The Tale of Bygone Years (Primary Chronicle) is compiled in Kyiv
In the 1110s Kyivan monks compiled the Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest East Slavic chronicle to survive in full: a history of the Rus’ land from the sons of Noah and the first Slavs to the early 12th century, with year-by-year entries from 852. Tradition names Nestor of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves as its author; in 1116 Abbot Sylvester of Vydubychi made his redaction under Vladimir Monomakh. It is the main written source for the early history of the Eastern Slavs.
- Date
- between 1110 and 1118exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Kyiv Monastery of the Cavestoday: Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Nestor the Chronicler, Sylvester of Vydubychi, Vladimir II Monomakh, Kievan Rus’
- Threads
- Rus (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Primary Chronicle; Tale of Bygone Years; Povest vremennykh let; Nestor's Chronicle; Russian Primary Chronicle; Повесть временных лет; Начальная летопись; Несторова летопись; ПВЛ
The chronicle opens with the words that gave it its name: these are the tales of bygone years — whence the Rus’ land came, who first began to rule in Kyiv and how the Rus’ land came to be. An introduction on the division of the earth among the sons of Noah and the settlement of the Slavs is followed by entries for each year, counted from the Creation, beginning with 6360 (852) and ending with 1110 in the Laurentian copy and 1117 in the Hypatian. The compilers drew on oral tradition about the first princes, on Byzantine chronicles — above all that of George Hamartolos, and also that of John Malalas — and on the texts of the treaties between Rus’ and Byzantium, inserted under 907, 912, 945 and 971.
Nestor, a monk of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is named as its author only in a 16th-century copy and in the 13th-century Caves Patericon; some scholars regard his name in the 16th-century copy as a later insertion, and modern scholarship treats the chronicle as an anonymous compilation. In the reconstruction of A. A. Shakhmatov, Nestor made the first redaction in 1110–1113; in 1116 Sylvester, abbot of the Vydubychi Monastery of St Michael, revised it, giving Vladimir Monomakh the central place — his note, dated 6624 (1116), saying that he wrote this book in the reign of Prince Volodimer in Kyiv, closes the text of the Tale in the Laurentian copy; and in 1117–1118 a third redaction, centred on Monomakh’s son Mstislav, was made, which survives in the Hypatian copy. Most modern scholars date the compilation of the Tale to the years between the death of Sviatopolk II on 16 April 1113 and Sylvester’s note of 1116. Shakhmatov also traced earlier compilations behind it — the ‘Oldest Compilation’ of about 1039 at the metropolitan see of Kyiv, continued by the monk Nikon in the 1070s, and the ‘Initial Compilation’ of 1093–1095 — a scheme that later scholars such as A. A. Gippius and Alan Timberlake have revised.
The original manuscript has not survived: the text is known from later codices, chiefly the Laurentian of 1377 and the Hypatian of the 15th century, in which it forms the opening part. It remains the main written source for the early history of the Eastern Slavs, from the calling of the Varangians and the campaigns of Oleg and Igor to the baptism of Rus’ and the reign of Yaroslav.
Connections
Related events
- St Sophia of Kyiv is foundedbetween 1011 and 1037 · Eastern Europeaccording to A. A. Shakhmatov, the oldest Kyivan chronicle was compiled about 1039 at the metropolitan see of St Sophia
- Hilarion, the first metropolitan of Kyiv from Rus’1051 … February 1052 · Eastern Europethe chronicle tells how Hilarion dug the cave around which grew the Monastery of the Caves, where the chronicle itself was later compiled
- The Kyiv uprising of 1113 and the reign of Vladimir Monomakh17 April 1113 – 19 May 1125 · Eastern EuropeSylvester dated his redaction to 1116, in the reign of Monomakh in Kyiv
Same participants
- The Council of Liubech1097 · Eastern Europevia Vladimir II Monomakh
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv1019 – 20 February 1054 · Eastern Europe
- Andrei Bogolyubsky’s coalition sacks Kyivbetween 8 March and 12 March 1169 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Bernard founds Clairvaux: the rise of the CisterciansJune 1115
- Investiture Controversy1075 – 23 September 1122
Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Alexios I Komnenos: the Komnenian restoration begins4 April 1081 – 15 August 1118
Middle East and Egypt
- Founding of the Knights Templarbetween 1119 and 1120
Africa
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- The Almoravids: from a desert reform movement to an empirebetween 1039 and 1046 – 1147
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
South Asia
East Asia
- Zhang Zeduan’s scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festivalbetween 1100 and 1127
- Wanyan Aguda proclaims the Jin empire28 January 1115
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Suryavarman II builds Angkor Watbetween 1113 and 1122 – c. 1150
- Polynesians settle the Society Islandsbetween 1025 and 1120
North America
- Classic Mimbres: the painted bowls of the Mogollonc. 1000 – between 1130 and 1150
- Pueblo II: stone pueblos and the Chaco worldc. 900 – c. 1150
Latin America
- Eight Deer Jaguar Claw unites the Mixtec kingdomsc. 1083 – 1115
- Collapse of Tiwanakuc. 1000 – c. 1150
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
- Tula and the Toltecs: the leading city of central Mexicoc. 900 – c. 1150
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Primary Chronicle
- Wikipedia (English): Nestor the Chronicler
- Wikipedia (Russian): Повесть временных лет
- Wikipedia (Russian): Нестор Летописец
- Wikipedia (Russian): Сильвестр (епископ Переяславский)
- Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.
- Шахматов А. А. Повесть временных лет. Т. 1: Вводная часть. Текст. Примечания. — Пг., 1916.
- Полное собрание русских летописей. Т. 1: Лаврентьевская летопись. — 2-е изд. — Л., 1926–1928.
- The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text / Transl. and ed. S. H. Cross, O. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. — Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953.