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''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous
epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
written in the
Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...
language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'', ''The Lay of Igor's Campaign'', ''The Lay of the Host of Igor'', and ''The Lay of the Warfare Waged by Igor''. The poem gives an account of a failed raid of Igor Svyatoslavich (d. 1202) against the
Polovtsians The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as "Cum ...
of the
Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...
region. While some have disputed the authenticity of the poem, the current scholarly consensus is that the poem is authentic and dates to the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
(late 12th century). The ''Tale of Igor's Campaign'' was adapted by
Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...
as an
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
and became one of the great classics of Russian theatre. Entitled ''
Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' (, ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the early Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which recounts the campaign of the 12th-centur ...
'', it was first performed in 1890.


Content

The story describes a failed raid made in year 1185 by ''
Kniaz A , also , ''knjaz'' or (), is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English as 'prince', 'king' or 'duke', depending on specific historical context and the potentia ...
'' Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Novgorod-Seversk, on the
Polovtsian The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...
s living along the lower Don. Other Rus' historical figures are mentioned, including
skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
Boyan (''The Bard''), the princes
Vseslav of Polotsk Vseslav Bryachislavich ( 1029 – 24 April 1101; also known as ''Vseslav the Sorcerer'' or ''Vseslav the Seer'') was Prince of Polotsk (1044–1101) and Grand Prince of Kiev (1068–1069). Together with Rostislav Vladimirovich and voivode Vys ...
,
Yaroslav Osmomysl Yaroslav Osmomysl (, ''Osmomyslŭ Jaroslavŭ''; , ''Yaroslav Volodymyrovych Osmomysl'') ( – 1 October 1187) was a knyaz of Halych (now in western Ukraine). He is best-known for appearing in ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign''. His sobriquet, meani ...
of
Halych Halych (, ; ; ; ; , ''Halitsch'' or ''Galitsch''; ) is a historic List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The city gave its name to the Principality of Halych, the historic province of Galicia (Eastern Europe), ...
, and
Vsevolod the Big Nest Vsevolod III Yuryevich, or Vsevolod the Big Nest (; 1154–1212), was Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1176 to 1212. During his long reign, the city reached the zenith of its glory. Family Vsevolod was the tenth or eleventh son of Yuri Dolgoruk ...
of
Suzdal Suzdal (, ) is a Types of inhabited localities in Russia, town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located along the Kamenka tributary of the Nerl (Klyazma), Nerl River, north o ...
. The author appeals to the warring Rus' princes and pleads for unity in the face of the constant threat from the Turkic East. Igor's campaign is recorded in the ''
Kievan Chronicle The ''Kievan Chronicle'' or ''Kyivan Chronicle'' is a chronicle of Kievan Rus'. It was written around 1200 in Vydubychi Monastery as a continuation of the ''Primary Chronicle''. It is known from two manuscripts: a copy in the '' Hypatian Codex'' ...
'' (c. 1200). The descriptions show coexistence between
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and ancient Slavic religion. Igor's wife Yaroslavna invokes natural forces from the walls of
Putyvl Putyvl (, ; , ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, in north-east Ukraine. The city served as the administrative center of Putyvl Raion until the administrative reform in 2018; now it is under the jurisdiction of Konotop Raion. Population: History One ...
. Christian motifs are presented along with depersonalised pagan gods among the artistic images. The main themes of the story are patriotism, the power and role of nature (at the time of the story, 12th century) and homeland. The main idea is the unity of people. The ''Tale'' has been compared to other
national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks to or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group wi ...
s, including ''
The Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French li ...
'' and '' The Song of the Nibelungs''. The book however differs from contemporary Western epics on account of its numerous and vivid descriptions of
nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
and the portrayal of the role which nature plays in human lives.


Discovery and publication

The only manuscript of the ''Tale'', claimed to be dated to the 15th century, was discovered in 1795 in the library of the Transfiguration Monastery in
Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...
, where the first library and school in Russia had been established in the 12th century, but there is a controversy about its source.Kotlyar, M.
A word about the Igor's Army (СЛОВО О ПОЛКУ ІГОРЕВІМ)
'' Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.
Monastery superior Joel (Bykovsky) sold the manuscript to a local landowner, Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, as a part of a collection of ten texts. Aleksei realised the value of the book and made a transcription for the empress
Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
in 1795 or 1796. He published it in 1800 with the help of Alexei Malinovsky and Nikolai Bantysh-Kamensky, leading Russian paleographers of the time. The original manuscript was claimed to have burned in the great Moscow fire of 1812 (during the
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
ic occupation), together with Musin-Pushkin's entire library. The release of this historical work into scholarly circulation created a stir in Russian literary circles, as the tale represented the earliest Slavonic language writing, without any element of
Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
. After linguistic analysis, Ukrainian scholars in the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
declared that the document contained transitional language between a) earlier fragments of the language of ''
Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...
propria'' (the region of
Chernigov Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukrain ...
, eastward through
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, and into
Halych Halych (, ; ; ; ; , ''Halitsch'' or ''Galitsch''; ) is a historic List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The city gave its name to the Principality of Halych, the historic province of Galicia (Eastern Europe), ...
) and, b) later fragments from the Halych-Volynian era of this same region in the centuries immediately following the writing of the document. The Russian-American author
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
translated the work into English in 1960. Other notable editions include the standard Soviet edition, prepared with an extended commentary, by the academician Dmitry Likhachev.


Authenticity debate

According to the majority view, the poem is a composition of the late 12th century, perhaps composed orally and fixed in written form at some point during the 13th century. Some scholars consider the possibility that the poem in its current form is a national Romanticist compilation and rearrangement of several authentic sources. The thesis of the poem's being a complete forgery has been proposed in the past but is widely discredited; the poem's language has been demonstrated to be closer to authentic medieval East Slavic than practicable by a late 18th-century forger. It was not until 1951 that scholars discovered ancient
birch bark document Birch bark manuscripts are documents written on pieces of the outer layer of birch bark, which was commonly used for writing before the mass production of paper. Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries and appears in various c ...
s with content in this medieval language. One of the crucial points of the authenticity controversy is the relationship between The Tale of Igor's Campaign and '' Zadonschina'', an unquestionably authentic poem, which was created around the end of the 1300s or the beginning of the 1400s to glorify
Dmitri Donskoi Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (; 12 October 1350 – 19 May 1389) was Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 until his death. He was the heir of Ivan II. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol a ...
's victory over Mongol-Tatar troops of the ruler in the
Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...
Mamai Mamai (Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian Cyrillic: Мамай, ; 1325?–1380/1381) was a powerful Turco-Mongol tradition, Turko-Mongol military commander in Beylerbey rank of the Golden Horde from Kiyat clan. Contrary to popular misconcep ...
in the
Battle of Kulikovo The Battle of Kulikovo () was fought between the forces of Mamai, a powerful Mongol military commander of the Golden Horde, and Russian forces led by Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, Dmitry of Moscow. The battle took place on 8 September 1380, at Ku ...
and is preserved in six medieval copies. There are almost identical passages in both texts where only the personal names are different. The traditional point of view considers ''Zadonschina'' to be a late imitation, with ''Slovo'' as its pattern. The forgery version claims the reverse: that ''Igor's Tale'' was written using ''Zadonschina'' as a source. Recently,
Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (, ; 18 July 1982) was a Russian linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzk ...
's and
Andrey Zaliznyak Andrey Anatolyevich Zaliznyak ( rus, Андре́й Анато́льевич Зализня́к, p=zəlʲɪˈzʲnʲak; 29 April 1935 – 24 December 2017) was a Soviet and Russian linguist, an expert in historical linguistics, accentology, di ...
's analyses show that the passages of ''Zadonschina'' with counterparts in ''Slovo'' differ from the rest of the text by several linguistic parameters, whereas this is not so for ''Igor's Tale''. This fact is taken as evidence of ''Slovo'' being the original with respect to ''Zadonschina''. Zaliznyak also points out that the passages in ''Zadonschina'' which parallel those in the ''Igor's Tale'' but differ from it can be explained only if ''Slovo'' was the source for ''Zadonshchina'' (the differences can be the result of the distortion of the original ''Slovo'' text by the author and different editors of ''Zadonshchina'' versions), but not vice versa. Proponents of the forgery thesis give sometimes contradictory arguments: some authors (Mazon) see numerous ''
Gallicism A Gallicism can be: * a mode of speech peculiar to the French; * a French idiom; * in general, a French mode or custom. * a loanword, word or phrase borrowed from French. See also * Francization * Franglais * Gallic (disambiguation) * Gallican ...
s'' in the text; while others (Trost, Haendler) see Germanisms, yet others (Keenan) Bohemisms. Zimin is certain that the author could only be Ioil Bykovsky, while Keenan is equally sure that only Josef Dobrovsky could be the falsifier. Current
dialectology Dialectology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logy, -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now c ...
upholds
Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...
and
Polotsk Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...
as the two cities where the ''Tale'' was most likely written. Numerous persons have been proposed as its authors, including Prince Igor and his brothers. Other authors consider the epic to have emerged in Southern Rus', with many elements corresponding to modern
Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
.


Early reactions

After the only manuscript copy of the ''Tale'' was destroyed in the Napoleonic invasion of 1812, questions about its authenticity were raised, mostly because of its language. Suspicion was also fueled by contemporary fabrications (for example, the ''Songs of
Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora (poem), Temora'' (1763), and later c ...
'', proved to be written by
James Macpherson James Macpherson ( Gaelic: ''Seumas MacMhuirich'' or ''Seumas Mac a' Phearsain''; 27 October 1736 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and politician. He is known for the Ossian cycle of epic poems, which he ...
). Today, majority opinion accepts the authenticity of the text, based on the similarity of its language and imagery with those of other texts discovered after the ''Tale''. Proposed as forgers were Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, or the Russian manuscript forgers Anton Bardin and Alexander Sulakadzev. (Bardin was publicly exposed as the forger of four copies of ''Slovo''). Josef Sienkowski, a journalist and Orientalist, was one of the notable early proponents of the falsification theory.


Soviet period

The problem of the national text became more politicized during the years of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Any attempts to question the authenticity of ''Slovo'' (for example, by the French
Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...
André Mazon André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal, ...
or by the Russian historian
Alexander Zimin Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Zimin (Александр Александрович Зимин; 1920-1980) was one of the most prolific and well-known Soviet medievalists. His area of expertise was late medieval Muscovy. Zimin was born in a noble fa ...
) were condemned. Government officials also repressed and condemned non-standard interpretations based on Turkic lexis, such as was proposed by Olzhas Suleimenov (who considered ''Igor's Tale'' to be an authentic text). Mazon's and Zimin's views were opposed, for example, by
Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (, ; 18 July 1982) was a Russian linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzk ...
. In 1975, Olzhas Suleimenov challenged the mainstream view of the ''Tale'' in his book ''Az i Ya''. He claimed to reveal that ''Tale'' cannot be completely authentic since it appeared to have been rewritten in the 16th century. Mainstream Slavists, including Dmitri Likhachev, and Turkologists criticized ''Az i Ya'', characterizing Suleimenov's etymological and paleography conjectures as amateurish. Linguists such as Zaliznyak pointed out that certain linguistic elements in ''Slovo'' dated from the 15th or 16th centuries, when the copy of the original manuscript (or of a copy) had been made. They noted this was a normal feature of copied documents, as copyists introduce elements of their own orthography and grammar, as is known from many other manuscripts. Zaliznyak points out that this evidence constitutes another argument for the authenticity of ''Slovo''. An anonymous forger would have had not only to imitate very complex 12th century orthography and grammar but also to introduce fake complex traces of the copying in the 15th or 16th centuries.


Recent views

While some historians and philologists continue to question the text's authenticity for various reasons (for example, believing that it has an uncharacteristically modern nationalistic sentiment) (
Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak (; 7 April 1919 – 29 May 2006) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director (1973–1989) of the Harvard Ukrainian Rese ...
inter alios), linguists are not so skeptical. The overall scholarly consensus accepts Slovo's authenticity. Some scholars believe the ''Tale'' has a purpose similar to that of Kralovedvorsky Manuscript.Pospíšil, Ivo: Slovo o pluku Igorově v kontextu současných výzkumů, ''Slavica Slovaca'', Volume 42, No. 1, 2007, pp. 37–48. For instance, the Harvard historian
Edward L. Keenan Edward Louis "Ned" Keenan Jr. (May 14, 1935 – March 9, 2015) was an American professor of history at Harvard University who specialized in medieval Russian history (especially the cultural and the political history of Muscovy). He became a ...
says in his article, "Was Iaroslav of Halych really shooting sultans in 1185?" and in his book ''Josef Dobrovsky and the Origins of the Igor's Tale'' (2003), that ''Igor's Tale'' is a fake, written by the Czech scholar
Josef Dobrovský Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann. Life and work Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat, N� ...
. Other scholars contend that it is a recompilation and manipulation of several authentic sources put together similarly to Lönnrot's ''
Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...
''. In his 2004 book, the Russian linguist
Andrey Zaliznyak Andrey Anatolyevich Zaliznyak ( rus, Андре́й Анато́льевич Зализня́к, p=zəlʲɪˈzʲnʲak; 29 April 1935 – 24 December 2017) was a Soviet and Russian linguist, an expert in historical linguistics, accentology, di ...
analyzes arguments and concludes that the forgery theory is virtually impossible. It was not until the late 20th century, after hundreds of bark documents were unearthed in Novgorod, that scholars learned that some of the puzzling passages and words of the ''tale'' were part of common speech in the 12th century, although they were not represented in chronicles and other formal written documents. Zaliznyak concludes that no 18th-century scholar could have imitated the subtle grammatical and syntactical features in the known text. He did not believe that Dobrovský could have accomplished this, as his views on Slavic grammar (as expressed in his magnum opus, ''Institutiones'') were strikingly different from the system written in ''Igor's Tale''. In his revised second edition issued in 2007, Zaliznyak was able to use evidence from the posthumous edition of Zimin's 2006 book. He argued that even someone striving to imitate some older texts would have had almost impossible hurdles to overcome, as mere imitation could not have represented the deep mechanics of the language. Juri Lotman supports the text's authenticity, based on the absence of a number of
semiotic Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of semiosis, sign processes and the communication of Meaning (semiotics), meaning. In semiotics, a Sign (semiotics), sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feel ...
elements in the Russian Classicist literary tradition before the publication of the ''Tale''. He notes that "Russian Land" (''русская земля'') was a term that became popular only in the 19th century. A presumed forger of the 1780s–1790s would not have used such a term while composing the text.


Orality

Robert Mann (1989, 2005) argues that the leading studies have been mistaken in concluding the ''Tale'' is the work of a poet working in a written tradition. Mann points to evidence suggesting that the ''Tale'' first circulated as an oral epic song for several decades before being written down, most likely in the early 13th century. He identifies the opening lines as corresponding to such an oral tradition: "Was it not fitting, brothers, to begin with the olden words of the heroic tales about the campaign of Igor..." The narrator begins by referring to oral epic tales that are already old and familiar. Mann has found numerous new parallels to the text of the ''Tale'' in wedding songs, magical incantations, '' byliny'' and other Old Russian sources. He was the first researcher to point out unique textual parallels in a rare version of the ''Tale of the Battle against
Mamai Mamai (Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian Cyrillic: Мамай, ; 1325?–1380/1381) was a powerful Turco-Mongol tradition, Turko-Mongol military commander in Beylerbey rank of the Golden Horde from Kiyat clan. Contrary to popular misconcep ...
'' (''Skazanie o Mamaevom poboishche''), published by N.G. Golovin in 1835. It contains what Mann claims is the earliest known redaction of the ''Skazanie'', a redaction that scholars posited but could not locate. Based on byliny and Old Russian sources, Mann has attempted to reconstruct an early Russian song about the
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...
of the
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
an State. Mann believes that this early conversion cycle left its imprint on several passages of the ''Tale'', including the motif sequence in which the pagan Div warns the Tmutorokan idol that Igor's army is approaching.Mann, Robert. ''The Igor Tales and Their Folkloric Background''. Jupiter, FL: The Birchbark Press of Karacharovo, 2005.


Editions and translations

* Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, Alexei Malinovsky and Nikolai Bantysh-Kamensky, ''Ироическая пѣснь о походѣ на половцовъ удѣльнаго князя Новагорода-Сѣверскаго Игоря Святославича, писанная стариннымъ русскимъ языкомъ въ исходѣ XII столѣтія съ переложеніемъ на употребляемое нынѣ нарѣчіе''. Moscow, in senatorial typography. (1800) * Mansvetus Riedl, (1858) * * * Eduard Sievers, ''Das Igorlied'' (1926) * Karl Heinrich Meyer, ''Das Igorlied'' (1933) * Henri Grégoire, Roman Jakobson, Marc Szeftel, J. A. Joffe, ''La Geste du prince Igor'', Annuaire de l'Institut de philologie et ď histoire orientales et slaves, t. VIII. (1948) * Dmitry Likhachev, ''Слова о полку Игореве'', Литературные памятники (1950) *
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
, ''The Song of Igor's Campaign: An Epic of the 12th Century'' (1960) *
Dimitri Obolensky Sir Dimitri Dimitrievich Obolensky (; – 23 December 2001) was a Russian-British historian who was Professor of Russian and Balkan History at the University of Oxford and the author of various historical works. Biography Prince Dimitri Dim ...
, ''The Lay of Igor's Campaign — of Igor the Son of Svyatoslav and the Grandson of Oleg'' (translation alongside original text), in ''The Penguin Book of Russian Verse'' (1962) * Robert Howes, ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'' (1973) * Serge Zenkovsky, "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", in ''Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales'' (Revised edition, 1974) * Dmitry Likhachev, ''Слова о полку Игореве'', (Old Russian into English by Irina Petrova), (illustrated by Vladimir Favorsky), "The Lay of the Warfare Waged by Igor", Progress Publishers (Moscow, revised edition, 1981) * J. A. V. Haney and Eric Dahl, ''The Discourse on Igor’s Campaign: A Translation of the Slovo o polku Igoreve''. (1989) * J. A. V. Haney and Eric Dahl, ''On the Campaign of Igor: A Translation of the Slovo o polku Igoreve''. (1992) * Robert Mann, ''The Igor Tales and Their Folkloric Background'' (2005)


See also

* Prince Igor (1969 film) * Solar eclipse of 1 May 1185 * Musin-Pushkin House (Saint Petersburg)


Notes


Further reading

*Magnus, Leonard Arthur
''The Tale of the Armament of Igor''
Oxford University Press, 1915. The first English translation. *Mann, Robert. ''Lances Sing: A Study of the Old Russian Igor Tale''. Slavica: Columbus, 1989. *Mann, Robert. ''The Igor Tales and Their Folkloric Background''. Jupiter, FL: The Birchbark Press of Karacharovo, 2005. *Mann, Robert. The Silent Debate Over the Igor Tale. ''Oral Tradition'' 30.1:53-94, 2016
Link to article
* ''Pesn' o polku Igoreve: Novye otkrytiia''. Moscow: Iazyki Slavianskoi Kul'tury, 2009.


External links

* The original edition of 1800
Roman Jacobson's editionVladimir Nabokov's edition1800 edition, plus 4 more contemporary Russian language translations
* ttp://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/tai/index.htm Leonard Magnus English translation of 1915, parallel English/Russianbr>Katherine Owen, "The Lay of Igor’s Campaign and the Works It Has Inspired"
Analysis of artistic adaptations
The House of Count Aleksei Musin-Pushkin (1744-1818) in St. Petersburg. Here was stored the Tale of Igor's Campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tale Of Igor's Campaign, The 12th-century books 12th-century poems Works set in the 12th century 15th-century manuscripts 1795 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Russia Epic poems Russian poems Medieval literature Old East Slavic manuscripts Old East Slavic Ukrainian poems Forgery controversies