The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs . They speak the East Slavic languages , and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus' , which they claim as their cultural ancestor . Today Belarusians , Russians and Ukrainians are the existent East Slavic nations. Rusyns can also be considered as a separate nation, although they are often considered a subgroup of the Ukrainian people.
68-619: Researchers know relatively little about the Eastern Slavs prior to approximately 859 AD when the first events recorded in the Primary Chronicle occurred. The Eastern Slavs of these early times apparently lacked a written language. The few known facts come from archaeological digs, foreign travellers' accounts of the Rus' land, and linguistic comparative analyses of Slavic languages . Very few native Rus' documents dating before
136-474: A hundred of them. The foundation of the main Slavic city of this region, Novgorod , is attributed by the letopis to 862. In the same era, settlements appeared on the territories of other East Slavic tribes (see Old Russian cities ). So, the northerners who lived on the territory of modern Voronezh, Belgorod and Kursk regions, along with settlements in the 9th–10th centuries. built fortified settlements, mainly at
204-520: A miscalculation found in the Short History of Nikephoros I of Constantinople . Moreover, a few sentences later, the text states: 'from the birth of Christ to Constantine, 318 years; and from Constantine to Michael, 542 years. Twenty-nine years passed between the first year of Michael's reign and the accession of Oleg, Prince of Rus'.' However, Constantine the Great acceded in 313, not 318, and
272-582: A more reliable English translation of the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle than how Cross translated the PVL. The 2001 German translation by Ludolf Müller has been called 'without doubt the best available rendering of the PVL into a modern language'. The 2015 Dutch translation by Hans Thuis (begun with Victoria van Aalst since 2000) was based on the main six textual witnesses, scholarly publications by Müller, Likhachev and Ostrowski, and by comparison to
340-634: A number of ancestors accounts and documents. In compiling the Chronicle , some of Nestor's original sources definitely included but were not limited to: There probably were no "earlier local chronicles". The hypothesis that a local chronicle was written before the late 980s at the St Elias church in Kiev "has to remain an unproven speculation". Linguistically speaking, the Primary Chronicle
408-512: A pioneering textological analysis of the narrative in 1908. Dmitry Likhachev and other Soviet scholars partly revisited his findings. Their versions attempted to reconstruct the pre-Nestorian chronicle, compiled at the court of Yaroslav the Wise in the mid-11th century. The early part of the PVL features many anecdotal stories, among them: The chronology offered by the Primary Chronicle ( PVL )
476-641: A political tool to justify rule. August Ludwig von Schlözer produced a German translation with commentary of the Povest' vremennykh let through 980 in five volumes ( Hecтopъ. Russische Annalen in ihrer Slavonischen Grund–Sprache . Göttingen, 1802–1809). In 1930, Harvard professor Samuel Hazzard Cross published an English translation of the Laurentian Codex's version of the PVL under the title The Russian Primary Chronicle. Laurentian Text. , which became very influential amongst American readers. Cross
544-504: Is considered a fundamental source for the earliest history of the East Slavs . The content of the chronicle is known today from the several surviving versions and codices, revised over the years, slightly varying from one another. Because of several identified chronological issues and numerous logical incongruities pointed out by historians over the years, its reliability as a historical source has been strictly scrutinized by experts in
612-472: Is consistent with the proximity of their languages, demonstrating significant differences from the neighboring Finno-Ugric, Turkic and North Caucasian peoples all the way from west to east; such genetic homogeneity is somewhat unusual for genetics given such a wide dispersal of Slavic populations, especially Russians. Together they form the basis of the " East European " gene cluster , which also includes Balts , some Balkan peoples. Genetic research has shown that
680-766: Is no consensus among scholars as to the urheimat of the Slavs . In the first millennium AD, Slavic settlers are likely to have been in contact with other ethnic groups who moved across the Eastern European Plain during the Migration Period . Between the first and ninth centuries, the Sarmatians , Huns , Alans , Avars , Bulgars , and Magyars passed through the Pontic steppe in their westward migrations. Although some of them could have subjugated
748-573: Is not meet for Christians to be given in marriage to pagans. If you are baptized, you shall have her to wife, inherit the kingdom of God, and be our companion in faith." The legend concludes with Vladimir's embrace of Christianity at the church of St. Basil in Korsun and his marriage to the Emperor's sister, Anna Porphyrogenita . For centuries after the Chronicle’s creation, the legend's factuality
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#1732765426076816-483: Is preserved in the Hypatian codex (see § Surviving manuscripts ). The organization, style, and narrative flow of the Primary Chronicle shows signs of compilation, different historical elements are brought together into a single cohesive historical account. Studies by Russian philologist Aleksey Shakhmatov and his followers have demonstrated that the PVL is not a single literary work but an amalgamation of
884-593: Is sometimes at odds with that of other documents such as the Novgorod First Chronicle ( NPL ) and Byzantine literature . Sometimes the Primary Chronicle also contradicts itself, especially between narrative and chronological parts, which appear to have been written by two different authors. Several scholars including Aleksey Shakhmatov (1897), Mikhail Tikhomirov (1960), Ia. S. Lur’e (1970), and Constantin Zuckerman (1995) have concluded that
952-551: Is thus an interpolation inserted into the text by an editor, perhaps guessing at the author's name. From the 1830s to around 1900, there was fierce academic debate about Nestor's authorship, but the question remained unresolved, and belief in Nestorian authorship persisted. The internal evidence of the PVL and the known works of Nestor often contradict one another, while the contents barely coincide in places where they seemingly should, so modern scholars have concluded that Nestor
1020-412: Is vibrant with Christian themes and biblical allusions, which are often said to reflect the text’s monastic authorship. Aleksandr Koptev remarks that the Chronicle belongs to the genre of Christian literature . In the introduction, the chronicler explores the biblical origin of the Slavic people, and traces their heritage back to Noah. On numerous occasions throughout the text, the chronicler discusses
1088-594: Is written in Old East Slavic , with strong Old Church Slavonic (early South Slavic) elements. Although these two languages were quite similar up to the early 12th century, with few phonological, morphological and lexical differences at that point, scholars have noted a general pattern of religious passages and moral teachings featuring strong Old Church Slavonic elements, whereas entries on events in specific years are dominated by Old East Slavic elements. Nevertheless, there are no clear linguistic boundaries between
1156-601: The Chronicle just preceding the conversion of Volodimer , the Prince took possession of the Greek city of Korsun ( Chersonesus ) in the Crimean Peninsula , in an attempt to gain certain benefits from Emperor Basil . Following Vladimir's successful conquest of the city, he demanded that the Emperor's 'unwedded' sister be given up for marriage with him. Upon hearing the news from Korsun, emperor Basil responded that "It
1224-450: The Chronicle . Unlike many other medieval chronicles written by European monks, the Tale of Bygone Years is unique as the only written testimony on the earliest history of East Slavic people. Its comprehensive account of the history of Rus' is unmatched in other sources, but important correctives are provided by the Novgorod First Chronicle . It is also valuable as a prime example of
1292-795: The Dnieper river in what is now Ukraine and Belarus to the North; they then spread northward to the northern Volga valley, east of modern-day Moscow and westward to the basins of the northern Dniester and the Southern Buh rivers in present-day Ukraine and southern Ukraine. Another group of East Slavs moved to the northeast, where they encountered the Varangians of the Rus' Khaganate and established an important regional centre of Novgorod for protection. The same Slavic population also settled
1360-657: The Dnieper River to the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers, throughout modern-day northwestern Ukraine and southern Belarus . It forms the eastern part of the so-called Prague-Korchak cultural horizon , a term used to encompass the entirety of postulated early Slavic cultures from the Elbe to the Dniester, as opposed to the eastern Penkovka culture . Excavations started in the 1920s by S. S. Gamchenko at
1428-696: The Old East Slavonic literature . However, its reliability has been widely called into question and placed under careful examination by contemporary specialists in the field of the Old East Slavonic history. The first doubts about trustworthiness of the narratives were voiced by Nikolay Karamzin in his History of the Russian State (1816–26), which brought attention to Nestor's questionable chronology and style of prose. Building upon Karamzin's observations, further inquiries into
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#17327654260761496-645: The Polans and Severians arose in the region of Kyiv and Chernigov already by the 7th–8th centuries, which indicates at least a partial rejection of the previous strategy of scattered and secretive living among the forests. This is also evidenced by the fact that in the VIII-IX centuries. in all other East Slavic lands there were no more than two dozen cities, while only on the Left Bank of the Dnieper there were about
1564-559: The Rus Primary Chronicle an outstanding work of literature with an untrustworthy story and concluded that "there is absolutely no reason to continue basing our knowledge of the past on its content." Paul Bushkovitch (2012) from Yale University writes “the author was serving his rulers, identifying princes and people and leaving historians with a muddle virtually impossible to sort out.” He also mentions that there are discrepancies when overlapping Scandinavian history with
1632-576: The Rus Primary Chronicle was more concerned with exploring the religious significance of the events rather than conveying to the reader the information about how it actually happened. As a result, a sizable portion of the text was directly borrowed from earlier works that contained a religious undertone like some Byzantine sources, and most notably, the Bible . The protagonists are frequently identified with biblical personages and so are ascribed certain relevant qualities and deeds that did not necessarily match
1700-737: The ruins of Chersonesos , archaeologists unearthed the foundations of three churches and determined that the one containing the richest findings was allegedly used for the baptism of the Kievan Prince. The unearthed material evidence proved sufficient to pinpoint the real location of the legend's events with reasonable accuracy. In the early 1860s, the Eastern Orthodox Church began construction of The Saint Vladimir Cathedral in Chersonesos , which has been destroyed on three separate occasions after first being erected and
1768-897: The 11th century (none before the 10th century) have survived. The earliest major manuscript with information on Rus' history, the Primary Chronicle , dates from the late 11th and early 12th centuries. It lists twelve Slavic tribal unions which, by the 10th century, had settled in the later territory of the Kievan Rus between the Western Bug , the Dniepr and the Black Sea : the Polans , Drevlyans , Dregovichs , Radimichs , Vyatichs , Krivichs , Slovens , Dulebes (later known as Volhynians and Buzhans ), White Croats , Severians , Ulichs , and Tivertsi . There
1836-445: The 11th century resulted in considerable population shifts and a political, social, and economic regrouping. The resultant effect of these forces coalescing was the marked emergence of new peoples. While these processes began long before the fall of Kiev, its fall expedited these gradual developments into a significant linguistic and ethnic differentiation among the Rus' people into Ukrainians , Belarusians , and Russians . All of this
1904-463: The 9th- and 10th-century dates mentioned in the PVL were not added to the text until the 11th century, unless directly copied from the Chronicle of George the Monk . The historical period covered in the Tale of Bygone Years begins with biblical times , in the introductory portion of the text, and concludes with the year 1117 in the chronicle's third edition. Russian philologist Aleksey Shakhmatov
1972-592: The Caves , late 17th-century writers began to assert that Nestor "the Chronicler" wrote many of the surviving Rus' chronicles , including the Primary Chronicle , the Kievan Chronicle and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle , even though many of the events they described took place in the 12th and 13th century, long after Nestor's death c. 1114. Another reason given for belief in Nestorian authorship
2040-518: The Dnieper region, but the main fortress of the Antes (Selishte) was located in the western part of this area, near the borders of Byzantine Empire (in modern Moldova), on which they made military campaigns. The early Slavic settlements were destroyed by the Avars in the 7th century, after which they were not built until the 10th century. The disintegration, or parcelling of the polity of Kievan Rus' in
2108-803: The Earth: The Varangians , the Swedes , the Normans , the Rus , and others were named as descendants of Japheth. In the very beginning, humanity was united into a single nation, but after the fall of the Tower of Babel , the Slavic race was derived from the line of Japheth, “since they are the Noricians, who are identified with the Slavs.” According to the so-called "Korsun legend", presented in
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2176-637: The German translation of Trautmann (1931), the English translation of Cross & Sherbowitz-Wetzor (1930, 1953), the Russian translation of Likhachev (1950), and the German translation of Müller (2001). Korchak culture The Korchak culture is an archaeological culture of the sixth and seventh century East Slavs who settled along the southern tributaries of the Pripyat River and from
2244-487: The Prague-Korchak (Zimino, Lezhnitsa, Khotomel, Babka, Khilchitsy, Tusheml ) and Penkovo (Selishte, Pastyrskoe) cultures existed in the 6th–7th centuries. on a vast territory from the borders of modern Poland and Romania to the Dnieper. The Prague-Korchak settlements were a site surrounded by a wooden wall with one building, which was part of the common wall of the settlement. They did not have agricultural tools, and
2312-466: The Slavs were located "in unusual topographic conditions: in low places, often now flooded during floods". Eastern Slavs, who found themselves as a result of migrations of the 4th–5th centuries. in the basins of lakes Chudskoye and Ilmen, formed the culture of Pskov long barrows . This culture was strongly influenced by the autochthonous Finno-Ugric and Baltic peoples, from whom it adopted a specific burial rite and some features of ceramics, but in general,
2380-465: The Wise being more than just "a patron of Slavonic books" – are reconstructed and the logical incongruities of the text are faced. Polish historian Wladyslaw Duczko (2004) concluded that the compiler of the Primary Chronicle 'manipulated his sources in the usual way: information that was not compatible was left aside, while the elements that should be there but did not exist, were invented.' Russian historian and author Igor Danilevsky mentioned that
2448-427: The common Russian Primary Chronicle ( Church Slavonic : Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ , romanized: Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ , commonly transcribed Povest' vremennykh let ( PVL ), lit. ' Tale of Bygone Years ' ), is a chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been originally compiled in or near Kiev in the 1110s. Tradition ascribed its compilation to
2516-525: The confluence of large rivers (see Romensko-Borshchiv culture). In the 10th century, a fortress appeared not far from the city of Smolensk that arose later (the Gnezdovsky archaeological complex ). Somewhat apart are the early East Slavic settlements, the creation of which is attributed to the tribal unions of Dulebs and Antes . Archaeologically, they are represented by the Prague-Korchak and Penkov cultures, respectively. A number of such settlements of
2584-598: The extensive forests in which they settled. This method of agriculture involved clearing tracts of forest with fire, cultivating it and then moving on after a few years. Slash and burn agriculture requires frequent movement because soil cultivated in this manner only yields good harvests for a few years before exhausting itself, and the reliance on slash and burn agriculture by the East Slavs explains their rapid spread through eastern Europe. The East Slavs flooded Eastern Europe in two streams. One group of tribes settled along
2652-513: The fact that "the ruling Princes of Kiev had their own propagandists who rewrote the annals to make political claims that best suited their own purposes." Shakhmatov further described the Tale of Bygone Years as a literary creation that fell under heavy influence of the Church and the State. Dmitry Likhachov famously wrote in his 1950 critique of the Rus Primary Chronicle , "No other country in
2720-535: The field. (See § Assessment and critique .) Tradition long regarded the first compilation as the work of a monk named Nestor ( c. 1056 – c. 1114), known to have written other works such as Life of the Venerable Theodosius . Writers of the time spoke of the Chronicle of Nestor , and of the author as Nestor "the Chronicler". Based on the 1661 Paterik of the Kyiv Monastery of
2788-663: The genomes of East Slavs are homogenous and contrary to popular belief, unaffected by Turkic or Mongol influences. Only the Northern Russians among the East and West Slavs belong to a different, " Northern European " genetic cluster, along with the Balts , Germanic and Baltic Finnic peoples (Northern Russian populations are very similar to the Balts). Primary Chronicle The Primary Chronicle , shortened from
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2856-433: The lands of the Slavs, why the dynasty was the only legitimate one and why all the princes should terminate their internal fights and rule in peace and brotherly love.' In the year 1116, Nestor's text was extensively edited by the hegumen Sylvester who appended his name at the end of the chronicle. As Vladimir Monomakh was the patron of the village of Vydubychi (now a neighborhood of Kyiv) where Sylvester's monastery
2924-648: The lost 12th-century Kievan Chronicle and 13th-century Galician–Volhynian Chronicle . The language of this work is the East Slavic version of Church Slavonic language with many additional irregular east-slavisms (like other east-Slavic codices of the time). Whereas the Laurentian (Muscovite) text traces the Kievan legacy through to the Muscovite princes, the Hypatian text traces the Kievan legacy through
2992-478: The monk Nestor beginning in the 12th century, but this is no longer believed to have been the case. The title of the work, Povest' vremennykh let ("Tale of Bygone Years") comes from the opening sentence of the Laurentian text : "These are the narratives of bygone years regarding the origin of the land of Rus', the first princes of Kiev, and from what source the land of Rus' had its beginning". The work
3060-646: The narrative of the Primary Chronicle . For example, “archeological evidence does not fit the legends of the Primary Chronicle” such as: “in Scandinavia itself, there were no sagas of Viking triumphs and wars in Russia to match those recounting the conquest of Iceland and the British Isles”. The credibility of the Primary Chronicle should be taken with a grain of salt for its undertone of being
3128-673: The original of the chronicle as well as the earliest known copies are lost, it is difficult to establish the original content of the chronicle. The six main manuscripts preserving the Primary Chronicle which scholars study for the purpose of textual criticism are: The Laurentian Codex was compiled in Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal by the Nizhegorodian monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377. The original text he used
3196-439: The pagan Slavs in a condescending manner, saying “for they were but pagans, and therefore ignorant.” Later in the Chronicle , one of the most pivotal moments of the narrative is Vladimir the Great 's conversion to Orthodox Christianity , which ignited extensive Christianization of Kievan Rus' . The Primary Chronicle traces the history of the Slavic people all the way back to the times of Noah , whose three sons inherited
3264-399: The philology of the Rus Primary Chronicle shined more light on various weaknesses in the text's composition. According to Dmitry Likhachov (1950), the chronicle exhibits the presence of plentiful "fillers" that were added post factum and, in effect, "destroyed the narrative's logical progression." According to Aleksey Shakhmatov (1916), some of the incongruities are a direct result of
3332-536: The present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero . Having reached the lands of the Merya near Rostov , they linked up with the Dnieper group of Slavic migrants. According to archeology, the Prague, Korchak , Penkova , Kolochin , and Kyiv cultures are classified as early Slavic. The earliest of which, Kyiv, from the 2nd–3rd centuries AD. e. was the northern neighbor of the more developed and multi-ethnic Chernyakhov culture, associated with West Slavs ( Great Moravia ). Rare, few and short-lived settlements of
3400-419: The readers to remember him in their prayers. Alternately, the real author may have been some other unnamed monk from the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves mentioned in the title, and Sylvester completed his work, or was a very early editor or copyist of the PVL. Wladyslaw Duczko (2004) argued that one of the central aims of the Chronicle's narrative is to 'give an explanation how the Rurikids came to power in
3468-440: The reality. Ukrainian historian Oleksiy Tolochko in 2015 upheld the conclusion reached by his many predecessors that the Chronicle’s contents are more or less fictional. Tolochko argued that some of the tales, like the story of the Rurikid clan's entry into Kiev, were invented "so as to produce a meaningful reconstruction of past events and include these well-known names" in the author's "historical scenario." Tolochko called
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#17327654260763536-488: The region's Slavs, these foreign tribes left little trace in the Slavic lands. The Early Middle Ages also saw Slavic expansion as an agriculturist and beekeeper , hunter, fisher, herder, and trapper people. By the 8th century, the Slavs were the dominant ethnic group on the East European Plain. By 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern , western , and eastern branches. The East Slavs practiced " slash-and-burn " agricultural methods which took advantage of
3604-430: The resulting sum of 318+542 years leads to another erroneous accession of Michael III, this time in 860. This then leads to an internal contradiction, when "Michael the Emperor" is said to have mounted a campaign against the Bulgars in 853–858 (6361–6366), which could not have happened before he became Byzantine emperor in 860 according to the latter accession date. Chronology of major events: The Primary Chronicle
3672-427: The rulers of the Halych principality. The Hypatian codex was rediscovered in Kiev in the 1620s, and a copy was made for Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozhsky. A copy was found in Russia in the 18th century at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma by the Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin. Numerous monographs and published versions of the chronicle have been made, the earliest known being in 1767. Aleksey Shakhmatov published
3740-402: The settlements, apparently, were built to collect and accommodate a military detachment. Penkovsky settlements could have up to two dozen buildings inside the walls and were large trade, craft and administrative centers for their time. The center of the territory controlled by the dulebs (Zimino, Lezhnitsa) was in the basin of the Western Bug; the geographical center of the Penkovo culture falls on
3808-590: The two, as profane (secular) passages sometimes feature Old Church Slavonicisms, while devotional passages sometimes feature Old East Slavicisms. In the view of many modern linguistics, the authors (and editors) of the Primary Chronicle probably considered the language they wrote in to be one single language. However, this literary language likely differed significantly from the Old East Slavic spoken lingua franca in contemporary Kiev, which appears to have been an amalgamation of several Old East Slavic dialects, with relatively few Old Church Slavonic influences. Because
3876-461: The village of Korchak near Zhytomyr , Ukraine. The Korchak culture was identified as a distinct culture by lu. V. Kukharenko. Open settlements consisted of ten to twenty rectangular, semi-subterranean dwellings with a stone furnace placed in one corner. Each dwelling held up to five people, with less than 100 people per settlement. They performed cremation burial in kurgan burial mounds and in flat-grave cemeteries with cremations in urns . The culture
3944-439: The way of life of the Eastern Slavs changed little. By the 5th century on the site of the Kyiv culture and in other regions to the north, east, west and south of it, a number of related cultures arise, such as Korchak , Kolochin , etc. Among the East Slavs, fortified cities, apparently, first appeared among the Ilmen Slovenes in the 5th century (based on archaeological data in the town on Mayat river). The first settlements near
4012-633: The world is cloaked in such contradictory myths about its history as Russia, and no other nation in the world interprets its history as variously as do the Russian people." The need to interpret the Chronicle , mentioned by Likhachov as essential to making sense of its narrative, stems from the facts that the text was initially compiled and edited by multiple authors with different agendas and that it had to be translated from Old East Slavic language, which proved to be an arduous task. Harvard linguist Horace G. Lunt (1988) found it important to "admit freely that we are speculating" when tales – such as Yaroslav
4080-451: Was a codex (since lost) compiled in 1305 for the Grand Prince of Vladimir, Mikhail of Tver . The account continues until 1305, but the years 898–922, 1263–83 and 1288–94 are missing for reasons unknown. The manuscript was acquired by the famous Count Musin-Pushkin in 1792 and subsequently presented to the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg . The Hypatian Codex dates to the 15th century. It incorporates much information from
4148-541: Was emphasized by the subsequent polities these groups migrated into: southwestern and western Rus', where the Ruthenian and later Ukrainian and Belarusian identities developed, was subject to Lithuanian and later Polish influence; whereas the Russian ethnic identity developed in the Muscovite northeast and the Novgorodian north. Modern East Slavic peoples and ethnic/subethnic groups include: According to Y chromosome , mDNA and autosomal marker CCR5de132, East Slavs and West Slavs are genetically very similar, which
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#17327654260764216-418: Was not the author. A more likely candidate as author is Sylvester of Kiev , hegumen ( abbot ) of the St. Michael's Monastery in Vydubychi (a village near Kyiv ), who may have compiled several sources in the year 1116. This attribution is based on the fact that the Laurentian text ends on page 286, lines 1 to 7, with the colophon "I wrote down ( napisakh ) this chronicle", after which he requests
4284-404: Was renovated each time thereafter. The cathedral last faced destruction during the October Revolution and was not restored until the fall of the Soviet Union . It has been argued that by honoring Vladimir the Great and his contribution to the Eastern Orthodoxy, the cathedral serves the purpose of validating Russia's historical ties with the Crimean Peninsula, the accounts of which are preserved by
4352-460: Was situated, the new edition glorified Vladimir and made him the central figure of later narrative. This second version of Nestor's work is preserved in the Laurentian codex (see § Surviving manuscripts ). A third edition followed two years later, centered on Vladimir's son and heir, Mstislav the Great . The author of this revision could have been Greek, for he corrected and updated much data on Byzantine affairs. This revision of Nestor's work
4420-452: Was subject to extensive debate. Many historians, antiquarians , and archaeologists had attempted to determine the actual location of Vladimir's conversion by synthesizing textual evidence of the Chronicle with material evidence from Crimea. Their efforts became known in the realms of historical discipline as the “archaeology of the Korsun legend.” This search culminated under Archbishop Innokentii's diocesan administration (1848–57), when in
4488-573: Was the first one to discover early on that the chronology of the Primary Chronicle opens with an error. The Laurentian text of the Chronicle says: "In the year 6360 (852), the fifteenth of the indiction, at the accession of the Emperor Michael, the land of Rus' was first named". It is thus claimed that the reign of Byzantine emperor Michael III began in this year, but Byzantine sources (such as 11th-century Greek historian John Skylitzes ' account ) point out that it began on 21 January 842. Shakhmatov (1897) demonstrated that an editor based himself on
4556-406: Was the word нестера in the opening lines of the Khlebnikov Codex (discovered in 1809 ), which some readers took to refer to Nestor "the Chronicler". But as Ostrowski (1981) pointed out: 'The word нестера was added in the Khlebnikov Codex , and thus cannot be used as evidence for the name of the compiler of the PVL. The word is not found in any of the other five main versions of the PVL, and
4624-438: Was working on a revised edition when he died; it was completed and published by Georgetown University professor Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor in 1953. By the early 21st century, Primary Chronicle had become the common shortened English name for the text shared by the surviving five main manuscripts of the PVL. Nevertheless, Cross' translation was often found inaccurate, with Waugh (1974) writing that Perfecky (1973) had produced
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