In the second and main period of his literary activity, Karamzin devoted himself entirely to working on history and his merit as a historian is very significant. “The History of the Russian State” is a huge work on which Karamzin worked intensively and conscientiously for many years. At that time there were no ready-made materials that a historian can use in our time; there were no manuals on the history of art, icon painting, ethnography and other similar sciences that make the work of a historian easier. Karamzin had to work hard, looking for various historical materials, collating and checking historical documents. For his history, he used all the surviving ancient chronicles, all historical works written before him.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Portrait by Tropinin
We know about the historical works that existed at that time, such as “Russian History” by Tatishchev, the history of Prince Shcherbatov, and the studies of German historians Schlozer and Miller, but all these works were one-sided and did not cover the whole of Russian history.
Karamzin. History of Russian Goverment. Audiobook. Part 1
In addition, before Karamzin, the reading public was not interested in their native antiquity and did not know Russian history. Karamzin managed to awaken interest in history, in the past of Russia. “The History of the Russian State” was a huge success and became known to wide circles of Russian society, thanks to the fact that Karamzin was able to give his history artistic forms; This is not a dry presentation of historical events, but a living story, decorated with descriptions. The story is easy to read, despite the smooth, periodic, slightly solemn language in which it is written. Karamzin deliberately wrote in this elevated, solemn tone, which, in his opinion, was suitable for the presentation of history and was very different from the tone and language in which “Letters” and “Poor Liza” were written. In textbooks on the theory of literature, Karamzin’s language in his “History” is usually cited as an example of smooth periodic speech. Here is an example of such a period, and at the same time an example of an artistic description from the history of Karamzin; describes the moment before the start of the Battle of Kulikovo:
Standing on a high hill and seeing the slender, boundless ranks of the army, countless banners fluttering in the light wind, the shine of weapons and armor illuminated by the bright “autumn sun; hearing everyone's loud exclamations: “God! grant victory to our sovereign!” and imagining that many thousands of these good knights would fall in a few hours, like zealous victims of love for the fatherland, Demetrius bowed his knees in tenderness and, stretching out his hands to the golden image of the Savior, shining in the distance on the black banner of the Grand Duke, prayed for the last time for the Christians and Russia, mounted a horse, rode around all the regiments and spoke to everyone, calling the soldiers his faithful comrades, dear brothers, confirming their courage and promising each of them a glorious memory in the world, with a martyr's crown behind the grave.
Karamzin’s language in “History” is unusually pure; he avoids the use of foreign words and expressions. In describing individual historical figures, he uses the technique of folk poetry, often using epithets that characterize these persons: “brave prince”, “prudent adviser”, “arrogant enemy”. Sometimes in these repeated epithets the sentimentalism of the first period of Karamzin’s work is visible: “good Russians”, “sweet tears of joy”, “tender sensitivity”. Despite these not always successful and sometimes stereotypical epithets, Karamzin gives vivid, living characteristics of some outstanding historical figures, such as Ivan III, his favorite hero, Ivan the Terrible, Saint Metropolitan Philip, Boris Godunov, Vasily Shuisky.
In his “History” Karamzin mainly talks about the development of state life in Russia, is interested in its political development and has little to do with the life and way of life of the Russian people. No wonder Karamzin called his work “History States Russian." Subsequently, the famous historian Soloviev very successfully called Karamzin’s “History” “a majestic poem glorifying the state.” Some critics reproached Karamzin for such one-sidedness of his story. The first to pay attention to this is the historian N. Polevoy, wrote, in opposition to Karamzin, “The History of the Russian people”, but this work is far from having the value of Karamzin’s “History”, based on a huge historical work. Very valuable, for example, are the notes to Karamzin’s “History”, which occupy almost half of the entire work; From these notes we see what a colossal amount of work the author did, checking and collating various historical documents - how large the bibliography he used for his work.
Karamzin’s entire “History” is imbued with an ardent patriotic and national spirit, imbued with the idea of monarchism.
Karamzin divides the history of Russia, leading up to the accession of the Romanov dynasty, into three periods; in the first period, before Yaroslav the Wise, Karamzin sees the growth of the state in autocracy; in the second, appanage period, the fragmentation of the land and the division of power lead to a weakening of the state, which therefore falls under the Tatar yoke. In the third, Moscow period, autocracy triumphs again. Rus' “gathers” around Moscow, strengthens and its strength grows. Ivan III, as the “gatherer of Rus',” is Karamzin’s favorite hero. Even in the historical “Note” submitted to Tsar Alexander I, Karamzin expressed his admiration for Ivan III, placing his merits above those of Peter the Great.
Karamzin’s “History” is imbued with a deeply religious spirit. In the course of historical events, Karamzin always sees Providence, the will of God. For him, the moral victory of good over evil is clear; he gives a moral assessment not only to historical events, but also to individual people. Admiring Dmitry Donskoy, he at the same time condemns him for deceiving the prince. Mikhail Tverskoy, lured him to Moscow and captured him. He also condemns the first “collector” of Rus', Ivan Kalita, for the struggle and intrigues in the Horde against the prince. Alexander Tverskoy. “The court of history does not excuse even the happiest crime,” says Karamzin. Karamzin gives a religious and moral assessment of the entire history and fate of Tsar Boris. Considering him the murderer of Tsarevich Dmitry, Karamzin sees the obvious punishment of God in all the misfortunes of Boris’s reign. An assessment of the historical events of this period, the vivid characteristics of Tsar Boris, Vasily Shuisky, False Dmitry - undoubtedly influenced Pushkin when creating his drama “Boris Godunov”.
As already mentioned, Karamzin’s “History” was a huge success and was distributed throughout Russia. After the first delight, the voices of critics of different directions began to be heard. Liberals reproached Karamzin for conservatism; There were also conservatives who, on the contrary, saw a liberal in Karamzin...
In Russian literature, “The History of the Russian State,” among other historical works, occupies a prominent place and is of great value. Karamzin's main merits lie in a historically correct and deeply moral assessment of events, ardent love for his homeland and artistry of presentation. These advantages far outweigh some of the History's shortcomings.
"The History of Karamzin" is one of the greatest monuments of Russian national culture.
The first volume of "History of the Russian State" includes 10 chapters: I - About the peoples who lived in Russia since ancient times, II - About the Slavs and other peoples, III - About the physical and moral character of the ancient Slavs, IV - Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, V - Oleg the Ruler, VI - Prince Igor, VII - Prince Svyatoslav, VIII - Grand Duke Yaropolk, IX - Grand Duke Vladimir, X - On the state of Ancient Rus'. The first volume of this set contains comments, an index of names, an index of geographical and ethnic names, an index of literary and documentary sources, church holidays and events, and a list of abbreviations used in indexes.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin
"History of Russian Goverment"
Volume I
Preface
History, in a sense, is the sacred book of peoples: the main, necessary; a mirror of their existence and activity; the tablet of revelations and rules; the covenant of ancestors to posterity; addition, explanation of the present and example of the future.
Rulers and Legislators act according to the instructions of History and look at its pages like sailors at drawings of the seas. Human wisdom needs experience, and life is short-lived. One must know how from time immemorial rebellious passions agitated civil society and in what ways the beneficial power of the mind curbed their stormy desire to establish order, harmonize the benefits of people and give them the happiness possible on earth.
But an ordinary citizen should also read History. She reconciles him with the imperfection of the visible order of things, as with an ordinary phenomenon in all centuries; consoles in state disasters, testifying that similar ones have happened before, even worse ones have happened, and the State was not destroyed; it nourishes a moral feeling and with its righteous judgment disposes the soul towards justice, which affirms our good and the harmony of society.
Here is the benefit: how much pleasure for the heart and mind! Curiosity is akin to man, both the enlightened and the wild. At the glorious Olympic Games, the noise fell silent, and the crowds remained silent around Herodotus, reading the legends of the centuries. Even without knowing the use of letters, peoples already love History: the old man points the young man to a high grave and tells about the deeds of the Hero lying in it. The first experiments of our ancestors in the art of literacy were devoted to Faith and Scripture; Darkened by a thick shadow of ignorance, the people greedily listened to the tales of the Chroniclers. And I like fiction; but for complete pleasure one must deceive oneself and think that they are the truth. History, opening the tombs, raising the dead, putting life into their hearts and words into their mouths, re-creating Kingdoms from corruption and imagining a series of centuries with their distinct passions, morals, deeds, expands the boundaries of our own existence; by its creative power we live with people of all times, we see and hear them, we love and hate them; Without even thinking about the benefits, we already enjoy the contemplation of diverse cases and characters that occupy the mind or nourish sensitivity.
If any History, even unskillfully written, is pleasant, as Pliny says: how much more domestic. The true Cosmopolitan is a metaphysical being or such an extraordinary phenomenon that there is no need to talk about him, neither to praise nor to condemn him. We are all citizens, in Europe and in India, in Mexico and in Abyssinia; Everyone’s personality is closely connected with the fatherland: we love it because we love ourselves. Let the Greeks and Romans captivate the imagination: they belong to the family of the human race and are not strangers to us in their virtues and weaknesses, glory and disasters; but the name Russian has a special charm for us: my heart beats even stronger for Pozharsky than for Themistocles or Scipio. World History decorates the world for the mind with great memories, and Russian History decorates the fatherland where we live and feel. How attractive are the banks of the Volkhov, Dnieper, and Don, when we know what happened on them in ancient times! Not only Novgorod, Kyiv, Vladimir, but also the huts of Yelets, Kozelsk, Galich become curious monuments and silent objects - eloquent. The shadows of past centuries paint pictures before us everywhere.
In addition to the special dignity for us, the sons of Russia, its chronicles have something in common. Let us look at the space of this only Power: thought becomes numb; Rome in its greatness could never equal her, dominating from the Tiber to the Caucasus, the Elbe and the African sands. Isn’t it amazing how lands separated by eternal barriers of nature, immeasurable deserts and impenetrable forests, cold and hot climates, like Astrakhan and Lapland, Siberia and Bessarabia, could form one Power with Moscow? Is the mixture of its inhabitants less wonderful, diverse, diverse and so distant from each other in degrees of education? Like America, Russia has its Wild Ones; like other European countries it shows the fruits of long-term civic life. You don’t need to be Russian: you just need to think in order to read with curiosity the traditions of the people who, with courage and courage, gained dominance over a ninth part of the world, discovered countries hitherto unknown to anyone, bringing them into the general system of Geography and History, and enlightened them with the Divine Faith, without violence , without the atrocities used by other zealots of Christianity in Europe and America, but only an example of the best.
We agree that the acts described by Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy are more interesting for anyone who is not Russian, representing more spiritual strength and a lively play of passions: for Greece and Rome were people's Powers and more enlightened than Russia; however, we can safely say that some cases, pictures, characters of our History are no less curious than the ancients. These are the essence of the exploits of Svyatoslav, the thunderstorm of Batu, the uprising of the Russians at Donskoy, the fall of Novagorod, the capture of Kazan, the triumph of national virtues during the Interregnum. Giants of the twilight, Oleg and son Igor; the simple-hearted knight, the blind Vasilko; friend of the fatherland, benevolent Monomakh; Mstislavs Brave, terrible in battle and an example of kindness in the world; Mikhail Tversky, so famous for his magnanimous death, the ill-fated, truly courageous, Alexander Nevsky; The young hero, the conqueror of Mamaev, in the lightest outline, has a strong effect on the imagination and heart. The reign of John III alone is a rare treasure for history: at least I don’t know a monarch more worthy to live and shine in its sanctuary. The rays of his glory fall on the cradle of Peter - and between these two Autocrats the amazing John IV, Godunov, worthy of his happiness and misfortune, the strange False Dmitry, and behind the host of valiant Patriots, Boyars and citizens, the mentor of the throne, High Hierarch Philaret with the Sovereign Son, a light-bearer in the darkness our state disasters, and Tsar Alexy, the wise father of the Emperor, whom Europe called Great. Either all of New History should remain silent, or Russian History should have the right to attention.
I know that the battles of our specific civil strife, rattling incessantly in the space of five centuries, are of little importance to the mind; that this subject is neither rich in thoughts for the Pragmatist, nor in beauty for the painter; but History is not a novel, and the world is not a garden where everything should be pleasant: it depicts the real world. We see majestic mountains and waterfalls, flowering meadows and valleys on earth; but how many barren sands and dull steppes! However, travel is generally kind to a person with a lively feeling and imagination; In the very deserts there are beautiful species.
Let us not be superstitious in our lofty concept of the Scriptures of Antiquity. If we exclude fictitious speeches from the immortal creation of Thucydides, what remains? A naked story about the civil strife of the Greek cities: crowds commit villainy, are slaughtered for the honor of Athens or Sparta, just as we have for the honor of Monomakhov or Oleg’s house. There is not much difference if we forget that these half-tigers spoke in the language of Homer, had Sophocles' Tragedies and statues of Phidias. Does the thoughtful painter Tacitus always present to us the great, the striking? We look with tenderness at Agrippina, carrying the ashes of Germanicus; with pity for the bones and armor of Varov's Legion scattered in the forest; with horror at the bloody feast of the frantic Romans, illuminated by the flames of the Capitol; with disgust at the monster of tyranny devouring the remnants of Republican virtues in the capital of the world: but the boring litigation of cities about the right to have a priest in this or that temple and the dry Obituary of Roman officials take up many pages in Tacitus. He envied Titus Livy for the wealth of the subject; and Livy, smooth and eloquent, sometimes fills entire books with news of conflicts and robberies, which are hardly more important than the Polovtsian raids. - In a word, reading all the Stories requires some patience, which is more or less rewarded with pleasure.
The unique book monuments that the UlSPU scientific library has are a copy of the third volume of the second corrected lifetime edition “History of the Russian State” N.M. Karamzin, published in 1818 by the brothers Slenins in St. Petersburg in the printing house of N. Grech, and a copy of the X volume of the first lifetime edition of this same great historical work, also published in St. Petersburg in the printing house N. Grecha in 1824
“History of the Russian State” N.M. Karamzin is the largest achievement of Russian and world historical science for its time, the first monographic description of Russian history from ancient times to the beginning. XVIII century, based on a huge range of historical sources. “History” began the introduction of several generations of Russian readers to Russian antiquity; many writers, playwrights, artists and musicians drew plots from it. The uniqueness of the specimens stored in the rare collection of Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I.N. Ulyanov is that these are lifetime editions of the great work of N.M. Karamzin.
It’s no secret that the first attempts to publish his work were unsuccessful: then N.M. Karamzin was not satisfied with either the high price for printing or the quality of the typesetting. The history of the publication of Karamzin's main historical work is complex and dramatic. For himself, the writer made the following conclusion: “...many are waiting for my “History” to attack me. It is published without censorship.”
In 1806, the poet I. Dmitriev (a distant relative and fellow countryman of N.M. Karamzin, his student, follower and comrade-in-arms in literature) learned that Karamzin decided to publish his “History” after writing the fourth volume. But that did not happen. N.M. Karamzin, of course, could start publishing, but in this case he immediately fell under general censorship, and there was no guarantee that everything written would reach readers without hindrance. In addition, Karamzin was not going to release his work to the public in small parts - an experienced journalist, he understood that when a significant part of the path had been covered and several centuries had been mastered, only then was it worth presenting the whole. Other circumstances also played an important role: the lack of funds for publication and the intention to give greater authority to many years of work. All this is in accordance with the rules that existed in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. practice could be successfully resolved only under one circumstance: the publication of the “History of the Russian State” from the “Highest Command.”
As a result, the first nine volumes of “History” were published without censorship, which was helped by Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey, a statesman, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire.
The first eight volumes were published in 1818. A huge circulation of three thousand for that time sold out in less than a month. The historiographer testifies that in addition to the sold edition, applications were received for another 600 copies. This is how the poet Delvig described the sale of Karamzin’s “History...”: “...When the first eight volumes of the “History of the Russian State” appeared... it was impossible to get into the room where it was being sold due to the crowded conditions, and... buyers were greeted whole carts filled with copies of this “History”, transported... to the houses of Russian nobles and other lovers of Russian history.” Authoritative and well-known testimony of A.S. Pushkin also conveys the excitement that first of all gripped St. Petersburg society, and with delight, but not without irony, he reported this to Prince P.A. in Warsaw. Vyazemsky and I.I. Dmitriev: “The history of our dear historiographer is in everyone’s hands and lips: the enlightened and the profane, the literary and literary, but the author no longer has a single copy. An exemplary triumph of Russian craftsmanship.” According to V.JI. Pushkin, and in Moscow “History” was quickly sold out, and at a “high price”. In one of the first notes about “History,” the author said that now it can be obtained “with great difficulty and for almost double the price.” According to the memoirs of the Decembrist N.V. Basargin, volumes of “History” passed from hand to hand at the School of Column Leaders. Many years later A.S. Pushkin wrote words that largely explain the reasons for such a stunning success of Karamzin’s work among Russian society: “Ancient Russia seemed to be found by Karamzin, like America by Colomb.”
After the publication in February 1818 of the first eight volumes of “The History of the Russian State,” bookseller Ivan Vasilyevich Slenin, together with his brother, purchased the rights to their second edition from N. Karamzin for 7,500 rubles. Starting from April 1818, in the famous St. Petersburg private printing house N.I. Grech began typing the second edition. Along with subscription, this publication was sold not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow, Kyiv, Mitau at a higher price (from 75 to 80 rubles) than the first edition. The sale was obviously not as impressive as Karamzin had foreseen. In 1821, the subsequent, ninth volume was published. According to one of the writers of the first half of the 19th century. Ksenophon Alekseevich Polevoy, the second edition “settled” with the Slenins and “was finally sold after the death” of the brothers.
In March 1821 N.M. Karamzin began work on the tenth volume. In the beginning. In 1822, the historiographer finished writing “The Reign of Fedorov,” and in November he worked on chapters related to the events of the reign of False Dmitry. At the end of this year, Karamzin abandoned his initial intention to publish the tenth volume: “... it seems better,” he wrote to I. Dmitriev, “to finish the story of the Pretender and then publish it in full: during the reign of Godunov he was just beginning to act.” In 1823, the manuscript of the tenth volume went to the printing house.
In 1829, the second complete edition of 12 volumes was published; in 1830-1831 - third edition. The fourth was published in 1833-1835, the fifth in 1842-1843, the sixth edition in 1853.
A special feature of the copies of the History of the Russian State” stored in UlSPU is the presence on the title page of the owner’s inscription: “From the books of Alexander Sokovnin.” According to one version, Alexander Sokovnin (1737-1800) was a Simbirsk nobleman, by the way, a contemporary of N.M. Karamzin, served in the third militia regiment with the rank of "ensign". In addition, he was a member of the Simbirsk Masonic lodge “Golden Crown” and was listed there as a “rhetor”, i.e. speaker. 
It is interesting that Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin himself also belonged to the Golden Crown lodge, that is, he was initiated into the Freemasons (probably this happened in Moscow in 1783)
However, according to the years of Alexander Sokovnin’s life, he died in 1800, and the third volume of “History of the Russian State” was published in 1818. Who then from the Sokovnin family inherited this copy?
In the tenth volume there is a handwritten excerpt from the article on the front flyleaf A. Bestuzheva A look at Russian literature during 1823, which was published in the almanac “Polar Star” for 1824, published by the Decembrists A. Bestuzhev and K. Ruleev. 
Comparing the handwriting used to make the inscription “from the books of A. Sokovnin” and the excerpt from the article by A. Bestuzhev, we can assume that their author is the same person. But who was it? Does he belong to the Simbirsk Sokovnin family? This is not yet known. But we know for sure that the owner was an intelligent man who read the work of N.M. Karamzin and, perhaps, shared some of the ideas of the Decembrists, in any case familiar with their works.
At the very beginning of his reign, Emperor Alexander I appointed Nikolai Karamzin as his official historiographer. Throughout his life, Karamzin will work on the “History of the Russian State.” Pushkin himself appreciated this work, but the Karamzin story is far from flawless.
Ukraine is the birthplace of the horse
“This great part of Europe and Asia, now called Russia, in its temperate climates was originally inhabited, but by wild peoples, plunged into the depths of ignorance, who did not mark their existence with any historical monuments of their own,” Karamzin’s narrative begins with these words and already contains there is a mistake in yourself.
The contribution made by the tribes that inhabited the south of modern Karamzin Russia in ancient times to the general development of mankind can hardly be overestimated. A huge amount of modern data indicates that in the territories of present-day Ukraine in the period from 3500 to 4000 BC. e. For the first time in world history, the horse was domesticated.
This is probably Karamzin’s most forgivable mistake, because there was still more than a century left before the invention of genetics. When Nikolai Mikhailovich began his work, he could not have known that all the horses in the world: from Australia and both Americas, to Europe and Africa are distant descendants of the horses with which our not-so-wild and ignorant ancestors “made friends” in the Black Sea steppes.
Norman theory
As you know, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” one of the main historical sources on which Karamzin relies in his work, begins with a lengthy introductory part from biblical times, which fits the history of the Slavic tribes into a general historical context. And only then Nestor sets out the concept of the origin of Russian statehood, which will later be called the “Norman theory”.
According to this concept, Russian tribes originate from Scandinavia during the Viking times. Karamzin omits the biblical part of the Tale, but repeats the main provisions of the Norman Theory. The controversy surrounding this theory began before Karamzin and continued after. Many influential historians either completely denied the “Varangian origin” of the Russian state, or assessed its extent and role completely differently, especially in terms of the “voluntary” calling of the Varangians.
At the moment, the opinion has become stronger among scientists that, at a minimum, everything is not so simple. Karamzin’s apologetic and uncritical repetition of the “Norman Theory” looks, if not an obvious mistake, then an obvious historical simplification.
Ancient, Middle and New
In his multi-volume work and scientific polemics, Karamzin proposed his own concept of dividing the history of Russia into periods: “Our history is divided into the Ancient, from Rurik to John III, the Middle, from John to Peter, and the New, from Peter to Alexander. The system of appanages was the character of the first era, autocracy - the second, changes in civil customs - the third."
Despite some positive responses and support from such prominent historians as, for example, S.M. Soloviev, Karamzin’s periodization was not established in Russian historiography, and the initial premises of the division were recognized as erroneous and unworkable.
Khazar Khaganate
In connection with the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the history of Judaism is of keen interest to scientists in different parts of the world, because any new knowledge on this topic is literally a matter of “war and peace.” Historians are increasingly paying attention to the Khazar Khaganate, a powerful Jewish state that existed in Eastern Europe and had a significant influence on Kievan Rus.
Against the background of modern research and our knowledge on this topic, the description of the Khazar Khaganate in Karamzin’s work looks like a dark spot. In fact, Karamzin simply bypasses the problem of the Khazars, thereby denying the degree of influence and significance of their cultural ties with the Slavic tribes and states.
"Ardent Romantic Passion"
The son of his century, Karamzin looked at history as a poem written in prose. In his descriptions of the ancient Russian princes, a characteristic feature appears to be what one critic would call “ardent romantic passion.”
Karamzin describes the terrible atrocities, accompanied by no less terrible atrocities, committed completely in the spirit of his time, as Christmas carols, they say, well, yes, the pagans sinned, but they repented. In the first volumes of the “History of the Russian State,” the characters who act are not really historical, but rather literary characters, as Karamzin saw them, who firmly stood on monarchical, conservative-protective positions.
Tatar-Mongol yoke
Karamzin did not use the phrase “Tatar-Mongols”; in his books there were either “Tatars” or “Mongols”, but the term “yoke” was Karamzin’s invention. This term first appeared 150 years after the official end of the invasion in Polish sources. Karamzin transplanted it onto Russian soil, thereby planting a time bomb. Almost another 200 years have passed, and the debate among historians still does not subside: was there a yoke or not? Can what happened be considered a yoke? What are we even talking about?
There is no doubt about the first, aggressive campaign against the Russian lands, the destruction of many cities and the establishment of vassal dependence of the appanage principalities on the Mongols. But for feudal Europe of those years, the fact that the lord could be of a different nationality was, in general, a common practice.
The very concept of “yoke” implies the existence of a certain single Russian national and almost state space, which was conquered and enslaved by the interventionists, with whom a persistent war of liberation is being waged. In this case, this seems to be at least somewhat of an exaggeration.
And Karamzin’s assessment of the consequences of the Mongol invasion sounds completely erroneous: “The Russians emerged from under the yoke with a more European than Asian character. Europe did not recognize us: but because it has changed in these 250 years, and we remained as we were.”
Karamzin gives a categorically negative answer to the question he himself posed: “The dominance of the Mongols, besides the harmful consequences for morality, left any other traces in folk customs, in civil legislation, in home life, in the language of Russians?” “No,” he writes.
In fact, of course - yes.
King Herod
In the previous paragraphs we talked mainly about Karamzin’s conceptual errors. But there is one big factual inaccuracy in his work, which had great consequences and influence on Russian and world culture.
"No no! You cannot pray for King Herod - the Mother of God does not command,” sings the holy fool in Mussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov” based on the text of the drama of the same name by A.S. Pushkin. Tsar Boris recoils in horror from the holy fool, indirectly admitting to committing a crime - the murder of the legitimate heir to the throne, the son of the seventh wife of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the youth prince Dmitry.
Dmitry died in Uglich under unclear circumstances. The official investigation was conducted by boyar Vasily Shuisky. The verdict is an accident. The death of Dmitry was beneficial to Godunov, as it cleared the way for him to the throne. Popular rumor did not believe the official version, and then several impostors, False Dmitrievs, appeared in Russian history, claiming that there was no death: “Dmitry survived, I am it.”
In “The History of the Russian State,” Karamzin directly accuses Godunov of organizing the murder of Dmitry. Pushkin will pick up the version of the murder, then Mussorgsky will write a brilliant opera, which will be staged at all the largest theater venues in the world. With the light hand of a galaxy of Russian geniuses, Boris Godunov will become the second most famous King Herod in world history.
The first timid publications in defense of Godunov will appear during the lifetime of Karamzin and Pushkin. At the moment, his innocence has been proven by historians: Dmitry really died as a result of an accident. However, this will not change anything in the popular consciousness.
The episode with the unfair accusation and subsequent rehabilitation of Godunov is, in a sense, a brilliant metaphor for the entire work of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin: a brilliant artistic concept and fiction sometimes turns out to be higher than the convoluted truth of facts, documents and authentic testimonies of contemporaries.
The series History of the Russian State is a grandiose film creation on a historical theme. This multi-part film covers the thousand-year period of existence of our ancestors - the Slavs. The story begins from the time of the Varangians and Rurik himself - the ninth century AD. Next, in small series containing the most significant events, the narrative of Russian history is told up to the time of Catherine the Great and the eighteenth century inclusive.
We can learn about what happened, for example, two hundred or more years ago from the records of past historians. It is worth noting that their entries, of course, have subjective shades. But contemporaries have no choice but to study the opinion and vision of what happened earlier in the interpretation of several authors. One of those who brought together a large amount of information about the history of Russia is N. M. Karamzin. He wrote as many as twelve volumes, which he wrote over twenty-three years until the last days of his life, without finishing them. It was this collection of the same name that became the basis of this project. The last series, where time goes beyond the boundaries of Karamzin’s work, are based on the works of the writer Kostomarov and the historian Solovyov. To get acquainted with what happened over a thousand years in the life of our Slavic ancestors, you need to watch the series History of the Russian State.
The project manager and director was Valery Babich, the script was prepared by Alexander Babich. The musical arrangement is by Boris Kukoba. The series are visualized in three-dimensional computer graphics. The only actor in the series is the famous Russian musician Yuri Shevchuk. It is his voice that voices everything that happens on the screen.
A people who does not know their history has no future - this is a well-known truth. That is why this series is of great value. It can and should not only be watched by middle and high school students, but also by adults.
On the Megogo website you can watch History of the Russian State online in good quality and enjoy watching this documentary historical series.
The series History of the Russian State is a grandiose film creation on a historical theme. This multi-part film covers the thousand-year period of existence of our ancestors - the Slavs. The story begins from the time of the Varangians and Rurik himself - the ninth century AD. Further, in small series, which contain the most significant events, the narration of Russian history until the time of Eka...