Historical events in the story of bygone years. The Tale of Bygone Years as a Historical Source. About the baptism of Rus'
The Tale of Bygone Years is an ancient Russian chronicle created at the beginning of the 12th century. The story is an essay that tells about the events that took place and are taking place in Rus' at that time.
The Tale of Bygone Years was compiled in Kyiv, later rewritten several times, but was not greatly changed. The chronicle covers the period from biblical times up to 1137, dated articles begin from 852.
All dated articles are compositions beginning with the words “In the summer such and such ...”, which means that entries were added to the annals every year and told about the events that took place. One article per year. This distinguishes the Tale of Bygone Years from all the chronicles that were written before. The text of the chronicle also contains legends, folklore stories, copies of documents (for example, teachings of Vladimir Monomakh) and extracts from other chronicles.
The story got its name thanks to its first phrase, which opens the narrative - "The Tale of Bygone Years ..."
The history of the creation of the Tale of Bygone Years
The author of the idea of the Tale of Bygone Years is the monk Nestor, who lived and worked at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries in the Kiev Caves Monastery. Despite the fact that the author's name appears only in later copies of the chronicle, it is the monk Nestor who is considered the first chronicler in Rus', and The Tale of Bygone Years is considered the first Russian chronicle.
The oldest version of the annalistic code, which has come down to the present, is dated to the 14th century and is a copy made by the monk Lavrenty (Laurentian Chronicle). The original edition of the creator of the Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor, has been lost, today there are only revised versions from various scribes and later compilers.
Today, there are several theories regarding the history of the creation of The Tale of Bygone Years. According to one of them, the chronicle was written by Nestor in Kyiv in 1037. It was based on ancient legends, folk songs, documents, oral stories and documents preserved in monasteries. After writing, this first edition was rewritten and revised several times by various monks, including Nestor himself, who added elements of Christian ideology to it. According to other sources, the chronicle was written much later, in 1110.
Genre and features of the Tale of Bygone Years
The genre of the Tale of Bygone Years is defined by experts as historical, but scientists argue that the chronicle is neither a work of art nor historical in the full sense of the word.
A distinctive feature of the chronicle is that it does not interpret events, but only tells about them. The attitude of the author or scribe to everything that is told in the annals was determined only by the presence of God's Will, which determines everything. Causal relationships and interpretation from the point of view of other positions was uninteresting and was not included in the annals.
The Tale of Bygone Years had an open genre, that is, it could consist of completely different parts - from folk tales to notes about the weather.
The chronicle in ancient times also had a legal significance, as a set of documents and laws.
The original purpose of writing the Tale of Bygone Years is to study and explain the origin of the Russian people, the origin of princely power and a description of the spread of Christianity in Rus'.
The beginning of the Tale of Bygone Years is a story about the appearance of the Slavs. The Russians are presented by the chronicler as the descendants of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah. At the very beginning of the narrative, stories are given that tell about the life of the East Slavic tribes: about the princes, about the calling of Rurik, Truvor and Sineus to reign, and about the formation of the Rurik dynasty in Rus'.
The main part of the content of the chronicle is made up of descriptions of wars, legends about the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the exploits of Nikita Kozhemyaka and other heroes.
The final part consists of descriptions of battles and princely obituaries.
Thus, the basis of the Tale of Bygone Years is:
- Traditions about the resettlement of the Slavs, the calling of the Varangians and the formation of Rus';
- Description of the baptism of Rus';
- Description of the life of the Grand Dukes: Oleg, Vladimir, Olga and others;
- Lives of the Saints;
- Description of wars and military campaigns.
The significance of the Tale of Bygone Years can hardly be overestimated - it was it that became the first document in which the history of Kievan Rus was recorded from its very formation. The chronicle later served as the main source of knowledge for subsequent historical descriptions and research. In addition, due to the open genre, the Tale of Bygone Years has a high value as a cultural and literary monument.
It is difficult to determine why, after centuries, and sometimes millennia, individual representatives of the human race have a desire to get to the bottom of the truth, to confirm or refute some theory that has long become familiar. The unwillingness to believe unprovenly in what is habitual, convenient or profitable has allowed and still allows making new discoveries. The value of such restlessness is that it contributes to the development of the human mind and is the engine of human civilization. One of these mysteries in the history of our Russian fatherland is the first Russian chronicle, which we know as.
The Tale of Bygone Years and Its Authors
Almost a millennium ago, almost the first ancient Russian chronicle was started, which told about how and from where, the Russian people appeared, how the ancient Russian state was formed. This chronicle, like the subsequent ancient Russian chronicles that have come down to us, is not a chronological enumeration of dates and events. But it is also impossible to call the Tale of Bygone Years a book in its usual sense. It consists of several lists and scrolls, which are united by a common idea.
This chronicle is the oldest handwritten document created on the territory of Kievan Rus and has come down to our times. Therefore, modern scientists, as well as historians of previous centuries, are guided precisely by the facts given in the Tale of Bygone Years. It is with its help that they try to prove or question this or that historical hypothesis. This is where the desire to identify the author of this chronicle comes from, in order to prove the authenticity of not only the chronicle itself, but also the events it tells about.
In the original, the manuscript of the chronicle, which is called the Tale of Bygone Years, and was created in the 11th century, has not reached us. In the 18th century, two lists made in the 15th century were discovered, something like a reprint of the ancient Russian chronicle of the 11th century. Rather, it is not even a chronicle, but a kind of textbook on the history of the emergence of Rus'. It is generally accepted to consider him the author of Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechora monastery.
Amateurs should not put forward too radical theories on this subject, but one of the postulates of medieval culture was anonymity. A person was not a person in the modern sense of the word, but was just a creation of God, and only clergymen could be conductors of God's providence. Therefore, when rewriting texts from other sources, as happens in the Tale, the one who does this, of course, adds something from himself, expressing his attitude to certain events, but he does not put his name anywhere. Therefore, the name of Nestor is the first name that is found in the list of the 15th century, and only in one, Khlebnikov, as scientists called it.
The Russian scientist, historian and linguist A.A. Shakhmatov does not deny that the Tale of Bygone Years was not written by one person, but is a reworking of legends, folk songs, and oral stories. It uses both Greek sources and Novgorod records. In addition to Nestor, hegumen Sylvester in the Kiev Vydubitsky St. Michael's Monastery was engaged in editing this material. So, it is historically more accurate to say not the author of the Tale of Bygone Years, but the editor.
Fantastic version of the authorship of the Tale of Bygone Years
The fantastic version of the authorship of The Tale of Bygone Years claims that its author is the closest associate of Peter I, an extraordinary and mysterious person, Jacob Bruce. A Russian nobleman and count with Scottish roots, a man of extraordinary erudition for his time, a secret freemason, alchemist and sorcerer. Quite an explosive mixture for one person! So new researchers of the authorship of the Tale of Bygone Years will have to deal with this, fantastic at first glance, version.
All historians of Russia and Ukraine always recall The Tale of Bygone Years with particular trepidation. This is a kind of collection about the life and exploits of the Russian princes, about the life of Kievan Rus ... "The Tale of Bygone Years" was created on the basis of the Kiev-Pechersk and Novgorod records of chronicles (in 1097 they were combined into the Kiev-Pechersk records). It was on the basis of these annals that this chronicle known throughout the world appeared.
During 1113-1114, on the basis of all previous codes, the famous work of the chronicler Nestor was created. He himself writes that he wants to tell about the princes famous throughout Europe and their exploits. Taking the work of his predecessors as a basis, Nestor added from himself an outline of the resettlement of peoples after the flood; gave an outline of the Proto-Slavic history (bringing the Slavs out of the Danube), Slavic settlement and the geography of Eastern Europe itself.
He dwelled in particular detail on the ancient history of Kyiv, because he wanted to perpetuate his native city in history. The historical part of this chronicle begins in 852 and ends in 1110. Nestor calls the Russians the Varangian (Scandinavian) tribe, which was brought by the famous Rurik. According to Nestor, Rurik came to the call of the Slavs themselves and became the ancestor of the Russian princely dynasty. The Tale of Bygone Years ends in 1112.
Nestor was well acquainted with Greek historiography and most likely had access to the prince's archive, from which he quotes the text of treaties with the Greeks. Nestor's work is marked by great literary talent and imbued with deep patriotism, pride in Kievan Rus, which was famous all over the world.
Subsequently, in 1116, the second edition of Nestor's Tale of Bygone Years appeared, created by Sylvester, hegumen of the Mikhailovsky Monastery in Kyiv. It is worth saying that this chronicle is the main source for studying the political, economic, cultural and partially social history of Kievan Rus, as well as the history of Russian lands during the period of feudal fragmentation.
Using the official annual records of events, foreign sources, mainly Byzantine, folk legends and traditions, the compilers of the chronicles told about events related to the life of secular and spiritual feudal lords. Chroniclers sought to show the history of Rus' in connection with the history of neighboring tribes and peoples of non-Slavic origin.
Also, the chronicles were largely reflected in the fact that they were written by monks, the causes of the events were explained by the intervention of divine forces. Due to the fact that chronicle lists are the construction of a number of chronicles, their testimony is often contradictory.
Composition
THE TALE OF TIME YEARS is one of the first and oldest of the Russian chronicles that have come down to us. Its name is given according to the first words of the Laurentian list of the chronicle: “Behold the tales of the time years, where did the Russian land (l) I come from, who in Kiev began before the prince and from where the Russian land began to eat.” PVL was created at the very beginning. XII century., as most researchers believe, the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. Nestor used the previous chronicle compiled in the beginning. 90s in the same monastery (this collection is called the Primary), but substantially revised it and supplemented it with a description of the events of the last two decades. Since the PVL was not preserved in separate lists, but as the initial part of other chronicles, the question remains to what year the narrative was brought by Nestor himself: they say 1110, 1113 or 1115.
Reworking the Primary Code, Nestor deepened the historiographic basis of Russian chronicle writing: the history of the Slavs and Rus' was considered by him against the backdrop of world history. Nestor prefaced the story of the Primary Code about the founding of Kyiv with an extensive historical and geographical introduction, telling about the origin and ancient history of the Slavic peoples. He included extracts from the “Tale of the Beginning of Slavonic Literature” into the annals in order to emphasize the antiquity and authority of Slavic literacy and Slavic book culture. Nestor reinforces the historiographic concept proposed by his predecessors, the chroniclers, according to which the family of the Kyiv princes originates from the Varangian prince Rurik, voluntarily called by the Novgorodians. All events, starting from 852 - the first named in the PVL - Nestor strives to accurately date, although, of course, dating the events of the 9th - 10th centuries, described retrospectively, in 150-250 years, should be approached with great care. An important documentary evidence of Russian-Byzantine relations in the tenth century. were inserted by Nestor into the text of the PVL treaties with Byzantium 907 (911) and 945.
Talking about the wars with the Greeks, Nestor makes extensive use of Byzantine sources, while talking about the first Russian princes, he, like his predecessors, constantly reproduces folk historical traditions: these are the stories about the death of Prince Oleg, about how Igor's widow, Princess Olga, cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband, stories about folk heroes: a youth who by cunning escaped from Kiev besieged by the Pechenegs and called on the voivode Pretich to come to the aid of Olga with his grandchildren in the city, about a young kozhemyak who defeated a Pecheneg hero in a duel, about a wise old man who managed to outwit Pecheneg ambassadors and convince the enemies to lift the siege from the city.
It is described in detail in the PVL about the baptism of Rus' under Vladimir. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to establish the actual course of events from the annals: here one of the versions is presented (the baptism of Vladimir in Korsun), which is not confirmed by other sources; a purely literary device is the story of the test of faith - Vladimir's acquaintance with representatives of various religions. In the PVL, a lengthy “speech” by a Greek philosopher is read, who told Vladimir about the history of mankind and the church in a Christian interpretation.
The very episode of Vladimir’s conversation with the philosopher is a literary fiction, but this “speech” (it is called in science “The Philosopher’s Speech”) was of great theological and cognitive significance for the readers of the chronicle, in a concise form setting out the main plots of the Sacred History. The article of 1015 tells about the murder of the sons of Vladimir - Boris and Gleb - by their half-brother Svyatopolk. These events, in addition to the chronicle version, were also reflected in the most ancient hagiographic monuments about Boris and Gleb (see Lives of Boris and Gleb). Narrating the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, the chronicle reports on the book-writing and translation activities that unfolded under this prince, on the creation of monasteries in Rus', and on intensive church construction.
The article of 1051 reads a detailed “Legend, why was it nicknamed the Caves Monastery”, which outlines one of the versions about the history of the creation of this most authoritative monastery in Kievan Rus. Of fundamental importance is the story of the PVL under 1054 about the will of Yaroslav the Wise, which determined the principles of the political structure of Russia for many decades: the will emphasized the dominant role of Kiev and established that the Kiev table should belong to the eldest in the family of the descendants of Yaroslav (i.e., his eldest son, then grandson from the eldest son, etc.), to whom “as a father” all other specific princes must obey.
In 1061, the Cumans attacked Rus' for the first time. Since that time, the PVL has been paying great attention to the fight against the steppe inhabitants: the chroniclers describe in detail the tragic consequences of the Polovtsian raids (see articles 1068, 1093, 1096), glorify the joint campaigns of the Russian princes in the Polovtsian steppe, severely condemn the princes who use the Polovtsians as allies in internecine war. A special place is occupied in the PVL by the story introduced in the article of 1097 about the blinding of Prince Vasilko Terebovlsky by the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Volyn prince Davyd Igorevich. Written independently of the chronicle (although, perhaps, intended for inclusion in it) by a participant in the events, a certain Vasily, this story was intended to expose the instigators of another civil strife in the most unfavorable light and justify the decisive actions of Vladimir Monomakh, who spoke out against the criminal princes.
The main idea of the story about Vasilko Terebovlsky is expressed in the appeal of the people of Kiev (probably formulated by the chronicler or the author of the story): “If you start to fight with each other, then the filthy ones (i.e., the pagan Polovtsy) will rejoice and seize our land, which your fathers collected and your grandfathers with great labor and courage”; princely civil strife scattered the forces necessary for a decisive rebuff to the nomads.
Thus, the PVL contains a presentation of the ancient history of the Slavs, and then of Rus', from the first Kievan princes to the beginning. 12th century However, PVL is not only a historical chronicle, but at the same time an outstanding literary monument. Thanks to the state view, breadth of outlook and literary talent of Nestor, PVL, according to D.S. Likhachev, was “not just a collection of facts of Russian history and not just a historical and journalistic work related to the urgent, but transient tasks of Russian reality, but an integral, literary outlined the history of Russia” (L and xa-chev D.S. Russian chronicles and their cultural and historical significance.-M.; L., 1947.-S. 169).
As already mentioned, many chronicles began with PVL. The oldest lists of PVL are in the composition of the Laurentian Chronicle (1377), the Ipatiev Chronicle (1st quarter of the 15th century), and the Radzivilov Chronicle (15th century).
Academician A. A. Shakhmatov, who devoted a number of fundamental works to the history of ancient Russian chronicle writing, believed that the oldest first edition of the PVL did not reach us; in the Laurentian and Radzivilov chronicles we find the second edition of the PVL, revised (or rewritten) by the abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery (near Kiev) Sylvester in 1116, and in the Ipatiev chronicle - its third edition.
PVL was published many times as part of chronicles. Further, only the main editions of the text of the PVL itself are indicated.
Almost from the very beginning of writing in Rus', chronicles appeared, that is, historical codes, chronicles. In the monasteries, the monks kept Easter, tables on which they calculated what date Easter would be, all the holidays and fasts that moved along with the Easter day. In the free cells of these tables, or in the wide margins, the monks often wrote down some brief historical information that marked this year - or a remark about the weather of this year, or some unusual phenomenon. For example: “Prince Vasily of Kostroma died”, or “melt winter”, “dead (rainy) summer”; sometimes, if nothing special happened that year, it was written: “there was silence,” that is, there was no war, no fire, or other disasters, or: “nothing happened.”
Tale of Bygone Years
Sometimes, instead of such brief notes, whole stories were inserted, especially interesting because they were written by contemporaries or even eyewitnesses of the event. So, little by little, historical chronicles were compiled - chronicles - first in the form of notes on Easter tables, later - in the form of independent chronicles.
At the beginning of the 12th century, a remarkable historical and literary work called "The Tale of Bygone Years" was written in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Here is its full title: "This is the story of temporary (past) years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kiev began first to reign, and where did the Russian land come from."
Who wrote The Tale of Bygone Years is not exactly known. At first they thought that its author was the same Rev. Nestor who wrote the life of the Rev. Feodosia. Rev. Nestor undoubtedly kept a chronicle - in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery there are the relics of two Nestors: the "chronicler" and another, Nestor "non-bookish", named so in contrast to the first. Undoubtedly, some of the works of Rev. Nestor became part of the Tale, so, for example, his entire life of St. Theodosius. But at the end of the Tale there is a postscript: “Hegumen Sylvester of St. Michael (of a monastery near Kyiv) wrote books and a chronicler.”
Some scholars suggest that hegumen Sylvester was only a copyist of the Tale, and not the author, perhaps he supplemented it. In those days, scribes often put their name at the end of the manuscript they copied.
So, the name of the author is not exactly established. In any case, he was a spiritual man, deeply religious and very well-read and educated. It can be seen that in compiling the Tale, he used many chronicles (Novgorod and the initial Kiev ones), lives, legends, teachings and Greek chronicles, from where, for example, trade agreements between our first princes and Byzantium were taken.
The story of the Tale begins with the Flood. It is about the Babylonian pandemonium, about the division of languages. One of these "languages", from the "Afetov tribe", was the "Slovenian language", that is, the Slavic people.
The author then tells about the settlement of the Slavs on the Danube, about their resettlement from there in different directions. The Slavs who went up the Dnieper and to the north were our ancestors. Everything that we know about the ancient Slavic tribes, about Drevlyans, clearings, northerners, - about their customs, mores, about the beginning of the Russian state and about our first princes - we know all this from the Tale of Bygone Years and should be especially grateful to its author, who laid the foundation for Russian history.
The composition of the Tale includes many ancient tales, traditions and legends. For example, a legend is told about the preaching of the Apostle Andrew on the shores of the Black Sea (which the author calls the "Russian" sea), that the Apostle Andrew went up the Dnieper to the place where Kiev was later founded, hoisted a cross on the mountains of Kiev and predicted that in this place "the grace of God will shine." The story about the founding of Kyiv speaks of the legendary princes Kyi, Schek and Khoriv and their sister Lybid, but the author does not pass off their existence as a historical fact, but tells it as a legend.
A fateful event for Rus', the development of its culture and literacy was the creation of the Slavic alphabet by Cyril and Methodius in 863. The chronicle tells about it this way: the Russian princes turned to the Byzantine tsar Michael with a request to send them teachers who "could tell about book words and their meaning." The tsar sent them "skillful philosophers" Cyril (Konstantin) and Methodius. “When these brothers came, they began to compose 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 own language.
Further events are transmitted with greater certainty. Bright, colorful characteristics of the ancient princes are given: for example, Prince Oleg. It tells about his campaign against Constantinople with episodes of a folklore character (Oleg approaches the walls of the city in boats moving under sail on land, hangs his shield over the gates of Constantinople).
Prince Oleg nails his shield to the gates of Constantinople. Engraving by F. Bruni, 1839
Here is the legend about the death of Oleg. The sorcerer (pagan priest) predicted the prince's death from his beloved horse. Oleg doubted this prophecy, wished to see the bones of the deceased horse, but a snake crawling out of the skull stung him. This chronicle episode formed the basis of the ballad A. S. Pushkin « Song about the prophetic Oleg».
The story goes on about Princess Olga, who was "the wisest of all people", about her son, Prince Svyatoslav. Despite the fact that he was a pagan and did not want to adopt Christianity, following the example of his mother, the author speaks rather sympathetically about his directness, well-known nobility, famous words - “I’m coming at you”, with which he warned his enemies about the attack.
But the author considers the baptism of Rus' to be the most important event in Russian life and dwells on it in particular detail. Talking about the holy prince Vladimir, he speaks of the enormous change that took place in his character with the adoption of Christianity.
The Tale also includes the life of St. princes Boris and Gleb, written by Jacob Mnich (ch. 10th). The author speaks with great sympathy and respect about Prince Yaroslav the Wise. The story "The Tale" was brought to the year 1110.
There are continuations of this annalistic code, which were kept in different monasteries and therefore bore the names of different cities: Kiev, Volyn, Suzdal chronicles. One of the Novgorod chronicles, Joakimov's, which has not come down to us, is considered even older than the Tale of Bygone Years.
But in the Tale there is one quality that belongs only to her: it was written before the division of Rus' into destinies, the author looks at the Slavs as one whole people, does not give any local imprint to her story. That is why The Tale of Bygone Years can rightly be called an all-Russian, all-Russian chronicle.
