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84-541: In the 12th-century Primary Chronicle , the name is reflected as Рюрикъ , i.e. Rurik . In Spanish and Portuguese , it was rendered as Rodrigo , or in its short form, Ruy or Rui , and in Galician , the name is Roy or Roi . In Arabic , the form Ludharīq ( لُذَرِيق‎ ), used to refer Roderic ( Ulfilan Gothic : * Hroþareiks ), the last king of the Visigoths. Saint Roderick ( d.  857 )

168-452: A mystical point of view. Most scholars view the chronicles as historical sources as well as works of art. Vasily Klyuchevsky used them as a historical source along with the lives of the saints . Study of the history of Old Russian chronicles was begun by Vasily Tatishchev and Mikhail Shcherbatov , whose work impacted the emergence of source criticism as a science. Using Tatishchev and Stroev's method, Mikhail Pogodin discovered how

252-540: A 14th–16th-century grouping of chronicles written in the Ruthenian language for the purpose of Lithuanian patriotism. The Ukrainian Chronicles are a 17th–18th-century grouping of chronicles written in Late Ruthenian (early modern Ukrainian ). The Cossack Chronicles  [ uk ] are a 17th–18th-century subgroup of the early modern Ukrainian Chronicles. The Siberian Chronicles were written from

336-451: A chronicle was because the author believed in their truth or significance. During the 1850s and 1860s it was thought that the Rus' chronicle originated as annals and evolved into a narrative , a view supported by Michael Sukhomlinov and Izmail Sreznevsky . This theory has been revived by Alexey Gippius and Alexey Tolochko), who believe that the chronicle was written as svods (annals) until

420-460: A collection of previous chronicles and newly-added historical records. Many of the chronicles have become viewed as annals produced in state or church offices. The hypothetical Novgorod Archbishop Chronicle is believed to have been prepared at the office of the Diocese of Novgorod from the 12th to the 14th centuries, and was the basis of the 15th-century Novgorod First Chronicle . Sources for

504-520: 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

588-582: 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

672-634: 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

756-512: 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 )

840-641: 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

924-436: A pronounced political orientation and abrupt changes. Shakhmatov and his colleagues sought to establish the identity and views of their authors and to place a chronicle in its contemporary political struggle. D. S. Likhachev , V. G. Mirzoev, and A. F. Milonov wrote about the educational and didactic purposes of the old Russian chronicles. According to Igor Danilevsky , the chronicles had an eschatological purpose. Since

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1008-572: A rag and threw it from heaven to the earth; and the devil created man, and God put his soul into him. Therefore, when a person dies, the body goes to the earth, and the soul goes to God". Two wizards reportedly appeared in Novgorod in 1071 and began to sow unrest, saying that the Dnieper would soon flow backwards and the land would move. Most chronicles have digressions which predict the future, describe strange phenomena, and discuss their meaning from

1092-690: A source for the Nikon Chronicle . The multi-volume Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible was compiled. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century chronicles, such as the late-16th-to-18th-century Siberian Chronicles , were local, provincial texts. Fourteenth-to-sixteenth-century Belarusian-Lithuanian chronicles such as the Suprasl, Bykhovets, and Barkulabovo chronicles continued the tradition of Rus' chronicles. A group of 17th- and early-18th-century Ukrainian chronicles have survived, including

1176-504: 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

1260-582: Is copied from another (rare) or they had a common source. Shakhmatov developed a timeline of the old Rus' chronicles, connecting most of them and demonstrating that the extant 14th-to-17th-century chronicles date back to the Primary Svod , earlier, hypothetical 11th-century and late-10th-century historical records. His method and theories became a mainstay of Rus' chronicle studies. An estimated 5,000 svods exist. Most have not been preserved as originals; only copies and partial revisions created between

1344-573: 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

1428-605: Is one of the Martyrs of Córdoba . The modern English name does not continue the Anglo-Saxon form but was re-introduced from the continent by the Normans in medieval England . The Middle English given name had also virtually disappeared by the 19th century, even though it had survived as a surname. The given name was re-popularised by Sir Walter Scott 's poem The Vision of Don Roderick (1811), where Roderick refers to

1512-483: 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

1596-593: 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

1680-551: 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

1764-465: 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

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1848-594: 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

1932-712: The Trinity Chronicle until the 1812 Fire of Moscow . It was reconstructed by Mikhail Prisyolkov. A chronicle made in Tver c.  1412 contained revisions similar to the late-14th–early-15th-century Trinity Chronicle . The 1430s Novgorodsko-Sofiysky Svod , compiled at the office of the Moscow Metropolitan, may have combined the Sofia First and Novgorod Fourth Chronicles . The first known Grand Duchy of Moscow chronicles appeared during

2016-601: 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

2100-450: 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

2184-643: The Hypatian Codex . Dmitry Likhachov , following Nikolay Nikolsky, deduced the beginning of the Rus' chronicle from West Slavic Moravian legends. Attention, especially in the northern chronicles, was paid to the Old Rus' knyazi ; despite the clerical composition of most of the chronicles, many texts depict them as chosen by pagan gods. The Rurikids were emphasized. Folk legends and stories were sources. Historical distortions were not permitted; according to Shakhmatov, any mystical motives or phenomena in

2268-696: 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

2352-458: The Primary Chronicle . The annals were brief, factual, and lacked complex narrative structure. Over time their accuracy increased, dates appeared, the volume of information expanded, and narrative additions were made. The Rus' chronicles began to be systematically prepared during the mid-11th century. There were two centers of chronicle preparation in this early period: Kiev (the capital of early Rus') and Novgorod . The Primary Chronicle , at

2436-559: 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

2520-576: 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

2604-784: The Visigothic king . The modern English name is sometimes abbreviated to Roddy . Roderick is also an Anglicisation of several unrelated names. As a surname and given name it is used as an anglicised form of the Welsh Rhydderch . The given name Roderick is also used as an anglicised form of the Gaelic personal name Rory ( Irish : Ruaidhrí , Ruairí ; Scottish Gaelic : Ruairidh , Ruaraidh ). See also: All pages with titles beginning with Roderick See also Rodriguez and Rodrigues . Primary Chronicle The Primary Chronicle , shortened from

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2688-737: 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

2772-557: The 11th to the 18th centuries, generally written in Old East Slavic (and, later, Ruthenian and Muscovite Russian ), about Kievan Rus' and subsequent Rus' principalities and history. They were one of the leading genres of Old Rus' literature in medieval and early modern Eastern and Central Europe. The chronicle was distributed in Belarus , the Czech lands , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia , and Ukraine . Chronicles were

2856-539: The 13th and 19th centuries, including the oldest 11th- and 12th-century chronicles, are known. Many of the oldest chronicles have not survived. Each principality had a court chronicler to describe its history and defend its views. During the 15th century, chronicles such as the Pskov Letopises and western Russian chronicles were hostile to the Principality of Moscow . The travel story A Journey Beyond

2940-493: The 15th-century Novgorod First Chronicle but absent from the Primary Chronicle . This led Shakhmatov to theorize that the beginning of the Novgorod First Chronicle includes text older than that in the Primary Chronicle . He called it the "Primary Svod ", and dated it to the end of the 11th century as a basis for the Primary Chronicle . If two or more chronicles coincide up to a particular year, one chronicle

3024-463: 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

3108-592: 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

3192-797: 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

3276-609: 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). Rus%27 chronicle The Rus' chronicle , Russian chronicle or Rus' letopis ( Old East Slavic : лѣтопись , romanized:  lětopisʹ ) was the primary Rus' historical literature. Chronicles were composed from

3360-993: The Hustynia, Lviv, Mezhyhiria, and Ostrih chronicles, the Chroniclers of Volhynia and Ukraine collection, the Eyewitness Chronicle, and the Chronicles of Hryhorii Hrabianka  [ uk ] and Samiilo Velychko . These chronicles describe the rebellions, society, policies and international relations of the Cossack Hetmanate and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and their wars with the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire . The oldest Polish chronicle written in Latin

3444-547: The Laurentian Codex and the Radziwiłł Chronicle . The late-13th- and early-14th-century Hypatian Codex survives in 15th-to-18th-century сopies. A 1377 copy of the 14th-century Laurentian Codex survives. The 1375 Tverian annals are part of the Rogozhskiy Chronicle and the 16th-century Tverian Collection. A chronicle related to Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow covered up to 1408 and survived as

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3528-687: The Three Seas was incorporated into the 16th-century Lvov Chronicle and the Sofia Second Chronicle . Nikolai Prokofiev and Rosalia Shor noted an occasional dream-vision motif in old Russian chronicles. In her article, "The Genre of Visions in Ancient Russian Literature", Alla Soboleva notes the chronicles' unusual worldview. An illustration c.  1495 in the Slavic manuscript of Cosmas Indicopleustes ' sixth-century Christian Topography depicts

3612-465: 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

3696-939: The basis of modern textology . The study of letopis texts has become widespread in modern Russia and other countries. Among the researchers of the second half of the XX century, the greatest contribution to the study of old Russian letopises was made by I. A. Tikhomirov , D. S. Likhachev , Ya. S. Lurie, V. I. Koretsky, V. I. Buganov, etc. The study and publication of the Belarusian-Lithuanian letopises were carried out by scientists from Poland (I. Danilovich, S. Smolka, A. Prohaska, S. Ptashitsky, Ya. Yakubovsky, E. Okhmansky), Russia ( I. A. Tikhomirov , A. A. Shakhmatov , M. D. Priselkov, V. T. Pashuto, B. N. Florya), Ukraine (M. S. Grushevsky, F. Sushitsky), Belarus (V. A. Chemeritsky, N. N. Ulashchik), Lithuania (M. Yuchas, R. Yasas). The (Belarusian-) Lithuanian Chronicles are

3780-692: The beginning of the 12th century, was a combination of Kievan and Novgorodian chronicles (including the Novgorod First Chronicle and survives in the Laurentian and Hypatian codices. Chronicles of the 12th- and 13th-century Kievan Rus' principalities survive in the Hypatian Codex , which includes the Kievan Chronicle (covering 1118 to 1200) and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle (covering Galicia and Volhynia from 1201 to 1292). Late 12th- and early 13th-century chronicles of Rostov , Pereyaslavl and Vladimir-Suzdal survive in

3864-436: The chronicler. The construction of the oldest Russian chronicle generally accepted by modern scientists was developed by Alexey Shakhmatov . In Shakhmatov's view, the origin of the Russian chronicle was compiled c.  1039 (Mikhail Priselkov dated it to 1037) in the Kiev metropolis . According to scholarly consensus, the chronicles were originally a complete work and not divided into years. The Primary Chronicle

3948-587: The chronicles were constructed. Mikhail Sukhomlinov's 1856 On the Ancient Russian Chronicle as a Literary Monument attempted to establish the literary sources of the initial chronicle. Bestuzhev-Ryumin's 1868 On the Composition of Russian Chronicles Until the End of the 14th Century deconstructed chronicle text into annual records and legends. A new stage in the study of Russian chronicles

4032-427: 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

4116-482: The courts of princes, the tsars of Moscow and the kings of Galicia-Volhynia, and in the offices of metropolitan bishops . The chronicles (often contradicting each other) typically consisted of collections of short factual entries for the preceding year and speeches and dialogues by princes. The Rus' chronicles contain narratives about the settlement of the Eastern Slavs and neighbouring peoples, how Kievan Rus'

4200-513: 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

4284-400: 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

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4368-433: 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

4452-419: 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

4536-539: The main historical narrative until the mid-16th century (the reign of Ivan the Terrible ), when they were superseded by chronographs. The Old East Slavic лѣтопись (lě́topisʹ) has given rise to a number of Slavic-language derivatives ( Belarusian : летапіс , romanized :  ljétapis ; Czech : letopis ; Polish : latopis ; Russian : летопись , romanized :  létopisʹ ; Serbo-Croatian : lȅtopīs/ljȅtopīs / ље̏топӣс, litopīs / литопӣс ; Ukrainian : літо́пис , romanized :  litópys ), and

4620-401: The mid-15th century. A 1470s compilation included the first part of the Yermolin Chronicle. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery chronicle contained the second part of the Yermolin Chronicle. The Sofia Second Chronicle is thought to have derived from the Lvov Chronicle . The Ioasaf Chronicle, covering 1437–1520, was made at the end of the 1520s at the office of the Moscow Metropolitan and was

4704-421: 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

4788-403: 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

4872-527: The oldest chronicles include Byzantine and South Slavic texts on sacred history and other subjects, the chronicle of George Hamartolos on the Generations of Noah in the Primary Chronicle , legends, legal documents (such as the Rus'–Byzantine Treaties in the Primary Chronicle and a short version of Russkaya Pravda in the Novgorod First Chronicle), and historical records. Rus' chronicles survive in codices. Some chronicles have several versions, but others are known from only one copy. Every chronicle

4956-453: 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

5040-439: 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

5124-399: 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

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5208-419: 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

5292-440: 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

5376-430: 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

5460-427: 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

5544-447: The second half of the 11th century, they were "books of life" which would appear at the last judgment . According to Timothy Himon, Danilevsky's arguments are indirect. Himon suggests that the chronicles had several goals, including the recording of sacred and unusual events and reinforcing power; the chronicle is considered a tool of political power. The chroniclers were primarily clergy. Rus' chronicles were composed in monasteries, at

5628-420: The sun going underground at sunset and, according to Yegor Redin, was incorporated into the Old Russian chronicles. Historian Igor Froyanov cites a scene in the Novgorod First Chronicle and the Primary Chronicle where volkhvs (wizards) talk about the creation of humanity: Yan Vyshatich asked, "How do you think man came to be?" The volkhvs answered, "God bathed in the bath and sweated, wiped himself with

5712-590: 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

5796-633: 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

5880-512: Was Gesta principum Polonorum , at the beginning of the 12th century. Maciej Stryjkowski wrote the Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Ruthenia (1582), generally considered the first printed history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . After the 12th and 13th centuries, Rus' chronicles were usually produced by monasteries or at the courts of princes and bishops. Later editors were increasingly concerned with compiling and revising existing writings. Textual comparison indicates

5964-451: 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

6048-436: Was a collection of materials from earlier chronicles. Individual chronicles were revised, shortened or expanded with entries on the events of the last year (or decade), and dozens of such collections may exist. The early-12th-century Primary Chronicle , describing the early history of Kievan Rus', is the oldest surviving Rus' chronicle. Aleksey Shakhmatov noted that a number of entries about 11th-century Novgorod are present in

6132-474: Was begun by Alexey Shakhmatov (1864-1920). His comparative textual method compared lists and analyzed text. Shakhmatov sought to learn about the circumstances of the creation of each chronicle through chronology, printing and language errors, and dialectic . Starting with Shakhmatov, the main analysis of the text of the chronicles recognizes the comparison of two or more chronicles throughout their length, and not fragmentary observations. The method of Shakhmatov

6216-547: Was developed by Mikhail Priselkov, who placed more emphasis on the historical aspect ("History of Russian Chronicles of the XI—XV centuries", 1940). Shakhmatov's genealogy was developed and revised by his followers, among whom the greatest contribution to the study of Russian chronicles was made by Nikolai Lavrov, Arseny Nasonov, Lev Cherepnin, Dmitry Likhachev , Sergey Bakhrushin, Alexander Andreev, Mikhail Tikhomirov , Nikolai Nikolsky, Vasily Istrin, etc. Shakhmatov's methodology formed

6300-449: Was founded and developed, and its diplomatic relations, society, culture, and religion. The chronicler would sometimes provide an extended, embellished narrative on the most significant events of Rus' history. Aleksey Shakhmatov was the leading expert in the textual criticism of Rus' chronicles. Shakhmatov considered the main part of the chronicle texts svods (collections of records from different sources), with every new chronicle

6384-579: 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

6468-669: 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

6552-519: 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

6636-452: 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

6720-638: 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

6804-471: 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

6888-427: Was translated into Lithuanian as metraštis . It is translated into English as "chronicle". The record of an event usually begins with the words "Въ лѣто ..." ( Vŭ lě́to ... , "In the year..."; from them, the terms litopys , letopis and latopis were derived. The chronicles contain historical documents, oral traditions (often of a mystical nature ), excerpts from previous chronicles, and text by

6972-438: 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

7056-410: Was written c.  1113 . Although its authorship is disputed, Nestor the Chronicler has traditionally been credited. In 1116, the chronicle was revised by Vydubychi Monastery abbot Sylvester . This edition is preserved as part of the Laurentian letopis . In 1118, its third edition was written by an unknown author on behalf of Novgorod knyaz Mstislav I of Kiev . It was preserved as part of

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