The first in time of discovery and the most ancient, and therefore the main one, is the Radzivilov Chronicle. All the lists of The Tale of Bygone Years that followed her are actually a copy of her.
First owners
Janusz Radziwill, Vilna voivode and commander of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the owner of the scroll in the 17th century. Actually, the chronicle got its name from the name of his magnate family.
According to the entry made at the end of the Chronicle, it becomes known that it was presented to Janusz Radziwill by Stanislav Zenovevich, a representative of the petty gentry who owned the manuscript earlier, as evidenced by the postscript in the margins. Janusz's father, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire Boguslav Radziwill, in 1671 assigned the chronicle to the Königsberg Library, where Peter I got acquainted with it in 1715 and ordered to make a copy (according to some sources, a copy was sent to the tsar in 1711). And when in 1761 the city was taken by Russian troops, the chronicle was confiscated and transported to St. Petersburg, to the Academy of Sciences. From here comesthe second name that the Radzivilov Chronicle bears is the Koenigsberg Chronicle, after the name of the city where it was kept in the 18th century until the moment when, in the form of a trophy, it came to Russia, which took part in the Seven Years' War. This document is the first and only one that gives an idea of the history of Russia, as well as its neighbors from the 5th to the 13th centuries. One can imagine the significance of this monumental historical evidence.
First illustrated book
But its uniqueness also lies in the fact that the Radzivilov Chronicle is the oldest and the only illustrated, or obverse (drawn faces) document dating back to that time. It contains 618 miniatures, which, despite being sketchy, give a good idea of that era.
The Königsberg Chronicle (another frequently mentioned name of the chronicle) is on a par with other similar European historical documents that are universally recognized world masterpieces - the Bulgarian Chronicle of Constantine Manassey, the Hungarian Chronicle of the 14th century and the famous Great French Chronicles. And in this series, the Radzivilov Chronicle stands out for the number and richness of illustrations. It should be noted that the priceless document has been significantly damaged over the long period of existence, as a result of which the frayed edges were cut off, the decayed cover was replaced several times.
Chronicles of the Vladimir-Suzdal branch of chronicle writing
There are endless disputes about the place of origin and authenticity of the Chronicles. Western Russian origin, presumably Smolensk,is now the most reasonable version
ey. Confirm the combination of Belarusian and Great Russian dialects and miniatures, in which Western European influence is felt. Chronicle Radzivilovskaya is extremely close to the Moscow-Academic copy of the Suzdal Chronicle. This collection is stored in Moscow, in the State Library. Lenin.
Both manuscripts coincide from the construction of Novgorod to 1206, which ends the narrative part of the document, then in the Moscow Academic Chronicle there is another text describing events up to 1419. The Radzivilov Chronicle is a priceless monument, presumably written in the 13th century. It was preserved in two lists, namely: the Radzivilov proper and the Moscow Academic one.
What are the chronicles about?
The Radzivilov Chronicle tells about the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavovich, about how he was captured by Konchak and escaped from him with Ovlur, about the call by Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich of Russian princes to speak to Kanev. It tells about a sortie against Konchak Vladimir Glebovich, describes campaigns against Tsargrad, battles with the Pechenegs and Polovtsians. There is also the collection of tribute, and other comments on the miniatures depicting the glorious deeds of the Russian princes.
There are a lot of ambiguities around the Königsberg Chronicle. It is not known by whose order and where it was written, whether the drawings and text are primary.
Historical document or falsification?
The fact that the oldest historical document Radzivilov Chronicle -fake, wrote many. Some of them considered the Polish paper on which the Chronicle was written to be the most important evidence. The missing sheets raise doubts, the text that runs into the drawings gives rise to riddles. Later research showed that the manuscript was corrected at least three times, and between the second and third times a rather significant period elapsed. The third artist was especially aggressive: he changed the poses and clothes of the people in the miniatures. Many riddles were caused by clearly European clothes, which in Russia at that time could not be. Here they are attributed to the third editor. In a word, the Königsberg Chronicles give rise to many mysteries and disputes. But research methods are constantly being improved, and someday the truth will be revealed. There have always been plenty of lovers of rewriting history, falsifying it for their own momentary purposes.
"Own" Rurik - neither Norman, nor English, nor Swede, nor Dutch
Now there is a lot of talk about why the Russians called on foreigners to reign and whether they called them at all. Maybe deys
Tweetly it was beneficial for someone to show the Russians as weak-minded, and for centuries. The Radzivilov Chronicle states the calling of the Varangians. And this, too, causes some doubts about its unbiasedness. Other researchers, who also do not really like the fact of calling foreigners to reign, say, referring to V. N. Tatishchev that Rurik was generally a Slav and spoke the Slavic language. Others wonder why V. N. Tatishchev, industrialist and economist, andin general, a descendant of Rurik was entrusted with work on the history of Russia. They believe that many of the facts in it are mystified.
