User:Nederlandse Leeuw/Textual criticism of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle

Textual criticism of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle is the study of the textual witnesses and variants of the Kievan Chronicle and Suzdalian Chronicle under the period from 1118 to 1198, which is covered by both. The surviving texts of the two chronicles are very similar up to the 1170s, after which they diverge, although they also show striking differences in contents, perspectives and Tendenz. The Kievan Chronicle is generally perceived by scholars as attempting to encompass the history of the entire Kievan Rus' realm of the 12th century, emphasising the dynastic centrality of the city of Kiev, and generally favouring the princes of Kiev and its environs, while not favouring any princely clan in particular. Until 1164, the Suzdalian Chronicle largely covers the same events in and around Kiev, leading researchers to suggest its text until that point must have derived from a "Southern Rus' source" that was also an ancestor to the transmitted text of the Kievan Chronicle. On the other hand, after 1164, the Suzdalian Chronicle has a pro-Yurievichi dynastic Tendenz, and shows a keen interest in the events in the northeastern Rus' principalities, particularly Vladimir-Suzdal and its neighbours (Murom-Ryazan, the Novgorod Republic, and Smolensk, and the Upper Oka Principalities that split from Principality of Chernigov in the 1120s).

Textual witnesses

 * The Kievan Chronicle is known from two manuscripts: a copy in the Hypatian Codex (c. 1425), and a copy in the Khlebnikov Codex (c.  1560s); in both codices, it is sandwiched between the Primary Chronicle and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle.
 * 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).

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Comparison of contents
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.

Legend of Gorislava
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.

Andrey Bogolyubsky's removal of the Icon from Vyshhorod to Vladimir
In column 346 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle, dated to 1155, Andrey Bogolyubsky removes the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God from Vyshhorod, and moves it to Vladimir on the Klyazma. In 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.

1169 sack of Kiev
Columns 351–352 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle 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.

Eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky
Columns 367–369 of the Laurentian version of the Suzdalian Chronicle contain the Short eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky. The Long eulogy to Andrey Bogolyubsky is found in Kievan Chronicle columns 580–595.

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'.
 * 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'.
 * 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'.

* Category:12th-century history books Category:History of Kievan Rus' Category:Old East Slavic manuscripts Category:Old East Slavic chronicles Category:Old Church Slavonic literature Category:Vladimir-Suzdal