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User:Nederlandse Leeuw/Textual criticism of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle

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Textual criticism of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle is the study of the textual witnesses and variants of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle under the period from 1118 to 1198, which is covered by both. The surviving texts of the two chronicles are very similar up to the 1170s, after which they diverge, although they also show striking differences in contents, perspectives and Tendenz. The Kievan Chronicle is generally perceived by scholars as attempting to encompass the history of the entire Kievan Rus' realm of the 12th century, emphasising the dynastic centrality of the city of Kiev, and generally favouring the princes of Kiev and its environs, while not favouring any princely clan in particular. Until 1164, the Suzdalian Chronicle largely covers the same events in and around Kiev, leading researchers to suggest its text until that point must have derived from a "Southern Rus' source" that was also an ancestor to the transmitted text of the Kievan Chronicle. On the other hand, after 1164, the Suzdalian Chronicle has a pro-Yurievichi dynastic Tendenz, and shows a keen interest in the events in the northeastern Rus' principalities, particularly Vladimir-Suzdal and its neighbours (Murom-Ryazan, the Novgorod Republic, and Smolensk, and the Upper Oka Principalities that split from Principality of Chernigov in the 1120s).

Textual witnesses

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Further information: Kievan Chronicle § Composition, and Suzdalian Chronicle § Textual witnesses
Academic ChronicleSofia First ChronicleRadziwiłł Chronicle

Primary ChronicleAcademic ChronicleAcademic ChronicleRadziwiłł ChronicleRadziwiłł Chronicle Primary ChronicleRadziwiłł ChronicleRadziwiłł Chronicle Laurentian Codex

Primary ChroniclePrimary ChronicleLaurentian CodexLaurentian CodexKhlebnikov CodexGalician–Volhynian ChronicleKievan ChroniclePrimary ChronicleKhlebnikov CodexKhlebnikov CodexHypatian CodexGalician–Volhynian ChronicleKievan ChroniclePrimary ChronicleHypatian CodexHypatian CodexGreat TroublesGolden HordeKievan Rus'
  •   Primary Chronicle (PVL)
  •   Southern Rus' source (similar to Kievan Chronicle)
  •   Suzdalian Chronicle
  •   Laurentian continuation of the Suzdalian Chronicle


Comparison of contents

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The text of the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle shows strong similarities with that of the Kievan Chronicle found in the Hypatian Codex, but also some remarkable differences.[6]

1118–1157 segment

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A 1959 study by Soviet historian A.N. Nasonov documented how, until the year 1157, the contents of the Suzdalian Chronicle (as found in the Lav., Rad., Aka., and LPS manuscripts) are derivative of the Kievan Chronicle (as found in the Hypatian (Ipat.) and Khlebnikov (Khle.) manuscripts).[7] Alan Timberlake (2000) commented: 'Nasonov 1959 documents that, in general, the Vladimir[-Suzdalian] tradition shares little with the Kievan tradition reflected in the Hypatian text after 1157. Nasonov also documents the fact that there is little shared language between the Vladimir tradition and the Hypatian text in these entries; he attributes these entries to а source in Perejaslavl'-Russkij.'[8] 'After 1157, there are virtually no correspondences between the Laurentian [Suzdalian] and Hypatian [Kievan] texts, suggesting (although Nasonov stops short of saying this explicitly) that a new, autonomous tradition was initiated in the northeast.'[7]

Legend of Gorislava

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Francis Butler (2012) remarked that the Legend of Gorislava of Polotsk sub anno 1128 is contained in the Suzdalian Chronicle, but not the Kievan Chronicle. Nevertheless, both are continuations of the Primary Chronicle, which mentions the related Legend of Rogned' of Polotsk sub anno 980.[9]

Andrey Bogolyubsky's removal of the Icon from Vyshhorod to Vladimir

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In column 346 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle, dated to 1155, Andrey Bogolyubsky removes the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God from Vyshhorod, and moves it to Vladimir on the Klyazma.[10] In Jaroslaw Pekenski (1988) made the following comparison (italics by Pelenski):[11]

Kievan Chronicle[11] Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle[11]
The same year [1155] Prince Andrej went from his father from Vyšhorod to Suzdal' without his father's permission, and he took from Vyšhorod the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God which was brought from Cesarjagrad on the same ship with the Pirogošča [Icon]. And he had it framed in thirty-grivny-weight-of-gold, besides silver, and precious stones, and large pearls, and having thus adorned [the Icon], he placed it in his own church of the Mother of God in Vladimir.[11] The same year [1155] Prince Andrej went from his father to Suzdal', and he brought with him the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God which was brought from Cesarjagrad on the same ship with the Pirogošča [Icon]. And he had it framed in thirty-grivny-weight-of-gold, besides silver, and precious stones, and large pearls, and having thus adorned [the Icon], he placed it in his own church in Vladimir.[11]

Pelenski observed that the Kievan Chronicle framed Andrey's actions as improper and illegal, whereas the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle omitted any such references.[12] This is in line with how the Kievan is generally ambivalent or openly critical of Andrey's reign, whilst the Suzdal'–Vladimirian is positive and complimentary of his actions.[12]

Divergence around sub anno 1157

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Kievan Chronicle (Hypatian text) Suzdalian Chronicle (Laurentian text)
"In the year 1156, the holy bishop of Novgorod, Nifont, came, awaiting Metropolitan Constantine from Constantinople [Tsesarograd], for news had come to him that the metropolitan was already on his way. And an illness came upon him; [after] being ill for three days, he [died on 15 April]. And he was laid in the Pečersk Monastery in Theodosius' Cave, for he had had great love for the Holy Mother of God and Father Theodosius."[13]
(...)
"Then Metropolitan Constantine came from Constantinople [Tsesarograd] and Prince Jurij [Yuri Dolgorukiy] received him with honor--and also the bishop of Polack and Manuil the bishop of Smolensk, who had fled before Klim, [received him]."[14] (...) 		In the year 6664 (1156), Theodosius, Abbot of the Pechersk, died, and after him Nifont, Bishop of Novgorod, [died] on the 18th day of April, and he was laid in the Pechersk Monastery. That same year the Metropolitan Constantine came from Constantinople [Tsarjagrad], and the prince and all the people received him with honour.[15]
(...)
"In the year 1158, Izjaslav Davidovič began to plan war against Jurij, and he reconciled Rostislav Mstislavič and Mstislav Izjaslavič and Svjatoslav Ol'govič to him, inciting him to revolt with him against Jurij."[16]
(...)
"Izjaslav was wanting to go to Kiev, and on that day the people of Kiev came to Izjaslav, saying: "Go, prince, to Kiev. Jurij is dead."[16]
(...)
"In that same year, all the people of Rostov, Suzdal' and Vladimir, having conferred, took Andrej (Bogoljubskij), Jurij's eldest son, and they set him (to rule) on his father's throne in Rostov and in Suzdal' and in Vladimir,(...)."[17] 		In the year 6665 (1157), the Novgorodians drove out Mstislav Gyurgevich, and installed Sviatoslav Rostislavich. That same year, the blessed prince Gyurgi Volodimerich' died in Kiev, on the 15th day of the month of May. And they laid him in the church of the Holy Saviour at Berestove. In the same year the Rostovians and Suzdalians, having all agreed, took Andrey, his eldest son, and seated him in Rostov on his father's throne and in Suzdal'(...).[18]

1169 sack of Kiev

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Columns 351–352 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle narrate the 1164 fasting controversy in Suzdal.[19] Columns 354–355 narrate the Sack of Kiev (1169),[20] which the Suzdal–Vladimirian Chronicle primarily justifies by reference to the 1164 fasting controversy in Suzdal.[19]

Death of Andrey Bogolyubsky

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This section is an excerpt from Andrey Bogolyubsky § Death.[edit]
In this 15th-century Radziwiłł Chronicle miniature, Andrey Bogolyubsky's left arm is cut off by his assassins,[21] although the texts claim his "right hand" was cut off.[21][22] A 1965 autopsy of Andrey's body confirmed the left arm showed many cut marks.[22]

The defeat of Andrey's second coalition at Vyshgorod, the expansion of his princely authority, and his conflicts with the upper nobility, the boyars, gave rise to a conspiracy that resulted in Bogolyubsky's death on the night of 28–29 June 1174, when twenty of them burst into his chambers and slew him in his bed.[23]

According to the story of Andrey Bogolyubsky's death as recorded in the Kievan Chronicle of the Hypatian Codex (Ipatiev),[22] and the Radziwiłł Chronicle,[21] his "right hand" was cut off[22][21] by an assailant called "Peter" (Петръ):

  • Kievan Chronicle sub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Church Slavonic: Петръ же ѿтѧ ему руку десную. кнѧзь же вьзрѣвъ. на н҃бо. и реч̑ Гс̑и в руцѣ твои предаю тобѣ дх҃ъ мои. и тако оуспе оубьенъ же быс̑ в суботу на нощь.[24], romanized: Petrŭ zhe ōtya emu ruku desnuju. knyazĭ zhe vĭzrěvŭ na nebo, i rech: Gospodi v rutsě tvoi predaju tobě dukhŭ moi. i tako ouspe oubĭenŭ zhe bys̑ v subotu na noshchĭ., lit. 'And Peter took from him his right hand. The prince looked upon heaven and said: 'Lord, into your hands I commit my spirit.' And so was he taken away on Saturday night.'
  • Radziwiłł Chronicle sub anno 6683 (1175 [sic]): Church Slavonic: Петръ ему же от(ъ)тя руку десную. И убьенъ ж(е) быс(ть) в суб(оту) на ноч(ь)., romanized: Petrŭ emu zhe ot(ŭ)tya ruku desnuju. I ubĭenŭ zh(e) bys(tĭ) v sub(otu) na noch(ĭ)., lit. 'And Peter took his right hand from him. And he was killed on Saturday night.'[25]

However, the Radziwiłł Chronicle's adjoining miniature depicts his assailants cutting off his left arm.[21] Moreover, when Dmitry Gerasimovich Rokhlin [ru] examined the exhumed body of Andrey Bogolyubsky in 1965, he "found a lot of cut marks on the left humerus and forearm bones".[22] A 2009 special historical study by Russian historian A.V. Artcikhovsky (2009) would later confirm Rokhlin's observations.[22]

Eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky

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Columns 367–369 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle contain the Short eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky.[26] The Long eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky is found in Kievan Chronicle columns 580–595.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Jusupović 2022, p. 12.
  2. ^ Tolochko 2007, p. 47–48.
  3. ^ Thuis 2015, p. 249.
  4. ^ Timberlake 2000, p. 239.
  5. ^ Bermel, Neil (1997). Context and the lexicon in the development of Russian aspect. University of California publications in linguistics. Vol. 129. University of California Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-520-09812-1.
  6. ^ Pelenski 1988, p. 762.
  7. ^ a b Timberlake 2000, p. 238.
  8. ^ Timberlake 2000, p. 254.
  9. ^ Butler 2012, p. 335.
  10. ^ Pelenski 1987, p. 312.
  11. ^ a b c d e Pelenski 1988, pp. 762–763.
  12. ^ a b Pelenski 1988, p. 763.
  13. ^ Heinrich 1977, p. 220.
  14. ^ Heinrich 1977, p. 222.
  15. ^ Laurentian Codex, folio л. 116.
  16. ^ a b Heinrich 1977, p. 226.
  17. ^ Heinrich 1977, p. 228.
  18. ^ Laurentian Codex, folio л. 116 об.
  19. ^ a b Pelenski 1987, p. 307.
  20. ^ Pelenski 1987, p. 303.
  21. ^ a b c d e "Отсечение левой руки (!) и убийство Андрея Юрьевича Боголюбского заговорщиками-боярами при активном участии злокозненной жены князя". Runivers. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Marquez-Grant & Fibiger 2011, p. 495.
  23. ^ Martin 2007, pp. 112, 127–128.
  24. ^ Shakhmatov 1908, p. 589.
  25. ^ Iroshnikov, Kukushkina & Lurie 1989, p. 138.
  26. ^ a b Pelenski 1987, p. 314.

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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Kievan Chronicle
Suzdalian Chronicle
  • Лаврентьевская летопись [Laurentian Chronicle]. Полное Собрание Русских Литописей [Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles]. Vol. 1. Saint Petersburg: Academy of Science (SSSR). 1926–1928.
  • "Laurentian Codex 1377" (in Church Slavic and Russian). National Library of Russia. 2012. [digitisation of the Laurentian Codex, including the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle, with a transcription of the Old Church Slavonic text and a translation into modern Russian, with an introduction in English]

Literature

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* Category:12th-century history books Category:History of Kievan Rus' Category:Old East Slavic manuscripts Category:Old East Slavic chronicles Category:Old Church Slavonic literature Category:Vladimir-Suzdal

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