, author(s) = chroniclers, who were mainly churchmen , language =

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...

and

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...

, date = 11–18th centuries , provenance = , genre = History , image = File:Radzivill chronicle 121.jpg , width = 200px , caption = '' Tale of Bygone Years (Primary Chronicle)'' in Radziwiłł Chronicle of 15th century. , dedicated to = , manuscript(s) = , MS class 1 = , MS class 2 = , MS class 3 = , MS class 4 = , MS class 5 = , MS class 6 = , principal manuscript(s)= , first printed edition = , subject = , below = Rus' chronicle or Russian chronicle or Rus'

letopis ''Letopis'' was a Russian monthly journal published in St Petersburg from December 1915 until December 1917. It had a range of material including literary, scientific and political material. Its political stance was to oppose nationalism and the ...

( orv, лѣтопись) is the main type of Rus' historical literature. Chronicles were composed from 11th to 18th centuries. Chronicles were one of the leading genres of Old Rus' literature.Lurye, Yakov. Chronicles // Literature of Old Rusʹ. Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary / ed. by Oleg Tvorogov. - Moscow: Prosvescheniye ("Enlightenment"), 1996. (russian
Лурье Я.С. Летописи
// Литература Древней Руси. Биобиблиографический словарь / под ред. О.В. Творогова. - М.: Просвещение, 1996). Chronicles were the main form of historical narrative until the middle of the 16th century, the time of

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

, when they gave primacy to another historiographical genre – chronographs.

Copies

Old Rus' chronicles survive in some hundreds copies (codices). Some chronicles are known in multiple versions, but others are known from only a single copy. Every chronicle was a , or "collection" because it included materials from various earlier chronicle texts. Individual chronicles were revised, shortened or added to with entries on the events of the last year or even decades. There are probably several tens of in existence.

Сharacteristic

The chroniclers (singular ''letopisets'') were mainly churchmen. Rus' chronicles were composed in monasteries, at the princely (see:

knyaz , or ( Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...

) courts (later at the courts of the tsars of Moscow and kings of Galicia-Volhynia) and in the offices of Metropolitans. Individual chronicles often contradicted each other. Chronicles typically consisted of collections of short factual entries for the preceding year, often including speeches and dialogues between princes. In some instances the chronicler would provide an extended narrative on the most significant events of Rus' history, often embellished with literary phrases, including standard speech formulas,

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

s, rhetorical figures and others.

Aleksey Shakhmatov Alexei Alexandrovich Shakhmatov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович Ша́хматов, – 16 August 1920) was a Russian Imperial philologist and historian credited with laying foundations for the science of tex ...

was the foremost expert in

textology Text linguistics is a branch of linguistics that deals with texts as communication systems. Its original aims lay in uncovering and describing text grammars. The application of text linguistics has, however, evolved from this approach to a point in ...

of the old Rus' chronicles. He considered that the main part of the chronicle texts were , that is collections of separate records from different sources, and every new chronicle was a svod of some previous chronicles and newly added historical records.

. Investigation on the Oldest Kievan Rusʹ chronicle svods. - Saint Petersburg: Printing-House of M.A. Aleksandrov, 1908. — XX, 686 p. — Reprint from Chronicle of Work of Imperial Archaeographic Commission. — Vol. 20. (russian
Шахматов А.А. Разыскания о древнейших русских летописных сводах
— СПб.: Типография М.А. Александрова, 1908. — XX, 686 с. — Оттиск из кн.: Летописи занятий Императорской Археографической Комиссии. — Т. 20).Aleksey Shakhmatov. Review of Rusʹ chronicle svods of 14th—16th Century. Moscow / ed. by A.S. Orlov, Boris Grekov;

Academy of Sciences of USSR The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

Sources

Sources for the oldest chronicles include Byzantine and South Slavic texts on sacred history and other subjects, the Chronicle of George Hamartolos on the Generations of Noah (in the Primary Chronicle), legends, legal documents such as the Rus'–Byzantine Treaties (in the Primary Chronicle) and the short redaction of Russkaya Pravda (in the Novgorod First Chronicle), historical records and others.

Genealogy

The

Primary Chronicle The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...

of the beginning of the 12th century is the oldest surviving old Rus' chronicle, narrating the earliest history of Rus'. However

paid attention to the abundance of entries about the 11th century

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

, which are also present in the Novgorod First chronicle (of the 15th century), but absent in the Primary Chronicle. This and some others textual facts were a base for Shakhmatov's theory that the beginning of Novgorod First Chronicle includes text that is older than that in the Primary Chronicle. The scholar named it "Primary Svod" (Collection) and dated it to the end of the 11th century. This svod was also a basis for the Primary Chronicle. If two or more chronicles coincide with each other up to a certain year then either one chronicle is copied from another (more rarely) or these chronicles had a common source, an older svod. Shakhmatov discovered and developed a method of study on the chronicle (svod) genealogy. Based on textual analysis, Shakhmatov built extensive genealogy of the old Rus' chronicles. He connected most of these chronicles and created a genealogy table, in which the extant chronicles of the 14–17th centuries went back not only to the "Primary Svod", but also to earlier hypothetical of the 11th century and even to historical records of the end of the 10th century. Shakhmatov's method and theories became a mainstay in the Russian chronicle studies.

History

Old Rus' chronicles were systematically prepared from the middle of the 11th century. There were two centers of chronicle preparation in this early period:

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

(the capital of early Rus') and

. The

of the beginning of the 12th century was a combination of Kievan and Novgorodian chronicle records, as well as the Novgorod First Chronicle. The Primary Chronicle survives in the Laurentian and Hypatian codices. Chronicles of Kievan Rus' princedoms of the 12–13th centuries survive in the Hypatian Chronicle which includes the hypothetical

Kievan Chronicle The ''Kievan Chronicle'' or ''Kyivan Chronicle''; is an Old East Slavic chronicle of Kievan Rus'. It was written around 1200 in Vydubychi monastery as a continuation of the ''Primary Chronicle''. It is known from a single copy in the 15th-century ...

, a continuation of the Primary Chronicle and covered events from 1118 to 1200, and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle which covered events in Galicia and Volhynia from 1201 to 1292.Лихачева О.П. Летопись Ипатьевская
// Словарь книжников и книжности Древней Руси / АН СССР. ИРЛИ; Отв. ред. Д.С. Лихачев. — Л.: Наука, 1987. — Вып. 1 (XI – первая половина XIV в.). — С. 236
Лихачева О.П. Летопись Ипатьевская
// Литература Древней Руси. Биобиблиографический словарь / под ред. О.В. Творогова. - М.: Просвещение, 1996 Chronicles of Rostov, Vladimir and Pereyaslavl of

Suzdal Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the admin ...

of the end of 12th – early 13th century better remained in the Laurentian, Radziwill chronicles (codices) and Chronicle of Pereyaslavl of Suzdal. Hypatian Chronicle of the end of the 13th – early 14th centuries is an All-Rus' svod in south redaction (presumably). It survives in сopies from the 15–18th centuries. Laurentian Chronicle of the 14th century is a svod from North-East Rus' ( Vladimir-Suzdal). One copy of 1377. " Tverian svod" of 1375 reflected in the Rogozhskiy Chronicle and Tverian Collection of the 16th century. Chronicle svod, related to

Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow Cyprian ( bg, Киприан, russian: Киприан, be, Кіпрыян, uk, Кипріан) (c. 1336 – 16 September 1406) was the Metropolitan of Kiev, Russia and Lithuania (2 December 1375–12 February 1376) and the Metropolitan of K ...

, was continued up to 1408 and survived in Troitskaya (" Trinity") Chronicle, which burnt in the Fire of Moscow of 1812. It was reconstructed by Mikhail Prisyolkov. Chronicle svod was made in Tver in , it reflected additional revision (similar to Troitskaya Chronicle) of All-Rus' svod of the end of the 14th – early 15th century. This "Tverian svod" reflected in the Simeon and Rogozhskiy chronicles. " Novgorodsko-Sofiysky Svod" of the 1430s (or "Svod of 1448" according to Shakhmatov) was compiled at the office of Moscow Metropolitan and united All-Rus' and Novgorodian chronicles. The svod was preserved in the Sofia First and Novgorod Fourth chronicles. First known Moscow grand princely chronicles appeared at the middle of the 15th century. "Chronicle Svod of 1472" reflected in the Vologda–Perm and Nicanor chronicles. Basis of "Svod of 1472" was "Novgorodsko-Sofiysky Svod", edited by Moscow grand princely chroniclers, who brought censorship, excluded in particular the mentions of Novgorodian liberty, because Novgorod State was joint to Moscow Grand Princedom. In the end of the 1470s, "Novgorodsko-Sofiysky Svod", the svod similar to Troitskaya Chronicle and other sources was compiled together. This compilation was censored even more than the "Svod of 1472". The "Compilation of the 1470s" reflected in "Moscow Grand Princely Svod of 1479", surviving in copy of the 18th century, and in its later redaction was continued up to 1492. This "Svod of 1479" underlaid all of official chronicles of the end of the 15th – 16th centuries. The compilation of the 1470s also reflected in the first part of Yermolin Chronicle. The "Svod of Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery" contained text, independent of Moscow Grand Princedom. This svod reflected in the second part of Yermolin Chronicle and in so-called Abridged Chronicle Svods of the end of the 15th century. "Rostov Archbishop Svod" of the 1480s reflected in Typographical Chronicle. Another "Chronicle Svod of 1480s", made in unofficial church sphere, reflected in the "Svod of 1518", which in turn reflected in the

Sofia Second Chronicle The Sofia Second Chronicle is a Russian chronicle from the 16th century. It is found in two redactions: The Archival redaction, from the first quarter of the 16th century and now in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents (RGADA) (Fond 181, ...

and

Lvov Chronicle The Lviv Chronicle ( uk, Львівський літопис) is a Ruthenian chronicle from the early seventeenth century Halychyna. This chronicle reflects the events in Kievan Rus from year 1498 to 1649, revealing valuable information about th ...

. Ioasaf Chronicle was made at the end of the 1520s at the office of Moscow Metropolitan. It covered events of 1437–1520. In the same years, the first redaction of the

Nikon Chronicle The ''Nikon Chronicle'' (russian: Никоновская летопись) is a compilation of Russian chronicles undertaken at the court of Ivan the Terrible in the mid-16th century. The compilation was named after Patriarch of Moscow and all Ru ...

was compiled using the Ioasaf Chronicle as its immediate source. Nikon Chronicle was the largest Rus' chronicle. Voskresenskaya (" Resurrection") Chronicle was another extensive chronicle created between 1542–1544. In late 1550s, during the reign of

, initial redaction of the Nikon Chronicle was united with passages from Voskresenskaya Chronicle and the Chronicle of the Beginning of

Tsardom Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

– chronicle of events of 1533–1552, i.e. the beginning of Ivan's reign. In 1568—1576, also during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the multivolume Illustrated Chronicle Svod was created. This was the last All-Rus' chronicle, as they were replaced by another form of historiographical texts – chronographs. Russian chronicles of the 17–18th centuries were local, provincial texts, like

Siberian Chronicles The Siberian Letopises (''Сибирские летописи'' in Russian language, Russian) are the Russian Letopis (genre), letopises of the late 16th - 18th centuries on the history of Siberia. They include the Yesipov Letopis, Kungur Letopis, R ...

of the late 16th – 18th centuries. Development of Rus' chronicles were

Lithuanian Chronicles The Lithuanian Chronicles ( lt, Lietuvos metraščiai, also called Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicles) are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Ruthenian language and served the ne ...

of the 15–16th centuries and Ukrainian Chronicles of the 17–18th centuries.Марченко М. І., Українська історіографія (З давніх часів до сер. XIX ст.), К., 1959; Українські письменники. Біо-бібліографіч. словник, т. 1, К., 1960.

Some Rus' chronicles

* Novgorod First Chronicle * Galician–Volhynian Chronicle * Hypatian Codex *

Laurentian Codex Laurentian Codex or Laurentian Letopis (russian: Лаврентьевский список, Лаврентьевская летопись) is a collection of chronicles that includes the oldest extant version of the ''Primary Chronicle'' and its c ...

Academic Chronicle The Academic Chronicle (russian: Московско-Академическая летопись, translit=Moskovskaya akademicheskaya letopis) or Suzdal' Chronicle (russian: Суздальская летопись, translit=Suzdalskaya Letopis) is ...

Novgorod Fourth Chronicle The Novgorod Fourth Chronicle (Новгородская четвёртая летопись) is a Russian chronicle of 15th century. It is traditionally called "Fourth" according to the order of the modern publication of Novgorod chronicles, rather ...

* Radziwiłł Chronicle * Sofia First Chronicle * Novgorodsko-Sofiysky Svod *

* Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible * Kazan Chronicle *

Ioachim Chronicle The Ioachim Chronicle (ru: Иоакимовская Летопись), also spelled Joachim or Ioakim) is a chronicle discovered by the Russian historian Vasily Tatishchev in the 18th century. The chronicle is believed to be a 17th-century compilati ...

* Bychowiec Chronicle *

, including: * Stroganov Chronicle *

Kungur Chronicle The Kungur Letopis, also known as the Kungur Chronicle and Brief Siberian Kungur Letopis (''Кунгурская летопись'', ''Кунгурский летописец'', ''Летопись сибирская краткая Кунгурск� ...

Yesipov Chronicle The Yesipov Letopis (''Есиповская летопись'' in Russian) is one of the Siberian Letopises, dedicated to the memory of Yermak. It was compiled in 1636 by Savva Yesipov, a podyachy of the Siberian archbishop In Christian de ...

* Remezov Chronicle *

Pskov Third Chronicle Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: ...

Notes

Some editions

* Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles: russian: Полное собрание русских летописей. — СПб.; М, 1843; М., 1989. — Т. 1—38. * Новгородская первая летопись старшего и младшего изводов. — М.; Л., 1950. * Псковские летописи.— М.; Л., 1941—1955. — Вып. 1—2. * Рассказы русских летописей XII—XIV вв. / Перевод и пояснения Т.Н. Михельсон. — М., 1968; 2-е изд. — М., 1973. * Рассказы русских летописей XV—XVII вв. / Перевод и пояснения Т.Н. Михельсон — М., 1976, * Севернорусский летописный свод 1472 года / Подг. текста и комм Я.С. Лурье; Перевод В.В. Колесова // Памятники литературы Древней Руси: Вторая половина XV века. — М., 1982. — С. 410—443, 638—655.
The Rus' Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text
Translated and edited by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953.

is available at https://web.archive.org/web/20050309022812/http://hudce7.harvard.edu/~ostrowski/pvl/ together with an erudite and lengthy introduction in English. This is an ''interlinear collation'' including the ''five main manuscript witnesses'', as well as a new ''paradosis'', or reconstruction of the original.
The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016-1471. Intr. C. Raymond Beazley, A. A. Shakhmatov (London, 1914)
*

Bibliography

* Сухомлинов М.И. О древней русской летописи как памятнике литературном. — СПб., 1856. *

. Investigation on the Oldest Rus' Chronicle Svods. — Saint Petersburg: Printing-House of M.A. Aleksandrov, 1908. — XX, 686 p. — Reprint from Chronicle of Work of Imperial Archaeographic Commission. — Vol. 20. (russian
Шахматов А.А. Разыскания о древнейших русских летописных сводах
– СПб.: Типография М.А. Александрова, 1908. — XX, 686 с. — Оттиск из кн.: Летописи занятий Императорской Археографической Комиссии. — Т. 20). * Aleksey Shakhmatov. Review of Rus' Chronicle Svods of 14th—16th Century. Moscow / ed. by A.S. Orlov, Boris Grekov;

, Institute of Literature. — Moscow, Leningrad: Publisher of Academy of Sciences of USSR, 1938. — 372 p. (russian: Шахматов А.А. Обозрение русских летописных сводов XIV—XVI вв. / отв. ред.: А.С. Орлов, акад. Б.Д. Греков; АН СССР, Институт литературы. – М.; Л.: Издательство АН СССР, 1938. — 372 с.). * Приселков М.Д. История русского летописания XI—XV вв. — Л., 1940. * Приселков М.Д. Троицкая летопись: Реконструкция текста. – 2-е изд. – СПб.: Наука, 2002. – 512, с. * Лихачев Д.С. Русские летописи и их культурно-историческое значение. — М.; Л., 1947. * Дмитриева Р.П. Библиография русского летописания. — М.; Л., 1962 * Насонов А.Н. История русского летописания XI — начала XVIII века. — М., 1969 * Творогов О.В. Сюжетное повествование в летописях XI—XIII вв. / Истоки русской беллетристики: Возникновение сюжетного повествования в древнерусской литературы. — Л.: Наука, 1970. — С. 31—66. * Лурье Я.С. К изучению летописного жанра // Труды Отдела древнерусской литературы. — 1972. — Т. 27. — С. 76—93. * Лурье Я.С. Общерусские летописи XIV—XV вв. — Л., 1976. * Корецкий В.И. История русского летописания второй половины XVI — начала XVII века. — М., 1986.
Словарь книжников и книжности Древней Руси
/ АН СССР. ИРЛИ; Отв. ред. Д.С. Лихачев. — Л.: Наука, 1987. — Вып. 1 (XI – первая половина XIV в.). — С. 234—251; Л.: Наука, 1989. — Вып. 2, ч. 2. — С. 17—18, 20—69. * Лурье Я.С. Две истории Руси XV века. — СПб., 1994. * Literature of Old Rusʹ. Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary / ed. by Oleg Tvorogov. - Moscow: Prosvescheniye ("Enlightenment"), 1996. (russian
Лурье Я.С. Летописи
// Литература Древней Руси. Биобиблиографический словарь / под ред. О.В. Творогова. - М.: Просвещение, 1996). * Бобров А.Г. Новгородские летописи XV века. — СПб.: Дмитрий Буланин, 2000. — 287 с.

// Новгородский исторический сборник. — СПб., 1997. — Вып. 6 (16) / Рос. акад. наук, Институт рос. истории, С.-Петербургский филиал; отв. ред. В.Л. Янин. — C. 3–72. * Гиппиус А.А. К характеристике новгородского владычного летописания XII–XIV вв. // Великий Новгород в истории средневековой Европы: К 70-летию В.Л. Янина. — М.: Русские словари, 1999. — С. 345–364. * Гимон Т.В. События XI – начала XII в. в новгородских летописях и перечнях // Древнейшие государства Восточной Европы: 2010 год: Предпосылки и пути образования Древнерусского государства / отв. ред. серии Е.А. Мельникова. Институт всеобщей истории РАН. — М.: Рус. Фонд Содействия Образ. и Науке, 2012. — С. 584–706.
Сергеев В.И. Сибирские летописи
// Жуков Е.М. Советская историческая энциклопедия: В 16 т. - М.: Государственное научное издательство «Советская энциклопедия», 1961-1976. {{ref end East Slavic manuscripts East Slavic chronicles Old Church Slavonic literature Novgorod Republic Cyrillic manuscripts History of Russia