![Баян](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%8F%D0%BD.jpg)
Boyan is the name of a
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
mentioned in the
Rus' epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
''
The Lay of Igor's Campaign'' as being active at the court of
Yaroslav the Wise
Yaroslav the Wise or Yaroslav I Vladimirovich; russian: Ярослав Мудрый, ; uk, Ярослав Мудрий; non, Jarizleifr Valdamarsson; la, Iaroslaus Sapiens () was the Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death. He was als ...
. He is apostrophized as
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
's grandson in the opening lines of ''The Lay'' (probably a reference to Veles as the patron of musicians). Historians have been unable to determine whether Boyan was his proper name (as
Nikolai Karamzin
Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...
and
Fyodor Buslayev
Fedor Ivanovich Buslaev (russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Бусла́ев; April 25, 1818 – August 12, 1898) was a Russian Empire philologist, art historian, and folklorist who represented the Mythological school of comparative litera ...
postulated) or if all
skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...
s of Rus were called ''boyans'' (
Alexander Vostokov
Alexander Khristoforovich Vostokov (born Alexander Woldemar Osteneck; russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Христофо́рович Восто́ков; – ) was one of the first Russian philologists.
Background
He was born into a Baltic ...
).
Although ''The Lay'' is the only authentic source mentioning Boyan, his name became exceedingly popular with later generations. He is mentioned in the ''
Zadonshchina
''Zadonshchina'' (russian: Задонщина; could be translated as "the region beyond the Don River") is a Russian literary monument of the late 14th century, which tells of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.
The text
Redactions and the Proto ...
'' and
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
's ''
Ruslan and Ludmila Ruslan may refer to:
* ''Ruslan'' (film), a 2009 film starring Steven Segal
* Ruslan (given name), male name used mainly in Slavic countries, with list of people
* Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'', large Soviet cargo aircraft, later built in Ukraine and ...
''. The folklorist
Alexander Afanasyev
Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (Afanasief, Afanasiev or Afanas'ev, russian: link=no, Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) ( — ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer who published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk ta ...
considered Boyan a precursor of Ukrainian ''
kobzar
A ''kobzar'' ( ua, кобзар, pl. kobzari ua, кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed bandura or kobza.
Tradition
Kobzars were often blind and became predominantly so by ...
''s.
Soviet scholars tended to associate him with the House of
Chernihiv
Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...
, assuming that he started his career at the court of
Mstislav of Tmutarakan
Mstislav Vladimirovich (; ; ) was the earliest attested prince of Tmutarakan and Chernigov in Kievan Rus'. He was a younger son of Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev. His father appointed him to rule Tmutarakan, an important fortress by th ...
.
Boris Rybakov
Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov (Russian language, Russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Рыбако́в, 3 June 1908, Moscow – 27 December 2001) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian historian who personified the anti-Normanist the ...
supported this theory and linked his name to a graffito on the wall of
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kyivan Rus. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the K ...
which mentions a purchase of "Boyan's land" by "
Vsevolod Vsevolod or Wsewolod (russian: Все́волод ; uk, Все́волод ) is a Slavic male first name. Its etymology is from Slavic roots 'vse' (all) and 'volodeti' (to rule) and means 'lord-of-everything/everybody', (similar to another princ ...
's wife".
The Russian version of the
button accordion
A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aerop ...
is known as the
bayan and was named after legendary Boyan upon its invention in 1907. Boyans were different from
skomorokh
A skomorokh ( in Russian, in Old East Slavic, in Church Slavonic. Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin, or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic pe ...
s but wandering storytellers were also beaten, their fairy tales were forbidden, they were prosecuted by the authorities, and they eventually disappeared.
References
*''The Encyclopaedia of The Lay of Ihor's Campaign'', in five volumes. Kyiv, 1995. Volume 1, pages 147-153.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyan
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
11th-century poets
Russian poets
Belarusian poets
Ukrainian poets
11th-century Rus' people
Articles containing video clips