What year according to the story of temporary years. "The Tale of Bygone Years": genre, compositional and stylistic originality

1. Chronicle - a genre of ancient Russian literature.

2. "The Tale of Bygone Years": what is it about?

3. A work imbued with patriotism and love.

Before talking about The Tale of Bygone Years, it is necessary to say what the chronicle is. Chronicles are monuments of historical writing and literature of Ancient Russia. The peculiarity of the chronicle is that all entries in it were kept in chronological order by year. Chronicles were not created by one person, many chroniclers worked on them. The new chronicle certainly relied on the previous ones, the compilers included materials from other chroniclers in their texts. Distinctive feature chronicle was that it was not dry and impartial. The chroniclers gave the events their subjective assessments, accompanied by various additions and comments. So, the chronicle can be called a set of heterogeneous genres. The chronicle included texts of weather records, military stories, materials from the princely archives. According to the definition of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, the chronicle is one of the "unifying genres".

The most ancient chronicles are the Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles. Lavrentievskaya got its name from the monk Lavrenty, who rewrote it by order of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377. The Ipatiev Chronicle is named after the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.

In general, the chronicle can be called the main, fundamental genre of ancient Russian literature.

Chronicle writing in Russia began a very long time ago: approximately in the first half of the 11th century. Large and developed cities - Kyiv and Novgorod - became the centers of chronicle writing. As a rule, chronicles were written by monks. After all, it was the monasteries at that time that were the centers of literacy. This was a state matter, and often the chronicle was compiled on behalf of the prince, hegumen or bishop. Sometimes the chronicle reflected exactly those events that were pleasing to the prince, and a real defeat on paper turned into a victory. But the compilers of chronicles, even fulfilling a certain "order", often showed independence, independence of thought, and sometimes criticized the actions and deeds of the princes, if they seemed to them deserving of blame. The chronicler strove for truthfulness.

The Tale of Bygone Years is an outstanding monument not only of ancient Russian literature, but also of history. Reading it, we can trace the history of the formation of the ancient Russian state, its political and cultural heyday, the process of feudal fragmentation that began.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" was written in the first decades of the XII century, but before modern reader arrived as part of chronicles later time. The oldest of them are the aforementioned Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles, as well as the First Novgorod Chronicle, dated 1377, 1420, and 1330.

All subsequent chronicles of the 15th-16th centuries certainly included The Tale of Bygone Years, of course, subjecting it to processing - both editorial and stylistic.

The chronicler who created The Tale of Bygone Years is not known to us. Scientists can only assume that its author was Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery.

The chronicler compared books to rivers: "Behold, the essence of the rivers that water the universe." This comparison can be applied to the chronicle itself. After all, it is not only a literary, but also a historical monument. The chronicle majestically, slowly, tells us about the events that took place on Russian soil, and each of its heroes is a real person. The most diverse genres included in The Tale of Bygone Years are, as it were, tributaries of this full-flowing and turbulent river. They not only make it a unique work, but also give it unique, bright features, make this monument stronger in the artistic sense.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" is a mirror in which the life of that time was clearly and clearly reflected. Here we see both the ideology of the tops of feudal society, and the people's thoughts and aspirations.

The great monument begins with simple and at the same time majestic words: “Here are the stories of the past years, where did the Russian land come from, who was the first to reign in Kyiv, and how the Russian land arose.”

Initially, the chronicle tells about the Slavs, their origin, customs, way of life, separation from those 72 peoples that occurred after the Babylonian pandemonium.

The chronicle tells us about the most important events in the history of the country: the creation Slavic alphabet Cyril and Methodius, the calling of the Varangians, the campaign against Byzantium, the conquest of Kyiv by Oleg, his life and death, the reign of Olga.

A major role in The Tale of Bygone Years is played by such a topic as the baptism of Russia. After all, with the advent of Christianity in Russia, the life of our ancestors has changed a lot.

A considerable place in the "Tale ..." is given to various legends and legends created by the people. They not only enrich the chronicle as a work of art, but also express the point of view of ordinary people on the history of our country.

The Tale of Bygone Years is imbued with the patriotic idea of ​​uniting the Russian land against external enemies and condemning fratricidal strife. This explains the introduction of historical evidence of princely crimes into the annals.

In the annals one can also find a large number of praises - both to princes and books. According to the chronicler, a wise prince must certainly be well-read, and a book is a source of wisdom: “After all, there is great benefit from the teaching of a book: by books we are instructed and taught on the path of repentance, for we gain wisdom and abstinence in the words of a book. These are the rivers that water the universe, these are the sources of wisdom, after all, there is immeasurable depth in books; by them we console ourselves in sorrow; they are the bridle of restraint.”

The Tale of Bygone Years has also become a source of inspiration for many talented writers. The images of Vladimir, Svyatoslav, Oleg were reflected in the works of A. S. Pushkin, K. F. Ryleev and others.

In my opinion, the main lesson that we can learn from The Tale of Bygone Years is respect for the historical past of our people. Touching the history of our homeland, we better understand our ancestors, their psychology and way of life.

For more than 900 years, Russians have been drawing information about their history from the famous Tale of Bygone Years, the exact date of which is still unknown. There is also much controversy about the authorship of this work.

A few words about myths and historical facts

Scientific postulates often change over time, but if in the field of physics, chemistry, biology or astronomy such scientific revolutions are based on the discovery of new facts, then history has been repeatedly rewritten to please the authorities or according to the dominant ideology. Fortunately, modern man has a lot of opportunities to independently find and compare facts regarding events that occurred many centuries and even millennia ago, as well as get acquainted with the point of view of scientists who do not adhere to traditional views. All of the above applies to such an important document for understanding the history of Russia as The Tale of Bygone Years, the year of creation and authorship of which have recently been questioned by some members of the scientific community.

"The Tale of Bygone Years": authorship

From the Tale of Bygone Years itself, one can only learn about its creator that at the end of the 11th century he lived in the Pechora Monastery. In particular, there is a record of the Polovtsian attack on this monastery in 1096, which was witnessed by the chronicler himself. In addition, the document mentions the death of Elder Jan, who helped write historical work, and it is indicated that the death of this monk occurred in 1106, which means that at that time the person who made the entry was alive.

Russian official science, including Soviet, since the time of Peter the Great believes that the author of the story "The Tale of Bygone Years" is the chronicler Nestor. The oldest historical document that refers to it is the famous one written in the 20s of the 15th century. This work includes in a separate chapter the text of The Tale of Bygone Years, which is preceded by a mention as its author of a certain black-bearer from the Pechersk Monastery. The name of Nestor is first found in the correspondence of the monk Polycarp of the Caves with Archimandrite Akindin. The same fact is confirmed by the "Life of St. Anthony", compiled on the basis of oral monastic traditions.

Nestor the Chronicler

The “official” author of the story “The Tale of Bygone Years” was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, so you can read about him in the lives of the saints. From these sources we learn that the Monk Nestor was born in Kyiv in the 1050s. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Kiev Caves Monastery, where he was a novice. Saint Theodosius. At a fairly young age, Nestor took the tonsure, and later he was ordained a hierodeacon. He spent his whole life in Kiev Pechersk Lavra: here he wrote not only the “Tale of Bygone Years”, the year of creation of which is not known for certain, but also the famous lives of the holy princes Gleb and Boris, as well as a work telling about the first ascetics of his monastery. Church sources also indicate that Nestor, who had reached a ripe old age, died around 1114.

What does "The Tale of Bygone Years" tell about?

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is the history of our country, covering a huge time period, incredibly rich in various events. The manuscript begins with a story about one of which - Japheth - went to manage such lands as Armenia, Britain, Scythia, Dalmatia, Ionia, Illyria, Macedonia, Media, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Thessaly and others. The brothers began the construction of the Pillar of Babylon, but the angry Lord not only destroyed this structure, which personifies human pride, but also divided the people “into 70 and 2 nations”, among which were the Norics, the progenitors of the Slavs, descended from the sons of Japheth. Further, the Apostle Andrew is mentioned, who predicted that on the banks of the Dnieper great city, which happened when Kyiv was founded with the brothers Shchek and Khoriv. Another important mention concerns the year 862, when “Chud, Slovene, Krivichi and all” went to the Varangians to call them to reign, and the three brothers Rurik, Truvor and Sineus with their families and close associates came at their call. Two of the alien boyars - Askold and Dir - asked to leave Novgorod for Tsargrad and, seeing Kyiv on the way, stayed there. Further, The Tale of Bygone Years, the year of the creation of which historians have yet to clarify, tells about the reign of Oleg and Igor and tells the story of the baptism of Russia. The story ends with the events of 1117.

"The Tale of Bygone Years": the history of the study of this work

The Nestor Chronicle became known after Peter the Great in 1715 ordered a copy to be made from the Radzivilov list stored in the library of Koenigsberg. Documents have been preserved confirming that Jacob Bruce, a person remarkable in all respects, drew the tsar's attention to this manuscript. He also handed over the transcription of the Radzivilov list to modern language who was going to write the history of Russia. In addition, such well-known scientists as A. Shleptser, P. M. Stroev and A. A. Shakhmatov were engaged in the study of the story.

Chronicler Nestor. “The Tale of Bygone Years”: the opinion of A. A. Shakhmatov

A new look at The Tale of Bygone Years was proposed at the beginning of the 20th century. Its author was A. A. Shakhmatov, who proposed and substantiated the “new history” of this work. In particular, he argued that in 1039 in Kyiv, on the basis of Byzantine chronicles and local folklore, the Kyiv code was created, which can be considered the oldest document of this kind in Russia. Approximately at the same time in Novgorod it was written It was on the basis of these two works in 1073 that Nestor first created the first Kiev-Pechersk Code, then the second, and finally the Tale of Bygone Years.

Was The Tale of Bygone Years written by a Russian monk or a Scottish prince?

The last two decades have been rich in different kind historical sensations. However, in fairness, it must be said that some of them have not found scientific confirmation. For example, today there is an opinion that the Tale of Bygone Years, whose year of creation is known only approximately, was actually written not between 1110 and 1118, but six centuries later. In any case, even official historians admit that the Radzivilov list, that is, a copy of the manuscript, the authorship of which is attributed to Nestor, was made in the 15th century and then decorated with numerous miniatures. Moreover, Tatishchev wrote the “History of Russia” not even from him, but from a retelling of this work into the language of his day, the author of which, perhaps, was Jacob Bruce himself, the great-great-grandson of King Robert the First of Scotland. But this theory does not have any serious justification.

What is the main essence of Nestor's work

Experts who hold an unofficial view of the work attributed to Nestor the Chronicler believe that it was necessary to justify autocracy as the only form of government in Russia. Moreover, it was this manuscript that put an end to the question of the rejection of the "old gods", pointing to Christianity as the only correct religion. This was what it consisted of. main point.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is the only work that tells the canonical version of the baptism of Russia, all the rest simply refer to it. This alone should make one study it very closely. And it is precisely the Tale of Bygone Years, the characterization of which is now being questioned in official historiography, that is the first source telling that the Russian sovereigns descended from the Rurikovichs. For each historical work, the date of creation is very important. The Tale of Bygone Years, which is of exceptional importance for Russian historiography, does not have one. More precisely, on this moment there are no irrefutable facts that allow us to indicate even a specific year of its writing. And this means that new discoveries are ahead, which, perhaps, can shed light on some dark pages in the history of our country.

THE TALE OF TIME YEARS CHRONICLE- Old Russian chronicle, created in the 1110s. Chronicles - historical writings, in which events are presented according to the so-called yearly principle, are combined according to annual, or "weather", articles (they are also called weather records). “Annual articles”, which combined information about events that occurred within one year, begin with the words “In the summer such and such ...” (“summer” in Old Russian means “year”). In this regard, chronicles, including Tale of Bygone Years, are fundamentally different from the Byzantine chronicles known in Ancient Russia, from which Russian compilers borrowed numerous information from world history. In translated Byzantine chronicles, events were distributed not by years, but by the reigns of emperors.

The earliest surviving list Tales of Bygone Years belongs to the 14th century. He got the name Laurentian Chronicle named after the scribe, monk Lavrenty, and was compiled in 1377. Another oldest list Tales of Bygone Years preserved in the so-called Ipatiev Chronicle(middle of the 15th century).

Tale of Bygone Years- the first chronicle, the text of which has come down to us almost in its original form. Through careful textual analysis Tales of Bygone Years researchers found traces of more early writings included in its composition. Probably, the oldest chronicles were created in the 11th century. The hypothesis of A.A. Shakhmatov (1864–1920), which explains the emergence and describes the history of Russian chronicle writing in the 11th and early 12th centuries, received the greatest recognition. He resorted to comparative method, comparing the surviving annals and finding out their relationships. According to A.A. Shakhmatov, approx. 1037, but not later than 1044, was compiled The most ancient Kyiv chronicle, who told about the beginning of history and the baptism of Russia. Around 1073 in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, probably the monk Nikon completed the first Kiev-Pechersk chronicle. In it, new news and legends were combined with the text ancient vault and with borrowings from Novgorod Chronicle mid 11th century In 1093–1095, here, on the basis of the code of Nikon, a second Kiev-Pechersk vault; it is also called Primary. (The name is explained by the fact that A.A. Shakhmatov originally considered this chronicle to be the earliest.) It condemned the folly and weakness of the current princes, who were opposed by the former wise and powerful rulers of Russia.

In 1110–1113 the first edition (version) was completed Tales of Bygone Years- a lengthy annalistic code, which absorbed numerous information on the history of Russia: about the wars of Russians with byzantine empire, about the calling to Russia for the reign of the Scandinavians Rurik, Truvor and Sineus, about the history of the Kiev Caves Monastery, about princely crimes. The probable author of this chronicle is the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. This edition has not survived in its original form.

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

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

Name Tale of Bygone Years(more precisely, Tales of Bygone Years- in the Old Russian text the word "tale" is used in plural) is usually translated as Tale of past years, but there are other interpretations: A story in which the narrative is distributed over the years or Narrative in a measured time frame, narration about last times - telling about the events on the eve of the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part Tales of Bygone Years legends are also included. For example - a story about the origin of the name of the city of Kyiv on behalf of Prince Kyi; tales of Prophetic Oleg, who defeated the Greeks and died from a snake bite that hid in the skull of a deceased princely horse; about Princess Olga, cunningly and cruelly taking revenge on the Drevlyane tribe for the murder of her husband. The chronicler is invariably interested in news about the past of the Russian land, about the founding of cities, hills, rivers, and about the reasons why they received these names. This is also reported in the legends. AT Tales of Bygone Years the proportion of legends is very large, since the initial events of ancient Russian history described in it are separated from the time of the work of the first chroniclers by many decades and even centuries. In the later annals, telling about contemporary events, the number of legends is small, and they are also usually found in the part of the annals dedicated to the distant past.

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

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

Editions: Monuments of literature of Ancient Russia. XI - first half of the XII century. M., 1978; Tale of Bygone Years. 2nd ed., add. and correct. SPb., 1996, series " Literary monuments»; Library of Literature of Ancient Russia, v. 1. XI - the beginning of the XII century. SPb., 1997.

Andrey Ranchin

Literature:

Sukhomlinov M.I. On the ancient Russian chronicle as a literary monument. St. Petersburg, 1856
Istrin V.M. Notes on the beginning of Russian chronicle writing. - News of the Department of the Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences, vol. 26, 1921; v. 27, 1922
Likhachev D.S. Russian chronicles and their cultural and historical significance. M. - L., 1947
Rybakov B.A. Ancient Russia: legends, epics, annals. M. - L., 1963
Eremin I.P. "The Tale of Bygone Years": Problems of its historical and literary study(1947 ). - In the book: Eremin I.P. Literature of Ancient Russia: (Etudes and Characteristics). M. - L., 1966
Nasonov A.N. History of Russian Chronicle XI - early XVIII in. M., 1969
Curd O.V. Plot narrative in the annals of the XI-XIII centuries.. - In the book: The origins of Russian fiction . L., 1970
Aleshkovsky M.Kh. The Tale of Bygone Years: The Fate of a Literary Work in Ancient Russia. M., 1971
Kuzmin A.G. Initial stages ancient Russian chronicle. M., 1977
Likhachev D.S. Great legacy. "The Tale of Bygone Years"(1975). – Likhachev D.S. Selected works: In 3 vols., v. 2. L., 1987
Shaikin A.A. "Behold the Tale of Bygone Years": From Kiy to Monomakh. M., 1989
Danilevsky I.N. Bibleisms of the "Tale of Bygone Years". - In the book: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature. M., 1993. Issue. 3.
Danilevsky I.N. The Bible and the Tale of Bygone Years(On the problem of interpretation of chronicle texts). – National history, 1993, № 1
Trubetskoy N.S. Lectures on Old Russian literature (translated from German by M.A. Zhurinskaya). - In the book: Trubetskoy N.S. Story. Culture. Language. M., 1995
Priselkov M.D. History of Russian chronicle writing in the 11th–15th centuries. (1940). 2nd ed. M., 1996
Ranchin A. M. Articles on Old Russian Literature. M., 1999
Gippius A.A. "The Tale of Bygone Years": about the possible origin and meaning of the name. - In the book: From the history of Russian culture, v. 1 (Ancient Russia). M., 2000
Shakhmatov A.A. one) Research on the most ancient Russian chronicle vaults(1908). - In the book: Shakhmatov A.A. Research on Russian chronicles. M. - Zhukovsky, 2001
Zhivov V.M. On the ethnic and religious consciousness of Nestor the Chronicler(1998). - In the book: Zhivov V.M. Research in the field of history and prehistory of Russian culture. M., 2002
Shakhmatov A.A. History of Russian Chronicle, vol. 1. St. Petersburg, 2002
Shakhmatov A.A. . Book 1 2) The Tale of Bygone Years (1916). - In the book: Shakhmatov A.A. History of Russian Chronicle. T. 1. The Tale of Bygone Years and the Oldest Russian Chronicles. Book. 2. Early Russian annals of the 11th–12th centuries. SPb., 2003

An analysis of the literature on the history of the appearance of The Tale of Bygone Years shows its debatability in science. At the same time, in all publications about The Tale of Bygone Years, the historical significance of the chronicle for the history and culture of Russia is emphasized. The very title of The Tale of Bygone Years contains the answer to the question about the purpose of the chronicle: to tell "where the Russian land came from, who in Kyiv began first to reign, and where the Russian land began to eat." In other words, to tell about Russian history from its very beginning to the formation of an Orthodox state under the collective name of the Russian Land.

Revealing the issues of chronicle terminology, I.N. Danilevsky wrote that historical writings are traditionally called chronicles in a broad sense, the presentation of which is strictly by year and is accompanied by chronographic (annual), often calendar, and sometimes chronometric (hourly) dates. By species characteristics, they are close to Western European annals (from Latin annales libri - annual reports) and chronicles (from Greek chranihos - related to time). In the narrow sense of the word, chronicles are usually called chronicle texts that have actually come down to us, preserved in one or more lists similar to each other. But the scientific terminology in chronicle materials is largely conditional. This is due, in particular, to the "lack of clear boundaries and the complexity of the history of chronicle texts", with the "fluidity" of chronicle texts, allowing for "gradual transitions from text to text without visible gradations of monuments and editions." Until now, "in the study of chronicles, the use of terms is extremely vague." At the same time, “any elimination of the ambiguity of terminology should be based on the establishment of this ambiguity itself. It is impossible to agree on the use of terms without, first of all, finding out all the shades of their use in the past and present.

According to M.I. Sukhomlinov “all Russian chronicles by the very name of “chronicles”, “chroniclers”, “timers”, “tales of temporary years”, etc. reveal their original form: none of these names would be appropriate for them if they did not designate the time of each event, if summers, years did not occupy the same important place in them as the events themselves. In this respect, as in many others, our chronicles are similar not so much to Byzantine writers as to those temporaries (annales) that have been kept for a long time, from the 8th century, in the monasteries of Roman and German Europe - regardless of the historical examples of classical antiquity. The original basis of these annals were the Easter tables.

Most authors believe that the idea for the title of The Tale of Bygone Years belongs to Nestor, a scribe with a broad historical outlook and great literary talent: even before working on The Tale of Bygone Years, he wrote The Life of Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of the Caves. In The Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor set himself a grandiose task: to decisively rework the story of ancient period the history of Russia - "where did the Russian land come from."

However, as shown by A.A. Shakhmatov, The Tale of Bygone Years was preceded by other chronicles. The scientist cites, in particular, the following fact: The Tale of Bygone Years, preserved in the Lavrentiev, Ipatiev and other chronicles, differed significantly in the interpretation of many events from another chronicle that told about the same initial period of Russian history, the Novgorod first chronicle of the younger version. In the Novgorod Chronicle there were no texts of treaties with the Greeks, Prince Oleg was called the governor under the young Prince Igor, otherwise it was told about the campaigns of Russia against Tsargrad, etc.

A.A. Shakhmatov came to the conclusion that the Novgorod First Chronicle in its initial part reflected a different chronicle that preceded the Tale of Bygone Years.

Prominent researcher of Russian chronicle V.M. Istrin undertook unsuccessful attempts to find another explanation for the differences between The Tale of Bygone Years and the story of the Novgorod First Chronicle (that the Novgorod Chronicle supposedly shortened The Tale of Bygone Years). As a result, the conclusions of A.A. Shakhmatov were confirmed by many facts obtained both by himself and by other scientists.

The text of the Tale that interests us covers a long period - from ancient times to the beginning of the second decade of the 12th century. It is quite reasonably considered that this is one of the oldest chronicle codes, the text of which was preserved by the chronicle tradition. No separate lists are known. On this occasion, V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “In libraries, do not ask for the Primary Chronicle - they will probably not understand you and will ask again:“ What list of the chronicle do you need? Then you, in turn, will be perplexed. Until now, not a single manuscript has been found in which the Primary Chronicle would be placed separately in the form in which it came out from the pen of the ancient compiler. In all known lists it merges with the story of its successors, which in later collections usually reaches the end of the 16th century. In different chronicles, the text of the Tale reaches different years: before 1110 (Lavrentiev and related lists) or until 1118 (Ipatiev and related lists).

At the initial stage of studying the chronicles, the researchers proceeded from the fact that the discrepancies found in the lists are the result of distortion of the original text during repeated rewriting. Based on this, for example, A.L. Schlozer set the task of recreating the "purified Nestor". An attempt to correct the accumulated mechanical errors and rethink the chronicle text, however, was not successful. As a result of the work done, A.L. Schlozer became convinced that over time the text was not only distorted, but also corrected by scribes and editors. Nevertheless, the non-original form in which The Tale of Bygone Years has come down to us has been proven. This actually raised the question of the need to reconstruct the original form of the chronicle text.

Comparing all the lists of chronicles available to him, A.A. Shakhmatov revealed discrepancies and the so-called common places inherent in chronicles. Analysis of discrepancies found, their classification made it possible to identify lists that have coinciding discrepancies. The researcher grouped the lists by editions and put forward a number of complementary hypotheses that explain the occurrence of discrepancies. A comparison of hypothetical codes made it possible to identify a number of common features inherent in some of them. So the supposed source texts were recreated. At the same time, it turned out that many fragments of the annalistic presentation were borrowed from very early sets, which, in turn, made it possible to proceed to the reconstruction of the oldest Russian annals. Conclusions A.A. Shakhmatova received full confirmation when the Moscow code of 1408 was found, the existence of which was predicted by the great scientist. In full, the path that A.A. Shakhmatov, became clear only after the publication by his student M.D. Priselkov of his teacher's workbooks. Since then, the entire history of the study of chronicle writing has been divided into two periods: pre-chess and modern.

When editing, the original text (the first edition of the Tale of Bygone Years) was changed so much that A.A. Shakhmatov came to the conclusion that it was impossible to reconstruct it. As for the texts of the Lavrentiev and Ipatiev editions of the Tale (they are usually called the second and third editions, respectively), then, despite later alterations in subsequent collections, Shakhmatov managed to determine their composition and presumably reconstruct them. It should be noted that Shakhmatov hesitated in assessing the stages of work on the text of the Tale of Bygone Years. Sometimes, for example, he believed that in 1116 Sylvester only rewrote Nestor's text of 1113 (the latter was sometimes dated 1111), without editing it.

If the question of the authorship of Nestor remains controversial (the Tale contains a number of indications that are fundamentally at odds with the data of the Readings and Life of Theodosius), then in general the assumption of A.A. Shakhmatov about the existence of three editions of the Tale of Bygone Years is shared by most modern researchers.

Based on the idea of ​​the political nature of ancient Russian chronicle writing, A.A. Shakhmatov, followed by M.D. Priselkov and other researchers believe that the origin of the chronicle tradition in Russia is associated with the establishment of the Kyiv Metropolis. “The custom of the Byzantine church administration demanded, at the opening of a new see, episcopal or metropolitan, to draw up on this occasion a note of a historical nature about the causes, place and persons of this event for the clerical work of the patriarchal synod in Constantinople.” This allegedly became the reason for the creation of the Most Ancient Code of 1037. The later codes, compiled on the basis of the Tale of Bygone Years, are presented by researchers either as purely publicistic works written, as they say, on the topic of the day, or as some kind of medieval fiction, or simply texts that systematically amazing perseverance and perseverance "finish" - almost by inertia.

At the same time, the entire history of the study of the Tale shows that the goal of creating chronicles should be significant enough so that for several centuries many generations of chroniclers continued the work begun in Kyiv in the 11th century. Moreover, “authors and editors kept to the same literary devices and expressed the same views both on social life and on moral demands.

It is believed that the first edition of The Tale of Bygone Years has not reached us. Its second edition, compiled in 1117 by the abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery (near Kyiv) Sylvester, and the third edition, compiled in 1118 by order of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, have been preserved. In the second edition, only the final part of The Tale of Bygone Years was revised; this edition has come down to us as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377, as well as other later chronicles. The third edition, according to a number of researchers, is presented in the Ipatiev Chronicle, the oldest list of which - Ipatiev - dates from the first quarter of the 15th century.

From our point of view, the final point in the study of the issue of the origin of the "Tale" has not yet been set, this is shown by the entire history of the study of the chronicle. It is possible that scientists, based on newly discovered facts, will put forward new hypotheses regarding the history of creation greatest monument Old Russian literature - "The Tale of Bygone Years".