The compilation of chronicle entries known as the Povst' vremennykh lt (PVL) is a fundamental source for the historical study of the vast eastern European and Eurasian lands that include major parts of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as extensive parts of the Russian Federation and Poland. As the single most important source for the study of the early Rus principalities, it contains the bulk of existing written information about the area inhabited by the East Slavs from the ninth to the twelfth century, and has been the subject of many historical, literary, and linguistic analyses. The PVL in various versions appears at the beginning of most extant chronicles compiled from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries
The PVL may have been compiled initially by Silvestr, the hegumen of St. Michael's Monastery in Vydobichi, a village near Kiev, in 1116. The attribution to Silvestr is based on a colophon in copies of the so-called Laurentian branch where he declares, "I wrote down this chronicle," and asks to be remembered in his readers' prayers (286,1 - 286,7). It is possible that Silvestr merely copied or edited an already existing complete work by the Kiev Caves Monastery monk mentioned in the heading (i.e., "The Tale of Bygone Years of a monk of the Feodosy Pechersky Monastery [regarding] from where the Rus lands comes and who first in it began to rule and from where the Rus land became to be"), but it is also possible that this monk merely began the work that Silvestr finished. An interpolation in the title of the sixteenth-century Khlebnikov copy has led to a popular notion that Nestor was the name of this monk and that he had completed a now-lost first redaction of the complete text. But that interpolation is not reliable evidence, since it may have been the result of a guess by the interpolator, in which case the name of the monk referred to in the title or when he compiled his text is not known. So the simplest explanation is that Silvestr used an earlier (perhaps unfinished) chronicle by an unknown monk of the Caves Monastery along with other sources to compile what is now known as the PVL. Silvestr's holograph does not exist; the earliest copy dates to more than 260 years later. Therefore, researches have to try to reconstruct what Silvestr wrote on the basis of extant copies that are hundreds of years distant from its presumed date of composition.
There are five main witnesses to the original version of the PVL. The term "main witness," refers only to those copies that have independent authority to testify about what was in the archetype. Since most copies of the PVL (e.g., those found in the Nikon Chronicle, Voskresenskii Chronicle, etc.) are secondary (i.e., derivative) from the main witnesses, they provide no primary readings in relation to the archetype. The five main witnesses are:
- Laurentian (RNB, F.IV.2), dated to 1377;
- Radziwill (BAN, 34. 5. 30), datable to the 1490s;
- Academy (RGB, MDA 5/182), dated to the 15th century;
- Hypatian (BAN, 16. 4. 4), dated to c. 1425;
- Khlebnikov (RNB, F.IV.230), dated to 16th century.
In addition, in a few places, the Pogodin Chronicle fills in lacunae in the Khlebnikov copy:
- 6. Pogodin (RNB, Pogodin 1401), dated to early 17th century.
One can also draw textual evidence from the corresponding passages in the later version of the Novgorod I Chronicle. To date, there are no lithographs or photographic facsimilies of any manuscript of the Novgorod I Chronicle. The three copies of the published version of Novg. I are:
- Commission (SPb IRI, Arkh. kom. 240), dated to 1450s;
- Academy (BAN 17.8.36), dated to 1450s;
- Tolstoi (RNB, Tolstovoi F.IV.223), dated to 1820s.
Figure 1.
One can also utilize certain textual readings from the corresponding passages of Priselkov's reconstruction of the non-extant Trinity Chronicle.
The stemma, or family tree, shows the genealogical relationship of the manuscript copies.
Although various theories have been proposed for the stages of compilation of the PVL, little agreement has been reached. The sources that the compiler(s) utilized, however, are generally recognized. The main source to 842 is the Chronicle of Georgius Hamartolu and to 948 the Continuation of Symeon the Logothete. Accounts of the ecumenical councils could have been drawn from at least three possible sources: (1) a Bulgarian collection, which served as the basis for the Izbornik of 1073; (2) the Chronicle of Hamartolus; and (3) the Letter of Patriarch Photius to Boris, Prince of Bulgaria. Copies of treaties between Byzantium and Rus appear under entries for 907, 912, 945, and 971. The Creed of Michael Syncellus was the source of the Cree d taught to Volodimir I in 988. Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace is drawn upon for Biblical quotations regarding the conversion of Volodimir I. There are also excerpts from the Memoir and Eulogy of Volodimir that are attributed to the monk James. The Life of Boris and Gleb appears in the PVL but in a redaction different from the independent work written by Nestor. Quotations in the PVL attributed to John Chrysostom seem to be drawn from the Zlatoustruiu (anthology of his writings). Subsequently two references are made in the PVL to the Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius of Patara. Various parts of the PVL draw on the Paleia (a synopsis of Old Testament history with interpretations). In the entries for 1097 to 1100, there is a narrative of a certain Vasily who claims to have been an eyewitness and participant in the events being described. Volodimir Monomakh's Testament and Letter to Oleg appear toward the end of the text of the chronicle. Finally, oral traditions and legends seem to be the basis for a number of other accounts, including the coming of the Rus'.
Although the text of the PVL has been published a number of times including as part of the publication of later chronicles, only recently has a critical edition based on a stemma codicum been completed.
Bibliography
Cross, Samuel H., and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P. (1953). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of Sciences.
Ostrowski, Donald. (2003). The Povest' vremennykh let: An Interlinear Collation and Paradosis, 3 vols., assoc. ed. David J. Birnbaum (Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature, vol. 10, parts 1 - 3). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
—DONALD OSTROWSKI
