"The Tale of Bygone Years" ("Original Chronicle", "Nestor's Chronicle") is one of the earliest ancient Russian chronicles, dating from the beginning of the 12th century. Exists in several editions and lists with minor deviations from the main text. It was written in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by its monk Nestor. Covers the period of Russian history, from biblical times to 1114.

KIEV-PECHERSK LAVRA

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is considered one of the first Orthodox monasteries of the Old Russian state. It was founded in 1051 under Prince Yaroslav the Wise. The founders of the Lavra are the Lyubech monk Anthony and his disciple Theodosius.

In the 11th century, the territory of the future Lavra was covered with dense forest, in which priest Hilarion, a resident of the nearby village of Berestovo, liked to pray. He dug himself a small cave here, where he retired from worldly life. In 1051, Yaroslav the Wise appointed Hilarion Metropolitan of Kyiv, and the cave became empty. Around the same time, the monk Anthony came here from Athos. He did not like life in the Kyiv monasteries, and he, together with his student Theodosius, settled in Hilarion's cave. Gradually, a new Orthodox monastery began to take shape around the Anthony Cave.

The son of Yaroslav the Wise - Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich - presented the newly formed monastery with land located above the caves, and later beautiful stone churches grew here,

Anthony and Theodosius - the founders of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

Since 1688, the monastery received the status of a Lavra and became "the stavropegion of the Moscow Tsar and the Russian Patriarch." Lavra in Russia are large male Orthodox monasteries, which have a special historical and spiritual significance for the entire state. Since 1786, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was reassigned to the Kyiv Metropolitan, who became its sacred archimandrite. Under the ground temples of the Lavra there is a huge underground complex of the monastery, consisting of the Near and Far caves.

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

The first dungeons on the territory of the Old Russian state appeared in the 10th century. These were small caves that were used by the population as storerooms or as shelter from enemies. Starting from the 11th century, people began to flock to the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, wishing to escape from worldly temptations, and Anthony showed them places to build underground cells.

Gradually, separate residential cells were connected to each other by underground passages, caves for joint prayer, extensive storerooms and other utility rooms appeared. This is how the Far Caves arose, which are otherwise called Theodosius (in memory of the Monk Theodosius, who compiled the Charter of the cave monastery).

Underground cells were erected at a depth of five to fifteen meters in a layer of porous sandstone, which maintained normal humidity and a temperature of + 10 degrees Celsius underground.

The climate of the catacombs not only provided quite comfortable conditions for people to live, but also prevented the decay of organic matter. Thanks to this, mummification (the formation of relics) of the deceased monks took place in the dungeons of the Lavra, many of whom bequeathed to bury themselves in the cells where they lived and prayed. These ancient burials became the first stage in the creation of an underground necropolis.

Today, there are more than 140 tombs in the lower floors of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: 73 burials in the Near caves and 71 in the Far ones. Here, along with the graves of monks, there are burials of the laity. Thus, Field Marshal Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev and the statesman of post-reform Russia Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin were buried in the dungeons of the monastery.

Very quickly, the underground monastery grew so much that it had to be expanded. Then the labyrinth of the Near Caves appeared, consisting of three "streets" with numerous dead-end branches. As often happens, the Kiev-Pechersk dungeons quickly became overgrown with myths. Medieval authors wrote about their incredible length: some reported a 100-mile length of passages, others claimed that the length of some labyrinths exceeded thousands of miles. And now let's go back to the distant 11th century, to the time when the Lavra had just begun to be created.

In 1073, on the Kyiv hills, above the caves of the monastery, the monks laid the first ground stone church, completed and consecrated in 1089. Its interior decoration was designed by Constantinopolitan artists, among whom the name Alipia is known.

Seven years later, the monastery, which was not yet strong, survived a terrible attack by the Polovtsians. Orthodox shrines were looted and desecrated. But already in 1108, under Abbot Theoktist, the monastery was restored, and new frescoes and icons adorned the walls of ground-based cathedrals.

By this time, the Lavra was fenced with a high palisade. At the temples there was a hospitable house built by St. Theodosius for the shelter of the poor and crippled. Every Saturday the monastery sent a cartload of bread to the Kyiv prisons for prisoners. In the 11-12 centuries, more than 20 bishops came out of the Lavra, who served in churches throughout Russia, but at the same time maintained a strong connection with their native monastery.

The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra has been repeatedly invaded by enemy armies. In 1151, it was plundered by the Turks, in 1169, the combined troops of Kyiv, Novgorod, Sukhdal and Chernigov, during the princely strife, even tried to completely destroy the monastery. But the worst ruin of the Lavra occurred in 1240, when the hordes of Batu took Kyiv and established their power over South Russia.

Under the blows of the Tatar-Mongolian troops, the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra either died or fled to the surrounding villages. It is not known how long the desolation of the monastery lasted, but by the beginning of the 14th century it was completely restored again and became the burial place of the noble princely families of Russia.

In the 16th century, an attempt was made to subordinate the Kiev-Pechersk monastery to the Roman Catholic Church, and the monks twice had to defend the Orthodox faith with weapons in their hands. After that, having received the status of a Lavra, the Kiev Caves Monastery became a stronghold of Orthodoxy in Southwestern Russia. To protect against enemies, the above-ground part of the Lavra was surrounded first with an earthen rampart, and then, at the request of Peter the Great, with a stone wall.

Great Lavra Bell Tower

In the middle of the 18th century, next to the main temple of the Lavra, the Great Lavra Bell Tower was erected, the height of which, together with the cross, reached 100 meters. Even then, the Kiev-Pechersk monastery became the largest religious and cultural center of Russia. Here was the miraculous icon of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the relics of St. Theodosius and the first Kyiv Metropolitan Hilarion. The monks have amassed a large library stocked with valuable religious and secular rarities, as well as a collection of portraits of great Russian Orthodox and statesmen.

In Soviet times (1917-1990), the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra ceased to function as an Orthodox church. Several historical and state museums were created here. During the years of fascist occupation, the Orthodox churches of the Lavra were defiled, and the Germans organized warehouses and administrative structures in them. In 1943, the Nazis blew up the main church of the monastery - the Assumption Church. They filmed the destruction of the Orthodox shrine and inserted these footage into the official German newsreel.

Today, the Bandera authorities in Kyiv are trying to distort this historical data, claiming that the cathedral was blown up by Soviet partisans who somehow broke through into the center of German-occupied Kyiv. However, the memoirs of fascist generals - Karl Rosenfelder, Friedrich Heyer, SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln - testify that the Orthodox shrines of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were systematically destroyed by the German occupation authorities and their servants from among the Ukrainian Bandera.

After the liberation of Kyiv by Soviet troops in 1943, the territory of the Lavra was returned to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And in 1988, in connection with the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia, the territories of the Near and Far Caves were also returned to the monastic community of the Lavra. In 1990, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

At present, the famous monastery is already located in the center of Kyiv - on the right, high, bank of the Dnieper and occupies two hills, separated by a deep hollow descending to the water. The lower (underground) Lavra is under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Upper (ground) - under the jurisdiction of the National Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve.

NESTOR THE CHRONICER

Nestor the Chronicler (1056-1114) - Old Russian chronicler, hagiographer of the late 11th - early 12th centuries, monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery. He is one of the authors of The Tale of Bygone Years, which, along with the Czech Chronicle by Kozma of Prague and the Chronicle and Deeds of Princes and Rulers of Poland by Gall Anonymus, is considered the most important document on the history of ancient Slavic statehood and culture. It is also assumed that Nestor wrote "Readings on the life and death of Boris and Gleb."

The author of the "Tale" and "Readings" was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as the Monk Nestor the Chronicler, and October 27 is considered his day of memory. Under the same name, he is included in the list of saints of the Roman Catholic Church. The relics of Nestor are in the Near Caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Order of the Monk Nestor the Chronicler

The future author of the main Russian chronicle was born c. 1056 and as a young man he came to the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, where he received the tonsure. In the monastery he carried the obedience of a chronicler. The great feat of his life was the compilation of The Tale of Bygone Years. Nestor considered his main goal to be the preservation for posterity of the legend about “where did the Russian land come from, who in Kyiv began first to reign and from where the Russian land began to eat.”

Nestor the Chronicler

Reconstruction from the skull of S.A. Nikitin

The famous Russian linguist A.A. Shakhmatov established that The Tale of Bygone Years was created on the basis of more ancient Slavic chronicles and annals. The original edition of the "Tale" was lost in antiquity, but its later modified versions have been preserved, the most famous of which are contained in the Laurentian (14th century) and Ipatiev (15th century) chronicles. At the same time, none of them clearly indicates on which historical event Nestor the Chronicler stopped his narration.

According to A.A. Shakhmatova, the oldest chronicle of the Tale of Bygone Years was compiled by Nestor in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1110-1112. The second edition was written by hegumen Sylvester, abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery (1116). And in 1118, on behalf of the Novgorod prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, the third edition of the Tale was written.

Nestor was the first church historian who gave in his work a theological justification for Russian history, while retaining many historical facts, characteristics and documents, which later formed the basis of educational and popular science literature on history. Deep spiritual richness, the desire to accurately convey the events of the state and cultural life of Russia and high patriotism put The Tale of Bygone Years on a par with the highest works of world literature.

"WHERE IS THE RUSSIAN LAND COME FROM..."

History of Russia from the time of Noah

F. Danby. Global flood.

4.5 thousand years ago “the waters of the Flood came to the earth, all the fountains of the great abyss burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened, and rain poured down on the earth for forty days and forty nights ... Every living creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark...” (Old Testament).

For five months, water covered the Earth by 15 cubits (a cubit - 50 cm), the highest mountains hid in its depths, and only after this period did the water subside. The ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat, Noah and those who were with him left the ark and released all the animals and birds for their reproduction on Earth.

I.K. Aivazovsky. Noah leads those who escaped from Ararat.

In gratitude for the salvation, Noah offered a sacrifice to God and received from Him a solemn promise that there would no longer be such terrible floods on Earth. The sign of this promise was a rainbow appearing in the sky after the rain. And then people and animals descended from the mountains of Ararat and began to settle in the deserted land.

So that his heirs would not quarrel when settling in cities and countries, Noah divided the Earth between his three sons: Sim got the east (Bactria, Arabia, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Media, Syria and Phoenicia); Ham took possession of Africa; and the northwestern territories went to Japhet. The descendants of Japhet in the Bible are called Varangians, Germans, Slavs and Swedes.

Thus, Nestor calls Japhet, the middle son of Noah, the forefather of these tribes, and emphasizes the origin of European and Slavic peoples from one ancestor. After the Babylonian pandemonium, many peoples emerged from the single tribe of Japhet, who each received their own dialect and their own lands. The ancestral home of the Slavs (Noriks) in the Tale of Bygone Years is called the banks of the Danube River - the countries of Illyria and Bulgaria.

During the Great Migration of Nations (4th - 6th centuries), the Eastern Slavs, under pressure from the Germanic tribes, left the Danube and settled the lands along the banks of the Dnieper, Dvina, Kama, Oka, as well as the northern lakes - Nevo, Ilmen and Ladoga.

Nestor connects the resettlement of the Eastern Slavs with the times of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, who stayed in their lands and after whose departure the city of Kyiv was founded on the high bank of the Dnieper.

Other Slavic cities in the annals are Novgorod (Slovene), Smolensk (Krivichi), Debriansk (Vyatichi), Iskorosten (Drevlyane). At the same time, Ancient Ladoga was mentioned for the first time in The Tale of Bygone Years.

Olga Nagornaya. Slav!

The calling to Russia of the Varangians

Varangian warship - drakkar

The starting date of the "Tale" is 852, when the Russian land was first mentioned in the chronicles of Byzantium. At the same time, the first reports appeared about the Varangians - immigrants from Scandinavia (“finders from across the sea”), who on warships - drakkars and knorrs - sailed the Baltic Sea, robbing European and Slavic merchant ships. In the Russian chronicles, the Varangians are represented primarily by professional warriors. Their very name, according to a number of scientists, comes from the Scandinavian word "vering" - "wolf", "robber".

Nestor reports that the Varangians were not a single tribe. Among the “Varangian peoples”, he mentions Rus (Rurik’s tribe), Sveevs (Swedes), Normans (Norwegians), Goths (Gotlanders), “Dans” (Danes), etc. The Russian chronicler attributes the invasion of the Varangians to European and Russian lands to the middle 9th century. Somewhat later, the Constantinople chronicles mention the Scandinavians (at the beginning of the 11th century, the Varangians appeared as mercenaries in the Byzantine army), as well as the records of the scientist Al-Biruni from Khorezm, who calls them "varanki".

The Varangian society was divided into bonds - noble people (by origin or merit to the state), free warriors and trills (slaves). The most respected among all classes were bonds - people who owned land. Landless free members of society, who were in the service of the king or bonds, did not enjoy special respect and did not even have the right to vote at the general gatherings of the Scandinavians.

The appearance of free, but landless Varangians was explained by the law of inheritance of paternal property: after death, all the property of the father was transferred to the eldest son, and the younger sons had to conquer the land for themselves or earn it by faithful service to the king. To do this, young landless warriors united in detachments and, in search of good luck, went on sea voyages. Armed to the teeth, they went out to the open sea and robbed merchant ships, and later even began to attack European countries, where they seized land for themselves.

In Europe, the Varangians were known under different names, the most common among which were the names - "Dan", "Norman" and "Northerners". The sea robbers called themselves "Vikings", which translated as "a man from the fjords" ("fjord" - "a narrow deep sea bay with steep rocky shores"). At the same time, not all inhabitants were called “Vikings” in Scandinavia, but only those who were engaged in maritime robberies. Gradually, the word "Vikingr" under the influence of European languages ​​was transformed into "Viking".

The first Viking attacks on European cities began in the middle of the 8th century. One fine day, warships adorned with dragon muzzles appeared near the European shores, and unknown fair-haired ferocious warriors began to plunder the coastal settlements of Germany, England, France, Spain and other states.

Viking ships were very fast for their time. So, a drakkar, sailing, could develop a speed of 12 knots. Built in the 20th century according to ancient drawings, such a ship was able to cover a distance of 420 kilometers in a day. With such transport, the sea robbers did not fear that the Europeans would be able to catch up with them on the water.

In addition, for orientation in the open sea, the Scandinavians had astrolabes, with which they easily determined the path by the stars, as well as an unusual “compass” - a piece of the cordierite mineral that changed its color depending on the position of the Sun and Moon. The sagas also mention real compasses, consisting of small magnets attached to a piece of wood or lowered into a bowl of water.

When attacking a merchant ship, the Vikings first fired at it with bows or simply threw stones at it, and then boarded it. It is known that barbarian bows could easily hit a target at a distance of 250 to 400 meters. But in most cases, the outcome of the battle depended on the seafaring skills of the attackers and their ability to wield melee weapons - axes, spears, daggers and shields.

Starting with attacks on individual merchant ships, the Vikings soon moved on to raiding the coastal regions of Europe. The small draft of the ships allowed them to rise up the navigable rivers and plunder even cities lying far from the sea coast. The barbarians were fluent in hand-to-hand combat and always easily dealt with the local militia, who tried to protect their homes.

Much more dangerous for the Scandinavians was the royal cavalry. To hold back the onslaught of iron-clad knights, the Vikings formed a dense formation resembling a Roman phalanx: in front of the cavalry rushing at them, a wall of strong shields appeared, protecting them from arrows and swords. At first, this fighting technique brought success, but then the knights learned to break through the defenses of the barbarians with the help of heavy cavalry and chariots, reinforced on the sides with thick pointed spears.

At first, the Vikings avoided major battles with European armies. As soon as they saw an enemy army on the horizon, they quickly loaded onto ships and set sail for the open sea. But later, the barbarians began to build well-fortified fortresses on the land captured during the attack, which served as strongholds for new raids. In addition, they created special berserker shock troops in their troops.

Berserkers differed from other warriors in their ability to go into a state of uncontrollable rage, which made them very dangerous opponents. Europeans considered berserkers to be such a terrible “weapon” that in many countries these warriors, distraught with rage, were outlawed. Until now, it has not been precisely established with the help of which the berserkers entered a state of combat frenzy.

In 844, the Vikings first landed in southern Spain, where they sacked several Muslim cities, including Seville. In 859 they broke into the Mediterranean Sea and devastated the coast of Morocco. It got to the point that the emir of Cordoba had to buy his own harem from the Normans.

Soon all of Europe fell under the blows of ferocious sea robbers. The tocsin of church bells warned the population of the danger threatening from the sea. When the Scandinavian ships approached, people left their homes in droves, hid in the catacombs, and fled to the monasteries. But the monasteries soon ceased to serve as protection for the civilian population, as the Vikings began to rob Christian shrines as well.

In 793, the Normans, led by Eric Bloodaxe, sacked a monastery on one of the English islands. The monks who did not have time to escape were either drowned or enslaved. The monastery fell into disrepair after this raid.

In 860, the Scandinavians made several raids on Provence, and then sacked the Italian city of Pisa. Of other European countries, the Netherlands suffered greatly at that time, completely unprotected from attacks from the sea. Bands of sea robbers also rose along the rivers Rhine and Meuse and attacked the lands of Germany.

In 865, Danish troops captured and plundered the English city of York, but did not go back to Scandinavia, but settled in the vicinity of the city and took up peaceful farming. They taxed the English population and quietly filled their money thanks to this.

In 885, the Vikings laid siege to Paris, approaching it on combat drakkars along the Seine. The army of the Normans was located on 700 ships and amounted to 30 thousand people. All the inhabitants of Paris came to the defense of the city, but the forces were unequal. And only consent to a shameful and humiliating peace saved Paris from complete destruction. The Vikings received large tracts of land in France for their use and imposed tribute on the French.

By the middle of the 9th century, they were in charge not only in the coastal territories of Europe, but also successfully attacked cities located at great distances from the Baltic coast: Cologne (200 km from the sea), Bonn (240 km), Koblenz (280 km), Mainz (340 km), Trier (240 km). Only a century later, Europe with great difficulty was able to stop the barbarian raids on their lands.

Ancient Novgorod

In Eastern Europe, on the lands of the Slavs, the Vikings appeared in the middle of the 9th century. The Slavs called them Vikings. European chronicles describe how in 852 the Danes besieged and sacked the capital of Sweden, the city of Birka. However, the Swedish king Anund managed to buy off the barbarians and send them towards the Slavic lands. Danes on 20 ships (50-70 people on each) rushed to Novgorod.

The first to fall under their blow was a small Slavic town, whose inhabitants were unaware of the invasion of the Scandinavians and could not fight back. In the same European chronicles, it is described how, “having unexpectedly attacked its inhabitants, who lived in peace and silence, the Danes captured it by force of arms and, taking great booty and treasures, returned home.” By the end of the 850s, all of northern Russia was already under the Varangian yoke and was subject to heavy tribute.

And then we turn to the pages of the Novgorod chronicles: “People who suffered a great burden from the Varangians sent to Burivoi to ask his son Gostomysl to reign in the Great City.” The Slavic prince Burivoy is hardly mentioned in the chronicles, but the Russian chroniclers tell about his son Gostomysl in more detail.

I. Glazunov. Gostomysl.

Burivoy, presumably, reigned in one of the earliest Russian cities - Byarma, which the Novgorodians called Korela, and the Swedes called Keskholm (currently it is the city of Priozersk, Leningrad Region).

Byarma was located on the Karelian Isthmus and was considered a major trading center in ancient times. From here, the Novgorodians asked the son of Burivoi, Prince Gostomysl, to reign, knowing him as a wise man and a brave warrior. Gostomysl, without delay, entered Novgorod and assumed the princely power.

“And when Gostomysl took power, immediately the Varangians, who were on Russian land, some were beaten, some were expelled, and refused to pay tribute to the Varangians, and, having gone against them, Gostomysl defeated, and built a city in the name of the eldest son of his Choice by the sea, concluded peace with the Varangians, and there was silence throughout the earth.

This Gostomysl was a man of great courage, the same wisdom, all his neighbors were afraid of him, and the Slovenes loved him, for the sake of trial and justice. For this reason, all the close peoples honored him and gave gifts and tributes, buying peace from him. Many princes from distant lands came by sea and land to listen to wisdom, and to see his judgment, and to ask for his advice and teachings, since he was famous everywhere for that.

So, Prince Gostomysl, who headed the Novgorod land, managed to expel the Danes. On the coast of the Gulf of Finland, in honor of his eldest son, he built the city of Vyborg, and around it built a chain of fortified settlements to protect against the attack of sea robbers. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, this happened in 862.

But after that, peace did not last long on Russian soil, as a struggle for power began between the Slavic clans: generation, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. The internecine war that broke out was cruel and bloody, and its main events unfolded on the banks of the Volkhov River and around Lake Ilmen.

Vivid evidence of this war is the burnt settlements recently discovered by archaeologists on the territory of the Novgorod region. This is also indicated by traces of a large fire discovered during excavations in Staraya Ladoga. The buildings of the city perished in a total fire. Apparently, the destruction was so great that the city had to be rebuilt.

Around the same time, the Lyubsha fortress on the coast of the Baltic Sea ceased to exist. Archaeological evidence suggests that it was not the Varangians who last took the fortress, since all the arrowheads found belong to the Slavs.

Novgorod chronicles indicate that the Slavs suffered heavy losses in this war: all four sons of Prince Gostomysl died in strife, and the destruction of Staraya Ladoga caused great damage to the Novgorod economy, since this city was a major economic center of Northern Russia, through which the trade route "from Varangian to the Greeks.

After all the direct heirs of the Russian throne died in bloody strife, the question arose of who "owns the land of Ruska." The aged Gostomysl met with the chief magi of Novgorod and, after a long conversation with them, decided to call to Russia the son of his middle daughter, Rurik, whose father was a Varangian king. In the "Joachim Chronicle" this episode is described as follows:

“Gostomysl had four sons and three daughters. His sons were either killed in wars, or died in the house, and not a single son of his remained, and his daughters were given to the Varangian princes as wives. And Gostomysl and people were sad about this, Gostomysl went to Kolmogard to ask the gods about the heritage and, having ascended to a high place, made many sacrifices and bestowed gifts on the Magi. The wise men answered him that the gods promised to give him an inheritance from the womb of his woman.

But Gostomysl did not believe this, for he was old and his wives did not give birth, and therefore sent for the Magi to ask them to decide how to inherit from his descendants. He, having no faith in all this, was in sorrow. However, sleeping in the afternoon, he had a dream, how from the womb of his middle daughter Umila a great fruitful tree grows and covers the whole Great City, from its fruits the people of the whole earth are saturated.

Rising from sleep, Gostomysl called the Magi and told them this dream. They decided: "He should inherit from her sons, and the land will be enriched with his reign." And everyone rejoiced that the son of the eldest daughter would not inherit, for he was worthless. Gostomysl, anticipating the end of his life, called all the elders of the earth from the Slavs, Rus, Chud, Ves, Mers, Krivichi and Dryagovichi, told them a dream and sent the chosen ones to the Varangians to ask the prince. And after the death of Gostomysl, Rurik came with two brothers and their relatives.

Ambassadors of Gostomysl "call Rurik and his brothers to Russia"

About Rurik (d. 872), the Novgorod chronicles provide very brief and contradictory information. Presumably, he was the son of the Danish king and the Novgorod princess Umila, the grandson of Prince Gostomysl. By the time he was called to Russia, Rurik with a detachment of the Varangians was known throughout Europe: he took an active part in raids on European cities, where he earned the nickname "ulcers of Christianity."

The choice of the Novgorodians was not accidental, since Rurik was widely known as an experienced and brave warrior, capable of defending his possessions from the enemy. In Russia, he became the first prince of the united northern Slavic tribes and the founder of the royal dynasty of Rurikovich.

M.V. Lomonosov wrote that “the Varangians and Rurik with their family, who came to Novgorod, were Slavic tribes, spoke the Slavic language, came from the ancient Russians and were by no means from Scandinavia, but lived on the eastern-southern shores of the Varangian Sea, between the rivers Vistula and Dvina ".

Monument to Rurik in Veliky Novgorod

Rurik came to Russia with his younger brothers - Truvor and Sineus. The chronicle says: “Then the eldest, Rurik, sat down in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk.” After the death of Gostomysl, the brothers faithfully served the Russian land, repelling any encroachments on its lands, both from the Varangians and from other peoples. Two years later, both brothers of Rurik died in battles with enemies, and he began to rule alone in the Novgorod land.

During the period of his reign, Rurik brought order to his lands, established firm laws and significantly expanded the territory of Novgorod land by joining neighboring tribes - Krivichi (Polotsk), Finno-Ugric peoples and Meri (Rostov), ​​Muroms (Murom) . Under the year 864, the Nikon Chronicle reports an attempt to kindle a new internecine war in the Novgorod land, initiated by the Novgorod boyars, led by Vadim the Brave. Rurik successfully suppressed their performance and until 872 single-handedly ruled Veliky Novgorod and its lands.

Oleg Prophetic

The Tale of Bygone Years further reports that in 872 Rurik died, leaving his three-year-old son Igor as heir to the throne. Uncle Igor, one of the closest associates of his father, the noble combatant Oleg (d. 912), became regent under him. Continuing the policy of Rurik, Oleg expanded and strengthened the territory of Northern Russia.

He possessed the talent of an outstanding commander, was brave and courageous in battle. His ability to foresee the future and luck in any business amazed his contemporaries. The prince-warrior was nicknamed the Prophetic and enjoyed great respect among his fellow tribesmen.

At this time, another state association, Southern Russia, was formed and strengthened in the southern Slavic lands. Kyiv became its main city. The power here belonged to two Varangian warriors who fled from Novgorod and led the local tribes - Askold and Dir. Tradition reports that, dissatisfied with Rurik's policy, these Varangians asked him to go on a campaign to Constantinople, but, seeing the town of Kyiv on the banks of the Dnieper, they remained in it and began to own the lands of the meadows.

Askold and Dir constantly fought with neighboring Slavic tribes (Drevlyans and Uglichs), as well as with Danube Bulgaria. Having gathered around them many fugitive Varangian warriors, in 866 they even undertook a campaign against Byzantium on 200 boats, which is mentioned in Byzantine chronicles. The campaign was unsuccessful: during a strong storm, most of the ships died, and the Varangians had to return to Kyiv.

The Kievans, like all glades, did not like Askold and Dir for their arrogance and contempt for Slavic customs. In the Book of Veles, there is a message that, having adopted Christianity under the influence of Byzantium, both princes spoke with contempt about the pagan faith and humiliated the Slavic gods.

Ancient Kyiv

Oleg ruled in Novgorod for three years, after which he decided to go to South Russia and annex it to his possessions. Having recruited a large army from the tribes subject to him, he put him on ships and moved along the rivers to the south. Soon, Smolensk and Lyubech passed under the rule of the Novgorod prince, and after a while Oleg approached Kyiv.

In an effort to avoid unnecessary losses, the prince decided to conquer Kyiv by cunning. He hid the boats with the soldiers behind the high bank of the Dnieper and, approaching the gates of Kyiv, called himself a merchant going to Greece. Askold and Dir entered into negotiations, but were immediately surrounded by the Novgorodians.

I. Glazunov. Oleg and Igor

Raising little Igor in his arms, Oleg told them: “You are not princes and not a princely family. Here is the son of Rurik! After that, Askold and Dir were killed and buried on the Dnieper hill. And to this day this place is called Askold's grave.

So, in 882, there was a unification of Northern and Southern Russia into a single Old Russian state, the capital of which was Kyiv.

Having established himself on the throne of Kiev, Oleg continued the work of Rurik to expand the territory of Russia. He conquered the tribes of the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichi and imposed tribute on them. Under his rule was a vast territory on which he founded many cities. The famous trade route "from the Slavs to the Greeks" passed through the lands of Ancient Russia. On it, the boats of Russian merchants sailed to Byzantium and Europe. Russian furs, honey, breeding horses and many other goods of the Rus were well known throughout the medieval civilized world.

Byzantium - the superpower of the medieval world - sought to limit the trade relations of the Old Russian state both on its own territory and on the lands of neighboring countries. The Greek emperors were afraid of the strengthening of the Slavs and in every possible way prevented the growth of the economic power of Russia. For the Slavs, trade with Europe and with Byzantium itself was very important. Having exhausted the diplomatic methods of struggle, Oleg decided to put pressure on Byzantium with the help of weapons.

In 907, having equipped two thousand warships and gathering a huge cavalry army, he moved these forces to Constantinople. To the Black Sea, Russian boats sailed along the Dnieper, and cavalry detachments walked along the shore. Having reached the Black Sea coast, the cavalry switched to ships, and all this army rushed to the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople, which the Slavs called Constantinople.

“The Tale of Bygone Years writes about this event as follows: “In the year 907. Oleg went to the Greeks, leaving Igor in Kyiv; he took with him many Varangians, and Slavs, and Chuds, and Krivichi, and Meryu, and Drevlyans, and Radimichi, and Polyans, and Severians, and Vyatichi, and Croats, and Dulebs, and Tivertsy, known as interpreters: these were all called Greeks "Great Scythia".

Having received a report about the approach to the Byzantine shores of the Russian fleet, Emperor Leo the Philosopher ordered to hastily close the harbor. Powerful iron chains were stretched from one of its shores to the other, blocking the way for Russian ships. Then Oleg landed troops ashore near Constantinople. He ordered his soldiers to make wheels out of wood and put warships on them.

Having waited for a fair wind, the soldiers raised the sails on the masts, and the boats rushed to the city by land, as by the sea: “And Oleg ordered his soldiers to make wheels and put ships on wheels. And when a favorable wind blew, they raised sails in the field and went to the city. The Greeks, seeing this, were frightened and said, sending to Oleg: "Do not destroy the city, we will give you whatever tribute you want." And Oleg stopped the soldiers, and brought him food and wine, but did not accept it, since it was poisoned. And the Greeks were frightened, and said: "This is not Oleg, but Saint Dmitry, sent to us by God."

And the Greeks agreed, and the Greeks began to ask for peace, so that the Greek land would not fight. Oleg, having moved a little away from the capital, began negotiations on peace with the Greek kings Leon and Alexander and sent his warriors Karl, Farlaf, Vermud, Rulav and Stemid to them in the capital with the words: "Pay tribute to me." And the Greeks said: "Whatever you want, we'll give you." And Oleg ordered to give his soldiers 12 hryvnias per oarlock for 2000 ships, and then to pay tribute to Russian cities: first of all for Kyiv, then for Chernigov, for Pereyaslavl, for Polotsk, for Rostov, for Lyubech and for other cities: for according to to these cities sit the great princes, subject to Oleg.

Frightened Greeks, agreeing to all the conditions of Oleg, signed an agreement on trade and peace. Drawn up in Russian and Greek, this treaty provided Russia with great advantages:

Oleg nails his shield on the gates of Constantinople. Engraving by F.A. Bruni, 1839

Oleg ruled in Russia for 33 years. Major historical events in the history of our state are associated with his name:

• he significantly increased the territory of the country; his authority was recognized by the tribes of Polyans, Severyans, Drevlyans, Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Ulich and Tivertsy;
• through his governors and vassals, Oleg began state building - the creation of an administrative apparatus and a judicial and tax system; at the conclusion of the treaty of 907 with Byzantium, the legal document of the Slavs, which has not come down to us, is already mentioned - “Russian Law”; annual detours of the lands subject to Oleg to collect tribute (polyudye) laid the foundation for the tax authority of the Russian princes;
• Oleg led an active foreign policy; he dealt a strong blow to the Khazar Khaganate, which, having seized the southern sections of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", collected huge duties from Russian merchants for two centuries; when Hungarians appeared at the borders of Russia, moving from Asia to Europe, Oleg managed to establish peaceful relations with them, which protected his people from unnecessary clashes with these warlike tribes; under the command of Oleg, the strongest power of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Empire, was defeated, which recognized the power of Russia and agreed to a trade agreement that was unprofitable for itself;
• under the leadership of Oleg, the core of the Old Russian state was laid and its international authority was consolidated; European powers recognized the state status of Russia and built their relations with it on the basis of equality and military parity.

M.V. Lomonosov considered Prince Oleg a great commander, the first truly Russian ruler, about whom A.S. Pushkin writes: “Your name is glorified by victory. Your shield is on the gates of Tsaregrad!” In 912, Prince Oleg, bitten by a poisonous snake, died, and the place of his burial is unknown today. But there is a mound near Staraya Ladoga on the coast of the Baltic Sea, which is still called the Tomb of the Prophetic Oleg. According to the Novgorod chronicles, this is where the legendary Slavic prince, the founder of the Old Russian state, lies.

Prince Igor and Princess Olga

Igor Rurikovich (878-945), according to legend, was the son of Rurik and Efanda, a Varangian princess and the beloved wife of a Russian prince.

After the death of his father, Igor was brought up by Oleg Veshchim and received the princely throne only after his death. Ruled in Kyiv from 912 to 945.

Even during the life of Oleg, Igor married the beautiful Olga, who, according to the Orthodox Life, was the daughter of a Scandinavian (“from the Varangian language”). She was born and raised in the village of Vybuty, located 12 kilometers from Pskov on the banks of the Velikaya River. In Scandinavian languages, the name of the future Russian princess sounds like Helga.

V.N. also reports his version of the origin of Princess Olga. Tatishchev (1686-1750) - a famous Russian historian and statesman, author of "Russian History from the Most Ancient Times".

He believes that Prince Oleg brought Olga to Igor's wife from Izborsk and that the young 13-year-old bride belonged to the noble family of Gostomysl. The girl's name was Prekrasa, but Oleg renamed her Olga.

Subsequently, Igor had other wives, since the pagan faith welcomed polygamy, but Olga for Igor always remained the only assistant in all his state affairs. According to the "History" V.N. Tatishchev, Olga and Igor had a son, Svyatoslav, the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. But, according to the chronicles, Igor also had a son, Gleb, who was executed by the Slavs for his adherence to Christianity.

Having become the Grand Duke of Kyiv, Igor continued the policy of Oleg the Prophet. He expanded the territory of his state and led a fairly active foreign policy. In 914, having set out on a campaign against the rebellious Drevlyans, Igor confirmed his power in the Slavic lands and overlaid the recalcitrant Drevlyans with a heavier tribute than under Oleg.

A year later, nomadic hordes of the Pechenegs first appeared on the lands of Russia, going to the aid of Byzantium against the barbarians, and Igor fought with them several times, demanding recognition of the power of Kyiv. But one of the main events in the activities of this prince was military campaigns against Constantinople, the purpose of which was to confirm the trade agreements concluded by Prince Oleg.

On June 11, 941, ten thousand Russian warships approached Constantinople, threatening the Greeks with a siege. But by this time, the Byzantine emperors already had at their disposal the latest weapon - Greek fire.

Greek fire ("liquid fire") was a combustible mixture used by the Byzantine army to destroy enemy warships. The prototype of this weapon was used by the ancient Greeks as early as 190 BC during the defense of the island of Rhodes from the troops of Hannibal. However, this formidable weapon was invented much earlier. In 424 BC, in the land battle of Delia, ancient Greek warriors fired some kind of incendiary mixture consisting of crude oil, sulfur and oil from a hollow log at the Persian army.

Officially, the invention of Greek fire is attributed to the Greek engineer and architect Kalinnik, who tested it in 673 and, having fled from Heliopolis captured by the Arabs (modern Baalbek in Lebanon), offered his invention to the Byzantine emperor. Kalinnik created a special device for throwing an incendiary mixture - a "siphon", which was a copper pipe that ejected a burning liquid stream with the help of bellows.

Presumably, the maximum range of such siphons was 25-30 meters, so most often Greek fire was used in the fleet at the time of the approach of ships during the battle. According to contemporaries, Greek fire posed a mortal threat to wooden ships. It could not be extinguished, it continued to burn even in water. The recipe for its manufacture was kept in strict secrecy, and after the fall of Constantinople it was completely lost.

The exact composition of this incendiary mixture is not known today. Marco Greco in his “Book of Fire” gives the following description: “1 part of rosin, 1 part of sulfur, 6 parts of finely ground saltpeter, dissolve in linseed or laurel oil, then put into a pipe or into a wooden trunk and light. The charge immediately flies in any direction and destroys everything with fire. It should be noted that this composition served only to eject a fiery mixture in which an "unknown ingredient" was used.

Greek fire was, among other things, an effective psychological weapon: fearing it, enemy ships tried to keep their distance from the Byzantine ships. A siphon with Greek fire was usually installed on the bow of the ship, and sometimes the fire mixture was thrown at enemy ships in barrels. Ancient chronicles report that as a result of careless handling of these weapons, Byzantine ships often caught fire.

It was with this weapon, about which the Eastern Slavs had no idea, that Prince Igor had to face in 941. In the very first naval battle with the Greeks, the Russian fleet was partially destroyed by a flaming mixture. Leaving Constantinople, Igor's troops tried to take revenge in land battles, but were driven back to the coast. In September 941, the Russian army returned to Kyiv. The Russian chronicler conveys the words of the surviving warriors: “It is as if the Greeks have heavenly lightning and, releasing it, set fire to us; therefore they did not overcome them.”

In 944, Igor gathered a new army of Slavs, Varangians and Pechenegs and again went to Constantinople. The cavalry, as under Oleg, went along the coast, and then the troops were put on boats. Warned by the Bulgarians, the Byzantine emperor Roman Lekapinus sent noble boyars to meet Igor with the words: "Do not go, but take the tribute that Oleg took, I will add more to that tribute."

Negotiations between the Slavs and Greeks ended with the signing of a new military-trade treaty (945), according to which between Russia and Byzantium "eternal peace was established, while the sun is shining and the whole world is standing." The agreement first used the term - "Russian land", and also mentioned the names of Igor's wife - Olga, his nephews and son Svyatoslav. Byzantine chronicles report that by this time some of Igor's warriors had already been baptized and, signing the contract, swore on the Christian Bible.

Polyudye in Ancient Russia

In the autumn of 945, upon returning from a campaign, Igor's squad, as usual, went to the Drevlyansk land for polyudye (collection of tribute). Having received the proper gifts, the soldiers, dissatisfied with the content, demanded that the prince return to the Drevlyans and take another tribute from them. The Drevlyans did not participate in the campaign against Byzantium, which is probably why Igor decided to improve his financial situation at their expense.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” reports: “On reflection, the prince said to his squad:“ Go home with tribute, and I will return and look like more. And he sent his retinue home, and he himself returned with a small part of the retinue, desiring more wealth. The Drevlyans, having heard that he was coming again, held a council with their prince Mal: ​​“If a wolf gets into the habit of sheep, he will carry out the whole herd until they kill him; so is this one: if we do not kill him, he will destroy us all.”

The rebellious Drevlyans, led by Prince Mal, attacked Igor, killed his companions, and Igor was tied to the tops of two trees and torn in two. This was the first popular uprising in Russia against princely power, recorded in the annals.

Olga, having learned about the death of her husband, in a rage cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans. Having collected a guilty tribute from each house of the Drevlyans, one dove and one sparrow, she ordered tow tow to be tied to the paws of the birds and set on fire. Pigeons and sparrows each flew to their home and spread fire throughout the capital of the Drevlyans, the city of Iskorosten. The city burned to the ground.

After that, Olga destroyed all the nobility of the Drevlyans and killed many ordinary people in the Drevlyan land. Having imposed a heavy tribute on the disobedient, she nevertheless had to streamline the collection of taxes in subject lands in order to avoid such uprisings in the future. By her order, clear amounts of taxes were established and special graveyards were built throughout Russia to collect them. After the death of her husband, Olga became regent with her young son Svyatoslav and ruled the country on her own until he came of age.

In 955, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, Princess Olga, against the will of her son Svyatoslav, was baptized in Constantinople under the name of Elena and returned to Russia as a Christian. But all her attempts to accustom her son to the new faith ran into his sharp protest. Olga, thus, became the first ruler of Russia to be baptized, although the squad, the son-heir, and the entire Russian people remained pagans.

On July 11, 969, Olga died, "and her son, and her grandchildren, and all the people wept for her with great weeping." According to the will, the Russian princess was buried according to Christian custom, without a feast.

And in 1547, the Russian Orthodox Church declared her a saint. Only five women in the world, besides Olga, were honored with such an honor: Mary Magdalene, the first martyr Thekla, the Greek queen Elena, the martyr Apphia and the Georgian queen-enlightener Nina.

On July 24, we celebrate the day of this great Russian woman, who, after the death of her husband, preserved all the achievements of the previous princely power, strengthened the Russian state, raised her son-commander and was one of the first to bring the Orthodox faith to Russia.

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich (942-972)

Formally, Svyatoslav became the Grand Prince of Kyiv in 945, immediately after the death of his father, but in reality his independent reign began around 964, when the prince came of age. He was the first Russian prince with a Slavic name, and thanks to him, Europe for the first time saw the power and courage of Russian squads up close.

From childhood, Svyatoslav was brought up as a warrior. His mentor in matters of military skill was the Varangian Asmud. He taught the little prince to always be the first - both in battle and in hunting, to hold fast in the saddle, to be able to control a combat boat and swim well, and also to hide from enemies in the forest and in the steppe. And Svyatoslav learned military art from another Varangian - the Kyiv governor Sveneld.

As a child, Svyatoslav took part in the battle with the Drevlyans, when Olga led her troops to the Drevlyan city of Iskorosten. In front of the Kyiv squad, a little prince sat on a horse, and when both troops converged for battle, Svyatoslav was the first to throw a spear at the enemy. He was still small, and the spear, flying between the ears of the horse, fell at his feet. Sveneld turned to the friendly and said: "The prince has already begun, let's follow, squad, for the prince!" This was the custom of the Rus: only the prince could start the battle, and no matter what age he was at the same time.

The Tale of Bygone Years tells about the first independent steps of the young Svyatoslav, starting from 964: “When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and was fast, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, he did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that; he did not have a tent, but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in his head - the same were all his other soldiers. And, going on a campaign, he sent his warrior to other lands with the words: “I’m going to you!”.

After the death of Princess Olga, Svyatoslav faced the task of organizing the state administration of Russia. By this time, nomadic hordes of the Pechenegs appeared on its southern borders, which crushed all other nomadic tribes under them and began to attack the border regions of Russia. They ravaged the peaceful Slavic villages, robbed nearby towns and took people into slavery.

Another painful problem for Russia at that time was the Khazar Khaganate, which occupied the lands of the Black Sea region and the Lower and Middle Volga regions.

The international trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed through these territories, and the Khazars, having blocked it, began to collect heavy duties from all merchant ships going through Russia from Northern Europe to Byzantium. At the same time, Russian merchants also suffered.

Thus, before Prince Svyatoslav there were two main foreign policy tasks: to clear the trade routes up to Constantinople from extortions and to protect Russia from the raids of the nomads - the Pechenegs and their allies. And the young prince set about solving the vital problems of his country.

Svyatoslav dealt the first blow to Khazaria. The Khazar Khaganate (650-969) was created by nomadic peoples who came to Europe from the Asian steppes during the Great Migration Period (4th-6th centuries). Capturing vast territories in the regions of the Lower and Middle Volga, in the Crimea, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, Transcaucasia and North-Western Kazakhstan, the Khazars subjugated the local tribes and dictated their will to them.

Khazars

In 965, Russian troops invaded the border regions of Khazaria. Before that, Svyatoslav cleared the lands of the Vyatichi Slavs from numerous Khazar outposts and annexed them to Russia. Then, quickly dragging the boats from the Desna to the Oka, the Slavs descended the Volga to the borders of the kaganate and defeated the tribes of the Volga Bulgars, dependent on the Khazars.

Further, The Tale of Bygone Years reports: “In the summer of 965, Svyatoslav went to the Khazars. Having heard, the Khazars went out to meet him with their prince kagan and agreed to fight, and Svyatoslav the Khazar defeated him in the battle. The Rus managed to capture both capitals of the kaganate - the cities of Itil and Semender, and also cleared Tmutarakan from the Khazars. The thunderbolt inflicted on the nomads echoed throughout Europe and became the end of the Khazar Khaganate.

In the same year 965, Svyatoslav went to another Turkic state, which was formed on the territory of Eastern Europe during the Great Migration of Peoples, the Volga, or Silver, Bulgaria. Located in the 10th - 13th centuries on the territory of modern Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Ulyanovsk, Samara and Penza regions, Volga Bulgaria after the fall of the Khazar Khaganate became an independent state and began to claim part of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks."

The capture of Semender by the Slavs

Having defeated the army of the Volga Bulgars, Svyatoslav forced them to conclude a peace treaty with Russia and thereby secured the advance of Russian merchant ships from Novgorod and Kyiv to Byzantium. By this time, the fame of the victories of the Russian prince had reached Constantinople, and the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Thomas decided to use Svyatoslav to fight the Bulgarian kingdom, the first European barbarian state of the 10th century, which conquered part of its lands from Byzantium and established its power on them. During its heyday, Bulgaria covered most of the Balkan Peninsula and had access to three seas.

Historians call this state the First Bulgarian Kingdom (681 - 1018). It was founded by the ancestors of the Bulgarians (Proto-Bulgarians), who united with the Slavic tribes of the Balkan Peninsula under the leadership of Khan Asparuh. The capital of ancient Bulgaria was the city of Pliska, which in 893, after the adoption of Christianity by the Bulgarians, was renamed Preslav. Byzantium tried several times to regain the lands occupied by the Bulgarians, but all attempts ended in failure.

By the middle of the 10th century, after several successful wars with its neighbors, the Bulgarian kingdom had strengthened, and the ambitions of its next ruler had grown so much that he began to prepare to seize Byzantium and its throne. In parallel, he sought recognition of the status of an empire for his kingdom. On this basis, in 966, a conflict broke out again between Constantinople and the Bulgarian kingdom.

Emperor Nicephorus Thomas sent a large embassy to Svyatoslav asking for help. The Greeks handed over to the Russian prince 15 centarii of gold and a request to "bring the Rus to conquer Bulgaria." The purpose of this appeal was the desire to resolve the territorial problems of Byzantium by proxy, as well as to protect themselves from the threat from Russia, since by this time Prince Svyatoslav had already begun to be interested in the outlying provinces of Byzantium.

In the summer of 967, the Russian troops, led by Svyatoslav, moved south. The Russian army was supported by the Hungarian troops. Bulgaria, in turn, relied on Yases and Kasogs hostile to the Rus, as well as on a few Khazar tribes.

According to chroniclers, both sides fought to the death. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Bulgarians and capture about eighty Bulgarian cities along the banks of the Danube.

Svyatoslav's campaign in the Balkans was completed very quickly. True to his habit of lightning-fast combat operations, the prince, breaking through the Bulgarian outposts, defeated the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter in the open field. The enemy had to conclude a forced peace, according to which the lower reaches of the Danube with a very strong fortress city of Pereyaslavets went to the Rus.

Having completed the conquest of Bulgaria, Svyatoslav decided to make the city of Pereyaslavets the capital of Russia, transferring all administrative structures here from Kyiv. However, at that moment, a messenger rushed from a distant homeland, who said that Kyiv was besieged by the Pechenegs and Princess Olga was asking for help. Svyatoslav with an equestrian squad rushed to Kyiv and, having utterly defeated the Pechenegs, drove them back to the steppes. At this time, his mother died, and after the funeral, Svyatoslav decided to return to the Balkans.

But before that, it was necessary to organize the administration of Russia, and the prince placed his sons in the kingdom: the eldest, Yaropolk, remained in Kyiv; the middle one, Oleg, was sent by his father to the Drevlyansk land, and Svyatoslav, at the request of the Novgorodians themselves, gave his youngest son, Prince Vladimir, the future baptist of Russia, to Novgorod.

This is the decision of Svyatoslav, according to the Soviet historian B.A. Rybakov, marked the beginning of a difficult "specific period" in Russian history: for more than 500 years, Russian princes will divide the principalities between their brothers, children, nephews and grandchildren.

Only at the end of the XIV century. Dmitry Donskoy for the first time bequeaths to his son Vasily the Grand Duchy of Moscow as a single "homeland". But specific skirmishes will continue after the death of Dmitry Donskoy. For another century and a half, the Russian land will groan under the hooves of the princely squads, fighting with each other for the Great Kyiv throne. Even in the 15th and 16th centuries, real “feudal wars” would continue to torment Muscovite Russia: both Ivan III and his grandson Ivan IV the Terrible would fight against specific princes, boyars.

In the meantime, having divided his possessions between his sons, Syatoslav began to prepare for a further struggle with Byzantium. Having collected replenishment for his army in Russia, he returned to Bulgaria. Explaining this decision of Svyatoslav, The Tale of Bygone Years tells us his words: “I don’t like to sit in Kyiv, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - for there is the middle of my land, all the blessings flow there: from the Greek land - gold, curtains, wine , various fruits, from the Czech Republic and from Hungary, silver and horses, from Russia, furs and wax, honey and slaves.

Frightened by the successes of Svyatoslav, the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Foka urgently made peace with the Bulgarians and decided to secure it with a dynastic marriage. The bride had already arrived from Constantinople in Preslav when a coup d'état took place in Byzantium: Nicephorus Foka was killed, and John Tzimiskes sat on the Greek throne.

While the new Greek emperor hesitated to provide military assistance to the Bulgarians, they, frightened by Svyatoslav, made an alliance with him and then fought on his side. Tzimiskes tried to persuade the Russian prince to leave Bulgaria, promising him a rich tribute, but Svyatoslav was adamant: he decided to firmly establish himself on the Danube, thus expanding the territory of Ancient Russia.

After that, the Greeks transferred their troops to the borders of Bulgaria, placing them in small border fortresses. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav, together with mercenary detachments of the Pechenegs, Bulgarians and Hungarians, attacked the possessions of Byzantium in Thrace. The number of Russian troops, according to the Greek chronicles, was 30 thousand people.

Thanks to numerical superiority and talented strategic command, Svyatoslav broke the resistance of the Greeks and reached the city of Arcadiopol, which was located just 120 kilometers from the Byzantine capital. Here a general battle took place between the Russian and Greek troops, in which, according to the Byzantine chronicler Leo the Deacon, Svyatoslav was allegedly defeated. Exhausted by long non-stop marches and lack of food, the Russian troops did not seem to withstand the onslaught of the Greek legions.

However, the Russian chronicles describe the events differently: Svyatoslav defeated the Greeks near Arcadeopolis and approached the walls of Constantinople itself. Having received a huge tribute here, he retreated to Bulgaria. In the army of Svyatoslav, indeed, there was not enough food and there was no one to replenish the troops. There was a huge territorial separation from Russia.

If the main part of the Russian troops (20 thousand soldiers) near Arcadeopolis were destroyed, and the rest were scattered, it is obvious that then Byzanktia would have no need to seek peace negotiations and pay tribute. In such a situation, the emperor would have to organize the pursuit of the enemy, the capture of his soldiers, go through the Balkan mountains and, on the shoulders of Svyatoslav's soldiers, break into Veliky Preslav, and then into Pereyaslavets. In fact, the Greeks beg Svyatoslav for peace and give him a rich tribute.

"Eye of the World" - that's how Constantinople was called in the Middle Ages

(modern reconstruction)

So, the first stage of the war with the Byzantine Empire ended in victory for Svyatoslav. But the prince did not have the strength to continue the campaign and storm the huge Constantinople. The army suffered heavy losses and needed to be replenished and rested. Therefore, the prince agreed to peace. Constantinople was forced to pay tribute and agree to the consolidation of Svyatoslav on the Danube. Svyatoslav "go back to Pereyaslavets with great praise."

However, Byzantium continued its attempts to oust the Russians from the Balkan Peninsula. In the spring of 971, Emperor Tzimisces personally led a huge army that marched overland towards Bulgaria. 300 Greek warships sailed along the Danube, the purpose of which was to defeat Svyatoslav's fleet, weakened in battles.

On July 21, another general battle took place, in which Svyatoslav was wounded. The forces of the parties were equal, and the battle ended in vain. Peace negotiations began between Svyatoslav and Tzimisces, who unconditionally accepted all the conditions of the Russian prince.

The negotiations took place on the banks of the Danube. The Greek emperor, standing, watched Svyatoslav swim to the shore on a boat. Later, he writes about it like this: “Sfendoslav also appeared, sailing along the river on a Scythian boat; he sat on the oars and rowed along with his entourage, no different from them. This was his appearance: of moderate height, neither too tall nor too short, with thick eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above his upper lip. His head was completely naked, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of the nobility of the family; a strong nape, a broad chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate, but he looked gloomy and stern. He had a gold earring in one ear; it was adorned with a carbuncle framed by two pearls. His attire was white and differed from the clothes of his associates only by noticeable cleanliness.

After the conclusion of peace, Svyatoslav decided to return to his homeland, where he was going to form a new army and continue his conquests in Europe. The path of the Russian detachments to Kyiv lay through the Dnieper rapids, where they had to pull the boats ashore and drag them on dry land in order to bypass the pitfalls. Voivode Sveneld said to the prince: “Go around, prince, the thresholds on horseback, for the Pechenegs are standing at the thresholds.” However, Svyatoslav did not want to abandon his fleet.

Frightened by the power of the Slavs, Tzimiskes persuaded the nomads to meet and defeat the weakened and tired detachments of the Russians on the Dnieper rapids for a large fee. In addition, the Pchenegs sought to take revenge on Svyatoslav for their shameful flight from the walls of Kyiv.

The coming autumn prevented the soldiers of Svyatoslav from rising to the Russian borders along the frozen river, so the prince decided to spend the winter at the mouth of the Dnieper. In the spring of 972, he repeated his attempt to break through to Russia, but was attacked by detachments of the Pechenegs: “When spring came, Svyatoslav went to the rapids. And Kurya, the prince of the Pechenegs, attacked him, and they killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from the skull, bound him, and drank from him. Sveneld came to Kyiv to Yaropolk.

The death of Svyatoslav in battle with the Pechenegs is also confirmed by Leo the Deacon: “Sfendoslav left Doristol, returned the prisoners according to the agreement and sailed with the remaining associates, directing his way to his homeland. On the way, they were ambushed by the Patsinaki, a large nomadic tribe that devours lice, carries dwellings with them, and spends most of its life in wagons. They killed almost all the Ross, killed Sfendoslav along with others, so that only a few of the huge army of the Ross broke through unharmed to their native places.

“The Russian prince Svyatoslav lived a short, but bright life filled with love for his native land. He carried Russian banners from the Caucasus to the Balkans, he crushed the formidable Khazar Khaganate and terrified the mighty Constantinople. His victories glorified the Russian name and Russian weapons for centuries. His reign became an important page in our ancient history. And his tragic death in less than thirty years, more like a ritual sacrifice, marked the end of an entire era. And even the Pecheneg murderers, raising a bowl made from his skull, proclaimed: "Let our children be like him!"

Prince Vladimir the Red Sun

Vladimir Svyatoslavich (c. 960 - 1015) - Prince of Novgorod (970-988), Grand Duke of Kyiv since 987, son of Svyatoslav, grandson of Igor and Princess Olga.

According to legend, the future ruler of the Russian land was born in a small village near Pskov, where the angry Olga sent his mother, her former housekeeper Malusha, who dared to answer the love of Prince Svyatoslav and gave birth to his son Vladimir.

By the way, Vladimir's mother, Malusha, was a slave not by birth, but by force of fate: the daughter of the Drevlyan prince Mala, she was captured during Olga's military campaign and enslaved.

The customs of the Slavs allowed the son of a slave and a prince to inherit his father's throne, therefore, as soon as Vladimir grew up, Olga took him to Kyiv. The guardian of the boy was his maternal uncle, combatant Dobrynya. He raised his nephew as a warrior and future prince, taught martial arts, hunting, constantly took with him to the retinue meeting, where Vladimir was present when solving important state issues.

As already mentioned, after the death of Svyatoslav, his eldest son Yaropolk became the Great Prince of Kyiv, the second son Oleg remained in the Drevlyansk land granted to him by his father, and Vladimir inherited Novgorod. In historical science, in connection with this, a hypothesis arose that, by age, Vladimir was the second son of Svyatoslav: the Novgorod reign was considered much more prestigious than the Drevlyansk land, where Oleg ruled.

In 972, an internecine war broke out between the brothers: Vladimir and Oleg united their troops and moved to Kyiv. However, both failed this time. During the battle, Oleg fell into a ditch and was crushed by a horse falling from above. And Vladimir with the remnants of his troops fled to Norway to his kinsman King Hakon the Mighty. Yaropolk declared himself the Grand Duke of all Russia.

However, soon, having recruited a new army in Norway, Vladimir and his faithful assistant Dobrynya returned to Russia. He again reigned in Novgorod, and then conquered Polotsk, which supported Yaropolk. Taking revenge on the murderers of his brother Oleg, Vladimir killed the Polotsk prince Rogvolod and forcibly made his daughter Rogneda, who was considered the bride of Yaropolk, his wife.

After that, Vladimir moved his troops to Kyiv. In the battle for the city, his older brother Yaropolk died, and Vladimir remained the only contender for the Russian throne. He reigned in Kyiv and began to reform the government. And his first reform was an attempt to strengthen and change the pagan religion, giving it the features of a class ideology.

By the middle of the 10th century, property inequality had long existed in Ancient Russia, but the ancient pagan religion did not support the strengthening of the tribal nobility and its claims to state power. All pagan gods were considered equal in their value, and this equality extended to human society. Vladimir, on the other hand, needed a religion that would sanctify his supreme power and the rights of wealthy combatants and boyars. The first step in gaining such ideological support was the prince's attempt to reform the old paganism.

According to the princely order, a huge temple was erected in the center of Kyiv, on the territory of which there were wooden idols of the main pagan gods - Perun, Stribog, Khors, Mokosh, Semargl and Dazhbog.

Ancient Slavic temple. Artistic screening.

The pagan pantheon of Vladimir testified to the great work done by the Kyiv magi under the leadership of the prince himself. The temple was not a simple renewal of the old sanctuaries that were built earlier far from the cities, in the depths of groves and forests.

As already mentioned, new idols were placed in the center of Kyiv, near the prince's tower. Here, for solemn divine services, now the inhabitants of Kyiv came together with their families. “The Tale of Bygone Years” writes about it this way: “The beginning of the prince Volodimer in Kiev is one. And put idols on a hill outside the courtyard of the tower: Perun is wooden, and his head is silver, and he is golden, and Khars, and Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Semargl, and Makosh.

Perun is the patron saint of the prince and the squad.

In addition, the new system of polytheism developed in Kyiv affirmed the sovereign nature of princely power. From the former pagan pantheon, Vladimir excluded all the deities who were considered the patrons of peasants, merchants and the urban population of Russia. Even Veles, the cattle god and patron of the underworld, widely revered by the Slavs, did not get into the new pantheon.

Now the head of the Slavic gods was declared the patron of the prince and his squad Perun - the Slavic god of thunder and war.

The indisputable power of the prince over his subjects was also confirmed by the fact that the idols of Perun were placed in Novgorod and all the major cities of Russia, and one of them was brought by the ambassadors of Vladimir to Constantinople and installed on the territory of the Russian community, not far from the imperial palace.

The selection of pagan gods included in the new pantheon is also interesting. Perun personified strong princely power. Khors transferred the entire Universe into the possession of the Russian prince, Stribog - the sky, Dazhbog - the sun and white light, Makosh - the fruitful earth. Simargl was considered an intermediary between heaven and earth. Thus, the new sanctuary no longer personified the power of the people, but the retinue-princely. Peasants and ordinary residents of the Russian land were invited to pray to their gods in the field.

The creators of the Kyiv sanctuary tactfully excluded from it all the ancient Slavic gods, the veneration of which was associated with pagan orgies. The new religious system was supposed to reflect the greatness and moral purity of state power. Moreover, in an effort to oppose the ancient Slavic religion to Christianity, Vladimir introduced into it a kind of “trinity”: “God the Father” (Stribog), “God the Son” (Dazhbog) and the “Goddess Mother of God” (Makosh). These were the ideas laid down by Vladimir in the religious reform of 980.

To date, archaeologists have established the exact layout of Vladimir's temple. In 1975, Soviet scientists unearthed its remains in the old part of Kyiv - on Starokievskaya Gorka. A stone foundation was discovered there, on which six plinths for pagan idols were clearly marked: one large in the center (Perun), three smaller ones on the sides and behind (Stribog, Dazhbog and Khors) and two very small ones at the “feet” of the other gods (Makosh and Semargl).

The now little-known pagan deity Semargl did not enjoy wide reverence among the Kievan nobility and quickly disappeared from the territory of the Vladimir temple, on which only five idols soon remained.

The image of Semargl itself is unusual for Slavic mythology. This deity has been preserved in the ancient Russian pantheon since the time of the ancient Indo-European community of tribes, from which the Slavic branch later emerged. Semargl was depicted as a winged dog-lion and was considered a guardian deity of seeds and roots of plants, as well as crops in general. In the pagan religion, it was used as a messenger connecting Heaven with Earth. Already in the 10th century, the image of Semargl was obscure to Russian people, and by the end of this century, the winged dog-lion simply ceased to be used in the religious rites of the Slavs.

For eight years, Vladimir tried to adapt ancient paganism to the needs of the early feudal monarchy that was being formed in Russia, but he failed to make freedom-loving pagan gods patrons of princely power. Trade and economic relations with European and Middle Eastern states helped the prince get acquainted with their ideological base - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - and make sure of its advantages.

Jewish temple. Jerusalem.

For almost two hundred years, Ancient Russia was a pagan power, although all the empires surrounding it had long since adopted Christianity. In Byzantium, it has been considered the state religion for six centuries, in friendly Bulgaria - for more than a hundred years. If numerous pagan deities personified freedom and equality in relations between the prince and ordinary Russians, then Christianity, Islam and Judaism by this time had become religions of a class society, and their main thesis was the requirement: "Let the slaves obey their masters."

In the end, Prince Vladimir decided to replace paganism with monotheism in Russia and announced this to his squad, many of whose noble warriors had long since converted to Orthodoxy. The question arose about the choice of religion. According to legend, at the invitation of the Kyiv court, priests came to Vladimir, representatives of the three world monotheistic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Each of the ambassadors tried to persuade the Russian prince to choose his religion.

After listening to a Muslim, Vladimir rejected Islam. He did not understand the rite of circumcision, and he considered the prohibition to drink wine reckless. “The joy of Russia is drinking, without drinking there is no Russia,” - this is how the prince allegedly answered the temptations of Muslims.

A. Filatov. The choice of faith by Prince Vladimir. 2007

Vladimir did not accept Judaism because the Jews did not have their own state, as a result of which they were scattered throughout the earth.

After listening to the rabbi, Vladimir asked him where is the Fatherland of the Jews? ‘’In Jerusalem’’, answered the preachers, ‘but God in his wrath has squandered us over foreign lands.’’ Then the Russian prince exclaimed: ‘And you, being punished by God, dare to teach others? We do not want, like you, to lose our Fatherland.

The Russian prince also refused the envoys of the Pope, referring to the fact that his grandmother, Princess Olga, did not recognize Catholic Rome. The ambassadors of the German Catholics talked for a long time about the power of the Catholic world and the grace emanating from the pope’s monastery, but Vladimir answered them: “Go back!”

Cathedral of St. Sofia. Constantinople.

And only the sermon of the priest, who arrived from Byzantium and represented the Orthodox faith, made a favorable impression on the prince. The Greek religious philosopher, whose name history has not preserved, in a few words refuted the merits of all other religions, and then colorfully outlined to Vladimir the content of the Bible and the Gospel. He competently and emotionally spoke about the creation of the world and the first people, about Paradise, about the fall of Adam and the Flood, and in conclusion showed the prince the picture of the Last Judgment brought to Kyiv. Struck by the spectacle of hellish torments, Vladimir exclaimed: “Bless the virtuous and woe to the evil!”. The Greek humbly said: "Be baptized, prince, and you will be in Paradise with the first." But Vladimir was in no hurry to make a decision.

Having sent all the ambassadors to their lands, he sent his noble warriors to other countries, once again to look at all the religious rites and evaluate them. In Constantinople, Russian envoys were greeted with great honor, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia held a solemn service for them, accompanied by beautiful organ music, and then invited to the imperial feast.

The ambassadors, who returned from Byzantium with rich gifts, enthusiastically told Vladimir about the beauty of Greek temples and about the great honor that was given to them by the emperor himself, as well as the Patriarch of Constantinople. They ended their story with the words: “Every person, having tasted the sweet, already has an aversion to the bitter; so we, having learned the faith of the Greeks, do not want another.”

Then Vladimir, having gathered the best people of Kyiv - the boyars and the elders, in the princely chamber, wished to hear their opinion again. “If the Greek law,” they said, “would not be better than others, then your grandmother, Olga, the wisest of all people, would not take it into her head to accept it.” After that, the Grand Duke of Kyiv made his choice.

This was also facilitated by the strong economic ties of Russia with Byzantium and the existence in Kyiv of a large Russian Orthodox community that arose here in the time of Princess Olga.

The adoption of Orthodoxy by Vladimir is also explained by the international political situation. By this time, the Pope was striving to subdue not only religious, but also secular power in the Slavic countries. The Catholic Church was intolerant of other religious views and persecuted dissidents.

In Byzantium, the Orthodox Church was subordinate to the emperor, which corresponded to Eastern traditions, where the prince was simultaneously considered the head of a religious cult. At the same time, Orthodoxy tolerated other forms of monotheism and even paganism, which was important for a multinational country.

Byzantium in the 10th century was the largest world power, the successor of Ancient Rome. Its authority was recognized by all the countries of Europe, and it was a great honor for the young Slavic state to accept the state religion from Constantinople. No European country would dare to object to this.

Baptism of Prince Vladimir

According to the chronicle, in 987, Vladimir, at the council of the boyars, decided to be baptized "according to Greek law." Soon after, the Byzantine emperors Basil and Constantine Porphyrogenitus turned to him for help: one of their commanders, Varda Foka, rebelled and, having won a number of major victories over the imperial army, demanded the brothers abdicate from power.

Having brought his squads to the Greek city of Chrysopolis, Vladimir defeated the rebels and, in gratitude for this, demanded the Greek princess Anna, the sister of Vasily and Constantine, as his wife. After an attempt by the Greeks to deceive him with the help of a fictitious bride, Vladimir took the Greek city of Korsun by storm and began to threaten Constantinople. In the end, the Greeks agreed to Anna's marriage to Vladimir, but demanded that the Russian prince be baptized and convert to the Orthodox faith.

Without postponing the solution of the issue for the future, Vladimir in the same place, in Korsun, was baptized from the hands of the Korsun priest, after which the marriage ceremony was held and the prince returned to Kyiv with his young wife.

The marriage of Vladimir to a Greek princess became a major political success for Russia. Before that, many European monarchs wooed Anna, but they were refused, and now the princess has become the wife of a Russian prince. This significantly strengthened the international prestige of Russia and contributed to its rapprochement with the European powers.

At baptism, Vladimir, in honor of the Byzantine emperor, took the name of Basil, which corresponded to the practice of political baptisms of that time. Upon his return to Kyiv, he began to prepare a nationwide religious reform, and in this he was faithfully assisted by Princess Anna. The church charter of Vladimir says that the prince consulted with his wife in church affairs: "having guessed with my princess Anna."

The very first of the Russian cities was baptized Kyiv. Shortly after returning from Korsun, Vladimir ordered all the pagan idols of the Kyiv pantheon he had recently created to be removed from the capital and thrown into the Dnieper. After their destruction, the prince proceeded to baptize his family: all his twelve sons were converted to the Orthodox faith.

Now, according to Christian law, the prince could have only one wife, so he freed all his former numerous wives and concubines, whose fate we do not know. Rogneda, who by that time was already a Christian, Vladimir offered to choose a new husband, but the princess refused. She took the veil as a nun under the name of Anastasia and went to a monastery.

After that, the Greek priests who arrived with Anna went around the city with sermons, and Prince Vladimir himself helped them in this. After sermons and exhortations, Vladimir ordered to notify the population of Kyiv: "Whoever does not come to the river the next day, whether he is rich, poor or poor, whether a worker or a boyar, he will be disgusted with the prince." On the morning of the next day, Vladimir, following the priests, went to the banks of the tributary of the Dnieper - the Pochaina River. A lot of people gathered there.

“The Tale of Bygone Days” further reports: “The people of Kiev began to enter the water and stood in the river, some up to the neck, others up to the chest; the children stood near the shore; many adults entered the water with babies in their arms; and the baptized wandered along the river, teaching those who were baptized what to do during the performance of the sacrament, and immediately becoming their heirs. The priests read prayers from the shore. So all the people of Kiev were baptized and each began to disperse to his own house. Vladimir prayed and rejoiced. However, a folk legend has come down to us that the Kyiv Magi and the most ardent pagans did not accept baptism in Pochaina and fled from Kyiv to the forests and steppes.

Baptism of Novgorod. Magi - against Dobrynya.

In 990-991, Vladimir began to baptize Novgorod. At that time, Veliky Novgorod was already considered one of the most important urban settlements in Russia. It was a major craft and trade center of the Russian north and a stronghold of the ancient pagan religion of the Slavs. Novgorod land was a vast region, rich in furs, forests, fish, deposits of iron ore. Its population regularly paid rich tribute to Kyiv and supplied the great Russian princes with warriors for campaigns.

Vladimir entrusted the responsible task of baptizing Novgorod to his teacher and closest adviser, voivode Dobrynya. The prince was well aware of the difficulties that the envoys of Kyiv would have to face in the Novgorod land, therefore, despite the threat of an attack on the southern lands of Russia by the Pechenegs, the Dobrynya detachment was reinforced by the most devoted to Kyiv warriors under the command of governor Putyata.

According to the Joachim Chronicle, the conversion of Novgorodians to Christianity took place in three stages:

• first, on the Trade side of the city, residents loyal to the new faith were baptized; it was the so-called "small baptism of Novgorod";
• after the crossing of the Kyiv troops to the left bank of the Volkhov, a mass conversion of the rest of the population of Novgorod took place;
• in conclusion, all those who tried to deceive the missionaries and declared themselves already baptized were baptized.

Novgorodians began to prepare in advance for the arrival of the Kyiv troops. A people's veche gathered on the main square of the city, at which the Novgorodians unanimously decided: do not let the Christian army of Dobrynia into the city and "don't let the idols be refuted"! The popular resistance to the will of the Kyiv prince was led by the Novgorod thousand Ugonai and the chief sorcerer of the region - Bogomil, nicknamed the Nightingale for his ability to speak beautifully. Ordinary Novgorodians were supported against Vladimir by many boyars, who feared the strengthening of Kyiv power.

Arriving at Novgorod, Dobrynya and Putyata stopped at its Slavic end and offered the pagans to be baptized, but they refused. Then the missionaries went along the “trade side, walked through the marketplaces and streets, taught people, baptizing several hundred.” In turn, the sorcerer Bogomil went around the houses of the Novgorodians, forbidding them to accept the new faith. Following him, the thousand Ugogonai rode around the city and shouted: “It’s better for us to die, rather than our gods give to reproach.”

Incited by these calls, the pagans raised an uprising in the city. They "destroyed the house of Dobrynia, plundered the estate, his wife and some of his relatives were beaten."

After that, the rebellious crowd broke the bridge over the Volkhov and placed two stone throwers on its bank, stocking up with a large number of stones. Due to the large superiority of forces, the Novgorodians could expel the missionaries from the city, so Dobrynya decided to immediately attack the rebels until they received help from other regions of Novgorod.

Kyiv warriors went down the Volkhov to the fords, went to Novgorod from the other side and attacked the rebels in the back. Part of the warriors, led by Putyata, captured the thousandth Ugoniy and the sorcerer Bogomil. Left without leaders, the Novgorodians were confused. Taking advantage of this, the Kyiv detachments attacked the main forces of the pagans, and "before slicing evil between them."

While the rebellious Novgorodians smashed the houses of Christians in the city and set fire to the Christian church, Dobrynya, in order to stop the massacre, ordered the houses of the rebels to be set on fire. The bulk of them rushed to save their property, and the new leaders of the rebels asked the Kyiv governor for peace. Dobrynya stopped the fires and ordered a new veche to be convened, at which it was decided to immediately baptize the townspeople in the waters of the Volkhov. Those who still resisted were forcibly converted to the new faith.

At the end of all the rites, Dobrynya and Putyata ordered the destruction of the Novgorod pagan temple, dropping all the idols into the Volkhov. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions that because of this, “there was real mourning in Novgorod. Men and women who saw that, with a great cry and tears, asked for them, as for their real gods. Dobrynya, mocking, told them: “What, crazy people, do you regret those who cannot defend themselves, what benefit can you hope to get from them?”

The overthrow of Perun remained in the memory of Novgorodians for a long time. Many legends are associated with this event, one of which said that, sailing along the Volkhov into the sea, the idol of Perun groaned and talked, and then called on the townspeople to protect him "with the help of a club."

Upon completion of the rite of baptism, the Kyiv warriors began to go around the houses of the townspeople, identifying those of them who did not have an Orthodox cross around their necks. In the end, all of them were also forced to enter the waters of the Volkhov and baptized. As in Kyiv, some pagans, having abandoned the new faith, led by the surviving Magi, went into the forests.

Novgorod boyars

The most important result of this baptism was the complete subordination of Novgorod to the Kyiv princely power. Nestor reports that after the pagan reform of Vladimir, the entire northern region of Russia refused to obey Kyiv, although Vladimir managed to establish a new pantheon of idols here.

Now the resistance of the Novgorod boyars was broken, and not only the “Northern Gates” of Russia, but also the entire Novgorod section of the trade “route from the Varangians to the Greeks” came under the grand duke’s control.

Leaving in Novgorod a strong military garrison of warriors devoted to Prince Vladimir, Dobrynya and Putyata went back to Kyiv and baptized small towns and villages of Novgorod land along the way. They also had small military garrisons, later replenished by the people of Kiev.

The Joachim Chronicle reports that in Novgorod, before the official act of baptism, several Christian churches already existed and the pagans coexisted peacefully with the Christians here. Obviously, the fierce resistance of the Novgorodians to baptism was political in nature and betrayed the desire of the boyar elite of Novgorod to free themselves from the power of the Great Kyiv Prince. It is no coincidence that the main center of resistance was on the Sofia side of the city, where the houses of the nobility stood and all the administrative structures of Novgorod were located.

After the baptism, the administration of the entire Northern Territory of Russia underwent great changes: the pagans could no longer hold any leading positions, and a Christian community headed by people sent from Kyiv stood at the head of Novgorod. Later, the people of Kiev, who were proud that the baptism of their city went relatively peacefully, maliciously pointed out to the Novgorodians: “Putyata baptized you with a sword, and Dobrynya with fire.”

Baptism of Rostov the Great

Both great centers of Ancient Russia, Kyiv and Novgorod, had already been baptized long ago, while Rostov, the main city of the Upper Volga region, still remained pagan. The Finno-Ugric Meri tribes, recently annexed to Russia, lived here and actively resisted the introduction of Christianity. Kyiv repeatedly tried to carry out a religious reform in the Rostov lands, but until the middle of the 11th century, all these attempts ended in failure.

In the 1060s, the Greek priest Leonty arrived here from the Kiev-Pechora Lavra, who knew the Russian language well and was distinguished by great tolerance for pagans. Under his leadership, a wooden church of Michael the Archangel was erected near Rostov. It was not easy for Leonty in the first years of his missionary activity. Several times the tribal leaders of the Meri expelled him from their lands, but he again and again returned to his temple. Leonty addressed Orthodox sermons primarily to the youth and children of Rostov, since adult Rostovites stood firmly in the pagan faith.

In 1071, after a drought and a crop failure caused by it, a famine began in the Rostov land, which the inhabitants of the region associated with the activities of Christian missionaries. In the midst of popular unrest in Rostov, two sorcerers appeared, who began to call on the townspeople to revolt. The Kyiv governor Yan, who was in the Rostov land, tried to stop the impending rebellion. However, the rebels, under the leadership of the Magi, perpetrated a massacre against the defenders of Christianity. Presumably, during the uprising, Leontius was also killed.

Only after Yan’s threat to “bring the retinue to Rostov for annual feeding” (that is, to force the townspeople to support the retinues for a year and provide them with tribute), the noble Rostovites handed over both Magi to the Kyiv governor, and they were thrown into reprisal to the angry combatants who lost their associates. For several days, the executed Magi hung on a tree, after which their bodies were given to be eaten by a bear.

But even after the suppression of the Rostov uprising, the inhabitants of the city resisted the introduction of a new faith for a long time. In 1091, a sorcerer came out of the forest again, who called on the townspeople to revolt. However, the fear of princely reprisals stopped people, and, as The Tale of Bygone Years reports, the sorcerer "quickly died." And, probably, not by itself: the former pagans finally realized that it is better to "take up the cross." Rostov was baptized, but until the 12th century, protests against Orthodoxy broke out on its lands every now and then.

When already during the reign of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (12th century) a stone cathedral was erected in Rostov, the relics of the priest Leonty killed by pagans, who has since been considered the spiritual patron of North-Western Russia, were allegedly found in the excavation.

For almost a hundred years, the Orthodox Church patiently spread the Christian faith among the pagan tribes of the Old Russian state, and everywhere baptism was accompanied by the establishment of a church hierarchy. Russia became one of the numerous metropolises of Constantinople. The adoption of Christianity was twofold, like any other phenomenon.

On the one hand, the new faith contributed to the strengthening of princely and boyar power, and, therefore, to the growth of exploitation of the common people. The princely and boyar landownership, consecrated by the Christian church and protected by the military organization of the early feudal state, was increasingly advancing on the personal and communal land property of free peasants.

This was facilitated by the bureaucratic apparatus of Russia, which stood guard over the interests of the nobility. An increasing number of peasants, losing the right to their allotments for debts, turned into tenants of boyar land and, one way or another, depended on the nobility.

But on the other hand, the introduction of Christianity in Russia contributed to the acceleration of the socio-economic and cultural development of the country. The Orthodox Church had a significant influence on the policy of the Russian princes in the field of strengthening the central power and uniting around it all the lands and peoples included in the Old Russian state. This strengthened the country and ensured its international prestige and external security.

Together with the Greek and Bulgarian priests, books began to appear in Russia, the first schools were created, national literature arose and rapidly developed. Modern archaeological excavations show that a significant part of the population of Russian cities has mastered the letter.

Christianity also influenced the development of crafts. Icon painting and fresco painting arose in Kyiv and other large cities, book writing accelerated, and the first libraries arose. The Church strengthened and protected the monogamous family, fought against some barbaric pagan rites. Thanks to the activities of the brothers Cyril and Methodius, a new alphabet appeared in Russia, accessible to the entire population - the Cyrillic alphabet.

The adoption of Christianity and the development of architecture contributed: in Kyiv and Novgorod, in Vladimir and Pskov, Ryazan and Tver, stone and wooden churches, as well as stone Orthodox cathedrals, were built.

In 989, Prince Vladimir began to build the first stone church of the Old Russian state in Kyiv - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Church of the Tithes (built on a tithe from the prince's income). The temple was built as a cathedral not far from the prince's tower. Its construction was completed in 996. The chronicles say that the church was decorated with icons, crosses and precious vessels. Marble was used in the decoration of the walls, for which contemporaries called the cathedral "marble". Unfortunately, the Church of the Tithes was destroyed by the Tatars in 1240.

Hagia Sophia in Kyiv.

At the beginning of the 11th century, Prince Yaroslav the Wise built the Hagia Sophia on the site of the victory over the nomads, in which original mosaics and frescoes of the 11th century have been preserved to this day.

The temple was built by Greek craftsmen in the Byzantine mixed masonry technique - from alternating stone and brick blocks connected with pink mortar. The building looked like a beautiful palace ensemble, decorated with thirteen domes. Its luxurious choirs filled with light, where the Grand Duke was during the service, have no analogues in the world. The main dome of Hagia Sophia symbolized Jesus Christ, the other twelve smaller domes - his apostles. The entire domed space of the temple was decorated with beautiful mosaics and frescoes. Their palette consisted of 177 shades!

At the zenith of the dome is a mosaic depicting Christ the Almighty (Pantokrator), around Him are four archangels. Of these, only one has survived in the mosaic - in blue clothes, the rest were completed in the 19th century by M. A. Vrubel with oil paints. In the drum between the windows, the figures of the twelve apostles are depicted, and below, on the sails of the dome, the evangelists are depicted.

Kyiv Sophia of the Wisdom of God

Built in the distant 11th century, St. Sophia of Kyiv continues to amaze people with its grandeur and beauty even today. It is no coincidence that the ancient Russian writer Illarion said about her: "The Church is marvelous and glorious to all the surrounding countries ...".

Temple of Hagia Sophia in Novgorod

A few years later, the stone Cathedral of St. Sophia was founded in Novgorod (1046). It was also built of stone, but the more pragmatic Novgorod refused to use marble when facing the temple, replacing it with limestone. Externally, the Novgorod Sophia had only six domes, looked stricter and more modest than the Kyiv cathedrals, but the interior was beautiful.

Magdeburg Gates

The architecture of the cathedral reflected the influence of both Byzantine architecture and the medieval traditions of Europe: the bronze Magdeburg Gates in the Romanesque style with a large number of high reliefs and sculptures were mounted on the western portal, but the interior and general proportions of the building are close to the canons of Constantinople.

Like the Kyiv Cathedral, Novgorod Sofia is still considered one of the most outstanding architectural monuments of world significance. Its construction testifies to the intention of the inhabitants of Novgorod to repeat the splendor of Kyiv stone architecture. But despite the similarity of ideas, the Novgorod Temple in design differs significantly from its prototype.

Novgorod Sofia reflects the worldview of the merchant bourgeoisie that was emerging in Russia, not accustomed to investing huge amounts of money in the external design of the city. Therefore, the church of St. Sofia is simpler, more concise and modest here. Novgorodians, as already mentioned, abandoned the construction of the cathedral from expensive marble, slate and mosaics. The interior is decorated with frescoes.

The first icons for Sophia of Novgorod were brought from Constantinople. It was easier to buy them than to pay for the work of Greek masters, as was done in Kyiv. Most of the icons of the iconostasis were decorated with silver rather than gold riza, but, nevertheless, of very high artistic work.

Fresco painting, or al fresco painting, was a way of creating picturesque images with water-based paints on still wet plaster. The frescoes perfectly conveyed the brightness and shades of color, the drawings were well preserved, so many icons and images of scenes from the Bible that adorned the walls of the Novgorod Cathedral have survived to this day.

On the cross of the central dome of the Novgorod Temple there is a lead figure of a dove, which symbolizes the image of the Holy Spirit. According to legend, once a dove sat down to rest on the domed cross of the Novgorod Sofia. Since then, he has adorned the top of the cathedral.

Later, the Mother of God revealed to one of the monks that this dove was sent from Above to protect Novgorod from the encroachments of foreign troops, and until it flies off the cross, the city is not threatened by any enemy invasion.

During the Great Patriotic War, the iconostasis, along with the rest of the interior of the Novgorod church, was taken by the Nazis to Germany. At the end of the war, in 1947, the icons were returned to Novgorod, but were significantly damaged. After many years of work of scientists-restorers, they returned to their place. In the 1970s, the Central Iconostasis in its modern form was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Even a small review of ancient Russian culture shows how great was the role of the Orthodox Church not only in strengthening the Old Russian state, but also in the development of Russian national culture. The well-known philologist V. N. Toporov, assessing the significance of the adoption of Christianity for Russian civilization, writes: “The adoption of Christianity in Russia attached to the Christian world the most extensive and most remote part of a single space - Eastern Europe ... Eastern Europe, his heritage has become an integral part of Russian spiritual culture.

The adoption of Orthodoxy was a major political and ideological success for Prince Vladimir, but his domestic and foreign policy was no less important for Russia. He began his reign by restoring order on the borders of the state. The big problem at that time was the raids of the nomadic Pecheneg tribes.

Pechenegs appeared on the southern borders of Russia in the 9th century. They were a union of nomadic tribes who had come to Europe a century earlier and occupied the Caspian territories, then known as the Great Steppe. In 988, the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv, but were defeated by the squads of Prince Svyatoslav who came to the rescue. From this moment begins the hundred-year history of the Russian-Pecheneg wars.

A.S. Pushkin in the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" colorfully depicted a picture of the raid of the Pecheneg hordes on the southern cities of Russia:

In the distance, raising black dust,
The carts are coming,
Bonfires are burning on the hills.
Trouble: the Pechenegs rebelled!

The last documented Russian-Pecheneg conflict is the siege of Kyiv in 1036, when the nomads surrounding the city were finally defeated by the great Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise. After that, the Pechenegs ceased to play an independent role in history and further acted as part of a new tribal union of nomads, called black hoods. But the memory of the Pechenegs was alive much later: for example, in the ancient Russian poem "Zadonshchina", the hero Chelubey, who entered into a duel with Alexander Peresvet, is called a Pecheneg.

At the time of Prince Vladimir, the threat of the nomads was still very strong. In 990 and 992 they plundered and burned Pereyaslavl; in 993 - 996, Russian squads unsuccessfully fought with the Pechenegs near the city of Vasilyov; in 997 the nomads attacked Kyiv. After that, thanks to several well-prepared military campaigns, Vladimir drove the Pecheneg hordes to the south, at a distance of one day's equestrian march to the Russian borders.

After that, for the defense of the southern regions of Russia, the prince ordered the construction of fortified fortresses along the entire southeastern border of the state. On both banks of the Dnieper, Zmiev Shafts were dug - deep and wide earthen ditches and embankments. In 1006-1007, an Italian ambassador traveling through the Russian lands wrote that Russia was fenced off from the nomads by ramparts, which the Russian prince fenced off on all sides with a strong palisade, and that these ramparts stretched at a distance of up to 800 kilometers.

By order of Vladimir, four defensive lines were also built, consisting of a chain of fortresses 15-20 kilometers apart, as well as a whole system of signal towers. Now, an hour before the approach of the Pechenegs advancing on Russia in Kyiv, they already knew about this and could prepare for a rebuff. Hundreds of small and large villages and dozens of Russian cities were spared from barbarian raids, for which the people lovingly dubbed their prince the Red Sun.

The second important event in the life of the country was the pacification of the Varangians, who once helped Prince Oleg capture Kyiv and since then demanded an annual tribute from the people of Kiev. The detachments of the Varangians who settled in the city were a serious military force, but after the defeat of the Pechenegs, Vladimir was able to expel them from Kyiv forever.

Ensuring the security of the Russian borders, Vladimir made several military campaigns against the Poles, freeing Cherven Rus from their occupation. In alliance with the nomads, he fought against Bulgaria and concluded many political and economic agreements beneficial for Russia - with Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Byzantium and Pope Sylvester II.

At the same time, Vladimir finally annexed the Vyatichi and the Baltic Yotvingians, thereby opening Russia up to the Baltic Sea.

Along with an active foreign policy, Prince Vladimir was constantly engaged in the internal structure of the state. He adopted all laws in agreement with the council of boyars and elders, to which representatives of large cities were also invited.

Building map of the ancient Russian city (Novgorod - 11th century)

Large settlements under Vladimir lived according to a military charter: each city was an integral organized regiment, headed by a thousand elected by the townspeople and approved by the prince. Smaller units were subordinate to him - hundreds and tens (led by sot and ten). Elders, representing the zemstvo aristocracy, also participated in the management of the city. Under Vladimir, new cities were also founded, among which one can name Vladimir-on-Klyazma (990), Belgorod (991), Pereyaslavl (992) and others.

On the basis of the "Old Russian Law", Vladimir reformed the judicial system of Russia, abolishing the death penalty, which was introduced by agreement with Byzantium. Instead of executing criminals, according to ancient custom, they were punished with a fine - vira. Vladimir is credited with the "Church Charter", which determined the rights and duties of church courts.

For the first time in Russia, under Vladimir, the constant minting of coins began - gold coins and pieces of silver, created on the model of Byzantine metal money. On most of the coins, the prince was depicted sitting on the throne and the inscription was applied: “Vladimir is on the table.” Simultaneously with Russian coins, Arab ducats, Byzantine gold pendants and silver milparis were in free circulation.

Bulgarians became the first coin masters in Russia. The minting of its own coin was dictated not by economic needs (Rus was well served by Byzantine and Arab banknotes), but by political goals: its own coin served as an additional sign of the sovereignty of princely power.

After the introduction of Christianity, Vladimir carried out an educational reform in the country, which, like everyone else, was carried out by force. The prince ordered to open schools for children at large monasteries and urban Orthodox cathedrals: “He sent to collect children from the best people and send them to book education. The mothers of these children wept for them; for they were not yet established in the faith, and wept for them as if they were dead.”

Holy Mount Athos - Monastery of the Virgin

Byzantine and Bulgarian priests worked as teachers in these schools, many of whom were trained on Mount Athos - the Holy Mountain, located on the peninsula of the same name in Eastern Greece, where an Autonomous Monastic State already existed at that time, consisting of 20 Orthodox monasteries. It was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople and was considered the largest center of Orthodoxy in the world.

To this day, Athos is the largest center of Orthodox monasticism on the planet, one of the main holy places of the Orthodox Church. Athos is revered as the Lot of the Virgin and is now recognized as an important UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the most famous customs of the monastic Holy Mountain is the prohibition of women and female animals from entering there.

Thanks to the educational activities of the Athonite monks, a national intelligentsia began to form in Russia. One of the graduates of the schools opened by Vladimir was the Kyiv Metropolitan and writer Hilarion, the first metropolitan of Slavic origin in the Old Russian state.

He owns the "Word of the Law and Grace" - a solemn speech on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, in which he sings of the truth, the Russian land "through Jesus revealed", and Prince Vladimir, who brought the Christian faith to Russia. The speech was delivered in one of the Kyiv Orthodox cathedrals, and then distributed in a handwritten copy among educated people.

In the memory of the people, stories about the generosity of the great Kyiv prince Vladimir, who every Sunday arranged feasts in his courtyard, gathering boyars, wealthy merchants and combatants-heroes, were preserved. For the Kyiv poor, all the poor and sick, the prince, according to legend, ordered to deliver food and drink on carts. Nestor writes: “And he ordered carts to be equipped and, putting on them bread, meat, fish, various vegetables, honey in barrels, and kvass in others, to deliver around the city, asking:“ Where is the sick or beggar who cannot walk? distribute whatever they need."

Princely feast in Kyiv

As a smart and far-sighted strategist, Vladimir paid special attention to his squad, for he remembered the parable that if a country does not want to feed its own army, then it will soon have to feed someone else's. The prince richly presented his soldiers and consulted with them when deciding state affairs, saying: “I will not find a squad with silver and gold, but with a squad I will get silver and gold, as my grandfather and my father with a squad found gold and silver.”

In the last years of his life, Vladimir, presumably, was going to change the principle of succession to the throne in order to bequeath power to his beloved son Boris, to whom he, bypassing his older sons, entrusted the command of the squad.

Two of his senior heirs - Svyatopolk and Yaroslav - in 1014 rebelled against their father. Having imprisoned Svyatopolk, Vladimir prepared for war with Yaroslav, but suddenly fell ill and died on July 15, 1015 in his country residence Berestovo.

He was buried in the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv: the marble sarcophagi of the prince and his wife stood in the center of the temple in a specially built tomb. In 1240, the Tatar-Mongol hordes burned the city, and the burial of Prince Vladimir was lost. But 400 years later, in 1632-1636, when dismantling the ruins of the Church of the Tithes, sarcophagi were discovered that allegedly belonged to Vladimir and Anna. However, until now, scientists have not been able to confirm this assumption. Today, July 15 is considered the day of commemoration of the great Kyiv prince Vladimir, who brought the Orthodox faith to Russia.

Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c.978-1054)

Yaroslav Vladimirovich (c. 978 - 1054) - the third son of Vladimir the Red Sun and the Polotsk princess Rogneda, Prince of Rostov (987 - 1010), Prince of Novgorod (1010 - 1034), Grand Duke of Kyiv (1034 - 1054). At baptism he received the name George. Memorial Day - 20 February. It is first mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years when describing Vladimir's marriage to Rogneda and reporting on their common children - Izyaslav, Mstislav, Yaroslav and Vsevolod.

N. K. Roerich. Boris and Gleb

This is followed by a message about the death of Vladimir and that at that time the eldest and only heir to the Kyiv throne was Svyatopolk, the son of Vladimir from Julia, one of the pagan wives of the prince. The father's attempt to change the law of succession to the throne in favor of the youngest son Boris, his son from Princess Anna, led to a war of older sons against their father. In the struggle for the throne of Kyiv, Svyatopolk killed his younger brothers - Gleb, Boris and Svyatoslav, for which he received the nickname "Cursed". However, death soon overtook him. By 1034, the only legitimate heir to the throne, Yaroslav Vladimirovich, remained alive.

In 987 - 1010, Yaroslav ruled in Rostov, and then, after the death of his elder brother Vysheslav, received his throne in Novgorod. Here he learned about the villainy of Svyatopolk and his father's violation of the law of succession to the throne. Gathering a squad, Yaroslav went to Kyiv. Svyatopolk, who called on the Varangians to help him, had a more prepared and stronger army, but the people came to the aid of the Novgorod prince: Novgorodians and Kievans supported Yaroslav and helped him defeat his brother.

For the assistance provided by the Novgorodians, Yaroslav generously rewarded them, giving each warrior ten gold hryvnias. Then, leaving Novgorod, the prince left the city a legal Charter with the written laws listed in it, subject to execution in order to avoid strife and uprisings. This Charter later received the name "Yaroslav's Letters" and a few years later was put in the basis of national legislation - "Russian Truth".

Ingegerda and Yaroslav the Wise

Back in 1019, Yaroslav, already a Christian, married the daughter of the Swedish king Olaf Shchetkonung - Ingegerda, named Irina in Russia. The first wife of Yaroslav - Norwegian Anna - was captured in 1018 by the Polish king Boleslav the Brave and forever taken to Poland.

Now a new princess has arrived in Russia - Ingegerda. As a wedding gift, she received from her husband the city of Aldeygaborg (Ladoga) with adjacent lands. From here came the name of the Ladoga territories - Ingermanlandia, or the Land of Ingegerda.

In 1034, together with his court, wife and children, Yaroslav moved to Kyiv and took his father's throne, becoming the Grand Duke of Kyiv. From the very first days of his reign, he took the necessary measures to ensure the safety of Russian villages and cities from the Pechenegs who reappeared on the Russian borders.

Two years later (1036) the prince won a final victory over the nomads, utterly crushing their tribal alliance. In memory of this, at the site of the battle with the Pechenegs, Yaroslav ordered the construction of the famous Temple of Hagia Sophia. The best artists were invited from Constantinople to Russia for its painting.

For 37 years of his reign, Yaroslav Vladimirovich led an active foreign policy. He finally annexed the Yam and other Baltic tribes to Russia, successfully fought with the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh, participated in the struggle for the Polish throne, concluded peace treaties with France, Germany and other European countries.

The prince strengthened his foreign policy activities with dynastic marriages. His sister Maria was given as a wife to the Polish king Casimir and became Queen Dobronega in Poland. One son of Yaroslav, prince Izyaslav, married the Polish princess Gertrude. Another - Vsevolod - received as his wife the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh. In 1048, the ambassadors of Henry of France arrived in Kyiv to ask for the hand of Yaroslav's daughter, Princess Anna, who, under the name of Anna of Russia, became Queen of France.

In addition to Anna, Yaroslav's family had two more daughters - Anastasia and Elizaveta. Anna's sister Princess Elizabeth became the wife of the Norwegian king Harold the Terrible, who for a long time was at the Russian court as a hired warrior. Nord repeatedly asked Yaroslav for the hand of Anastasia, but was refused. He writes about this in his beautiful poems dedicated to the Russian princess.

Harold had to accomplish many feats before Yaroslav agreed to his marriage with his middle daughter. The young warrior traveled the world for a long time in search of worthy opponents. He visited Byzantium and Sicily, Africa and on pirate ships, and from everywhere he sent letters and expensive gifts to Elizabeth in the hope of winning the heart of the young princess.

After his wedding with Elizabeth was finally played in Kyiv, Harold took his young wife to his homeland, where he immediately won the royal throne. The Norwegian king participated in many campaigns of the Vikings, who in the ancient Scandinavian sagas was called Harold the Bold or Harold the Terrible. In 1066 he died in one of the battles. Elizabeth was widowed and left alone with her two daughters in her arms.

The girls' names were Ingerda and Maria. They grew up and became educated women, because Elizabeth herself was involved in their training and education. Later, Ingerda and Maria did a lot to maintain good relations between Norway and Kievan Rus. And their mother married the Danish king Sven, and Kyiv had another ally - Denmark.

Yaroslav the Wise gave his third daughter, Anastasia, in marriage to the Hungarian king Andrew the First. It happened in 1046. After the wedding, the name of Queen Agmunda appeared in the documentation of the Hungarian court (as Anastasia began to be called after the adoption of the Catholic faith).

Anastasia was less fortunate than her sisters. When her husband died, she ruled Hungary on her own for some time. Then her son Shalamon grew up and rightfully took the royal throne. But at this time, the illegal pretender to the place of the Hungarian king - Bela the First - opposed Shalamon.

The war began, and events developed not in favor of the son of Elizabeth. In the end, the Queen Mother had to flee to neighboring Germany, and there her traces were lost. And to this day, no one knows how the third daughter of Yaroslav the Wise lived her life and where her grave is. By this time, her father Yaroslav had already died, and there was no one left in Kyiv who would have wished to find the Russian princess.

But the most interesting and unusual fate was bestowed from Above on the youngest daughter of the Russian prince - the beautiful golden-haired Anna.

Anna Yaroslavna is the youngest daughter of Yaroslav the Wise from his marriage to Ingigerda of Sweden, the wife of the French King Henry the First. She received a good education, spoke foreign languages ​​- Greek and Latin. The 17th century historian François de Mezere wrote that King Henry of France "received the fame of the charms of the princess, namely Anna, daughter of George, King of Russia, now Muscovy, and he was fascinated by the story of her perfection."

By this time, the aged French monarch was widowed and struggled to hold back the reins of government. Marriage with Anna as a representative of a young and strong Russian state could help strengthen Henry's power. In addition, he provided reliable allied ties with Russia, which was recognized as an ally even in Byzantium.

Further, the French chronicles report that the king sent his embassy, ​​headed by Bishop Gauthier and one of his vassals, Gaslin de Chauny, to the "land of the Russians", located "somewhere near the Greek borders". Upon arrival in Kyiv, the envoys of the king asked Yaroslav for the hand of his youngest daughter, and the prince gave his consent to this marriage.

On May 19, 1051, the wedding of Henry and Anna took place, who brought with her a rich dowry in money and jewelry, as well as a large library. In 1052, Anna gave birth to Philip's heir to the king, and then three more children: Emma, ​​Robert and Hugo.

At the French court, the Russian princess was the only literate person; in a letter to her father, she complained: “What barbarous country did you send me to; here the dwellings are gloomy, the churches are ugly and the manners are terrible.” Anna was amazed that the courtiers of Henry and the king himself, during feasts, took food from the table with their hands and wore wigs with lice. With her arrival, manners at the French court began to change.

The fame of the mind, erudition and beauty of the young queen flew to Rome. In 1059, Pope Nicholas wrote to Anna: “The rumor of your virtues, delightful maiden, has reached our ears, and we hear with great joy that you are fulfilling your royal duties in this very Christian state with commendable zeal and a wonderful mind.”

After the death of Henry, Anna remained at the French court, and her fate is similar to the fate of the heroine of a chivalric novel. Two years after the death of her husband, the young queen was kidnapped by a descendant of Charlemagne - Count Raul de Crepy de Valois.

In the church of Senlis Castle, against the will of Anna, they were married by a Catholic priest. Meanwhile, the count at that time was married. His wife Alinor appealed to the Pope with a complaint about her husband's behavior, and the pope declared the marriage of Raoul and Anna invalid.

However, the count ignored the decision of the Vatican and even presented his young wife at court. Anna enjoyed the love of her son, King Philip, often communicated with him and accompanied him on trips with her illegitimate spouse. During these years, Anna became even more interested in political activities. Under many state documents of that time, next to the signature of Philip, there is also her signature: "Anna, mother of King Philip."

After the death of Count Raoul de Valois, Anna returned to her son's court and plunged into state affairs. The last charter, signed by the now middle-aged ex-queen, dates back to 1075. And her beloved son, King Philip the First, ruled the French throne for a long time.

Philip the First (1052 - 1108) - King of France since 1060, eldest son of Henry the First and Anna of Russia, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. He was a representative of the French royal dynasty of the Capetians.

According to his mother, he was closely related to the Byzantine emperors, therefore he received a Greek name uncharacteristic for the French nobility. Since then, the name Philip has become one of the most common in the Capetian dynasty.

Since the prince was a late child (when he was born, his father was already 49 years old), Henry already in 1059 organized the coronation of the seven-year-old heir. Thus, he provided his son with automatic, without elections, succession to the throne.

Philip's first wife was the Dutch princess Bertha. Together with her husband, she lived on the territory of the royal domain, which included the lands around Paris and Orleans. The real power of the French king in those years extended only to this territory, since he was considered not an autocrat, but only the first among French aristocrats equal to him in position, who in every possible way sought to limit the influence of the king on their allotments.

Philip became the first French king who managed to expand his domain by annexing neighboring lands: he acquired the territories of Gatinet, Corby, Vexin and Berry. Unlike his predecessors, according to the French chronicles, Philip "did not have the same brilliance, but showed strictness, consistency in managing the heritage of his ancestors, as well as greed, which the pope accused Philip of, because he ordered his servants to derive the maximum benefit from trade."

Medieval french castle

Drastic changes in Philip's life took place in the first half of the 1090s. The king unexpectedly sent his wife Berta to virtual imprisonment in the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer. And on the night of May 15, 1092, he stole from one of his powerful vassals Fulk of Anjou his beautiful wife, Bertrada de Montfort (probably with her consent). Then Philip arranged a formal divorce from Bertha ("it turned out" that the spouses were too closely related for marriage) and married Bertrada.

This act of his caused outrage among the clergy: in 1094, the Clermont Cathedral, led by Pope Urban II, excommunicated the king from the church. However, until 1104, Philip continued to maintain his marriage to Bertrada. Only four years before his death, he broke off their relationship. Excommunication significantly worsened the position of royal power. Philip could not take part in the crusades, and his vassals, in accordance with the will of the pope, ceased to obey the French crown.

In marriage with Bertha of Holland, Philip had the only son, Louis, whom, upon reaching the age of majority, the king made his co-ruler. Despite the intrigues of Bertrada's stepmother, who sought to put her illegitimate son on the French throne, after the death of his father, Louis became the king of France. And Philip quietly lived out his life in the abbey of Fleury, and here he died in the summer of 1108. In the same abbey, near Orleans, Philip was buried.

Fleury Abbey. France.

The 48-year reign of Philip the First was a record long for France, and the assessment of the activities of this king was also ambiguous. In the first half of his life, he significantly expanded the royal domain, successfully fought against the opposition nobility, fought several strategically important battles and prevented the invasion of France by the Anglo-Norman troops. But the scandalous details of the king's personal life in the second half of his life obscured these achievements in the eyes of his contemporaries.

Such was the fate of one of the grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise, the Russian prince, who, thanks to wide dynastic connections, put the princely dynasty of Russia on a par with the leading royal houses of Europe and laid the tradition of marriage contracts between them.

Yaroslav spent his last years in Vyshgorod, where he died on February 20, 1054 in the arms of his youngest son Vsevolod. They buried the Grand Duke of Kyiv in the church of Hagia Sophia. His marble hexagonal sarcophagus still stands here, in one of the premises of the temple.

In 1936, 1939 and 1964 Yaroslav's sarcophagus was opened for historical research. According to the results of the autopsy in 1939, the Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov created a sculptural portrait of the prince, whose height was determined to be 175 centimeters. It was found that Yaroslav was limping after being wounded in one of the battles: the right leg of the prince was longer than the left.

On September 10, 2009, Ukrainian anthropologists once again opened the sarcophagus of Yaroslav the Wise. It turned out that there is only one skeleton in it - the remains of the wife of Prince Irina. In the course of an investigation conducted by journalists, it was established that in 1943 the remains of the prince were taken out of Kyiv and today, perhaps, they are at the disposal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

For his state activity, Yaroslav received the nickname of the Wise among the people. The prince was a highly educated man who spoke five foreign languages. He collected the richest library, which before his death he transferred to the St. Sophia Cathedral; organized in Russia a regular state chronicle; a group of Russian and foreign specialists worked at the princely court, who were engaged in the translation into Russian of European and Byzantine books and textbooks.

The prince opened schools throughout the country, thanks to which literacy quickly spread among ordinary people. In Novgorod, he founded the first school for boys, who were trained here for state activity.

During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, Russia reached its peak, was recognized as equal in power and level of cultural and economic development of Byzantium and Europe, and also successfully repelled all attempts of external aggression and political pressure from neighboring states.

Under Yaroslav the Wise, the Russian Orthodox Church was first headed by a patriarch of Slavic origin, Hilarion. This meant the end of Byzantine church influence on the territory of the Old Russian state. The prince himself was already called "king", as evidenced by the solemn inscription on his sarcophagus: "about the repose of our king."

Having laid the city of Yuryev (Tartu) near Lake Peipsi, Yaroslav thereby secured Russian positions in the Baltic states, which provided Russia with access to the Baltic Sea. In 1035, after the death of his brother Mstislav, who owned the lands of Eastern Russia, Yaroslav finally became the sovereign ruler of the Old Russian state.

Golden Gates of Kyiv

Kyiv, built under Yaroslav with stone chambers and churches, competed with Constantinople in beauty and international prestige. There were about 400 Orthodox churches and 8 markets in the city, and the main entrance to the capital of Russia was decorated with the Golden Gates, built on the model of Constantinople.

NORMAN THEORY - a theory created by European historians and politicians, according to which the power and greatness of the Russian state are explained by the fact that its founders are European (Scandinavian) princes called to Russia, who allegedly laid the foundations of the Russian state according to European models.

The purpose of such statements by some foreign "theorists" is the desire to humiliate our state, attributing to itself its creation. Even today Europe cannot understand that the strength of Russia lies not in the tsar, but in the Russian people - in their wisdom, endurance and devotion to their native land.

For the first time the thesis about the origin of the Varangians from Sweden and their main role in the state building of Russia was put forward by the Swedish king Johan III in correspondence with Ivan the Terrible. The reason for this statement was the defeat of Sweden in the Livonian War (1558-1583) and an attempt to justify this shame by attributing the successes of the Russian army to the hereditary influence of the Vikings.

The Norman theory became widespread in Russia in the first half of the 18th century thanks to the activities of German scientists invited to work at the Russian Academy of Sciences - G.Z. Bayer, G.F. Miller, Strube de Pyrmont and A.L. Schlözer.

This theory was immediately opposed by the great Russian encyclopedist, writer and scientist - Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711 - 1765). Even then he emphasized that the Varangians called to Russia - Rurik, Truvor and Sineus - were the sons of the Russian princess and the grandchildren of the Novgorod prince Gostomysl.

That is why Gostomysl chose them as his heirs: they carried Russian blood in themselves, were brought up by a Russian woman, knew the Russian language and Slavic customs well. And, as we see, the Novgorod prince was not mistaken in his choice. Rurik and Oleg, Igor and Svyatoslav, as well as all their subsequent descendants, faithfully served our people.

Not coincidentally, several centuries later, about writing the life of the Russian princes, Metropolitan Hilarion rightly said: "They were not rulers in a bad country, but in Russia, which is known and heard in all ends of the earth."

Let us cherish the heritage of our great ancestors - the bright and beautiful Russian Land, as Oleg and Igor, Svyatoslav and Vladimir cherished it, as the Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise loved our Motherland and increased its dignity!

The Tale of Bygone Years was created in the 12th century and is the most famous ancient Russian chronicle. Now it is included in the school curriculum - that is why every student who wants not to disgrace himself in the classroom has to read or listen to this work.

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What is The Tale of Bygone Years (PVL)

This ancient chronicle is a collection of texts-articles that tells about the events in Kyiv from the time described in the Bible, up to 1137. At the same time, the dating itself begins in the work of 852.

The Tale of Bygone Years: Characteristics of the Chronicle

The features of the piece are:

All this singled out the Tale of Bygone Years from among other ancient Russian works. The genre can not be called either historical or literary, the chronicle only tells about the events that took place, without trying to make an assessment of them. The position of the authors is simple - everything is the will of God.

History of creation

In science, the monk Nestor is recognized as the main author of the chronicle, although it has been proven that the work has several authors. However, it was Nestor who was named the first chronicler in Russia.

There are several theories explaining when the chronicle was written:

• Written in Kyiv. Date of writing - 1037, author Nestor. Folklore works are taken as a basis. Repeatedly corresponded with various monks and Nestor himself.
• The date of writing is 1110.

One of the variants of the work has survived to this day, the Laurentian Chronicle - a copy of the Tale of Bygone Years, performed by the monk Lavrenty. Unfortunately, the original edition has been lost.

The Tale of Bygone Years: a summary

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the summary of the chronicle chapter by chapter.

The beginning of the chronicle. About Slavs. First princes

When the Flood ended, the creator of the ark, Noah, died. His sons had the honor of dividing the land among themselves by lot. North and west went to Japheth, Ham to the south, Shem to the east. The angry God destroyed the majestic Tower of Babel and, as a punishment for the proud people, divides them into nationalities and endows them with different languages. This is how the Slavic people, the Rusichi, were formed, who settled along the banks of the Dnieper. Gradually, the Russians also divided:

• Meek peaceful clearings began to live across the fields.
• In the forests - warlike robbers Drevlyans. Even cannibalism is not alien to them.

Andrey's journey

Further in the text you can read about the wanderings of the Apostle Andrew in the Crimea and along the Dnieper, everywhere he preached Christianity. It also tells about the creation of Kyiv, a great city with pious inhabitants and an abundance of churches. This is what the apostle tells his disciples. Then Andrei returns to Rome and talks about the Slovenes who build wooden houses and take strange water procedures called ablutions.

Three brothers ruled over the glades. By the name of the eldest, Kiya, the great city of Kyiv was named. The other two brothers are Shchek and Khoriv. In Tsargrad, Kiyu was given a great honor by the local king. Further, the path of Kyi lay in the city of Kievets, which attracted his attention, but the locals did not allow him to settle here. Returning to Kyiv, Kyi and his brothers continue to live here until their death.

Khazars

The brothers were gone, and the militant Khazars attacked Kyiv, forcing the peaceful, good-natured glades to pay tribute to them. After consulting, the inhabitants of Kyiv decide to pay tribute with sharp swords. The elders of the Khazars see this as a bad sign - the tribe will not always be submissive. Times are coming when the Khazars themselves will pay tribute to this strange tribe. In the future, this prophecy will come true.

Name of the Russian land

In the Byzantine chronicle there is information about a campaign against Constantinople by a certain "Rus", suffering from civil strife: in the north, Russian lands pay tribute to the Varangians, in the south - to the Khazars. Having got rid of oppression, the northern peoples begin to suffer from constant conflicts within the tribe and the lack of a unified power. To solve the problem, they turn to their former enslavers - the Varangians, with a request to give them a prince. Three brothers came: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, but when the younger brothers died, Rurik became the only Russian prince. And the new state was called the Russian land.

Dir and Askold

With the permission of Prince Rurik, two of his boyars, Dir and Askold, undertook a military campaign to Constantinople, on the way meeting glades paying tribute to the Khazars. The boyars decide to settle here and rule Kyiv. Their campaign against Constantinople turned out to be a complete failure, when all 200 ships of the Varangians were destroyed, many soldiers drowned in the abyss of water, few returned home.

After the death of Prince Rurik, the throne was to pass to his young son Igor, but while the prince was still a baby, the governor, Oleg, began to rule. It was he who found out that Dir and Askold illegally appropriated the princely title and ruled in Kyiv. Having lured the impostors by cunning, Oleg arranged a trial for them and the boyars were killed, since they ascended the throne without being a princely family.

When the famous princes ruled - Prophetic Oleg, Prince Igor and Olga, Svyatoslav

Oleg

In 882-912. Oleg was the governor of the Kyiv throne, he built cities, conquered hostile tribes, so it was he who managed to conquer the Drevlyans. With a huge army, Oleg comes to the gates of Constantinople and cunningly scares the Greeks, who agree to pay a huge tribute to Russia, and hangs his shield on the gates of the conquered city. For extraordinary insight (the prince realized that the dishes presented to him were poisoned), Oleg was called the Prophetic.

Peace reigns for a long time, but, seeing an unkind omen in the sky (a star resembling a spear), the prince-governor calls the soothsayer to him and asks what kind of death awaits him. To Oleg's surprise, he reports that the death of the prince awaits from his beloved war horse. So that the prophecy does not come true, Oleg orders to feed the pet, but no longer approaches him. A few years later, the horse died and the prince, coming to say goodbye to him, is amazed at the error of the prophecy. But alas, the predictor was right - a poisonous snake crawled out of the skull of the animal and bit Oleg, he died in agony.

Death of Prince Igor

The events in the chapter take place in the years 913-945. Prophetic Oleg died and the reign passed to Igor, who had already matured enough. The Drevlyans refuse to pay tribute to the new prince, but Igor, like Oleg earlier, managed to subdue them and imposed even greater tribute. Then the young prince gathers a large army and marches on Constantinople, but suffers a crushing defeat: the Greeks use fire against Igor's ships and destroy almost the entire army. But the young prince manages to gather a new large army, and the king of Byzantium, deciding to avoid bloodshed, offers Igor a rich tribute in exchange for peace. The prince confers with the warriors, who offer to accept tribute and not fight.

But this was not enough for the greedy warriors, after a while they literally force Igor to go to the Drevlyans again for tribute. Greed killed the young prince - not wanting to pay more, the Drevlyans kill Igor and bury him not far from Iskorosten.

Olga and her revenge

Having killed Prince Igor, the Drevlyans decide to marry his widow to their prince Mal. But the princess, by cunning, managed to destroy all the nobility of the recalcitrant tribe, burying them alive. Then the smart princess calls matchmakers - noble Drevlyans and burns them alive in a bathhouse. And then she manages to burn Iskorosten by tying burning tinder to the legs of pigeons. The princess establishes a huge tribute to the Drevlyansk lands.

Olga and baptism

The princess shows her wisdom in another chapter of the Tale of Bygone Years: wanting to avoid marriage with the king of Byzantium, she is baptized, becoming his spiritual daughter. Struck by the woman's cunning, the king lets her go in peace.

Svyatoslav

The next chapter describes the events of 964-972 and the war of Prince Svyatoslav. He began to rule after the death of his mother, Princess Olga. He was a courageous warrior who managed to defeat the Bulgarians, save Kyiv from the attack of the Pechenegs and make Pereyaslavets the capital.

With an army of only 10,000 soldiers, the brave prince attacks Byzantium, which sent a hundred thousandth army against him. Inspiring his army to go to certain death, Svyatoslav said that death is better than the shame of defeat. And he manages to win. The Byzantine king pays a good tribute to the Russian army.

The brave prince died at the hands of the Pecheneg prince Kuri, who attacked the army of Svyatoslav, weakened by hunger, going to Russia in search of a new squad. A bowl is made from his skull, from which the treacherous Pechenegs drink wine.

Russia after baptism

Baptism of Russia

This chapter of the chronicle tells that Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav and the housekeeper, became a prince and chose a single god. Idols were overthrown, and Russia adopted Christianity. At first, Vladimir lived in sin, he had several wives and concubines, and his people made sacrifices to idol gods. But having accepted faith in one God, the prince becomes pious.

On the fight against the Pechenegs

The chapter recounts several events:

• In 992, the struggle between the troops of Prince Vladimir and the attacking Pechenegs begins. They offer to fight the best fighters: if the Pecheneg wins, the war will be three years, if the Rusich - three years of peace. The Russian youth won, peace was established for three years.
• Three years later, the Pechenegs attack again and the prince miraculously manages to escape. A church was erected in honor of this event.
• The Pechenegs attacked Belgorod, a terrible famine began in the city. The inhabitants managed to escape only by cunning: on the advice of a wise old man, they dug wells in the ground, put a vat of oatmeal jelly in one, and honey in the second, and the Pechenegs were told that the earth itself gives them food. They lifted the siege in fear.

Massacre with the Magi

Magi come to Kyiv, they begin to accuse noble women of hiding food, causing hunger. The cunning people kill many women, taking their property for themselves. Only Jan Vyshatich, the Kyiv governor, manages to expose the Magi. He ordered the townspeople to give him the deceivers, threatening that otherwise he would live with them for another year. Talking with the Magi, Yang learns that they worship the Antichrist. The governor orders people whose relatives died due to the fault of deceivers to kill them.

Blindness

This chapter describes the events of 1097 when the following happened:

• Princely council in Lubitsch for the conclusion of peace. Each prince received his own oprichnina, they entered into an agreement not to fight with each other, focusing on the expulsion of external enemies.
• But not all the princes are satisfied: Prince Davyd felt left out and forced Svyatopolk to go over to his side. They conspired against Prince Vasilko.
• Svyatopolk tricks the gullible Vasilko into his place, where he blinds him.
• The rest of the princes are horrified by what the brothers did with Vasilko. They demand from Svyatopolk the expulsion of Davyd.
• Davyd dies in exile, and Vasilko returns to his native Terebovl, where he reigns.

Victory over the Polovtsy

The last chapter of the Tale of Bygone Years tells about the victory over the Polovtsy of princes Vladimir Monomakh and Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. The Polovtsian troops were defeated, and Prince Beldyuzya was executed, the Russians returned home with rich booty: cattle, slaves and property.

This event ends the narrative of the first Russian chronicle.

The Tale of Bygone Years occupies a special place in the history of Russian public consciousness and the history of Russian literature. This is not only the oldest of the chronicles that have come down to us, telling about the emergence of the Russian state and the first centuries of its history, but at the same time the most important monument of historiography, which reflected the ideas of ancient Russian scribes of the early 12th century. about the place of the Russians among other Slavic peoples, ideas about the emergence of Russia as a state and the origin of the ruling dynasty, in which, as they would say today, the main directions of foreign and domestic policy are illuminated with extraordinary clarity. The Tale of Bygone Years testifies to the highly developed national self-consciousness at that time: the Russian land conceives itself as a powerful state with its own independent policy, ready, if necessary, to enter into single combat even with the powerful Byzantine Empire, closely connected by political interests and kinship relations of rulers not only with neighboring countries - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, but also with Germany, and even with France, Denmark, Sweden. Russia conceives itself as an Orthodox state, already from the first years of its Christian history, consecrated by special divine grace: it is rightfully proud of its patron saints - princes Boris and Gleb, its shrines - monasteries and temples, its spiritual mentors - theologians and preachers, the most famous of which , of course, was in the XI century. Metropolitan Hilarion. The guarantee of the integrity and military power of Russia should have been the dominion in it of a single princely dynasty - the Rurikovichs. Therefore, reminders that all princes are blood brothers are a constant motif of The Tale of Bygone Years, because in practice Russia is shaken by internecine strife and brother raises his hand to brother more than once. Another topic is persistently discussed by the chronicler: the Polovtsian danger. The Polovtsian khans, sometimes allies and matchmakers of the Russian princes, most often nevertheless acted as leaders of devastating raids, they besieged and burned cities, exterminated the inhabitants, and led away lines of prisoners. The Tale of Bygone Years introduces its readers to the very thick of these political, military, and ideological problems that were relevant for that time.

THE LEGEND ABOUT THE APOSTLE ANDREY

When the meadows lived on their own on these mountains, there was a path from the Varangians to the Greeks and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper it dragged to Lovot, and along Lovot you can enter Ilmen, the great lake; Volkhov flows out of the same lake and flows into the Great Lake Nevo, and the mouth of that lake flows into the Varangian Sea. And by that sea you can even reach Rome, and from Rome you can come along the same sea to Constantinople, and from Constantinople you can come to the Pontus Sea, into which the Dnieper River flows. The Dnieper flows out of the Okovsky forest and flows south, and the Dvina flows from the same forest and goes north, and flows into the Varangian Sea. From the same forest, the Volga flows to the east and flows through seventy mouths into the Khvalis Sea. Therefore, from Russia you can sail along the Volga to the Bolgars and Khvalisy, and go east to the lot of Sim, and along the Dvina to the Varangians, and from the Varangians to Rome, from Rome to the Khamov tribe. And the Dnieper flows into the Pontic Sea by three mouths; this sea is called Russian, - St. Andrew, Peter's brother, taught him along the shores.

As they say, when Andrei taught in Sinop and arrived in Korsun, he learned that the mouth of the Dnieper was not far from Korsun, and he wanted to go to Rome, and sailed to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. And it so happened that he came and stood under the mountains on the shore. And in the morning, getting up, he said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? So the grace of God will shine on these mountains, there will be a great city, and God will build many churches. And having ascended these mountains, he blessed them and put up a cross, and prayed to God, and descended from this mountain, where Kyiv would later be, and went up the Dnieper. And he came to the Slavs, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people living there - what is their custom and how they wash and whip, and marveled at them. And he went to the Varangians, and came to Rome, and told about how many he taught and whom he saw, and told them: “I saw a miracle in the Slavic land when I came here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up strongly, and they would undress and be naked, and douse themselves with soap, and take brooms, and start whipping, and beat themselves to such an extent that they would barely get out, barely alive, and douse themselves with icy water, and only in this way would they come to life. And they do this constantly, not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they do not wash themselves, but<...>torment." Those, hearing, were amazed; Andrew, having been in Rome, came to Sinop.

"TALE OF TIME YEARS" AND ITS EDITIONS

In 1110-1113, the first edition (version) of the Tale of Bygone Years was completed - a lengthy chronicle that absorbed numerous information on the history of Russia: about the Russian wars with the Byzantine Empire, about the call to Russia for the reign of the Scandinavians Rurik, Truvor and Sineus, about the history of the Kievan- 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.

The first edition of the Tale 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 Promonomach spirit) and in 1117-1118. unknown scribe from the entourage of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (son of Vladimir Monomakh), the text of the Tale of Bygone Years was revised. This is how the second and third editions of the Tale of Bygone Years arose; the oldest list of the second edition has come down to us as part of the Laurentian, and the earliest list of the third - as part of the Ipatiev Chronicle.

EDITING THE "TALE OF TIME YEARS"

Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir Monomakh retained his "fatherland" - the principality of Pereyaslavl, as well as Suzdal and Rostov. He recognized the power of Vladimir and Veliky Novgorod, obeying his orders and accepting princes from him. In 1118, Vladimir demanded to himself "all the boyars of Novgorod" to bring them to the oath. He sent some of them back to Novgorod, and "leave some of them with you." Under Vladimir, the former military power of the ancient Russian state, weakened by the previous feudal strife, was restored. The Polovtsy suffered a crushing blow, and they did not dare to attack the Russian land ...

One of the measures during the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv in 1113 was the correction of Nestor's "Tale of Bygone Years" in order to more correctly cover the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, hated by the Kyiv working people. Monomakh entrusted this matter to the abbot of the Vydubetsky monastery, Sylvester. The Vydubetsky Monastery was founded by the father of Vladimir Monomakh, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and, naturally, he took the side of this prince, and after his death - the side of his son. Sylvester conscientiously fulfilled the task entrusted to him. He rewrote The Tale of Bygone Years and supplemented it with several inserts about Svyatopolk's negative actions. So, Sylvester introduced into the "Tale of Bygone Years" under the year 1097 the story of the priest Vasily about the blinding of Vasilko Rostislavich. Then, in a new way, he outlined the history of the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1103. Although this campaign was led by Svyatopolk, as the senior prince of Kyiv, Sylvester's pen Svyatopolk was relegated to the background, and Vladimir Monomakh, who really participated in this campaign, but did not lead it, was put in the first place.

The fact that this version could not belong to Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, is clear from a comparison with it of a story about the same campaign that is available in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon, probably following the tradition from Nestor himself. In the story "Paterika" Vladimir Monomakh is not even mentioned, and the victory over the Polovtsy is attributed to one Svyatopolk, who received a blessing before the campaign from the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery.

While editing Nestor's The Tale of Bygone Years, Sylvester did not continue it for a single year, but issued an indication of the authorship of the Kiev-Pechersk monk. Under the same year 1110, Sylvester made the following addition: “Hegumen Sylvester of St. Michael wrote these books, chronicler, hoping from God to receive mercy under Prince Volodimer, who reigns over him Kiev, and at that time I am abbess at St. Michael, in the summer of 6624 (1116) indicta 9. And if you read these books, then be in prayers. Since Sylvester's edition received official recognition, it formed the basis of all further Russian chronicle writing and has come down to us in many later chronicle lists. Nestor's text of The Tale of Bygone Years, which remained the property of only the Kiev-Pechersk tradition, has not reached us, although some traces of the differences between this text and the Sylvester edition have been preserved, as already mentioned, in separate stories of the later Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. In this "Paterik" there is also an indication of Nestor, who wrote the Russian "chronicler".

In 1118, the Sylvestrian edition of The Tale of Bygone Years was continued, apparently in connection with the inclusion of the well-known Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh written in that year. According to the convincing assumption of M. Priselkov, the addition was made by the son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav, who was then in Novgorod. Of great interest among these additions are two stories about the northern countries, heard by the author in 1114, when he was present at the laying of a stone wall in Ladoga. The Ladoga posadnik Pavel told him about the northern countries beyond Yugra and Samoyed. Another story about these countries, heard by the author from the Novgorodian Gyuryata Rogovich, is placed under the year 1096, indicating that he was heard "for the past 4 years." Since both stories are closely related in content, the words “previously 4 years” should be attributed to the time of writing this insert in 1118, when the author heard the first story as well .. Since the original manuscript of Mstislav has not come down to us, but only its later lists, then the only explanation for the resulting confusion may be a random rearrangement of the original sheets from which these lists were then made. Such an assumption is all the more admissible because in the available lists under the year 1096 there is also the "Instruction of Vladimir Monomakh", written no earlier than 1117.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" is an outstanding historical and literary monument, reflecting the formation of the ancient Russian state, its political and cultural flourishing, as well as the beginning of the process of feudal fragmentation. Created in the first decades of the 12th century, it has come down to us as part of the annalistic codes of a later time. The oldest of them are the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377, the Ipatiev Chronicle of the 20s of the 15th century, and the First Novgorod Chronicle of the 30s of the 14th century.

In the Laurentian Chronicle, the "Tale of Bygone Years" is continued by the Northern Russian Suzdal Chronicle, brought up to 1305, and the Ipatiev Chronicle, in addition to the "Tale of Bygone Years", contains the Kievan and Galicia-Volyn chronicles, brought up to 1292. All subsequent chronicles of the 15th - 16th centuries. they certainly included The Tale of Bygone Years in their composition, subjecting it to editorial and stylistic revision.

FORMATION OF THE CHRONICLE

Hypothesis of A. A. Shakhmatov

The history of the emergence of the Russian chronicle attracted the attention of more than one generation of Russian scientists, starting with V.N. Tatishchev. However, only A.A. Shakhmatov, an outstanding Russian philologist, at the beginning of this century managed to create the most valuable scientific hypothesis about the composition, sources and editions of The Tale of Bygone Years. When developing his hypothesis, A.A. Shakhmatov brilliantly applied the comparative-historical method of philological study of the text. The results of the research are presented in his works "Research on the most ancient Russian chronicle codes" (St. Petersburg, 1908) and "The Tale of Bygone Years", vol. 1 (Pg., 1916).

In 1039, a metropolis was established in Kyiv - an independent church organization. At the court of the metropolitan, the "Ancient Kyiv Code" was created, brought to 1037. This code, assumed A.A. Chess, arose on the basis of Greek translated chronicles and local folklore material. In Novgorod, in 1036, the Novgorod Chronicle was created, on its basis and on the basis of the "Ancient Kyiv Code" in 1050, the "Ancient Novgorod Code" appeared. In 1073, the monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery Nikon the Great, using the "Ancient Kyiv Code", compiled the "First Kiev Caves Code", which also included records of historical events that occurred after the death of Yaroslav the Wise (1054). Based on the "First Kiev-Pechersk vault" and the "Ancient Novgorod vault" of 1050, it was created in 1095.

"Second Kiev-Pechersk vault", or, as Shakhmatov first called it, "Initial vault". The author of the "Second Kiev-Pechersk code" supplemented his sources with materials from the Greek chronograph, Paremiynik, oral stories of Jan Vyshatich and the life of Anthony of the Caves. The "Second Kiev-Pechersk vault" also served as the basis for the "Tale of Bygone Years", the first edition of which was created in 1113 by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, the second edition - by the abbot of the Vydubytsky monastery Sylvester in 1116 and the third - by an unknown author - confessor Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich

The first edition of Nestor's Tale of Bygone Years focuses on the historical events of the late 11th - early 12th centuries. devoted to the great prince of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who died in 1113. Vladimir Monomakh, having become the great prince of Kyiv after the death of Svyatopolk, transferred the keeping of the chronicle to his patrimonial Vydubitsky monastery. Here hegumen Sylvester carried out the editorial revision of Nestor's text, bringing to the fore the figure of Vladimir Monomakh. The text of the first Nestor edition of The Tale of Bygone Years, which has not been preserved, is reconstructed by A. A. Shakhmatov in his work The Tale of Bygone Years (vol. 1). The second edition, according to the scientist, was best preserved by the Laurentian Chronicle, and the third by the Ipatiev Chronicle.

The hypothesis of A. A. Shakhmatov, which so brilliantly restores the history of the origin and development of the initial Russian chronicle, however, remains a hypothesis for the time being. Its main provisions were objected to by V.M. Istrina.

He believed that in 1039, at the court of the Greek metropolitan, by shortening the chronicle of George Amartol, a "Chronograph according to the great exposition" appeared, supplemented by Russian news. Separated from the Chronograph in 1054, they made up the first edition of The Tale of Bygone Years, and the second edition was created by Nestor at the beginning of the second decade of the 12th century.

Hypothesis D.S. Likhachev

Interesting refinements of the hypothesis of A. A. Shakhmatov were made by D. S. Likhachev 1. He rejected the possibility of the existence in 1039 of the "Ancient Kyiv Code" and connected the history of the emergence of chronicle writing with a specific struggle that the Kyiv state had to wage in the 30s - 50s XI century against the political and religious claims of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium sought to turn the Russian church into its political agents, which threatened the independence of the ancient Russian state. The claims of the empire met with an active rebuff from the grand ducal power, which in the struggle for the political and religious independence of Russia was supported by the broad masses of the population. The struggle of Russia with Byzantium reaches particular tension in the middle. XI century. The Grand Duke of Kyiv Yaroslav the Wise succeeds in raising the political authority of Kyiv and the Russian state. It lays a solid foundation for the political and religious independence of Russia. In 1039, Yaroslav achieved the establishment of a metropolia in Kyiv. Thus, Byzantium recognized the certain independence of the Russian Church, although a Greek metropolitan remained at its head.

In addition, Yaroslav sought the canonization of Olga, Vladimir and his brothers Boris and Gleb, who were killed by Svyatopolk in 1015. In the end, Byzantium was forced to recognize Boris and Gleb as Russian saints, which was the triumph of Yaroslav's national policy. The veneration of these first Russian saints acquired the character of a national cult, it was associated with the condemnation of fratricidal strife, with the idea of ​​preserving the unity of the Russian land. The political struggle between Russia and Byzantium turns into an open armed clash: in 1050, Yaroslav sends troops to Constantinople, led by his son Vladimir. Although the campaign of Vladimir Yaroslavich ended in defeat, in 1051 Yaroslav elevated the Russian priest Hilarion to the metropolitan throne. During this period, the struggle for independence covered all areas of the culture of Kievan Rus, including literature. D.S. Likhachev points out that the chronicle developed gradually, as a result of the interest that arose in the historical past of the native land and the desire to preserve significant events of their time for future descendants. The researcher suggests that in the 30s - 40s of the XI century. by order of Yaroslav the Wise, oral folk historical traditions were recorded, which D.S. Likhachev conditionally calls "Tales of the initial spread of Christianity in Russia." The "Tale" included legends about Olga's baptism in Constantinople, about the death of two Varangian martyrs, about the testing of faith by Vladimir and his baptism. These legends were anti-Byzantine in nature. So, in the legend of Olga's baptism, the superiority of the Russian princess over the Greek emperor was emphasized. Olga rejected the emperor's claims to her hand, deftly "switching" (outwitting) him. The legend claimed that the Russian princess did not see much honor in the proposed marriage to her. In her relations with the Greek emperor, Olga shows purely Russian ingenuity, intelligence and resourcefulness. She maintains her dignity, defending the honor of her native land.

The legend about the testing of faith by Vladimir emphasizes that Christianity was accepted by Russia as a result of free choice, and not received as a gracious gift from the Greeks. In Kyiv, according to this legend, are messengers of various faiths: Mohammedan, Jewish and Christian. Each of the ambassadors extols the virtues of his religion. However, Vladimir wittily rejects both the Muslim and Jewish faiths, since they do not correspond to the national traditions of the Russian land. Having opted for Christianity, Vladimir, before accepting this religion, sends his envoys to test which faith is better. Those sent are convinced of the beauty, splendor and splendor of the Christian church service, they prove to the prince the advantages of the Orthodox faith over other religions, and Vladimir finally opts for Christianity.

D.S. Likhachev assumes that "Tales of the initial spread of Christianity in Russia" were written down by the scribes of the Kyiv Metropolis at the St. Sophia Cathedral. However, Constantinople did not agree with the appointment of the Russian Hilarion to the metropolitan see (in 1055 we see the Greek Ephraim in his place), and the Tales, which were anti-Byzantine in nature, did not receive further development here. The center of Russian education, opposed to the Greek metropolitan, since the middle of the 11th century. becomes the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Here in the 1970s. the formation of the Russian chronicle takes place. The compiler of the chronicle is Nikon the Great. He used the Tales of the Spread of Christianity, supplemented them with a number of oral historical legends, eyewitness accounts, in particular the voivode Vyshata, historical information about the events of modern times and recent days. Obviously, under the influence of Paschal chronological tables - paschals compiled in the monastery, Nikon gave his narrative a formula of weather records - according to "summers".

In the "First Kiev-Pechersk Code" created around 1073, he included a large number of legends about the first Russian princes, their campaigns against Constantinople. Apparently, he also used the Korsun legend about the campaign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 933 against the Greek city of Korsun (Tauric Chersonesos), after the capture of which Vladimir demanded Anna, the sister of the Greek emperors, as his wife. Thanks to this, the code of 1073 acquired a pronounced anti-Byzantine orientation. Nikon gave the chronicle a tremendous political poignancy, historical breadth and unprecedented patriotic pathos, which made this work an outstanding monument of ancient Russian culture. The code condemned princely strife, emphasizing the leading role of the people in protecting the Russian land from external enemies.

Thus, the "First Kiev-Pechersk Code" was the spokesman for the ideas and sentiments of the middle and even lower strata of feudal society. From now on, publicism, adherence to principles, the breadth of the historical approach, patriotic pathos become the hallmarks of the Russian chronicle. After Nikon's death, work on the chronicle continued in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Weather records about current events were kept here, which were then processed and combined by an unknown author into the "Second Kiev-Pechersk Code" of 1095. The "Second Kiev-Caves Code" continued the propaganda of the ideas of the unity of the Russian land, begun by Nikon. In this code, princely seditions are also sharply condemned, and the princes are called for unity for a joint struggle against the steppe nomads-Polovtsy. The compiler of the code sets clear journalistic tasks: to educate patriotism, to correct the current ones by the example of the former princes.

The author of the "Second Kiev-Pechersk code" widely draws on the stories of eyewitnesses of the events, in particular the stories of Vyshata's son Yan. The compiler of the code also uses Greek historical chronicles, in particular the chronicle of George Amartol, the data of which allow him to include the history of Russia in the general chain of events in world history.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" is created at a time when Kievan Rus is experiencing the most severe blows from the steppe nomads, the Polovtsians, when the question of rallying all forces to fight the steppe, with the "field" for the Russian land, which "later and fathers and grandfathers acquired with blood. In 1098, the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich reconciled with the Kiev Caves Monastery: he began to support the anti-Byzantine direction of the monastery's activities and, understanding the political significance of the annals, sought to take control of the annals.

In the interests of Svyatopolk, on the basis of the "Second Kiev-Pechersk code" and created by the monk Nestor in 1113, the first edition of the "Tale of Bygone Years". Having retained the ideological orientation of the previous set, Nestor strives throughout the course of the historical narrative to convince the Russian princes to put an end to fratricidal wars and brings to the fore the idea of ​​princely brotherly love. Under the pen of Nestor, the chronicle acquires a state official character.

Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, placed by Nestor at the center of the narrative of the events of 1093-1111, was not very popular in the society of that time. After his death, in 1113, Vladimir Monomakh, "a good sufferer for the Russian land," became the Grand Prince of Kyiv. Understanding the political and legal significance of the chronicle, he transferred its management to the Vydubytsky monastery, whose abbot Sylvester, on behalf of the Grand Duke, in 1116 compiled the second edition of the Tale of Bygone Years. In it, the figure of Monomakh is brought to the fore, his merits in the fight against the Polovtsy and in establishing peace between the princes are emphasized.

In 1118, in the same Vydubitsky monastery, an unknown author created the third edition of The Tale of Bygone Years. This edition includes "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh, the presentation was brought up to 1117.

Hypothesis B.A. Rybakova

A different concept of the development of the initial stage of Russian chronicle writing is developed by B.A. Rybakov 1. Analyzing the text of the initial Russian chronicle, the researcher suggests that short weather records began to be kept in Kyiv with the advent of the Christian clergy (since 867) during the reign of Askold. At the end of the 10th century, in 996 - 997, the "First Kyiv Chronicle Code" was created, summarizing the heterogeneous material of brief weather records and oral stories. This code was created at the Church of the Tithes, Anastas Korsunyanin, the rector of the cathedral, Bishop of Belgorod and Vladimir's uncle, Dobrynya, took part in its compilation. The code gave the first historical generalization of the century and a half life of Kievan Rus and ended with the glorification of Vladimir. At the same time, B. A. Rybakov suggests, Vladimirov’s cycle of epics was also taking shape, in which a folk assessment of events and persons was given, while the chronicle introduced court assessments, book culture, retinue epic, as well as folk tales.

Sharing the point of view of A.A. Shakhmatov about the existence of the Novgorod code of 1050, B. A. Rybakov believes that the chronicle was created with the active participation of the Novgorod mayor Ostromir and this "Ostromir chronicle" should be dated 1054 - 1060. It was directed against Yaroslav the Wise and the Varangians-mercenaries. It emphasized the heroic history of Novgorod and glorified the activities of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince of Novgorod. The chronicle was purely secular in nature and expressed the interests of the Novgorod boyars.

B. A. Rybakov offers an interesting reconstruction of the text of Nestor's The Tale of Bygone Years. He puts forward a hypothesis about the active personal participation of Vladimir Monomakh in the creation of the second, Sylvester, edition. The researcher connects the third edition of The Tale of Bygone Years with the activities of Monomakh's son Mstislav Vladimirovich, who tried to oppose Novgorod to Kyiv.

In a further study of the stages of the formation of the Old Russian chronicle, B. A. Rybakov shares the points of view of A. A. Shakhmatov and modern Soviet researchers. Thus, the question of the initial stage of Russian chronicle writing, of the composition and sources of The Tale of Bygone Years is very complex and far from being resolved.

There is no doubt, however, that The Tale of Bygone Years is the result of a large editorial work that summed up the work of several generations of chroniclers.

The Tale of Bygone Years chronicle is an ancient Russian chronicle created in the 1110s. Chronicles are historical works in which events are described according to the so-called yearly principle, 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, the chronicles, including the Tale of Bygone Years, fundamentally differ 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 extant copy of the Tale of Bygone Years dates back to the 14th century. It was called the Laurentian Chronicle after the scribe, the monk Lawrence, and was compiled in 1377. Another ancient list of the Tale of Bygone Years has been preserved in the so-called Ipatiev Chronicle (mid-15th century).

The Tale of Bygone Years is the first chronicle, the text of which has come down to us almost in its original form. Thanks to a thorough textual analysis of the Tale of Bygone Years, researchers have found traces of earlier 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 the comparative method, comparing the surviving chronicles and finding out their relationships. According to A.A. Shakhmatov, ok. 1037, but not later than 1044, the most ancient Kievan chronicle was compiled, which told about the beginning of history and the baptism of Russia. Around 1073 in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, probably by the monk Nikon, the first Kiev-Pechersk chronicle was completed. In it, new news and legends were combined with the text of the Most Ancient Code and with borrowings from the Novgorod Chronicle of the middle of the 11th century. In 1093–1095, the second Kiev-Pechersk code was compiled here on the basis of Nikon's code; it is also called the Primary. (The name is explained by the fact that A.A. Shakhmatov originally considered this particular 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) of the Tale of Bygone Years was completed - a lengthy chronicle that absorbed numerous information on the history of Russia: about the Russian wars with the Byzantine Empire, about the call to Russia for the reign of the Scandinavians Rurik, Truvor and Sineus, about the history of the Kievan- 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.

The first edition of the Tale 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 Promonomachian spirit) and in 1117-1118 an unknown scribe from the entourage of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (son of Vladimir Monomakh) revised the text of the Tale of Bygone Years. This is how the second and third editions of the Tale of Bygone Years arose; the oldest list of the second edition has come down to us as part of the Laurentian, and the earliest list of the third - as part of the 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 of the 14th–16th centuries. open with the text of the Tale of Bygone Years.

The name The Tale of Bygone Years (more precisely, The Tale of Bygone Years - in the Old Russian text the word “tales” is used in the plural) is usually translated as The Tale of Bygone Years, but there are other interpretations: The Tale, in which the narrative is distributed over the years or Narration in measured terms, The story of the end times - telling about the events on the eve of the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

The narrative in the Tale of Bygone Years begins with a story about the settlement on earth of the sons of Noah - Shem, Ham and Japhet - along 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. The purpose of the Tale of Bygone Years was to explain 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. The narrative of Russian events in the Tale 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 about the Varangian brothers has an exact date - 862. Thus, in the historiosophical concept of the Tale 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.

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

Chronicles, including the Tale ..., are not works of art in the strict sense of the word and not the work of a historian. The composition of the Tale of Bygone Years includes agreements between the Russian princes Oleg the Prophet, 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, the Tale of Bygone Years, were compiled not for people, but for the Last Judgment, at which God will decide the fate of people at the end of the world: therefore, sins were listed in the annals and merit of rulers and people.

The chronicler usually does not interpret events, does not look for their remote 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 of the Tale 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).

The Tale of Bygone Years is alien to the unity of style, 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.

Traditions are also included in the Tale of Bygone Years. For example - a story about the origin of the name of the city of Kyiv on behalf of Prince Kyi; legends about the Prophetic Oleg, who defeated the Greeks and died from the bite of a snake hiding in the skull of the deceased prince's 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. In the Tale 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.

The Tale of Bygone Years also includes stories about saints written in a special hagiographical style. 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 their half-brother Svyatopolk, and the story of the holy Pechersk monks under 1074.

A significant part of the text in the Tale of Bygone Years is occupied by narratives about battles written in the so-called military style, and princely obituaries.