The genre of The Tale of Bygone Years is defined as a chronicle, and an ancient one at that. There are three editions related to 1113, 1116 and 1118. The author of the first was Nestor, the second was Abbot Sylvester, who did the work commissioned by Vladimir Monomakh. It was not possible to establish the creator of the third edition, but it is known that it was intended for Mstislav Vladimirovich.
The system of genres of ancient Russian literature
Consists of two subsystems - genres of secular and church literature. The second is more closed and includes lives and walks, solemn and teacher's eloquence. The genres of secular literature are represented by military tales and chronicles that tell about historical events over the years. They have a certain similarity with Byzantine chronography. However, when The Tale of Bygone Years was being created, the chronograph genre was not used by Russian scribes. It was mastered at later stages.
"The Tale of Bygone Years": genre
Dmitry Likhachev wrote about the enfilade, or ensemble, nature of the construction of ancient Russian written monuments. This is a distinctive feature of almost all works written in the era of Kievan Rus - a single text is thought of as potentially open to inclusions from other sources. So, when the task requires “specify the genre of The Tale of Bygone Years”, you need to consider that the chronicle includes:
- treaties (for example, Russian-Byzantine 1907);
- lives of saints - Boris and Gleb,;
- "the speech of the philosopher" and other texts.
Stories that have a pronounced folklore origin (for example, the story of the death of Oleg, the story of how a young man-kozhemyaka defeated the Pecheneg hero) are also inherent in the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years". What is the genre of these works? They are similar to a fairy tale or legend. In addition, the chronicle is distinguished by the so-called stories about princely crimes - like the blinding of Vasilko. Dmitry Likhachev was the first to point out their genre originality.
It should be noted that such "ensembleness", diversity does not make the genre of "The Tale of Bygone Years" something indefinite, and the monument itself - a simple collection of random texts.
Construction specifics
The main compositional units of The Tale of Bygone Years are weather articles beginning with the words "In summer ...". In this, the ancient Russian chronicles differ from the Byzantine chronographs, which, to describe the events of the past days, took not a year, but the period of the ruler's reign as a segment of history. Weather articles fall into two categories. The first includes the so-called weather reports, which record one or another historical fact. Thus, the content of the article for 1020 is limited to one piece of news: Yaroslav had a son named Vladimir. Especially many such messages are observed in the Kyiv Chronicle for the XII century.
In contrast to them, chronicle stories not only report the event, but also suggest its description, sometimes in great detail. The author may consider it necessary to indicate who took part in the battle, where it took place, how it ended. At the same time, such an enumeration added plot to the weather article.
epic style
The one who studied The Tale of Bygone Years, the genre and the compositional originality of the monument, made a distinction between monumental and epic styles. The latter is especially typical for those parts of the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", the genre of which is defined as a military story. The epic style is distinguished by a close connection with folklore, the use of images drawn from there. A vivid example of this is Princess Olga, represented in the annals as an avenger. In addition, they become more realistic (to the extent that such a characteristic can be applied to the characters of ancient Russian literature).
monumental style
The style of monumental historicism is the main one not only for the most ancient chronicle monument, but also for the entire literature of Kievan Rus. It manifests itself, first of all, in the depiction of characters. The chronicler is not interested in their private lives, as well as those who are outside of feudal relations. A person is of interest to the medieval author as a representative of a certain character. This also influenced the characterization of the characters, in which a share of idealization is noticeable. The canon becomes the most important concept for the "Tale ...". So, any prince is depicted in the most significant circumstances, not knowing the spiritual struggle. He is brave, smart and has a loyal squad. On the contrary, any church figure from life should be pious, humbly follow the Law of God.
The chronicler does not know the psychology of his characters. The medieval author did not hesitate to classify the hero as “good” or “evil,” and the complex, contradictory images familiar to us from classical literature could not arise.
The Tale of Bygone Years is a collection, and therefore we will not find here ideas that cover all annual articles without exception. And yet, there are several points that the compilers of the "Tale" refer to again and again. A number of information included in the chronicle has a pronounced anti-Byzantine orientation. The idea of independence from Byzantium, after the conversion of Rus' to Christianity, which probably expressed some claims not only to church leadership, but also to secular vassalage, according to researchers, was one of the central ones in the code of Nikon the Great. It was precisely at the peak of Byzantium that stories about campaigns against Tsargrad by Igor, Svyatoslav and especially Oleg, who defiantly hung his shield on the gates of the Byzantine capital, could get into the Russian chronicle.
Describing any contacts of Russian princes with the Byzantines, the chronicler is most concerned about how not to drop the authority of the Slavic rulers. In any situation, he invariably depicts them not as modest petitioners, but as equal partners, often surpassing the intelligence and ingenuity of the stiff Byzantine basileus. For example, according to the chronicle story, Princess Olga, who went to Tsargrad, allegedly declared there to the ruling Constantine Porphyrogenitus "if you want to baptize me ...", thereby turning the matter around as if she had not come to ask for baptism, but it was the emperor who very strongly sought him. In his further narration, the chronicler will not forget to mention the cross name of the Slavic princess - Elena, “like the ancient queen, mother of the Great Constantine”, and the fact that it was Olga, who barely had time to be baptized, reminded the Byzantine ruler who wished to marry her with a living wife about the Christian custom, according to for whom marriage between godparents is not possible. The author did not forget to place in his narrative a kind of recognition by the emperor of Olga's moral superiority, as well as a recollection of how, having arrived in Kiev, the resolute princess sent slurping Byzantine messengers, asking them to remind the emperor of how disrespectfully they treated the Kiev embassy in Constantinople.
Anti-Byzantine sentiments were reflected in a peculiar way in those articles of the annals, which tell about the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir. It seems that the author is doing everything possible to belittle the role of Byzantium in this event. According to the chronicle, before accepting the faith from the Greeks, the Kiev prince listens to the messenger of several religions, then sends a special embassy to Europe. The chronicler diligently emphasizes the special honors that were given to the Russians in Constantinople.
To top it all off, the chronicle recounts the so-called "Korsun legend". In this episode, the tone of the dialogue conducted by the chronicle Vladimir with the Byzantine brother-emperors is especially indicative, since it is not about baptism at all, but about a wedding. Having captured Chersonesus, the largest Greek colony in the Northern Black Sea region, the steppe pagan, who would not have been taken seriously in the Byzantine capital earlier, does not ask for anything. On the contrary, he threatens the rulers of the empire with a new campaign against Constantinople and demands their sister, the purple princess Anna, as his wife. In these negotiations, with a significant flavor of blackmail, baptism turns out to be a kind of concession, to which Vladimir agrees, going towards the Byzantine rulers. The legend ends with one more detail, designed to elevate Vladimir above the Greeks: as a “vein” - a bride price laid down according to Slavic customs - the cunning Kievan prince gives the Byzantines the city of Korsun captured from them, having thus managed to observe the customs and not go bankrupt.
And finally, most likely, it was precisely at the peak of Byzantium that the legend of the walk of the Apostle Andrew got into the Tale of Bygone Years. It seems that the search for a worthy heavenly patron for Rus' seriously occupied the compilers of the first Russian chronicles, at least they included in their narrative a legend about Slavic writings, Moravian in origin, where Paul was named the teacher of Rus'. However, this was not enough for later editors, and in the text of the chronicle there is a story about Andrew, the apostle from the twelve and, most importantly, the heavenly patron of Byzantium. And it does not matter that this story from a historical point of view looks more than doubtful: it is completely incomprehensible why the apostle, who, according to his biography, never went further than the Scythians, would go deep into the wilds of the Dnieper forests, absolutely deserted in the middle of the 1st century AD. And the very description of the legendary path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” is given in the annals to the eyes of a person who is somewhere in the center of the Central Russian plain, in the “Okovsky Forest”. But the churches of the two powers could henceforth consider themselves equal in status.
Another constant concern of the compilers of The Tale of Bygone Years was the description, evaluation of deeds and justification of the legitimacy of the power of the ruling Rurik dynasty. This is explained not only by the fact that the chronicle was created in monasteries closely associated with the Grand Duke's throne (Kyevo-Pechersk and Vydubitsky), and, apparently, had the status of a state official document - it was simply that the very idea of Slavic statehood was associated with princely power in the XII century. . Let me remind you that in the title of the Tale, the question of the origin of Rus' and the emergence of princely power in it are put side by side.
The degree of reliability of the information provided by the chroniclers of the 12th century about the first Russian princes can be assessed in different ways. Most likely, narrating about the events of two hundred and three hundred years ago and relying to a large extent on the material of oral legends, the ancient historiographers do not recreate the material appearance of historical persons, but capture princely portraits as they have developed in the popular consciousness. Another thing is certain: despite the fact that the chronicle was compiled and edited mainly by monastics, the descriptions of Kievan rulers often come to the fore not Christian, but precisely princely virtues - military prowess, the ability to strengthen the power of the country by subjugating the surrounding peoples, the ability to honorably go out from difficult diplomatic situations. The compilers of the chronicle endow these qualities equally to both the ancient pagan princes and the Christian rulers who succeeded them.
The main idea set forth in the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" which came down to contemporaries as part of the Lavrentiev and Ipatiev Chronicles (1113), is the doctrine of divine origin of princely power.
The chosenness of princes is a political tradition, which came from Byzantium, it was established in Russian political culture along with the spread of Christianity. However, unlike the Byzantine emperor, the Grand Duke ruled not alone, but with all the princely born. Therefore, he was rather the first among equals than an autocrat. In the absence of a developed bureaucratic apparatus, the prince had to rely only on own forces, he must personally carry out all managerial functions.
This is probably why, in the doctrine of the divine origin of princely power, the emphasis is not on the competence and powers of the prince, but on his responsibilities. Consequently, in Russian political culture idea of power identified with idea of responsibility: this or that person is elected by God to the role of head of state not just to be the supreme ruler, but to serve the Russian land, to maintain order in it, protect it from enemies, administer justice, etc.
Ideal the prince in the Russian political consciousness is the prince-worker, the prince-warrior. The Tale of Bygone Years tells how the number of robbers sharply increased during the reign of Grand Duke Vladimir in Rus', and how the bishops approached him and asked: “Behold, the robbers are multiplying; why don’t you execute them?” "I'm afraid of sin," the prince replied. Then the bishops said: "Thou hast been appointed by God to be executed by the evil, and to the good for mercy. Deserve the execution of the robber, but with experience." And Vladimir began to execute the robbers from then on. The concept of God's chosenness of the Grand Duke was also based on thesis about being the boss defender Christian faith. The Grand Duke was called to the Orthodox faith, had to serve as faith and support for the Holy Church.
However, the ratio secular And spiritual power in Kievan Rus Not had the character of rivalry and struggle, as it was in Byzantium or Western Europe. In Kievan Rus, Grand Duke Vladimir spread Christianity, and he created church organization. Therefore, the fate of religion and the church in Rus' depended on the Russian princes. The church cared only about the worldview of the prince, the need to follow the prince's teachings of Christ. In this regard, the Russian Church advocated gain state power, its unity. Of course, this situation is due to the fact that the Orthodox Church itself, as an all-Russian organization, could exist only relying on strong princely power.
The Orthodox Church played an equally important role for the Grand Duke, the entire state, being a sign civility, distinguishing him from the barbarians. In this regard, in Russian political and legal thought, the state is not separated from the church, and the church is inseparable from the state. On this basis, no dualism secular - for which the state is responsible, and spiritual, religious, which the church knows.
One of the central ideas of the chronicle is the idea unity Russian land. The chronicle idealizes the state system established by Yaroslav the Wise. All princes are declared brothers, and all of them are equally charged with the duty to obey the Grand Duke in Kyiv.
"The Tale of Bygone Years" condemns princely strife, weakening the unity of the state. So, "men of sense" say to the warring princes: "Why are you strife between yourselves? And the trash is destroying the Russian land." At the Lyubech Congress, the princes say to each other: "Are we destroying the Russian land, which we ourselves are working on (strife)?"
The idea of unity was based on political mythology. The "Tale of Bygone Years" includes a story that the family of the Kyiv princes goes back to the Varangian prince Rurik, called by the northern Slavs in order to establish "order", which was not in their land. Rurik is announced father Kyiv prince Igor. The meaning of including this legend about the origin of the power of the Kiev princes from a foreigner was to stop disputes about the seniority of local clans and increase their authority, since their ancestor established order and peace on Russian soil.
"The Tale of Bygone Years" is a large collection of Russian chronicles, the author and compiler of which was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. "The Tale of Bygone Years" is a revised and supplemented version of an earlier work - "Initial Code" (1095).
At the beginning of the XII century. The “Initial Code” was again revised: the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, a scribe with a broad historical outlook and great literary talent (he also wrote “The Life of Boris and Gleb” and “The Life of Theodosius of the Caves”) creates a new chronicle code - “The Tale of Bygone Years ". Nestor set himself a significant task: not only to set out the events of the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, which he was an eyewitness, but also to completely rework the story about the beginning of Rus' - “where did the Russian land go, who in Kiev began before the princes”, as he himself formulated this task in the title of his work (PVL, p. 9).
Nestor introduces the history of Rus' into the mainstream of world history. He begins his chronicle by outlining the biblical legend about the division of the land between the sons of Noah, while placing the Slavs in the list of peoples ascending to the Chronicle of Amartol on the banks of the Danube). Nestor slowly and in detail tells about the territory occupied by the Slavs, about the Slavic tribes and their past, gradually focusing the attention of readers on one of these tribes - the meadows, on the land of which Kiev arose, the city that became in his time "the mother of Russian cities". Nestor clarifies and develops the Varangian concept of the history of Rus': Askold and Dir, mentioned in the "Initial Code" as "some" Varangian princes, are now called the "boyars" of Rurik, they are credited with the campaign against Byzantium during the time of Emperor Michael; Oleg, referred to in the "Initial Code" as governor of Igor, in "The Tale of Bygone Years" "returned" (in accordance with history) his princely dignity, but it is emphasized that it is Igor who is the direct heir of Rurik, and Oleg, a relative of Rurik, reigned only in the years of Igor's infancy.
Nestor is even more of a historian than his predecessors. He tries to place the maximum of events known to him on the scale of absolute chronology, draws on documents for his narrative (texts of treaties with Byzantium), uses fragments from the Chronicle of Georgy Amartol and Russian historical legends (for example, the story of Olga's fourth revenge, the legend of the "Belgorod jelly "and about the young man-kozhemyak). “We can safely say,” writes D.S. Likhachev about Nestor’s work, “that never before or later, until the 16th century, did Russian historical thought rise to such a height of scientific inquisitiveness and literary skill.”
The first part of the chronicle is the story of the division of the land by the children of Noah (Sim, Ham, Japheth), the Babylonian pandemonium and the division of a single clan into 72 languages (peoples); about the origin of the Slavs from Japheth, their customs and traditions; about the glade tribe; about the founding of Kyiv, dated 852; about the first Novgorod and Kyiv princes.
Nestor brings the story up to 1111. The work, completed by the chronicler in 1113, became an integral part of later chronicle collections (Ipatiev and Laurentian chronicles).
The main theme of "The Tale ..." is the historical past of Rus' in the context of world history. The idea is to point out to contemporaries in the period of feudal fragmentation the commonality of history, the ability of Rus' to reunite in the face of a common danger.
The main task of Nestor was to rework the story about the beginning of Rus' - "where did the Russian land come from, who in Kyiv began before the princes." Nestor demonstrates a broad historical outlook, therefore the main feature of The Tale of Bygone Years is that the ancient author, through chronicle writing, introduces the history of the Slavs and Rus' into the mainstream of world history.
The main part (narration about the princes) has an enfilade composition, that is, it is built on the principle of strictly consistent chronology. Such a composition allows you to freely handle the material, introduce new ones, exclude old events, include material that is heterogeneous in nature and genres.
Forms of chronicle narration in The Tale of Bygone Years:
- weather record (sequential concise description of events by years);
- chronicle legend (reworking of stories about the distant past), Nestor uses pagan traditions and legends only to affirm moral lessons;
- chronicle story - a detailed form of weather records;
- chronicle story - a narrative in which the image of the prince after his death is idealized;
- documents from archives;
- life ("Life of Theodosius of the Caves", "Life of Boris and Gleb").
1) The history of the creation of "The Tale of Bygone Years".
"The Tale of Bygone Years" is one of the oldest chronicle works of Russian literature, created at the beginning of the 12th century by Nestor the Chronicler, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The chronicle tells about the origin of the Russian land, about the first Russian princes and about the most important historical events. The peculiarity of The Tale of Bygone Years is poetry, the author masterfully mastered the style, the text uses various artistic means to make the story more convincing.
2) Narrative features in The Tale of Bygone Years.
In The Tale of Bygone Years, two types of narration can be distinguished - weather records and chronicle stories. Weather records contain reports of events, while chronicle stories describe them. In the story, the author seeks to portray the event, to give specific details, that is, he tries to help the reader imagine what is happening and causes the reader to empathize. Rus' broke up into many principalities and each had its own chronicles. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of their region and was written only about their princes. "The Tale of Bygone Years" was part of the local chronicles, which continued the tradition of Russian chronicle writing. "The Tale of Temporary Lies" determines the place of the Russian people among the peoples of the world, draws the origin of Slavic writing, the formation of the Russian state. Nestor lists the peoples paying tribute to the Russians, shows that the peoples who oppressed the Slavs have disappeared, and the Slavs remained and decide the fate of their neighbors. "The Tale of Bygone Years", written in the heyday of Kievan Rus, became the main work on history.
3) Artistic features of The Tale of Bygone Years. How does Nes Horus the chronicler narrate historical events?
Nestor narrates about historical events poetically. The origin of Rus' Nestor draws against the backdrop of the development of the entire world history. The chronicler unfolds a wide panorama of historical events. A whole gallery of historical figures passes through the pages of the Nestor Chronicle - princes, boyars, merchants, posadniks, church servants. He talks about military campaigns, about the opening of schools, about the organization of monasteries. Nestor constantly touches the life of the people, their moods. On the pages of the annals, we will read about the uprisings, the murders of princes. But the author describes all this calmly and tries to be objective. Murder, betrayal and deceit Nestor condemns; honesty, courage, courage, fidelity, nobility he extols. It is Nestor who strengthens and improves the version of the origin of the Russian princely dynasty. Its main goal was to show the Russian land among other powers, to prove that the Russian people are not without family and tribe, but have their own history, which they have the right to be proud of.
From afar, Nestor begins his story, with the biblical flood itself, after which the earth was distributed among the sons of Noah. This is how Nestor begins his story:
“So let’s start this story.
After the flood, the three sons of Noah divided the earth - Shem, Ham, Japheth. And Shem got the east: Persia, Bactria, even to India in longitude, and in breadth to Rinokorur, that is, from east to south, and Syria, and Media to the Euphrates River, Babylon, Korduna, Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Oldest, Ely-maize, Indy, Arabia Strong, Colia, Commagene, all of Phoenicia.
Ham got the south: Egypt, Ethiopia, neighboring India ...
Japheth got the northern and western countries: Media, Albania, Armenia Small and Great, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Hapatia, Colchis ...
And at the same time, Ham and Japheth divided the land by casting lots, and decided not to enter into the share of a brother to anyone, and each lived in his own part. And there was one people. And when people multiplied on earth, they planned to create a pillar to the sky - it was in the days of Neggan and Peleg. And they gathered in the place of the field of Shinar to build a pillar to heaven, and near it the city of Babylon; and they built that pillar for 40 years, and did not finish it. And the Lord God came down to see the city and the pillar, and the Lord said: “Behold, one generation and one people.” And God confused the nations, and divided them into 70 and 2 nations, and scattered them over all the earth. After the confusion of the peoples, God destroyed the pillar with a great wind; and its remains are located between Assyria and Babylon, and are 5433 cubits high and wide, and these remains have been preserved for many years ... "
Then the author tells about the Slavic tribes, their customs and mores, about the capture of Constantinople by Oleg, about the foundation of Kiev by the three brothers Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv, about Svyatoslav's campaign against Byzantium and other events, both real and legendary. He includes in his "Tale ..." teachings, records of oral stories, documents, contracts, parables and lives. The leading theme of most chronicles is the idea of the unity of Rus'.
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