The history of the Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”

Sources and structure of the oldest chronicle

We obtain detailed knowledge of our history mainly thanks to the invaluable material contained in Russian chronicles. There are several hundred of them in archives, libraries and museums, but essentially this is one book that was written by hundreds of authors, starting their work in the 9th century and finishing it seven centuries later.

Since the 11th century. and until the end of the 16th century in Rus', systematic weather records were kept about the events that took place: about the birth, about the reign or death of princes, about wars and diplomatic negotiations, about the construction of fortresses and the consecration of churches, about city fires, about natural disasters - floods, droughts or unprecedented frosts. The chronicle was a collection of such annual records. Chronicles were not only a way of recording “for memory” the events that took place, but also the most important documents, a mirror of our history.

Currently, more than two hundred lists of chronicles are known.

Each chronicle list has its own conventional name. Most often, it was given according to the place of storage (Ipatievsky, Koenigsberg, Synodal, etc.) or by the name of the previous owner (Radzivilovsky list, Obolensky list, Khrushchevsky list, etc.). Sometimes chronicles are named after their customer, compiler, editor or copyist (Laurentian List, Nikon Chronicle).

Domestic chronicle writing has always been based on an oral, often folklore, tradition, in which echoes of bygone times could not but be preserved. This is also the oldest part of the “Tale of Bygone Years”, dedicated to the events that happened before the birth of Nestor the Chronicler; it is based mainly on oral traditions.

In 1039, a metropolis was established in Kyiv - an independent organization. At the court of the Metropolitan, the Most Ancient Kiev Code was created, which dates back to 1037.

In Novgorod in 1036. The Novgorod Chronicle was created, on the basis of which in 1050. The Ancient Novgorod arch appears.

In 1073 the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor the Great, using the ancient Kiev vault, compiled the first Kiev-Pechersk vault, which included historical events that occurred after the death of Yaroslav the Wise (1054).

Based on the first Kiev-Pechersk and Novgorod arch, the second Kiev-Pechersk arch was created. The author of the second Kiev-Pechersk vault supplemented his sources with materials from Greek chronographs.

The second Kiev-Pechersk vault served as the basis for the “Tale of Bygone Years”, the first edition of which was created in 1113 by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, the second edition by the abbot of the Vydubitsky Monastery Sylvester in 1116 and the third by an unknown author in the same monastery in 1118 year.

The Tale of Bygone Years opens with a historiographical introduction. In it, the medieval reader learned something extremely important for himself: the Slavs are not rootless “inhabitants” on earth, they are one of those tribes who, according to the biblical story, settled across it in those immemorial times, when the waters of the global flood subsided and forefather Noah and his household went out onto land. And the Slavs, the chronicler claims, descend from the most worthy of the sons of Noah - Japheth. Nestor talks about the customs of the Polans, the tribe on whose land Kyiv stands, the author steadily leads readers to the idea that it was not by chance that Kyiv became “a Russian city in substance.”

The difference between The Tale of Bygone Years and other chronicle sources

The Tale of Bygone Years was and continues to be the main source on ancient Russian history. The characteristic features of this work include: the complexity and intricacy of the text, the contradictions of various parts of the chronicle, possibly arising due to the fact that they were written by different authors. The study of ancient Russian chronicles by historians has been carried out for two centuries.

Created in the first decades of the 12th century, the “Tale” has come to us as part of chronicles of a later time. The oldest of them are the Laurentian Chronicle - 1377, the Ipatiev Chronicle - the 20s of the 15th century, the First Novgorod Chronicle - the 30s of the 14th century.

In the Laurentian Chronicle, the "Tale of Bygone Years" is continued by the North Russian Suzdal Chronicle, brought up to 1305, and the Ipatiev Chronicle, in addition to the "Tale of Bygone Years", contains the Kiev and Galician-Volyn chronicles, brought up to 1292. All subsequent chronicle collections of the 15th - 16th centuries. certainly included “The Tale of Bygone Years” in their composition, subjecting it to revision.

It did not remain a part of only the ancient Kyiv chronicles. Every chronicle, whenever and wherever it was compiled - in the 12th or 16th centuries, in Moscow or Tver - necessarily began with the “Tale of Bygone Years”.

The Tale of Bygone Years is an ancient Russian chronicle created at the beginning of the 12th century. The story is an essay that tells about the events that happened and are happening in Rus' during that period.

The Tale of Bygone Years was compiled in Kyiv, later rewritten several times, but was not greatly changed. The chronicle covers the period from biblical times until 1137, with dated entries beginning in 852.

All dated articles are compositions beginning with the words “In the summer of such and such...”, which means that entries were added to the chronicle every year and told about the events that occurred. One article for one year. This distinguishes the Tale of Bygone Years from all the chronicles that were conducted before. The text of the chronicle also contains legends, folklore stories, copies of documents (for example, the teachings of Vladimir Monomakh) and extracts from other chronicles.

The story got its name thanks to its first phrase that opens the story - “The Tale of Bygone Years...”

The history of the creation of the Tale of Bygone Years

The author of the idea of ​​the Tale of Bygone Years is considered to be the monk Nestor, who lived and worked at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Despite the fact that the author's name appears only in later copies of the chronicle, it was the monk Nestor who is considered the first chronicler in Rus', and The Tale of Bygone Years is considered the first Russian chronicle.

The oldest version of the chronicle that has reached the present day dates back to the 14th century and is a copy made by the monk Laurentius (Laurentian Chronicle). The original edition of the creator of the Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor, has been lost; today only modified versions exist from various scribes and later compilers.

Today there are several theories regarding the history of the creation of The Tale of Bygone Years. According to one of them, the chronicle was written by Nestor in Kyiv in 1037. The basis for it was ancient legends, folk songs, documents, oral stories and documents preserved in monasteries. After writing, this first edition was rewritten and revised several times by various monks, including Nestor himself, who added elements of Christian ideology to it. According to other sources, the chronicle was written much later, in 1110.

Genre and features of The Tale of Bygone Years

The genre of the Tale of Bygone Years is defined by experts as historical, but scientists argue that the chronicle is neither a work of art nor historical in the full sense of the word.

A distinctive feature of the chronicle is that it does not interpret events, but only talks about them. The attitude of the author or scribe to everything described in the chronicle was determined only by the presence of God's Will, which determines everything. Causal relationships and interpretation from the point of view of other positions were uninteresting and were not included in the chronicle.

The Tale of Bygone Years had an open genre, that is, it could consist of completely different parts - from folk tales to notes about the weather.

In ancient times, the chronicle also had legal significance, as a set of documents and laws.

The original purpose of writing the Tale of Bygone Years was to study and explain the origins of the Russian people, the origin of princely power and a description of the spread of Christianity in Rus'.

The beginning of the Tale of Bygone Years is a story about the appearance of the Slavs. The Russians are presented by the chronicler as descendants of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah. At the very beginning of the story there are stories telling about the life of the East Slavic tribes: about the princes, about the calling of Rurik, Truvor and Sineus to reign as princes and about the formation of the Rurik dynasty in Rus'.

The main part of the content of the chronicle consists of descriptions of wars, legends about the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the exploits of Nikita Kozhemyaka and other heroes.

The final part consists of descriptions of battles and princely obituaries.

Thus, the basis of the Tale of Bygone Years is:

• Legends about the settlement of the Slavs, the calling of the Varangians and the formation of Rus';
• Description of the baptism of Rus';
• Description of the life of the great princes: Oleg, Vladimir, Olga and others;
• Lives of Saints;
• Description of wars and military campaigns.

The significance of the Tale of Bygone Years can hardly be overestimated - it was it that became the first document in which the history of Kievan Rus was recorded from its very inception. The chronicle later served as the main source of knowledge for subsequent historical descriptions and research. In addition, thanks to its open genre, The Tale of Bygone Years is of high importance as a cultural and literary monument.

1) The history of the creation of “The Tale of Bygone Years.”

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is one of the oldest chronicle works of Russian literature, created at the beginning of the 12th century by the monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra Nestor the Chronicler. The chronicle tells about the origin of the Russian land, about the first Russian princes and about the most important historical events. The peculiarity of “The Tale of Bygone Years” is poetry, the author masterfully mastered the style, the text uses various artistic means to make the narrative more convincing.

2) Features of the narrative in The Tale of Bygone Years.

In The Tale of Bygone Years two types of narration can be distinguished - weather records and chronicle stories. Weather records contain reports of events, and chronicles describe them. In the story, the author strives to depict an event, to provide specific details, that is, he tries to help the reader imagine what is happening and evokes empathy from the reader. Rus' broke up into many principalities and each had its own chronicles. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of its region and wrote only about its princes. “The Tale of Bygone Years” was part of the local chronicle collections, which continued the tradition of Russian chronicle writing. “The Tale of Temporary Legions” defines the place of the Russian people among the peoples of the world, depicts the origin of Slavic writing, and the formation of the Russian state. Nestor lists the peoples paying tribute to the Russians, shows that the peoples who oppressed the Slavs disappeared, but the Slavs remained and controlled the destinies of their neighbors. “The Tale of Bygone Years,” written during the heyday of Kievan Rus, became the main work on history.

3) Artistic features of “The Tale of Bygone Years”. How does Nes the Horus Chronicler narrate historical events?

Nestor narrates historical events poetically. Nestor draws the origin of Rus' against the background of the development of the entire world history. The chronicler unfolds a wide panorama of historical events. A whole gallery of historical figures takes place on the pages of the Nestor Chronicle - princes, boyars, merchants, mayors, church ministers. He talks about military campaigns, the opening of schools, and the organization of monasteries. Nestor constantly touches the life of the people, their moods. On the pages of the chronicle we will read about uprisings and murders of princes. But the author describes all this calmly and tries to be objective. Nestor condemns murder, betrayal and deceit; he extols honesty, courage, courage, loyalty, nobility. It is Nestor who strengthens and improves the version of the origin of the Russian princely dynasty. Its main goal was to show the Russian land among other powers, to prove that the Russian people are not without family and tribe, but have their own history, which they have the right to be proud of.

Nestor begins his story from afar, with the biblical flood itself, after which the earth was distributed among the sons of Noah. This is how Nestor begins his story:

“So let’s begin this story.

After the flood, Noah's three sons divided the earth - Shem, Ham, Japheth. And Shem got the east: Persia, Bactria, even to India in longitude, and in width to Rhinocorur, that is, from the east to the south, and Syria, and Media to the Euphrates River, Babylon, Corduna, the Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Oldest, Spruce-mais, Indi, Arabia Strong, Colia, Commagene, all of Phenicia.

Ham got the south: Egypt, Ethiopia, neighboring India...

Japheth got the northern and western countries: Media, Albania, Armenia Lesser and Greater, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Hapatia, Colchis...

Now Ham and Japheth divided the land by casting lots, and decided not to enter into anyone’s brother’s share, and each lived in his own part. And there was one people. And when people multiplied on earth, they planned to create a pillar up to the sky - this was in the days of Nekgan and Peleg. And they gathered in the place of the field of Shinar to build a pillar up to heaven, and near it the city of Babylon; and they built that pillar 40 years, and they did not finish it. And the Lord God came down to see the city and the pillar, and the Lord said: “Behold, there is one generation and one people.” And God mixed up the nations, and divided them into 70 and 2 nations, and scattered them throughout the whole earth. After the confusion of the peoples, God destroyed the pillar with a great wind; and its remains are located between Assyria and Babylon, and are 5433 cubits in height and width, and these remains have been preserved for many years...”

Then the author talks about the Slavic tribes, their customs and morals, about the capture of Constantinople by Oleg, about the founding of Kiev by the three brothers Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv, ​​about Svyatoslav’s campaign against Byzantium and other events, both real and legendary. He includes in his “Tale...” teachings, records of oral stories, documents, contracts, parables and lives. The leading theme of most chronicles is the idea of ​​the unity of Rus'.

For more than 900 years, Russians have been drawing information about their history from the famous “Tale of Bygone Years,” the exact date of which is still unknown. The question of the authorship of this work also raises a lot of controversy.

A few words about myths and historical facts

Scientific postulates often undergo changes over time, but if in the field of physics, chemistry, biology or astronomy such scientific revolutions are based on the identification of new facts, then history has been rewritten more than once to please the authorities or according to the dominant ideology. Fortunately, modern people have a lot of opportunities to independently find and compare facts regarding events that happened many centuries and even millennia ago, as well as get acquainted with the point of view of scientists who do not adhere to traditional views. All of the above applies to such an important document for understanding the history of Russia as “The Tale of Bygone Years,” the year of creation and authorship of which has recently been questioned by some members of the scientific community.

“The Tale of Bygone Years”: authorship

From the Tale of Bygone Years itself, one can only learn about its creator that at the end of the 11th century he lived in the Pechora Monastery. In particular, there is a record of the Polovtsian attack on this monastery in 1096, to which the chronicler himself was an eyewitness. In addition, the document mentions the death of Elder Jan, who helped write the historical work, and indicates that the death of this monk occurred in 1106, which means that the person who made the recording was alive at that time.

Russian official science, including Soviet science, since the time of Peter the Great, believes that the author of the story “The Tale of Bygone Years” is the chronicler Nestor. The oldest historical document that refers to it is the famous one written in the 20s of the 15th century. This work includes a separate chapter of the text of “The Tale of Bygone Years,” which is preceded by the mention as its author of a certain monk from the Pechersk Monastery. The name of Nestor first appears in the correspondence of the Pechersk monk Polycarp with Archimandrite Akindinus. The same fact is confirmed by the “Life of St. Anthony,” compiled on the basis of oral monastic traditions.

Nestor the Chronicler

The “official” author of the story “The Tale of Bygone Years” was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, so you can read about him in the lives of the saints. From these sources we learn that the Monk Nestor was born in Kyiv in the 1050s. At the age of seventeen he entered the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, where he was a novice of St. Theodosius. At a fairly young age, Nestor took monastic vows and later was ordained as a hierodeacon. He spent his entire life in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: here he wrote not only “The Tale of Bygone Years,” the year of creation of which is unknown for certain, but also the famous lives of the holy princes Gleb and Boris, as well as a work telling about the first ascetics of his monastery. Church sources also indicate that Nestor, who had reached a ripe old age, died around 1114.

What is “The Tale of Bygone Years” about?

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is the history of our country, covering a huge time period, incredibly rich in various events. The manuscript begins with a story about one of whom, Japheth, was given control over such lands as Armenia, Britain, Scythia, Dalmatia, Ionia, Illyria, Macedonia, Media, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Thessaly and others. The brothers began construction of the Pillar of Babylon, but the angry Lord not only destroyed this structure, personifying human pride, but also divided the people “into 70 and 2 nations,” among which were the Noriks, the ancestors of the Slavs, descended from the sons of Japheth. Further mention is made of Apostle Andrew, who predicted that a Great City would appear on the banks of the Dnieper, which happened when Kyiv was founded with the brothers Shchek and Khoriv. Another important mention concerns the year 862, when “Chud, Slovene, Krivichi and all” went to the Varangians to call them to reign, and at their call the three brothers Rurik, Truvor and Sineus came with their families and entourage. Two of the newly arrived boyars - Askold and Dir - asked to leave Novgorod for Constantinople and, seeing Kyiv on the way, stayed there. Further, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” the year of creation of which historians have yet to clarify, talks about the reign of Oleg and Igor and sets out the story of the baptism of Rus'. The story ends with the events of 1117.

“The Tale of Bygone Years”: the history of studying this work

The Nestorov Chronicle became known after Peter the Great, in 1715, ordered a copy to be made from the Radziwill List, stored in the Königsberg library. Documents have been preserved confirming that Jacob Bruce, a remarkable person in all respects, drew the king’s attention to this manuscript. He also conveyed the translation of the Radzivilov list into modern language, which was going to write the history of Russia. In addition, such famous scientists as A. Shleptser, P. M. Stroev and A. A. Shakhmatov studied the story.

Chronicler Nestor. “The Tale of Bygone Years”: the opinion of A. A. Shakhmatov

A new look at “The Tale of Bygone Years” was proposed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Its author was A. A. Shakhmatov, who proposed and substantiated the “new history” of this work. In particular, he argued that in 1039 in Kyiv, on the basis of Byzantine chronicles and local folklore, the Kiev Code was created, which can be considered the oldest document of its kind in Rus'. Around the same time, it was written in Novgorod. It was on the basis of these two works that in 1073 Nestor created first the first Kiev-Pechersk vault, then the second and finally the “Tale of Bygone Years”.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” was written by a Russian monk or a Scottish prince?

The last two decades have been rich in all sorts of historical sensations. However, in fairness it must be said that some of them have never found scientific confirmation. For example, today there is an opinion that “The Tale of Bygone Years,” the year of creation of which is known only approximately, was actually written not between 1110 and 1118, but six centuries later. In any case, even official historians admit that the Radziwill list, i.e. a copy of the manuscript, the authorship of which is attributed to Nestor, was made in the 15th century and was then decorated with numerous miniatures. Moreover, Tatishchev wrote “The History of Russia” not even from him, but from a retelling of this work into his contemporary language, the author of which may have been Jacob Bruce himself, the great-great-grandson of King Robert the First of Scotland. But this theory has no serious justification.

What is the main essence of Nestorov’s work

Experts who hold an unofficial view of the work attributed to Nestor the Chronicler believe that it was necessary to justify autocracy as the only form of government in Russia. Moreover, it was this manuscript that put an end to the issue of abandoning the “old gods,” pointing to Christianity as the only correct religion. This was its main essence.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” is the only work that tells the canonical version of the baptism of Rus'; all the others simply refer to it. This alone should force one to study it very closely. And it is “The Tale of Bygone Years”, the characterization of which accepted in official historiography today is called into question, that is the first source telling that the Russian sovereigns descended from the Rurikovichs. For every historical work, the date of creation is very important. “The Tale of Bygone Years,” which is of exceptional importance for Russian historiography, does not have one. More precisely, at the moment there are no irrefutable facts that allow us to indicate even the specific year of its writing. This means that new discoveries are ahead, which may be able to shed light on some dark pages in the history of our country.

The Tale of Bygone Years was created in the 12th century and is the most famous ancient Russian chronicle. Now it is included in the school curriculum - which is why every student who wants not to disgrace himself in class has to read or listen to this work.

What is “The Tale of Bygone Years” (PVL)

This ancient chronicle is a collection of text-articles telling about events in Kyiv from the times described in the Bible until 1137. Moreover, the dating itself begins in the work in 852.

The Tale of Bygone Years: characteristics of the chronicle

The features of the work are:

All this made The Tale of Bygone Years stand out from other ancient Russian works. The genre cannot be called either historical or literary; the chronicle only tells about the events that took place, without trying to evaluate them. The position of the authors is simple - everything is God’s will.

History of creation

In science, the monk Nestor is recognized as the main author of the chronicle, although it has been proven that the work has several authors. However, it was Nestor who was called the first chronicler in Rus'.

There are several theories explaining when the chronicle was written:

• Written in Kyiv. Date of writing: 1037, author Nestor. Folklore works are taken as a basis. Repeatedly copied by various monks and Nestor himself.
• Date of writing: 1110.

One of the versions of the work has survived to this day, the Laurentian Chronicle - a copy of the Tale of Bygone Years, performed by the monk Laurentius. The original edition, unfortunately, has been lost.

The Tale of Bygone Years: summary

We invite you to familiarize yourself with a summary of the chronicle chapter by chapter.

The beginning of the chronicle. About the Slavs. The first princes

When the Flood ended, the creator of the ark, Noah, died. His sons had the honor of dividing the land among themselves by lot. The north and west went to Japheth, Ham to the south, and Shem to the east. An angry God destroyed the majestic Tower of Babel and, as punishment for arrogant people, divides them into nations and gives them different languages. This is how the Slavic people - the Rusichi - were formed, who settled along the banks of the Dnieper. Gradually, the Russians also divided:

• Meek, peaceful glades began to live across the fields.
• In the forests there are warlike Drevlyan robbers. Even cannibalism is not alien to them.

Andrey's journey

Further in the text you can read about the wanderings of the Apostle Andrew in the Crimea and along the Dnieper, everywhere he preached Christianity. It also tells about the creation of Kyiv, a great city with pious inhabitants and an abundance of churches. The apostle speaks about this to his disciples. Then Andrei returns to Rome and talks about the Slovenians who build wooden houses and take strange water procedures called ablution.

Three brothers ruled the clearings. The great city of Kyiv was named after the eldest, Kiya. The other two brothers are Shchek and Khoreb. In Constantinople, Kiy was shown great honor by the local king. Next, Kiy’s path lay in the city of Kievets, which attracted his attention, but the local residents did not allow him to settle here. Returning to Kyiv, Kiy and his brothers continue to live here until their death.

Khazars

The brothers were gone, and Kyiv was attacked by the warlike Khazars, forcing the peaceful, good-natured glades to pay them tribute. After consulting, the residents of Kyiv decide to pay tribute with sharp swords. The Khazar elders see this as a bad sign - the tribe will not always be obedient. The times are coming when the Khazars themselves will pay tribute to this strange tribe. In the future, this prophecy will come true.

Name of Russian land

In the Byzantine chronicle there is information about a campaign against Constantinople by a certain “Rus”, suffering from civil strife: in the north, Russian lands pay tribute to the Varangians, in the south - to the Khazars. Having gotten rid of oppression, the northern peoples begin to suffer from constant conflicts within the tribe and the lack of a unified authority. To solve the problem, they turn to their former enslavers - the Varangians - with a request to give them a prince. Three brothers came: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, but when the younger brothers died, Rurik became the only Russian prince. And the new state was named Russian Land.

Dir and Askold

With the permission of Prince Rurik, two of his boyars, Dir and Askold, undertook a military campaign to Constantinople, along the way meeting glades paying tribute to the Khazars. The boyars decide to settle here and rule Kyiv. Their campaign against Constantinople turned out to be a complete failure, when all 200 Varangian ships were destroyed, many warriors drowned in the depths of the water, and few returned home.

After the death of Prince Rurik, the throne was supposed to pass to his young son Igor, but while the prince was still an infant, the governor, Oleg, began to rule. It was he who learned that Dir and Askold had illegally appropriated the princely title and were ruling in Kyiv. Having lured out the impostors by cunning, Oleg arranged a trial over them and the boyars were killed, since they did not ascend to the throne without being a princely family.

When the famous princes ruled - Prophetic Oleg, Prince Igor and Olga, Svyatoslav

Oleg

In 882-912. Oleg was the governor of the Kyiv throne, he built cities, conquered hostile tribes, and it was he who managed to conquer the Drevlyans. With a huge army, Oleg comes to the gates of Constantinople and by cunning frightens the Greeks, who agree to pay a huge tribute to Rus', and hangs his shield on the gates of the conquered city. For his extraordinary insight (the prince realized that the dishes presented to him were poisoned), Oleg is called the Prophetic.

Peace reigns for a long time, but, seeing an evil omen in the sky (a star resembling a spear), the prince-deputy calls the fortuneteller to him and asks what kind of death awaits him. To Oleg’s surprise, he reports that the prince’s death awaits him from his favorite war horse. To prevent the prophecy from coming true, Oleg orders the pet to be fed, but does not approach him anymore. A few years later, the horse died and the prince, coming to say goodbye to him, is amazed at the error of the prophecy. But alas, the fortuneteller was right - a poisonous snake crawled out of the animal’s skull and bit Oleg, and he died in agony.

Death of Prince Igor

The events in the chapter take place in the years 913-945. Prophetic Oleg died and the reign passed to Igor, who had already matured enough. The Drevlyans refuse to pay tribute to the new prince, but Igor, like Oleg earlier, managed to conquer them and imposed an even greater tribute. Then the young prince gathers a large army and marches on Constantinople, but suffers a crushing defeat: the Greeks use fire against Igor’s ships and destroy almost the entire army. But the young prince manages to gather a new large army, and the king of Byzantium, deciding to avoid bloodshed, offers Igor a rich tribute in exchange for peace. The prince consults with the warriors, who offer to accept tribute and not engage in battle.

But this was not enough for the greedy warriors; after some time they literally forced Igor to go to the Drevlyans again for tribute. Greed destroyed the young prince - not wanting to pay more, the Drevlyans kill Igor and bury him not far from Iskorosten.

Olga and her revenge

Having killed Prince Igor, the Drevlyans decide to marry his widow to their prince Mal. But the princess, by cunning, managed to destroy all the nobility of the rebellious tribe, burying them alive. Then the clever princess calls matchmakers - noble Drevlyans - and burns them alive in a bathhouse. And then she manages to burn Sparkling by tying burning tinder to the pigeons' legs. The princess imposes a huge tribute on the Drevlyan lands.

Olga and baptism

The princess also shows her wisdom in another chapter of the Tale of Bygone Years: wanting to avoid marriage with the king of Byzantium, she is baptized, becoming his spiritual daughter. Struck by the woman’s cunning, the king lets her go in peace.

Svyatoslav

The next chapter describes the events of 964-972 and the wars of Prince Svyatoslav. He began to rule after the death of his mother, Princess Olga. He was a courageous warrior who managed to defeat the Bulgarians, save Kyiv from the attack of the Pechenegs and make Pereyaslavets the capital.

With an army of only 10 thousand soldiers, the brave prince attacks Byzantium, which put up a hundred thousand army against him. Inspiring his army to face certain death, Svyatoslav said that death was better than the shame of defeat. And he manages to win. The Byzantine Tsar pays the Russian army a good tribute.

The brave prince died at the hands of the Pecheneg prince Kuri, who attacked the army of Svyatoslav, weakened by hunger, going to Rus' in search of a new squad. From his skull they make a cup from which the treacherous Pechenegs drink wine.

Rus' after baptism

Baptism of Rus'

This chapter of the chronicle tells that Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav and the housekeeper, became a prince and chose a single god. The idols were overthrown, and Rus' adopted Christianity. At first, Vladimir lived in sin, he had several wives and concubines, and his people made sacrifices to idol gods. But having accepted faith in one God, the prince becomes pious.

About the fight against the Pechenegs

The chapter recounts several events:

• In 992, the struggle between the troops of Prince Vladimir and the attacking Pechenegs began. They propose to fight the best fighters: if the Pecheneg wins, the war will be three years, if the Russian - three years of peace. The Russian youth won, and peace was established for three years.
• Three years later, the Pechenegs attack again and the prince miraculously manages to escape. A church was erected in honor of this event.
• The Pechenegs attacked Belgorod, and a terrible famine began in the city. The residents managed to escape only by cunning: on the advice of a wise old man, they dug wells in the ground, put a vat of oatmeal in one, and honey in the second, and told the Pechenegs that the earth itself gave them food. They raised the siege in fear.

Massacre of the Magi

Magi come to Kyiv and begin to accuse noble women of hiding food, causing famine. Cunning men kill many women, taking their property for themselves. Only Jan Vyshatich, the Kyiv governor, manages to expose the Magi. He ordered the townspeople to hand over the deceivers to him, threatening that otherwise he would live with them for another year. Talking with the Magi, Ian learns that they worship the Antichrist. The voivode orders people whose relatives died due to the fault of deceivers to kill them.

Blindness

This chapter describes the events of 1097, when the following happened:

• Princely council in Lyubich to conclude peace. Each prince received his own oprichnina, they made an agreement not to fight with each other, focusing on expelling external enemies.
• But not all the princes are happy: Prince Davyd felt deprived and forced Svyatopolk to go over to his side. They conspired against Prince Vasilko.
• Svyatopolk deceitfully invites the gullible Vasilko to his place, where he blinds him.
• The rest of the princes are horrified by what the brothers did to Vasilko. They demand that Svyatopolk expel David.
• Davyd dies in exile, and Vasilko returns to his native Terebovl, where he reigns.

Victory over the Cumans

The last chapter of the Tale of Bygone Years tells about the victory over the Polovtsians of princes Vladimir Monomakh and Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. The Polovtsian troops were defeated, and Prince Beldyuz was executed; the Russians returned home with rich booty: livestock, slaves and property.

This event marks the end of the narrative of the first Russian chronicle.