Suzdalian Chronicle

The Suzdalian Chronicle (Суздальскаѧ Лѣтопись; Суздальская летопись), also known as the Chronicle of Vladimir-Suzdal, Suzdal–Vladimirian Chronicle or Laurentian–Radziwiłł–Academic Chronicle (LRAC), is a Rus' chronicle. It is one of several continuations of the Primary Chronicle (PVL).

In the strictest sense of the term, Suzdalian Chronicle only means the segment between 1177 and 1203, the preserved source texts of which are very similar in four surviving manuscripts: the Laurentian Codex, the Radziwiłł Chronicle, the Academic Chronicle, and the Chronicler of Pereyaslavl-Suzdal (LPS). In its broadest sense, the Suzdalian Chronicle encompasses events from 1111 to 1305, as transmitted in the Laurentian Codex (the oldest surviving copy, dating from 1377, in columns 289–437). The chronicle is about the late period Kievan Rus', and the Laurentian continuation up to 1305 also includes events of its subsequent Rus' principalities under the early dominion of the Golden Horde. It has a pro-Yurievichi dynastic Tendenz, and a focus on the northeastern principalities of Vladimir-Suzdal, where it was compiled.

Textual witnesses

 * The Radziwiłł Chronicle (or Königsberg Manuscript) provides a continuation up to the year 1206, based on records of the city of Vladimir on the Klyazma.
 * The Academic Chronicle (or (Moscow) Academic Chronicle/Manuscript) contains text nearly identical to that of the Radziwiłł Chronicle up to 1206, then text nearly identical to that of the Sofia First Chronicle for the years 1205/1206–1238, and from 1238/1240 to 1418 it contains a Rostov chronicle collection, primarily concerned with events in and around Rostov.
 * The Laurentian Codex provides a separate continuation up to the year 1305, based on a lost Tverian codex from 1305. The SVC copy found in the Laurentian Codex has six missing leaves: after folio 169, five leaves are missing about the events of 6771–6791 (1263–1283); after folio 170, one leaf is missing about the events of 6796–6802 (1288–1293). The number of lost leaves is estimated based on parallel texts from nearby chronicles; there is also a hypothesis that the last lacuna is associated not with the loss of a leaf, but with an omission in the protograph.
 * The Chronicler of Pereyaslavl-Suzdal (Летописец Переяславля Суздальского Letopisets Perejaslavlja Suzdal'skogo, LPS) is embedded in a 15th-century compilation. It starts from 1139 and continues up to 1214.

Contents

 * In the Laurentian Codex, the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle comprises columns 289–437 (148 columns in total, starting from folio 96).
 * Columns 312–351 (40 columns in total) cover the protracted 1146–1162 succession struggle for the throne of Kiev.
 * Columns 323–326 cover the years 1149–1155 and focus on the efforts of Yuri Dolgorukiy (supported by Andrey Bogolyubsky) to claim and hold the Kievan throne.
 * In column 346, dated to 1155, Andrey removes the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God from Vyshhorod, and moves it to Vladimir.
 * Columns 351–352 narrate the 1164 fasting controversy in Suzdal.
 * Columns 354–355 narrate the Sack of Kiev (1169), which the Suzdal–Vladimirian Chronicle primarily justifies by reference to the 1164 fasting controversy in Suzdal.
 * Columns 367–369 contain the Short eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky. (The Long eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky is found in Kievan Chronicle columns 580–595).
 * Columns 409–411 narrate the devastating 1193 fire of Vladimir on the Klyazma, destroying much of the city. The Laurentian text adds a homily here, explaining the fire in terms of sin and the need to repent to God, ending with "Amen" (аминь). The whole homily of 1193 is missing in the Radziwiłł Chronicle and in the Chronicler of Perejaslavl-Suzdal (LPS); however, both do mention the word "Amen" at the end of their entry for 1185, which the Laurentian does not.

Composition
The Laurentian Codex compiled several codices of the Vladimir chronicles. The Laurentian Codex was not just copied by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius (commissioned in 1377, either by metropolitan Dionysius of Suzdal, or by prince Dmitry Konstantinovich of Novgorod-Suzdal).

The first part until folio 40 verso was written by an unknown scribe commissioned by Andrey Bogolyubsky. In 1177 it was completed after the assassination of the prince. The second chronicle about Vsevolod the Big Nest continued up to 1193. Some scholars think that the entire first section of the Chronicle of Vladimir-Suzdal until the year 1193 was written during the years 1177–1193.

Because the Laurentian homily of 1093 is missing from Radziwiłł and LPS, which do have an "Amen" in 1185 where Laurentian doesn't, early scholars such as Shakhmatov (1902, 1938), Priselkov (1940) and Prokhorov (1989) to conjecture that the "Vladimir" chronicle was compiled in several stages, with two or three possible redactions taking place in the mid-1170s, in 1185, and/or in 1193. Alan Timberlake (2000) tested these hypotheses linguistically, and found evidence of four distinct segments: 1177–1185a, 1185b–1188, 1189–1190, and 1192–1203. Although he was able to confirm redactional activity in 1185, he found other linguistic divisions that no previous scholar had proposed, and concluded there was no boundary in 1193, but instead a continuous narrative from 1192 to 1203. Laurentian, Radziwiłł and LPS 'are quite similar through 1203, at which point they diverge.'

The original text on events from 1284 to 1305 was a lost codex compiled for the Grand Prince Mikhail of Tver in 1305, but Laurentius re-edited the presentation of Yuri Vsevolodovich, the founder of Nizhny Novgorod, from positive into a negative, partly rehabilitating the role of Tatars. Vasily Komarovich (1976) studied traces of changes within the manuscript and established a hypothesis about differences between Laurentius' version and the lost one of the Tver chronicle. The 1193–1212 part, which glorified Vsevolod, was composed in 1212 by his son Yuri II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir. The Vladimir Chronicles borrowed from sources of the Southern Rus', especially from Pereiaslav, since Vladimir princes regarded the city as part of their patrimony. The critical edition presented the text with all its variants given in other chronicles.

Comparison with Kievan Chronicle
The text of the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle shows strong similarities with that of the Kievan Chronicle found in the Hypatian Codex, but also some remarkable differences. Jaroslaw Pekenski (1988) made the following comparison (italics by Pelenski): Pelenski observed that the Kievan Chronicle framed Andrey's actions as improper and illegal, whereas the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle omitted any such references. This is in line with how the Kievan is generally ambivalent or openly critical of Andrey's reign, whilst the Suzdal'–Vladimirian is positive and complimentary of his actions.

Francis Butler (2012) remarked that the Legend of Gorislava of Polotsk sub anno 1128 is contained in the Suzdalian Chronicle, but not the Kievan Chronicle. Nevertheless, both are continuations of the Primary Chronicle, which mentions the related Legend of Rogned' of Polotsk sub anno 980.

Translations

 * [digitisation of the Laurentian Codex, including the Suzdal'–Vladimirian Chronicle, with a transcription of the Old Church Slavonic text and a translation into modern Russian, with an introduction in English]

Literature

 * Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.
 * Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.
 * Reprinted in Pelenski, The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'.