friendship and certify it by faith and according to our law.

These are the essence of the chapters of the agreement regarding which we have committed ourselves by God's faith and friendship. With the first words of our agreement, we will make peace with you, Greeks, and we will begin to love each other with all our souls and with all our good will, and we will not allow any deception or crime to occur from those under the hands of our bright princes, since this is in our power; but we will try, as much as we can, to maintain with you, Greeks, in future years and forever an unchanging and unchanging friendship, expressed and committed to a letter with confirmation, certified by an oath. Likewise, you, Greeks, maintain the same unshakable and unchanging friendship for our bright Russian princes and for everyone who is under the hand of our bright prince always and in all years.

And about the chapters concerning possible atrocities, we will agree as follows: let those atrocities that are clearly certified be considered indisputably committed; and whichever they do not believe, let the party that seeks to swear that this crime will not be believed; and when that party swears, let the punishment be whatever the crime turns out to be.

About this: if anyone kills a Russian Christian or a Russian Christian, let him die at the scene of the murder. If the murderer runs away and turns out to be a rich man, then let the relative of the murdered man take that part of his property that is due by law, but let the murderer’s wife also keep what is due to her by law. If the escaped murderer turns out to be indigent, then let him remain on trial until he is found, and then let him die.

If someone strikes with a sword or beats with any other weapon, then for that blow or beating let him give 5 liters of silver according to Russian law; If the one who committed this offense is poor, then let him give as much as he can, so that let him take off the very clothes in which he walks, and about the remaining unpaid amount, let him swear by his faith that no one can help him, and let him not this balance is collected from him.

About this: if a Russian steals something from a Christian or, on the contrary, a Christian from a Russian, and the thief is caught by the victim at the very time when he commits the theft, or if the thief prepares to steal and is killed, then it will not be recovered from either Christians or Russians; but let the victim take back what he lost. If the thief gives himself up voluntarily, then let him be taken by the one from whom he stole, and let him be bound, and give back what he stole in triple the amount.

About this: if one of the Christians or one of the Russians attempts (robbery) through beatings and clearly takes by force something belonging to another, then let him return it in triple amount.

If a boat is thrown by a strong wind onto a foreign land and one of us Russians is there and helps save the boat with its cargo and send it back to the Greek land, then we will carry it through all sorts of things. dangerous place until he comes to a safe place; If this boat is delayed by a storm or has run aground and cannot return to its place, then we, Russians, will help the rowers of that boat and see them off with their goods in good health. If the same misfortune happens to a Russian boat near the Greek land, then we will take it to the Russian land and let them sell the goods of that boat, so if it is possible to sell anything from that boat, then let us, the Russians, take it (to the Greek shore). And when we (we, Russians) come to the Greek land for trade or as an embassy to your king, then (we, Greeks) will honor the sold goods of their boat. If any of us Russians who arrived with the boat happen to be killed or something is taken from the boat, then let the culprits be sentenced to the above punishment.

About these: if a captive of one side or another is forcibly held by Russians or Greeks, having been sold into their country, and if, in fact, he turns out to be Russian or Greek, then let them ransom and return the ransomed person to his country and take the price of those who bought him, or let it be The price offered for it was that of servants. Also, if he is taken by those Greeks in the war, still let him return to his country and his usual price will be given for him, as already said above.

If there is a recruitment into the army and these (Russians) want to honor your king, no matter how many of them come at what time, and want to stay with your king of their own free will, then so be it.

More about the Russians, about the prisoners. Those who came from any country (captive Christians) to Rus' and were sold (by the Russians) back to Greece, or captive Christians brought to Rus' from any country - all of these must be sold for 20 zlatnikov and returned to Greek land.

About this: if a Russian servant is stolen, either runs away, or is forcibly sold and the Russians begin to complain, let them prove this about their servants and take him to Rus', but the merchants, if they lose the servant and appeal, let them demand it in court and, when they find , - they will take it. If someone does not allow an inquiry to be carried out, he will not be recognized as right.

And about the Russians serving in the Greek land with the Greek king. If someone dies without disposing of his property, and he does not have his own (in Greece), then let his property return to Rus' to his closest younger relatives. If he makes a will, then the one to whom he wrote to inherit his property will take what was bequeathed to him, and let him inherit it.

About Russian traders.

ABOUT different people who go to the Greek land and remain in debt. If the villain does not return to Rus', then let the Russians complain to the Greek kingdom, and he will be captured and returned by force to Rus'. Let the Russians do the same to the Greeks if the same thing happens.

As a sign of the strength and immutability that should be between you, Christians, and Russians, we created this peace treaty with Ivan’s writing on two charters - your Tsar’s and with our own hand - we sealed it with an oath of the honorable cross and the holy consubstantial Trinity of your one true God and given to our ambassadors. We swore to your king, appointed by God, as a divine creation, according to our faith and custom, not to violate for us and anyone from our country any of the established chapters of the peace treaty and friendship. And this writing was given to your kings for approval, so that this agreement would become the basis for the approval and certification of the peace that exists between us. The month of September 2, index 15, in the year from the creation of the world 6420.”

Tsar Leon honored the Russian ambassadors with gifts - gold, and silks, and precious fabrics - and assigned his husbands to show them the church beauty, the golden chambers and the wealth stored in them: a lot of gold, pavoloks, precious stones and the passion of the Lord - a crown, nails , scarlet and the relics of the saints, teaching them their faith and showing them the true faith. And so he released them to his land with great honor. The ambassadors sent by Oleg returned to him and told him all the speeches of both kings, how they concluded peace and established an agreement between the Greek and Russian lands and established not to break the oath - neither to the Greeks nor to Rus'.

And Oleg, the prince, lived in Kyiv, having peace with all countries. And autumn came, and Oleg remembered his horse, which he had previously set out to feed, having decided never to mount it. For he asked the magicians and wizards: “What will I die from?” And one magician said to him: “Prince! From your beloved horse, on which you ride, will you die from it?” These words sank into Oleg’s soul, and he said: “I will never sit on him and see him again.” And he ordered to feed him and not to take him to him, and he lived for several years without seeing him, until he went against the Greeks. And when he returned to Kyiv and four years had passed, in the fifth year he remembered his horse, from which the wise men predicted his death. And he called the elder of the grooms and said: “Where is my horse, which I ordered to feed and take care of?” He answered: “He died.” Oleg laughed and reproached that magician, saying: “The magicians say wrong, but it’s all a lie: the horse died, but I’m alive.” And he ordered him to saddle his horse: “Let me see his bones.” And he came to the place where his bare bones and bare skull lay, got off his horse, laughed and said: “Should I take this skull from this?” And he stepped on the skull with his foot, and a snake crawled out of the skull and bit him on the leg. And that’s why he got sick and died. All the people mourned him with great lamentation, and they carried him and buried him on a mountain called Shchekovitsa; His grave exists to this day and is known as Oleg’s grave. And all the years of his reign were thirty and three.

It is not surprising that magic comes true from sorcery. So it was during the reign of Domitian that a certain sorcerer named Apollonius of Tyana was known, who went around and performed demonic miracles everywhere - in cities and villages. Once, when he came from Rome to Byzantium, those living there begged him to do the following: he drove out many snakes and scorpions from the city so that they would not harm people and curbed the rage of horses in front of the boyars. So he came to Antioch, and, begged by those people - the Antiochians, who were suffering from scorpions and mosquitoes, he made a copper scorpion, and buried it in the ground, and placed a small marble pillar over it, and ordered the people to take sticks and walk around the city and call out, shaking those sticks: “Be a city without a mosquito!” And so the scorpions and mosquitoes disappeared from the city. And they asked him about the earthquake that threatened the city, and, sighing, he wrote the following on the tablet: “Alas for you, unfortunate city, you will be shaken a lot and you will be burned by fire, the one who will mourn you will mourn on the banks of the Orontes.” About (Apollonius) this and great Anastasius City of God said: “The miracles created by Apollonius are even still performed in some places: some - to drive away four-legged animals and birds that could harm people, others - to hold back river streams that have broken out of their banks, but others to death and to the detriment of people, although to curb them. Not only did the demons perform such miracles during his lifetime, but also after his death, at his tomb, they performed miracles in his name in order to deceive pitiful people, who were often caught by the devil in them.” So, who will say anything about works created by magic temptation? After all, Apollonius was skilled in magical seduction and never took into account the fact that in madness he indulged in a wise trick; but he should have said: “With a word I only do what I wanted,” and not perform the actions expected of him. Everything happens by God's permission and by the creation of demons - by all such deeds our Orthodox faith is tested, that it is firm and strong, staying near the Lord and not being carried away by the devil, his ghostly miracles and satanic deeds perpetrated by the enemies of the human race and the servants of evil. It happens that some prophesy in the name of the Lord, like Balaam, and Saul, and Caiaphas, and even cast out demons, like Judas and the sons of Skevabel. Because grace repeatedly acts on the unworthy, as many testify: for Balaam was a stranger to everything - and righteous living and faith, but nevertheless grace appeared in him to convince others. And Pharaoh was the same, but the future was revealed to him too. And Nebuchadnezzar was a lawbreaker, but the future of many generations was also revealed to him, thereby testifying that many who have perverse concepts, even before the coming of Christ, perform signs not of their own free will to deceive people who do not know good. Such was Simon the Magus, and Menander, and others like him, because of whom it was truly said: “Do not deceive with miracles...”.

Per year 6421 (913). After Oleg, Igor began to reign. At the same time, Constantine, the son of Leon, began to reign. And the Drevlyans shut themselves away from Igor after Oleg’s death.

Per year 6422 (914). Igor went against the Drevlyans and, having defeated them, imposed on them a tribute greater than Oleg’s. That same year, Simeon of Bulgaria came to Constantinople and, having made peace, returned home.

Per year 6423 (915). The Pechenegs came to the Russian land for the first time and, having made peace with Igor, went to the Danube. At the same time, Simeon came, capturing Thrace; The Greeks sent for the Pechenegs. When the Pechenegs arrived and were about to march against Simeon, the Greek commanders quarreled. The Pechenegs, seeing that they were quarreling among themselves, went home, and the Bulgarians fought with the Greeks, and the Greeks were killed. Simeon captured the city of Hadrian, which was originally called the city of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon: for Orestes once bathed in three rivers and got rid of his illness here - that’s why he named the city after himself. Subsequently, Caesar Hadrian renovated it and named it Adrian after himself, but we call it Hadrian-city.

Per year 6424 (916).

Per year 6425 (917).

Per year 6426 (918).

Per year 6427 (919).

Per year 6428 (920). The Greeks installed Tsar Roman. Igor fought against the Pechenegs.

Per year 6429 (921).

Per year 6430 (922).

Per year 6431 (923).

Per year 6432 (924).

Per year 6433 (925).

Per year 6434 (926).

Per year 6435 (927).

Per year 6436 (928).

Per year 6437 (929). Simeon came to Constantinople, and captured Thrace and Macedonia, and approached Constantinople in great power and pride, and made peace with Roman the Tsar, and returned home.

Per year 6438 (930).

Per year 6439 (931).

Per year 6440 (932).

Per year 6441 (933).

Per year 6442 (934). For the first time the Ugrians came to Constantinople and captured all of Thrace; Roman made peace with the Ugrians.

Per year 6444 (936).

Per year 6445 (937).

6446 (938) per year.

Per year 6447 (939).

Per year 6448 (940).

Per year 6449 (941). Igor went against the Greeks. And the Bulgarians sent news to the king that the Russians were coming to Constantinople: 10 thousand ships. And they came and sailed and began to fight the country of Bithynia, and captured the land along the Pontic Sea to Heraclius and to the Paphlagonian land, and they captured the entire country of Nicomedia, and they burned the entire Court. And those who were captured - some were crucified, while others, standing in front of them, shot, grabbed, tied their hands back and drove iron nails into their heads. Many holy churches were set on fire, monasteries and villages were burned, and a lot of wealth was seized on both banks of the Court. When warriors came from the east - Panfir the Demestic with forty thousand, Phocas the Patrician with the Macedonians, Fedor the Stratelates with the Thracians, and high-ranking boyars with them, they surrounded Rus'. The Russians, after consulting, came out against the Greeks with weapons, and in a fierce battle they barely defeated the Greeks. The Russians returned to their squad in the evening and at night, getting into the boats, sailed away. Theophanes met them in boats with fire and began to shoot fire at the Russian boats with pipes. And a terrible miracle was seen. The Russians, seeing the flames, rushed into the sea water, trying to escape, and so those who remained returned home. And, having come to their land, they told - each to their own - about what had happened and about the fire of the rooks. “It’s as if the Greeks had lightning from heaven,” they said, “and, releasing it, they burned us; That’s why they didn’t overcome them.” Igor, having returned, began to gather many soldiers and sent them overseas to the Varangians, inviting them to attack the Greeks, again planning to go against them.

And the year is 6430 (942). Simeon went against the Croats, and the Croats defeated him, and died, leaving Peter, his son, as prince over the Bulgarians.

6451 (943) per year. The Ugrians came to Constantinople again and, having made peace with Roman, returned home.

Per year 6452 (944). Igor gathered many warriors: Varangians, Rus, and Polyans, and Slovenians, and Krivichi, and Tivertsi - and hired the Pechenegs, and took hostages from them - and went against the Greeks in boats and on horses, seeking to avenge himself. Hearing about this, the Korsun people sent to Roman with the words: “Here come the Russians, without the number of their ships, they covered the sea with ships.” The Bulgarians also sent word, saying: “The Russians are coming and have hired the Pechenegs.” Hearing about this, the king sent to Igor the best boyars with a prayer, saying: “Do not go, but take the tribute that Oleg took, and I will add more to that tribute.” He also sent pavoloks and a lot of gold to the Pechenegs. Igor, having reached the Danube, called his squad together, began to hold council with them, and told them the Tsarev’s speech. Igor’s squad said: “If the king says so, then what else do we need - without fighting, take gold, and silver, and pavoloks? Does anyone know who to overcome: whether we or they? Or who is in alliance with the sea? We are not walking on land, but in the depths of the sea: death is common to all.” Igor listened to them and ordered the Pechenegs to fight the Bulgarian land, and he himself, taking gold and pavoloks for all the soldiers from the Greeks, returned back and came home to Kyiv.

Per year 6453 (945). Roman, Konstantin, and Stefan sent ambassadors to Igor to restore the former peace, and Igor spoke to them about peace. And Igor sent his husbands to Roman. Roman convened the boyars and dignitaries. And they brought the Russian ambassadors and ordered them to speak and write down the speeches of both on the charter.

“A list from the agreement concluded under the kings Roman, Constantine and Stephen, Christ-loving rulers. We are ambassadors and merchants from the Russian family, Ivor, ambassador of Igor, the Grand Duke of Russia, and general ambassadors: Vuefast from Svyatoslav, son of Igor; Iskusevi from Princess Olga; Sludy from Igor, nephew Igor; Uleb from Volodislav; Kanitsar from Predslava; Shikhbern Sfandr from Uleb's wife; Prasten Tudorov; Libiar Fastov; Make-up Sfirkov; Prasten Akun, Igor's nephew; Kara Tudkov; Karshev Tudorov; Egri Evliskov; Voist Voykov; Istr Aminodov; Prasten Bernov; Yavtyag Gunarev; Shibrid Aldan; Col Klekov; Steggy Etonov; Sfirka...; Alvad Gudov; Fudri Tuadov; Mutur Utin; merchants Adun, Adulb, Iggivlad, Uleb, Frutan, Gomol, Kutsi, Emig, Turobid, Furosten, Bruni, Roald, Gunastre, Frasten, Igeld, Turburn, Monet, Ruald, Sven, Steer, Aldan, Tilen, Apubexar, Vuzlev, Sinko , Borich, sent from Igor, the Grand Duke of Russia, and from every prince, and from all the people of the Russian land. And they are tasked with renewing old world, violated for many years by those who hate goodness and are hostile, and establish love between Greeks and Russians.

Our Grand Duke Igor, and his boyars, and all the Russian people sent us to Roman, Constantine and Stefan, to the great Greek kings, to conclude an alliance of love with the kings themselves, with all the boyars and with all the Greek people for all the years while the sun shines and the whole world is worth it. And whoever on the Russian side plans to destroy this love, then let those of them who have been baptized receive retribution from God Almighty, condemnation to destruction in the afterlife, and let those of them who are not baptized have no help from God, neither from Perun, may they not defend themselves with their own shields, and may they perish from their swords, from arrows and from their other weapons, and may they be slaves throughout their entire afterlife.

And let the Russian Grand Duke and his boyars send as many ships as they want to the Greek land to the great Greek kings, with ambassadors and merchants, as is established for them. Previously, ambassadors brought gold seals, and merchants brought silver ones; Now your prince has commanded to send letters to us, the kings; those ambassadors and guests who will be sent by them, let them bring a letter, writing it like this: he sent so many ships, so that from these letters we will know that they came in peace. If they come without a letter and find themselves in our hands, then we will keep them under supervision until we inform your prince. If they do not give in to us and resist, then we will kill them, and let them not be exacted from your prince. If, having escaped, they return to Rus', then we will write to your prince, and let them do what they want. If the Russians do not come for trade, then let them not take the month. Let the prince punish his ambassadors and the Russians who come here so that they do not commit atrocities in the villages and in our country. And when they come, let them live near the church of St. Mammoth, and then we, the kings, will send your names to be written down, and let the ambassadors take a month, and the merchants a month, first those from the city of Kyiv, then from Chernigov, and from Pereyaslavl, and from other cities. Let them enter the city through the gate alone, accompanied by the Tsar’s husband without weapons, about 50 people each, and trade as much as they need, and go back out; Let our royal husband protect them, so that if one of the Russians or Greeks does wrong, then let him judge the matter. When the Russians enter the city, then let them do no harm and do not have the right to buy pavoloks for more than 50 spools; and if anyone buys those trails, then let him show it to the king’s husband, and he will put a seal on it and give it to them. And let those Russians who depart from here take from us everything they need: food for the journey and what the boats need, as was established earlier, and let them return safely to their country, and let them not have the right to spend the winter with Saint Mammoth.

If a servant runs away from the Russians, then let them come for him to the country of our kingdom, and if he ends up with Saint Mammoth, then let them take him; if it is not found, then let our Russian Christians swear according to their faith, and non-Christians according to their law, and then let them take their price from us, as was established before - 2 pavoloks per servant.

If one of our royal servants, or our city, or other cities, runs away to you and takes something with him, then let him be returned again; and if what he brought is all intact, then they will take two gold coins from him for the capture.

If anyone from among the Russians attempts to take anything from our royal people, then let the one who does this be severely punished; if he already takes it, let him pay double; and if a Greek does the same to a Russian, he will receive the same punishment that he received.

If you happen to steal something to a Russian from the Greeks or a Greek from the Russians, then you should return not only what was stolen, but also the price of what was stolen; if it turns out that the stolen property has already been sold, let him return its price twice as much and be punished according to the Greek law and according to the charter and according to the Russian law.

No matter how many captives of our Christian subjects the Russians bring, then for a good young man or girl, let ours give 10 zolotniks and take them, but if they are middle-aged, then let them give them 8 zolotniks and take it; if there is an old man or a child, then let them give 5 spools for him.

If the Russians find themselves enslaved by the Greeks, then, if they are prisoners, let the Russians ransom them for 10 spools; if it turns out that they were bought by a Greek, then he should swear on the cross and take his price - how much he gave for the captive.

And about the Korsun country. Let the Russian prince have no right to fight in those countries, in all the cities of that land, and let that country not submit to you, but when the Russian prince asks us for soldiers to fight, I will give him as many as he needs.

And about this: if the Russians find a Greek ship washed up somewhere on the shore, let them not cause damage to it. If anyone takes anything from him, or turns anyone from him into slavery, or kills him, he will be subject to trial according to Russian and Greek law.

If the Russians find the Korsun residents fishing at the mouth of the Dnieper, let them not cause them any harm.

And let Russians not have the right to winter at the mouth of the Dnieper, in Beloberezhye and near St. Elfer; but with the onset of autumn, let them go home to Rus'.

And about these: if the black Bulgarians come and begin to fight in the Korsun country, then we order the Russian prince not to let them in, otherwise they will cause damage to his country.

If an atrocity is committed by one of the Greeks - our royal subjects - you have no right to punish them, but according to our royal command, let him receive punishment to the extent of his offense.

If our subject kills a Russian, or a Russian kills our subject, then let the relatives of the murdered man apprehend the murderer, and let him be killed.

If the murderer runs away and hides, and he has property, then let the relatives of the murdered man take his property; If the murderer turns out to be poor and also hides, then let them search for him until he is found, and when he is found, let him be killed.

If a Russian hits a Greek or a Russian Greek with a sword, or a spear, or any other weapon, then for that lawlessness let the guilty person pay 5 liters of silver according to Russian law; if he turns out to be poor, then let them sell him everything that is possible, so that even the clothes in which he walks, let them be taken off him, and about what is missing, let him take an oath according to his faith that he has nothing, and only then let him be released.

If we, the kings, wish for you to have warriors against our opponents, let us write about it to your Grand Duke, and he will send us as many of them as we wish: and from here they will know in other countries what kind of love the Greeks and Russians have among themselves.

We wrote this agreement on two charters, and one charter is kept by us, the kings, - on it there is a cross and our names are written, and on the other - the names of your ambassadors and merchants. And when our royal ambassadors leave, let them take them to the Russian Grand Duke Igor and his people; and those, having accepted the charter, will swear to truly observe what we have agreed upon and what we have written on this charter, on which our names are written.

We, those of us who were baptized, swore in the cathedral church by the Church of St. Elias in the presentation of the honorable cross and in this charter to observe everything that is written in it and not to violate anything from it; and if anyone from our country violates this - be it a prince or someone else, baptized or unbaptized - may he not receive help from God, may he be a slave in his afterlife and may he be slain with his own weapon.

And the unbaptized Russians lay down their shields and naked swords, hoops and other weapons to swear that everything written in this charter will be observed by Igor, and all the boyars, and all the people of the Russian country in all future years and always.

If any of the princes or Russian people, Christians or non-Christians, violates what is written in this charter, let him be worthy of dying from his weapon and let him be cursed from God and from Perun for breaking his oath.

And if for the good of Igor, the Grand Duke, he preserves this faithful love, may it not be broken as long as the sun shines and the whole world stands, in present times and in all future times.”

The ambassadors sent by Igor returned to him with the Greek ambassadors and told him all the speeches of Tsar Roman. Igor called the Greek ambassadors and asked them: “Tell me, what did the king punish you?” And the king’s ambassadors said: “The king, delighted with the peace, sent us; he wants to have peace and love with the Russian prince. Your ambassadors swore in our kings, and we were sent to swear in you and your husbands.” Igor promised to do so. The next day Igor called the ambassadors and came to the hill where Perun stood; and they laid down their weapons, and shields, and gold, and Igor and his people swore allegiance - how many pagans there were among the Russians. And Russian Christians were sworn in in the Church of St. Elijah, which stands above the Brook at the end of the Pasyncha conversation and the Khazars - it was a cathedral church, since there were many Christians - Varangians. Igor, having established peace with the Greeks, released the ambassadors, presenting them with furs, slaves and wax, and sent them away; The ambassadors came to the king and told him all the speeches of Igor, and about his love for the Greeks.

Igor began to reign in Kyiv, having peace with all countries. And autumn came, and he began to plot to go against the Drevlyans, wanting to take even greater tribute from them.

Per year 6453 (945). That year the squad said to Igor: “The youths of Sveneld are dressed in weapons and clothes, and we are naked. Come with us, prince, for tribute, and you will get it for yourself and for us.” And Igor listened to them - he went to the Drevlyans for tribute and added a new one to the previous tribute, and his men committed violence against them. Taking the tribute, he went to his city. When he was walking back, after thinking about it, he said to his squad: “Go home with the tribute, and I’ll come back and go again.” And he sent his squad home, and he himself returned with a small part of the squad, wanting more wealth. The Drevlyans, having heard that he was coming again, held a council with their prince Mal: ​​“If a wolf gets into the habit of the sheep, he will carry out the entire flock until they kill him; so is this one: if we don’t kill him, he will destroy us all.” And they sent to him, saying: “Why are you going again? I’ve already taken all the tribute.” And Igor did not listen to them; and the Drevlyans, leaving the city of Iskorosten, killed Igor and his warriors, since there were few of them. And Igor was buried, and his grave remains near Iskorosten in Derevskaya land to this day.

Olga was in Kyiv with her son, the child Svyatoslav, and his breadwinner was Asmud, and the governor Sveneld was Mstishya’s father. The Drevlyans said: “We killed the Russian prince; Let’s take his wife Olga for our prince Mal and take Svyatoslav and do to him what we want.” And the Drevlyans sent best husbands of their own, twenty in number, in the boat to Olga, and landed in the boat near Borichev. After all, the water then flowed near the Kyiv Mountain, and people sat not on Podol, but on the mountain. The city of Kyiv was where now is the courtyard of Gordyata and Nikifor, and the princely court was in the city, where is now the courtyard of Vorotislav and Chudin, and the place for catching birds was outside the city; There was also another courtyard outside the city, where the courtyard of the domestic is now located, behind the Church of the Holy Mother of God; above the mountain there was a tower courtyard - there was a stone tower there. And they told Olga that the Drevlyans had come, and Olga called them to her, and told them: “Good guests have come.” And the Drevlyans answered: “They have come, princess.” And Olga said to them: “So tell me, why did you come here?” The Drevlyans answered: “The Derevskaya land sent us with these words: “We killed your husband, because your husband, like a wolf, plundered and robbed, and our princes are good because they protect the Derevskaya land - marry our prince Mala.” "". After all, his name was Mal, the prince of the Drevlyans. Olga told them: “Your speech is dear to me, I can no longer resurrect my husband; but I want to honor you tomorrow before my people; Now go to your boat and lie down in the boat, magnifying yourself, and in the morning I will send for you, and you say: “We will not ride on horses, nor will we go on foot, but carry us in the boat,” and they will carry you up in the boat.” and released them to the boat. Olga ordered to dig a large and deep hole in the tower courtyard, outside the city. The next morning, sitting in the tower, Olga sent for the guests, and they came to them and said: “Olga is calling you for great honor.” They answered: “We are not riding on horses or in carts, and we are not going on foot, but carry us in the boat.” And the people of Kiev answered: “We are in bondage; our prince was killed, and our princess wants for your prince,” and they were carried in the boat. They sat, majestic, with their arms on their feet and wearing great breastplates. And they brought them to Olga’s courtyard, and as they carried them, they threw them along with the boat into a pit. And, bending towards the pit, Olga asked them: “Is honor good for you?” They answered: “Igor’s death is worse for us.” And she ordered them to be buried alive; and covered them.

And Olga sent to the Drevlyans and told them: “If you really ask me, then send the best men to marry your prince with great honor, otherwise the Kyiv people will not let me in.” Hearing about this, the Drevlyans chose the best men who ruled the Derevskaya land and sent for her. When the Drevlyans arrived, Olga ordered a bathhouse to be prepared, telling them: “After you have washed, come to me.” And they heated the bathhouse, and the Drevlyans entered it and began to wash themselves; and they locked the bathhouse behind them, and Olga ordered it to be set on fire from the door, and then everyone burned.

And she sent to the Drevlyans with the words: “Now I’m coming to you, prepare a lot of honey in the city where they killed my husband, so that I will cry at his grave and perform a funeral feast for my husband.” Having heard about this, they brought a lot of honey and brewed it. Olga, taking with her a small squad, went light, came to the grave of her husband and mourned him. And she commanded her people to fill up a high burial mound, and when they had filled it up, she ordered a funeral feast to be performed. After that, the Drevlyans sat down to drink, and Olga ordered her youths to serve them. And the Drevlyans said to Olga: “Where is our squad that they sent for you?” She answered: “They are coming after me with my husband’s retinue.” And when the Drevlyans became drunk, she ordered her youths to drink in their honor, and she went far away and ordered the squad to cut down the Drevlyans, and 5000 of them were cut off. And Olga returned to Kyiv and gathered an army against those who remained.

Date and place
According to the most common version of A. Shakhmatov, the first edition (version) of the work was completed in 1110-1113. In the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery (the editors did not reach us). In 1116, abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery Sylvester created the second edition of the chronicle (came down to us as part of the Laurentian Chronicle, written in 1377). The third edition of the “Tale” dates back to 1117-1118. It was created by an unknown scribe from the entourage of Prince Mstislav-Fedor-Harald, son of Vladimir Monomakh (came down to us as part of the Ipatiev Chronicle of the early 15th century).
Characters
Nestor (c. 1056 - after 1114; monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, writer and hagiographer, author of the lives of saints Theodosius of the Pechersk, Boris and Gleb, canonized, the relics are kept in the Near Caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra) Sylvester (? -1123; Famous ancient Russian intellectual and a church leader close to Vladimir Monomakh, abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery, since 1118 bishop of Pereyaslavl).
Background of the event
When exactly chronicle writing began in Rus' is unknown. Probably, this could have happened already during the time of Prince Askold (version by M. Braichevsky), Princess Olga or Vladimir. Fragments of these ancient chronicles could later become part of the Tale of Bygone Years. There is still a popular hypothesis among scientists by Academician A. Shakhmatov, according to which ca. 1037 (no later than 1044) the oldest Kievan chronicle was compiled, containing data about the beginning of the history of Rus' and its baptism. Around 1073, in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, the First Kiev-Pechersk Information was completed, which was concluded on the basis of ancient Kyiv and Novgorod chronicles (Shakhmatov considered the monk Nikon to be the author of the information). In 1093-1095 On the basis of this First Kiev-Pechersk construction, another one was concluded, which in turn became the basis for Nestor’s work.
Progress of the event
Almost nothing is known about Nestor’s actual writing of the chronicle, except that soon after the chronicler’s death he was often remembered as the author of the “Tale” (for example, a letter from the monk Polycarp to Abbot Akindinus, which talks about the chronicle and its author, has been preserved). The chronicle covers the times from the creation of the world and the flood to 1110, with an emphasis on the history of Rus', and appears to fit into the traditional medieval biblical scheme of world history. The sources of the chronicle were Byzantine chronicles, more ancient chronicles, folk tales and legends, as well as oral testimonies of eyewitnesses of recent events (in particular, the former governor Jan Vyshatich, who, having become a monk at the end of his life, in Nestor’s own words, told a lot of interesting things about the campaigns against the Polovtsians, the Christianization of Rus', etc.). Probably, the creation of the “Tale” - a work full of providentialist motives - was considered by the author as a “justification” of himself and his compatriots before God at the upcoming Last Judgment and had almost as much “scientific” as religious significance.
Consequences of the incident
“The Tale of Bygone Years” became the beginning of chronicle writing among the Eastern Slavs, despite its inaccuracies and dubious places, and still retains the significance of an invaluable and even unique source on the history of our distant ancestors. She became a role model for other chroniclers (“the life” of this genre turned out to be very long - chronicles were written in Ukraine until the 18th century)
Historical memory
The life of Nestor was included in the popular collection of lives of saints “Paterik of Pechersk” (edition 1661), subsequently in the collection “Cheti-Minea” by D. Tuptalo (1705), but the author (compiler?) of the Chronicle gained particular popularity in the second half of the 18th century. thanks to the polemics between Normanists and anti-Normanists regarding the circumstances of the founding of Kievan Rus. Over the next centuries, this popularity only grew: the chronicler at work was depicted by M. Antokolsky and V. Vasnetsov, in the USSR and modern Ukraine, in honor of the creation of the “Tale,” a series of stamps and commemorative coins were issued, a monument to Nestor was erected near the walls of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, it was called the Order of Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, the day of his memory - November 9 - has been declared the Day of Ukrainian Literature and Language in Ukraine. “The Tale of Bygone Years” has been translated into modern Russian, Ukrainian, and many European languages.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" as a historical source

Abakan, 2012

1. Characteristics of time in “The Tale of Bygone Years”

Researchers conducting source analysis and synthesis perfectly understand the complexity of the intellectual space in which cognition is carried out. It is important for him to determine the measure of real knowledge available to him. “The Tale of Bygone Years” is an outstanding historical and literary monument that reflected the formation of the ancient Russian state, its political and cultural flourishing, as well as the beginning of the process of feudal fragmentation. Created in the first decades of the 12th century, it has come to us as part of chronicles of a later time. In this regard, the importance of its presence in the history of writing chronicles is quite great.

The objectives of the study are to consider the characteristics of time as such, as well as the perception of the concept of time in the chronicle.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is an ancient Russian chronicle created in the 1110s. Chronicles are historical works in which events are presented according to the so-called yearly principle, united by annual, or “yearly” articles (they are also called weather records).

“Yearly articles”, which combined information about events that occurred during one year, begin with the words “In the summer of such and such...” (“summer” in Old Russian language means "year"). In this regard, the chronicles, including the Tale of Bygone Years, are fundamentally different from the Byzantine chronicles known in Ancient Rus', from which Russian compilers borrowed numerous information from world history. In the translated Byzantine chronicles, events were distributed not by years, but by the reigns of the emperors.

The Tale of Bygone Years is the first chronicle whose text has reached us almost in its original form. Thanks to a thorough textual analysis of the Tale of Bygone Years, researchers have discovered traces of earlier works included in its composition. Likely, ancient chronicles were created in the 11th century. The hypothesis of A.A. received the greatest recognition. Shakhmatova (1864-1920), explaining the emergence and describing the history of Russian chronicles of the 11th and early 12th centuries. He resorted to the comparative method, comparing the surviving chronicles and finding out their relationships. According to A.A. Shakhmatov, around 1037, but not later than 1044, compiled the Kiev Chronicle, which told about the beginning of history and the baptism of Rus'. Around 1073, in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, the first Kiev-Pechersk chronicle was probably completed by the monk Nikon. In it, new news and legends were combined with the text of the Most Ancient Code and with borrowings from the Novgorod Chronicle of the mid-11th century. In 1093-1095, it condemned the unreasonableness and weakness of the current princes, who were contrasted with the former wise and powerful rulers of Rus'.

The Tale of Bygone Years is alien to the unity of style; it is an “open” genre. The simplest element in a chronicle text is a brief weather record, which only reports an event, but does not describe it.

Calendar units of time in the Tale

The study of time calculation systems of the initial Russian chronicles is one of the most pressing tasks of Russian historical chronology. However, the results obtained in this direction over the past decades clearly do not correspond to the significance of the issues being addressed.

The point, apparently, is not only (and not even so much) in the “ungratefulness” of such work and its predominantly “rough” nature. A much more serious obstacle, in our opinion, is a number of fundamental differences in the perception of time and the units of its measurement by modern scientists and ancient Russian chroniclers.

The same applies to chronological material. Any chronicle record (including the date - annual, calendar, georthological) is of interest, first of all, as a “reliable” story about what, when and how it happened.

Preliminary textual and source studies must at the same time insure the scientist against the use of poor-quality information about the event of interest, which got into the text under study from unreliable or unverified sources. Solving the questions of “when, how and why this record was formed”, “determining the original type of record and studying its subsequent changes in the chronicle tradition” seemed to reliably clear the source text of later layers, both factual and ideological. In this way, “protocol” accurate information ended up in the hands of the historian (ideally). From this body of information, the historian with a pure heart“arbitrarily selects the records he needs, as if from a fund specially prepared for him,” which, in fact, was what all the procedures for preliminary criticism of the text were directed against.

Meanwhile, as has been repeatedly noted, the idea of ​​authenticity for the people of Ancient Rus' was primarily associated with collective experience and social traditions. It was they who became the main filter in the chronicle for the selection of material, its evaluation and the form in which it was recorded by the chronicler.

The direct temporary instructions that accompanied the presentation were no exception in this regard. Researchers have already paid attention to the fact that direct dates in the chronicle could have, like any other fragment of text, a symbolic meaning in addition to the literal one. Such comments, however, concerned mainly the calendar part of the dates and were sporadic.

The appearance of direct dating indications in the chronicle text dates back to the mid-60s - early 70s. This is associated with the name of Nikon the Great. Until this time, according to experts studying ancient Russian chronicles, direct annual indications were a rare exception. More precisely, only 2-3 dates are usually mentioned, which were included in the Tale from earlier written sources. An example is the date of death of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich - July 15, 1015. The remaining dates - not only daily, but also annual - until the mid-60s of the 11th century, as most researchers believe, were calculated by Nikon.

However, the basis for such calculations is difficult to reconstruct.

One more a shining example Direct dating indications are the chronological calculation placed in the Tale under the year 6360/852, immediately after the dated message about the beginning of the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III:

“In the same way, let us count the numbers, as from Adam to the Flood there are 2242 years; and from the flood to Avram 1000 and 82 years, and from Abram to the march of Moses 430 years; and from the descent of Moses to David 600 years and 1; and from David and from the beginning of the kingdom of Solomon to the captivity of Jerusalem, 448 years; and from captivity to Alexander 318 years; and from Oleksandr to the Nativity of Christ, 333 years: But we will return to the former and say that this is how things are in these years, as they previously began the first summer with Michael, and we will put the numbers in a row.”

The fact that almost any calendar date was considered in the context of its real or symbolic content can be judged even by the frequency of certain calendar references. Thus, in the Tale of Bygone Years, Monday and Tuesday are mentioned only once, Wednesday - twice, Thursday - three times, Friday - 5 times, Saturday - 9, and Sunday (“week”) - as many as 17!

Methods for working with temporary information

When compiling the chronicle, the chronological method was used. However, contrary to the theory of probability, events are unevenly distributed both in relation to months and in relation to individual numbers. For example, in the Pskov 1st Chronicle there is calendar dates(05.01; 02.02; 20.07; 01.08; 18.08; 01.09; 01.10; 26.10), which account for 6 to 8 events throughout the chronicle text. At the same time, a number of dates are not mentioned at all by the compiler of the code (03.01; 08.01; 19.01; 25.01; 01.02; 08.02; 14.02, etc.).

All such cases can have fairly substantiated explanations from the point of view of their eventful content, or the value relationship to the calendar part of the date. As for chronographic (annual) instructions, from the standpoint of common sense, they generally cannot have any other meaning other than the “external” designation of the year number of the event.

An example is the analysis of a text fragment conducted by A.A. Shakhmatov. the composition of the ancient Russian chronicles being studied. He used comparative textual analysis.

The main attention was focused on identifying the source that the chronicler used when calculating the years “from Adam.” It turned out to be a text close to the Slavic translation of “The Chronicler Soon” by Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople, known in Rus' since the beginning of the 12th century. A comparative textual analysis of the surviving copies of “The Chronicler Soon” did not, however, make it possible to identify the original, which the chronicler directly used. At the same time, researchers have repeatedly emphasized that when compiling the chronological list in the Tale of Bygone Years, a number of errors were made when calculating periods.

They amounted to distortion of the digital part of the original text as a result of repeated “mechanical rewriting” or incorrect reading of the original.

Their appearance and accumulation inevitably led to a distortion of the total number of years. In the lists that have survived to our time, from the Creation of the World to the Nativity of Christ, it amounts to 5434 or, “after eliminating errors,” 5453.

Grouping of terms in the text of the chronicle

Grouping the dates given in this chronological list into the indicated periods gives a sequence of five time periods of approximately 1000 years each (the first period is double). This result seems quite satisfactory, since thousand-year periods in the Christian tradition were often equated to one divine day (cf.: “With the Lord one day is like a thousand years” - Psalm 89.5; 2 Pet. 3.8-9, etc.) or to one “century” (Kirik Novgorodets). The existing deviations from the thousand-year period are not yet entirely clear, but, apparently, they are also not without meaning. In any case, there is every reason to believe that the calculation of years under the year 6360, as it appears in the Tale of Bygone Years, leads the reader to an event that should complete the story, as well as earthly history in general - the second coming of the Savior.

However, the fact that the proposed interpretation of the first part of the chronological calculation of the year 6360 has the right to exist is indicated, in our opinion, by the accompanying phrase: “Then from now on, let’s put the numbers, and let’s put the numbers in a series.” Traditionally, it is perceived as the chronicler’s “promise” to conduct further exposition in strict chronological order.

For a medieval reader, it could also carry additional semantic load. The fact is that the word “number”, in addition to the usual meanings for modern people, in the ancient Russian language was also understood as “measure, limit”. The word “row” is defined as a row, an order (“in a row” - one after another, sequentially, continuously), improvement, as well as an order, a will, a court, an agreement (in particular, “put a row” - to conclude an agreement) .

The “new” title of the Tale, however, is not so clear. The phrase “time years” is usually translated as “about past years”, “past years”, “passing years”. On this occasion D.S. Likhachev wrote: “The definition of “temporary” refers not to the word “story”, but to the word “years.”

Summarizing the analysis of time in the Tale of Bygone Years, it should be concluded that the very name of the chronicle, apparently, was in direct connection with the chronological calculation inserted in the second decade of the 12th century. in article 6360. This suggests that when analyzing direct time data, both in the calendar and chronographic parts, it is necessary to take into account their semantic content, which sometimes significantly exceeds, and even contradicts, the literal meaning.

2.Historical sources in The Tale of Bygone Years

The historical significance of the chronicle sources is important. This is a historical aspect that allows us to saturate Russian historical and educational literature. It is not for nothing that all textbooks on Russian history are equipped with quotes from this ancient chronicle monument. From time to time, fragments are published that most clearly characterize the ancient Russian state and society of the 9th-10th centuries. A historical source is a realized product of the human psyche, suitable for studying facts with historical significance. Distinguish between sources and studies. The historian uses not only sources, but also research. In this regard, it is important that research is a subjective concept of the main historical event. The author of the source directly describes the events, and the author of the study relies on existing sources.

The main tasks in considering historical sources are to analyze the methods of use by the author of the chronicle: phraseological, allegorical, symbolic, as the foundations of a moral worldview.

When writing the chronicle, documents from the princely archive were used, which made it possible to preserve the texts of the Russian-Byzantine treaties of 911, 944 and 971 to this day. Some of the information was taken from Byzantine sources.

Techniques for using sources

The chronicle also presents a type of detailed record, recording not only the “actions” of the prince, but also their results. For example: “In the summer of 6391, Oleg fought against the Derevlyans, and, having tortured them, imposed a tribute on them according to the black kun,” etc. Both a brief weather record and a more detailed one are documentary. They do not contain any tropes that embellish the speech. It is simple , is clear and concise, which gives it special significance, expressiveness and even majesty. The chronicler’s focus is on the event - “what happened in this summer.”

Reports about the military campaigns of the princes occupy more than half of the chronicle. They are followed by news of the death of the princes. Less often, the birth of children and their marriage are recorded. Then, information about the construction activities of the princes. Finally, reports on church affairs, which occupy a very modest place.

The chronicler uses the medieval system of chronology from the “creation of the world.” To convert this system to the modern one, it is necessary to subtract 5508 from the date of the chronicle.

The connection between the chronicle and folklore and epic description

The chronicler draws material about the events of the distant past from the treasury of folk memory. The appeal to the toponymic legend was dictated by the chronicler’s desire to find out the origin of the names of Slavic tribes, individual cities and the word “Rus” itself.

For example, the origin of the Slavic tribes Radimichi and Vyatichi is associated with the legendary people from the Poles - the brothers Radim and Vyatko. This legend arose among the Slavs, obviously, during the period of decomposition of the clan system, when an isolated clan elder, in order to justify his right to political dominance over the rest of the clan, creates a legend about his supposedly foreign origin. Close to this chronicle legend is the legend about the calling of princes, placed in the chronicle under 6370 (862). At the invitation of the Novgorodians, three Varangian brothers come from across the sea to reign and “rule” the Russian land with their families: Rurik, Sineus, Truvor.

The folklore nature of the legend confirms the presence of the epic number three - three brothers. The legend is of purely Novgorod, local origin, reflecting the practice of relations between the feudal city republic and the princes. In the life of Novgorod, there were frequent cases of the “calling” of a prince, who performed the functions of a military leader. Introduced into the Russian chronicle, this local legend acquired a certain political meaning. The legend about the calling of the princes emphasized the absolute political independence of the princely power from the Byzantine Empire.

Echoes of ritual poetry from the times of the clan system are filled with chronicles about the Slavic tribes, their customs, wedding and funeral ceremonies. The first Russian princes are described in the chronicles using the techniques of oral folk epic: Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav. Oleg is, first of all, a courageous and wise warrior. Thanks to his military ingenuity, he defeats the Greeks by putting his ships on wheels and sailing them across the land. He deftly unravels all the intricacies of his Greek enemies and concludes a peace treaty with Byzantium that is beneficial for Rus'. As a sign of the victory, Oleg nails his shield on the gates of Constantinople, to the greater shame of his enemies and the glory of his homeland. The successful prince-warrior is popularly nicknamed the “prophetic”, i.e., a wizard.

The chronicle news about Vladimir’s marriage to the Polotsk princess Rogneda, about his abundant and generous feasts held in Kyiv - the Korsun legend - goes back to folk tales. On the one hand, before us appears a pagan prince with his unbridled passions, on the other, an ideal Christian ruler, endowed with all the virtues: meekness, humility, love for the poor, for the monastic and monastic order, etc. The contrasting comparison of the prince between a pagan and a Christian prince, the chronicler sought to prove the superiority of the new Christian morality over pagan morality.

Compilers of chronicles of the 16th century. drew attention to the inconsistency of the first part of the story, about the Apostle Andrei’s visit to Kyiv, with the second, they replaced the everyday story with a pious legend, according to which Andrei leaves his cross in the Novgorod land. Thus, most of the chronicles dedicated to the events of the 9th - late 10th centuries are associated with oral folk art and its epic genres.

Through artistic descriptions and plot organization, the chronicler introduces the genre of narrative storytelling, rather than simply recording information.

These examples show how the entertainment of the epic plot is built on the fact that the reader, together with the positive hero, deceives (often cruelly and insidiously in the medieval style) the enemy, who is unaware of his disastrous fate until the last moment.

Stories of folklore and epic origin also include the legend about the death of Oleg, which served as the basis for the plot of Pushkin’s “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”, the story about the young Kozhemyak who defeated the Pecheneg hero, and some others.

Apocryphal texts in the Tale

Apocrypha is characterized by an abundance of miracles and fantasy. Apocrypha for people who think. Primitivization is characteristic. Apocrypha - books of prohibited indexes, although they are written on biblical and evangelical subjects. They were brighter, more specific, more interesting, and attracted attention. Apocrypha - legendary religious works. The Apocrypha was classified as non-canonical, as heretical literature. Heresy - oppositional godparent movements.

Great value There are also articles by A.A. Shakhmatov devoted to the analysis of the Explanatory Paleia and the Tale of Bygone Years, where he touched on some apocryphal inserts. A very interesting and important attempt is the scientist’s attempt to trace the routes by which apocryphal literature came to Rus'.

Here there is clearly an attempt to accurately establish the apocryphal source of the chronicle's story about the division of lands by the sons of Noah by lot by direct comparison of the text. Accordingly, there is also the presence of an apocryphal text in the chronicle.

Old Testament influence on the Tale. So, for example, Svyatopolk, who killed his brothers according to the chronicle, is called “cursed” and “cursed” in it. Let us pay attention to the root of the word “cursed”; this root is “cain”. It is clear that this refers to the biblical Cain, who killed his brother and was cursed by God. Like Cain, doomed to wander and die in the desert, the chronicle Svyatopolk also died. There are many examples like this. Even in terms of stylistic features The presentation of the text of the Bible and the Tale are similar in some points: more than once the Tale repeats a textual turn characteristic of the book of Joshua, referring to the fact that evidence of an event can be seen “to this day.”

However, not all plots of the story fit into the biblical texts. There are stories that are written on biblical themes, but do not agree with canonical Old Testament. One example of this is the chronicle story about Noah, who divided the earth after the flood between his sons: “After the flood, the first sons of Noah divided the earth: Shem, Ham, Apheth. And I am in Simovi... Khamovi is in the midday country... Afetu is in the midnight country and the West..."... “Now Ham and Afet, having divided the earth, cast lots - do not transgress anyone in the lot, brother. And each one is alive in his own part.”

It should be noted that the chronicles are works of complex composition. Includes monuments of different origin, content, and genres: original documents (for example, treaties between Rus' and the Greeks in 911, 944, 971), diplomatic and legislative acts from princely and monastic archives, information from the military (for example, “The Tale about the invasion of Batu"), political and church history, materials of a geographical and ethnographic nature, descriptions natural disasters, folk legends, theological works (for example, the legend about the spread of faith in Rus'), sermons, teachings (for example, the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh), words of praise (for example, Theodosius of Pechersk), hagiographic fragments (for example, from the life of Boris and Gleb), quotes and references to biblical stories and Byzantine chronicles, etc.

It is now clear that the chronicle collections were compiled at different times, in different regions, by different people (authors, compilers) and were subjected, especially the most ancient ones, to repeated editorial revisions. Based on this, the chronicle cannot be considered as the work of a single author-compiler. At the same time, it is a single integral literary work. It is distinguished by the unity of concept, composition and ideological aspirations of the editors. The language of the chronicle is characterized by both diversity and diversity, as well as a certain unity due to the work of the editors. Its language is not a homogeneous system. In it, in addition to the two stylistic types of the ancient Russian literary language - bookish (Church Slavic) and folk colloquial - dialect differences were reflected.

Certain linguistic features, e.g. in phonetics and vocabulary, indicate their source of different regional localization; grammatical and syntactic phenomena are more difficult to localize.

Hypothesis about the most ancient constructions

The study of the Initial Code showed that it was based on some work (or works) of a chronicle nature. This was evidenced by some logical inconsistencies in the text reflected in the Novgorod First Chronicle. So, according to the observations of A.A. Shakhmatov, in the early chronicles there should not have been a story about Olga’s first three revenges, and a legend about a brave young man (a boy with a bridle) who saved Kyiv from the Pecheneg siege, and about embassies sent to test faith, and many other stories.

In addition, A.A. Shakhmatov drew attention to the fact that the story about the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavich’s elder brother, Oleg (under 6485/977) ended in the Initial Code with the words: “And... burying him [Oleg] on the m ?st ?at the city, calling Vruchyago; There is his grave to this day near Vruchyago Grad.” However, under 6552/1044 we read: “Pogr ?bena fast 2 princes, son of Svyatoslavl: Yaropl, Olg; and baptized the bones with it,” to which the Laurentian Chronicle added: “and I laid the Holy Mother of God in the church.”

Therefore, according to A.A. Shakhmatova, the chronicler who described the tragic outcome of the Svyatoslavich strife, did not yet know about the transfer of Oleg’s remains to the Tithe Church from Vruchy. From this it was concluded that the Primary Code was based on some kind of chronicle compiled between 977 and 1044. The most likely in this interval is A.A. Shakhmatov considered 1037 (6545), under which the Tale contains extensive praise for Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, or 1939 (6547), which dates the article on the consecration of Sophia of Kyiv and “the establishment of the metropolis by Yaroslav.”

The researcher proposed to call the hypothetical chronicle work created this year the Most Ancient Code. The narrative in it was not yet divided into years and was of a monothematic (plot) nature. Yearly dates (as they sometimes say, a chronological network) were introduced into it by the Kiev-Pechersk monk Nikon the Great in the 70s. XI century

Shakhmatov’s constructions were supported by almost all researchers, but the idea of ​​the existence of the Most Ancient Code aroused objections. It is believed that this hypothesis does not have sufficient grounds. At the same time, most scientists agree that the Primary Code was indeed based on some kind of chronicle or monothematic narrative. Its characteristics and dating, however, differ significantly.

So, M.N. Tikhomirov drew attention to the fact that the Tale better reflects the reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich than Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav Vladimirovich. Based on a comparative study of the Tale and the Novgorod Chronicle, he came to the conclusion that the Tale was based on the monothematic “Tale of the Beginning of the Russian Land,” based on oral traditions about the founding of Kyiv and the first Kyiv princes. Assumption M.N. Tikhomirov essentially coincided with the opinion of N.K. Nikolsky and found support from L.V. Cherepnina. They also connected the origin of Russian chronicles with “some ancient story about the glades-Rus” - “a now lost historical work, which, having no significance as an all-Russian chronicle and containing news about the fate and ancient connections of the Russian tribes (Rus) with the Slavic world, was free from Byzantinism and Normanism" .The creation of such a work coincided with the reign of Svyatopolk Yaropolkovich (Vladimirovich) in Kyiv and dated back to 1015-1019. No textual verification of this hypothesis has been carried out.

An attempt to test this hypothesis was made by D.A. Balovnev. His textual, stylistic and ideological analysis of the chronicle fragments, which, according to D.S. Likhachev, once constituted a single work, showed that the hypothesis about the existence of “The Tale of the Initial Spread of Christianity” is not confirmed. In all texts related to D.S. Likhachev to the “Legend”, “there is clearly no unified narrative, no belonging to the same hand and no common terminology.” On the contrary, D.A. Balovnev managed to prove textually that the basis of the stories that were supposedly included in the “Tale” were precisely those fragments that at one time A.A. Shakhmatov attributed it to the folk (fairytale) layer of chronicle narration. Texts belonging to the spiritual (clerical, church) layer turn out to be inserts that complicate the original text. Moreover, these insertions were based on other literary sources than the original story, which, on the one hand, led to their terminological differences, and on the other, lexical and phraseological similarities with other chronicle stories (which, according to D.S. Likhachev, were not included, into the “Tale”), based on the same sources.

Despite the differences with the views of A.A. Shakhmatov about the nature and exact time of writing of the oldest literary work, which later formed the basis of the actual chronicle presentation, researchers agree that a certain work (or works) did exist. They do not fundamentally disagree in determining the date of its composition: the first half of the 11th century. Apparently, further study of early chronicle texts should clarify what this source was, its composition, ideological orientation, and date of creation.

Examples of information sources Chronicles

As is already known, the literary genre of the chronicle was formed by the middle of the 11th century, but the oldest lists of chronicles available to us, such as the Synodal list of the First Novgorod Chronicle, date back much more late period- XIII and XIV centuries.

The Laurentian list dates back to the first quarter of the 15th century, the Ipatiev list of the Ipatiev Chronicle dates back to the first quarter of the 15th century, and the rest of the chronicles date back to an even later time. Based on this, ancient period The development of chronicles has to be studied based on small lists compiled 2-3 centuries later than the writing of the chronicles themselves.

Another problem in studying the chronicles is that each of them is a compilation of chronicles, that is, it recounts previous records, usually in abbreviation, so that each chronicle tells the history of the world “from the very beginning,” as in, “ The Tale of Bygone Years" begins with "where the Russian land came from."

The authorship of the “Tale of Bygone Years,” created at the beginning of the 12th century, still raises some doubts: his name was definitely Nestor, but the question of identifying Nestor the chronicler and Nestor the hagiographer, the author of “The Life of Boris and Gleb” and “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk” is still controversial.

Like most chronicles, the Tale is a collection that includes processing and retelling of many previous chronicles, literary, journalistic, and folklore sources.

Nestor begins his chronicle with the division of the lands by the children of Noah, that is, from the time of the Flood: he lists the lands in detail, as in the Byzantine chronicles. Despite the fact that Rus' was not mentioned in those chronicles, Nestor, of course, introduces it after mentioning Ilyuric (Illyria - the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea or the people who lived there), he adds the word “Slavs”. Then, in the description of the lands that Japheth inherited, the chronicle mentions the Dnieper, Desna, Pripyat, Dvina, Volkhov, Volga - Russian rivers. In the “part” of Japheth, it is said in the “Tale”, live “Rus, Chud and all the languages: Merya, Muroma, all ...” - this is followed by a list of tribes that inhabited the East European Plain.

The story of the Varangians is a fiction, a legend. Suffice it to mention that the oldest Russian monuments trace the dynasty of the Kyiv princes to Igor, and not to Rurik, and that Oleg’s “regency” lasted under the “young” Igor for no less than 33 years, and that in the Initial Code Oleg is not called a prince , and the governor...

Nevertheless, this legend was one of the cornerstones of ancient Russian historiography. It corresponded primarily to the medieval historiographical tradition, where the ruling clan was often elevated to a foreigner: this eliminated the possibility of rivalry between local clans.

The defeat of the Russian princes in the battle with the Polovtsians at Trepol in 1052 is also seen as God’s punishment, and then he gives a sad picture of the defeat: the Polovtsians are taking away captured Russian prisoners, and they are hungry, suffering from thirst, undressed and barefoot, “the feet of the property are choked with thorns.” , with tears answering to each other, saying: “I am the beg of this city,” and others: “I am the one who sows all,” so they ask with tears, telling their kind and lifting up, lifting their eyes to heaven to the highest, knowledgeable of the secret.”

In describing the Polovtsian raid of 1096, the chronicler again has no choice but to promise the suffering Christians the kingdom of heaven for their torment. However, here is also an extract from the apocryphal word of Methodius of Patara, which tells about the origin of different peoples, in particular, about the legendary “unclean peoples” who were driven by Alexander the Great to the north, imprisoned in the mountains, but who “come out” from there “towards the end of the century” - on the eve of the destruction of the world.

To achieve greater authenticity and a greater impression from the story, descriptions of small details are introduced into the narrative: how the tinder was attached to the legs of the birds, various buildings are listed that were “ignited” by the sparrows and pigeons who returned to their nests and under the eaves (again a specific detail).

Among other records there are plot stories written on the basis of historical, rather than legendary events: a message about an uprising in the Rostov land, led by the Magi, a story about how a certain Novgorodian told fortunes to a magician (both in the article 1071), a description of the transfer of relics Theodosius of Pechersk in article 1091, the story of the blinding of Vasilko Terebovlsky in article 1097.

In the Tale of Bygone Years, like in no other chronicle, plot stories are frequent (we are not talking about inserted stories in the chronicles of the 15th-16th centuries). If we take the chronicles of the 11th-16th centuries. In general, the chronicle as a genre is characterized by a certain literary principle, developed already in the 11th-13th centuries. and received from D.S., who examined it. Likhachev's name is the “style of monumental historicism” - a style characteristic of all art of this period, and not just literature.

Almost all chronicle collections of subsequent centuries began with the “Tale”, although, of course, in the abbreviated collections of the 15th-16th centuries. or in local chroniclers, the ancient history of Rus' was presented in the form of brief selections about the most important events.

The lives written by Nestor - “Reading about the life and destruction” of Boris and Gleb and “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk” represent two hagiographic types - lives-martyrium (stories about martyrdom saint) and monastic life, which tells about the entire life path of the righteous man, his piety, asceticism and the miracles he performed. Nestor, of course, took into account the requirements of the Byzantine hagiographic canon and knew the translated Byzantine lives. But at the same time, he showed such artistic independence, such extraordinary talent that the creation of these two masterpieces makes him one of the outstanding ancient Russian writers, regardless of whether he was also the compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years.

To summarize, it should be noted that the genre diversity of sources determined the richness and expressiveness of the language. They contain valuable material on the history of vocabulary. The chronicle reflects rich synonymy (for example, drevodli - carpenters, stage - verst, sulia - spear), contains military, church and administrative terminology, onomastic and toponymic vocabulary (many personal names, nicknames, geographical names, names of residents, churches, monasteries ), phraseology, borrowed words and calques from Greek are used. language (for example, autocratic, autocratic) When comparing the vocabulary of “The Tale of Bygone Years”, it is possible to trace the life of terms, in particular military terms, right up to their extinction and replacement by new ones.

So, the language of the chronicle is characterized by rather sharp contrasts: from the use of Old Slavonicisms and constructions inherent in the book language (for example, independent dative phrase, perfect with copula, dual number of names and verbs), to folk colloquial. elements (for example, the expression is not enough or tore up the wood) and syntactic constructions (for example, impersonal phrases - for the sake of shame, constructions without copula, participles in the predicative function - vеtav and speech). Distribution of this kind of contrasts in the story unevenly, in particular it depends on the genre.

References

source tale of bygone years

1.Aleshkovsky M.Kh. The Tale of Bygone Years: The Fate of a Literary Work in Ancient Rus'. M., 1971

2. Eremin I.P. “The Tale of Bygone Years”: Problems of its historical and literary study (1947). - In the book: Eremin

I.P. Literature of Ancient Rus': (Sketches and Characteristics). M. - L., 1966 Sukhomlinov M.I. About the ancient Russian chronicle as a literary monument. St. Petersburg, 1856

Likhachev D.S. Russian chronicles and their cultural and historical significance. M. - L., 1947

Nasonov A.N. History of Russian chronicles of the 11th - early 18th centuries. M., 1969

Rybakov B.A. Ancient Rus': legends, epics, chronicles. M. - L., 1963

Tvorogov O.V. Plot narration in the chronicles of the 11th-13th centuries. . - In the book: Origins of Russian fiction. L., 1970

Kuzmin A.G. The initial stages of ancient Russian chronicle writing. M., 1977

Likhachev D.S. Great legacy. “The Tale of Bygone Years” Selected works: In 3 vols., vol. 2. L., 1987.

Shaikin A.A. “Behold the Tale of Bygone Years”: From Kiya to Monomakh. M., 1989

Shakhmatov A.A. History of Russian chronicles. T. 1. The Tale of Bygone Years and the most ancient Russian chronicles. Book 2. Early Russian chronicles of the 11th-12th centuries - St. Petersburg, 2003.

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Tale of Bygone Years Chronicle- An ancient Russian chronicle created in the 1110s. Chronicles are historical works in which events are presented according to the so-called yearly principle, combined into annual, or “yearly” articles (they are also called weather records). “Yearly articles,” which combined information about events that occurred during one year, begin with the words “In the summer of such and such...” (“summer” in Old Russian means “year”). In this regard, the chronicles, including The Tale of Bygone Years, are fundamentally different from the Byzantine chronicles known in Ancient Rus', from which Russian compilers borrowed numerous information from world history. In the translated Byzantine chronicles, events were distributed not by years, but by the reigns of the emperors.

The earliest list extant Tales of Bygone Years dates back to the 14th century. It got the name Laurentian Chronicle named after the scribe, monk Lawrence, and was compiled in 1377. Another oldest list Tales of Bygone Years preserved as part of the so-called Ipatiev Chronicle(mid 15th century).

The Tale of Bygone Years- the first chronicle, the text of which has reached us almost in its original form. Thanks to careful textual analysis Tales of Bygone Years researchers have discovered traces of earlier works included in it. Probably the oldest chronicles were created in the 11th century. The hypothesis of A.A. Shakhmatov (1864–1920), which explains the emergence and describes the history of Russian chronicles of the 11th–early 12th centuries, received the greatest recognition. He resorted to the comparative method, comparing the surviving chronicles and finding out their relationships. According to A.A. Shakhmatov, approx. 1037, but no later than 1044, was compiled The most ancient Kyiv chronicle code, which told about the beginning of history and the baptism of Rus'. Around 1073, in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, probably the monk Nikon completed the first Kiev-Pechersk Chronicle Code. In it, new news and legends were combined with the text The most ancient arch and with borrowings from Novgorod Chronicle mid 11th century In 1093–1095, it was here, based on the Nikon code, that the second Kiev-Pechersk vault; it is also commonly called Beginners. (The name is explained by the fact that A.A. Shakhmatov initially considered this particular chronicle to be the earliest.) It condemned the foolishness and weakness of the current princes, who were contrasted with the former wise and powerful rulers of Rus'.

The first edition (version) was completed in 1110–1113 Tales of Bygone Years- a lengthy chronicle collection that has absorbed numerous information on the history of Rus': about the Russian wars with the Byzantine Empire, about the calling of the Scandinavians Rurik, Truvor and Sineus to reign in Rus', about the history of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, about princely crimes. The probable author of this chronicle is the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor. This edition has not been preserved in its original form.

First edition Tales of Bygone Years the political interests of the then Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich were reflected. In 1113 Svyatopolk died, and Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh ascended the Kiev throne. In 1116 by the monk Sylvester (in the Promonomakhian spirit) and in 1117–1118 by an unknown scribe from the entourage of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (son of Vladimir Monomakh) text Tales of Bygone Years has been redesigned. This is how the second and third editions arose Tales of Bygone Years; the oldest list of the second edition has reached us as part of Lavrentievskaya, and the earliest list of the third is in the composition Ipatiev Chronicle.

Almost all Russian chronicles are vaults - a combination of several texts or news from other sources of an earlier time. Old Russian chronicles 14th–16th centuries open with text Tales of Bygone Years.

Name The Tale of Bygone Years(more precisely, Tales of Bygone Years– in the Old Russian text the word “story” is used in the plural) is usually translated as Tale of yesteryear, but there are other interpretations: A story in which the narrative is distributed by year or Narration within a time frame, A Narrative of the End Times- telling about the events on the eve of the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

Narration in Tales of Bygone Years begins with a story about the settlement of the sons of Noah on earth - Shem, Ham and Japheth - along with their families (in the Byzantine chronicles the starting point was the creation of the world). This story is taken from the Bible. The Russians considered themselves descendants of Japheth. Thus, Russian history was included in world history. Goals Tales of Bygone Years there was an explanation of the origin of the Russians (Eastern Slavs), the origin of princely power (which for the chronicler is identical to the origin of the princely dynasty) and a description of baptism and the spread of Christianity in Rus'. Narration of Russian events in Tales of Bygone Years opens with a description of the life of East Slavic (Old Russian) tribes and two legends. This is a story about the reign in Kyiv of Prince Kiy, his brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid; about the calling of the three Scandinavians (Varyags) Rurik, Truvor and Sineus by the warring northern Russian tribes, so that they would become princes and establish order in the Russian land. The story about the Varangian brothers has exact date– 862. Thus, in the historiosophical concept Tales of Bygone Years two sources of power are established in Rus' - local (Kiy and his brothers) and foreign (Varangians). The elevation of ruling dynasties to foreign families is traditional for medieval historical consciousness; Similar stories are found in Western European chronicles. So ruling dynasty was given greater nobility and dignity.

Main events in Tales of Bygone Years- wars (external and internecine), the founding of churches and monasteries, the death of princes and metropolitans - the heads of the Russian Church.

Chronicles, including Tale…, - Not works of art in the strict sense of the word, and not the work of a historian. Included Tales of Bygone Years included agreements between the Russian princes Oleg the Prophet, Igor Rurikovich and Svyatoslav Igorevich with Byzantium. The chronicles themselves apparently had significance legal document. Some scientists (for example, I.N. Danilevsky) believe that the chronicles and, in particular, The Tale of Bygone Years, were compiled not for people, but for the Last Judgment, at which God will decide the fate of people at the end of the world: therefore, the chronicles listed the sins and merits of the rulers and people.

The chronicler usually does not interpret events, does not look for their remote causes, but simply describes them. In relation to the explanation of what is happening, the chroniclers are guided by providentialism - everything that happens is explained by the will of God and is viewed in the light of the coming end of the world and the Last Judgment. Attention to the cause-and-effect relationships of events and their pragmatic rather than providential interpretation is insignificant.

For chroniclers, the principle of analogy, the overlap between the events of the past and the present is important: the present is thought of as an “echo” of events and deeds of the past, especially the deeds and deeds described in the Bible. The chronicler presents the murder of Boris and Gleb by Svyatopolk as a repetition and renewal of the first murder committed by Cain (legend Tales of Bygone Years under 1015). Vladimir Svyatoslavich - the baptizer of Rus' - is compared with Saint Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the official religion in the Roman Empire (the legend of the baptism of Rus' in 988).

Tales of Bygone Years unity of style is alien, it is an “open” genre. The simplest element in a chronicle text is a brief weather record that only reports an event, but does not describe it.

Included Tales of Bygone Years traditions are also included. For example, a story about the origin of the name of the city of Kyiv on behalf of Prince Kiy; tales of the Prophetic Oleg, who defeated the Greeks and died from the bite of a snake hidden in the skull of a deceased prince’s horse; about Princess Olga, cunningly and cruelly taking revenge on the Drevlyan tribe for the murder of her husband. The chronicler is invariably interested in news about the past of the Russian land, about the founding of cities, hills, rivers and the reasons why they received these names. Legends also report this. IN Tales of Bygone Years the share of legends is very large, since the initial events of ancient Russian history described in it are separated from the time of work of the first chroniclers by many decades and even centuries. In later chronicles telling about modern events, the number of legends is small, and they are also usually found in the part of the chronicle dedicated to the distant past.

Included Tales of Bygone Years stories about saints written in a special hagiographic style are also included. This is the story of the brother princes Boris and Gleb under 1015, who, imitating the humility and non-resistance of Christ, meekly accepted death at the hands of stepbrother Svyatopolk, and the story of the holy Pechersk monks under 1074.

A significant part of the text in Tales of Bygone Years occupied by narratives of battles, written in the so-called military style, and princely obituaries.

Editions: Monuments of literature of Ancient Rus'. XI – first half of the XII century. M., 1978; The Tale of Bygone Years. 2nd ed., add. and corr. St. Petersburg, 1996, series “Literary monuments”; Library of Literature of Ancient Rus', vol. 1. XI – beginning of the XII century. St. Petersburg, 1997.

Andrey Ranchin

Literature:

Sukhomlinov M.I. About the ancient Russian chronicle as a literary monument. St. Petersburg, 1856
Istrin V.M. Notes on the beginning of Russian chronicles. – News of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences, vol. 26, 1921; v. 27, 1922
Likhachev D.S. Russian chronicles and their cultural and historical significance. M. – L., 1947
Rybakov B.A. Ancient Rus': legends, epics, chronicles. M. – L., 1963
Eremin I.P. “The Tale of Bygone Years”: Problems of its historical and literary study(1947 ). – In the book: Eremin I.P. Literature of Ancient Rus': (Sketches and Characteristics). M. – L., 1966
Nasonov A.N. History of Russian chronicles of the 11th – early 18th centuries. M., 1969
Tvorogov O.V. Plot narration in chronicles of the 11th–13th centuries.. – In the book: Origins of Russian fiction . L., 1970
Aleshkovsky M.Kh. The Tale of Bygone Years: The Fate of a Literary Work in Ancient Rus'. M., 1971
Kuzmin A.G. The initial stages of ancient Russian chronicles. M., 1977
Likhachev D.S. Great legacy. "The Tale of Bygone Years"(1975). – Likhachev D.S. Selected works: In 3 vols., vol. 2. L., 1987
Shaikin A.A. “Behold the Tale of Bygone Years”: From Kiya to Monomakh. M., 1989
Danilevsky I.N. Biblicalisms "The Tale of Bygone Years". - In the book: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature. M., 1993. Issue. 3.
Danilevsky I.N. The Bible and the Tale of Bygone Years(On the problem of interpreting chronicle texts). – Domestic History, 1993, No. 1
Trubetskoy N.S. Lectures on Old Russian literature (translated from German by M.A. Zhurinskaya). – In the book: Trubetskoy N.S. Story. Culture. Language. M., 1995
Priselkov M.D. History of Russian chronicles of the 11th–15th centuries. (1940). 2nd ed. M., 1996
Ranchin A. M. Articles about ancient Russian literature . M., 1999
Gippius A.A. “The Tale of Bygone Years”: about the possible origin and meaning of the name. - In the book: From the history of Russian culture, vol. 1 (Ancient Rus'). M., 2000
Shakhmatov A.A. 1) Research on the most ancient Russian chronicles(1908). – In the book: Shakhmatov A.A. Research about Russian chronicles. M. – Zhukovsky, 2001
Zhivov V.M. On the ethnic and religious consciousness of Nestor the Chronicler(1998). – In the book: Zhivov V.M. Research in the field of history and prehistory of Russian culture. M., 2002
Shakhmatov A.A. History of Russian chronicles, vol. 1. St. Petersburg, 2002
Shakhmatov A.A. . Book 1 2) The Tale of Bygone Years (1916). – In the book: Shakhmatov A.A. History of Russian chronicles. T. 1. The Tale of Bygone Years and the most ancient Russian chronicles. Book 2. Early Russian chronicles of the 11th–12th centuries. St. Petersburg, 2003