Literature of Ancient Rus (A Selected List)

I. Oral Folklore

Songs

• Calendar Poetry
  • December 25/winter solstice – pagans celebrated the coming of winter and the sun (the life-giver – Dazhd-bog/Dazhbog); young people walked from house to house with a star, singing carols and “podbliudnye pesni”, wishing success and well-being for the master of the house and his family and household, and in return being rewarded with delicacies.
  • harvest songs – sung to Ovsen, patron of the harrvest
  • approach of spring
  • spring songs (vesnianki) – arrival of spring
  • departure of spring
  • Mermaid Week (Rusalka?) - after planting, songs are directed to the mermaids (rusalki?) to send moisture
  • Harvest – “zazinka” (beginning of harvest), dozhinka (ripening)
  • Winter preparations
• Wedding Songs
• Songs of mystery, mourning, nature, knights, tsars, etc.

Fairy Tales (Skazki)

• Animals dominated theme
• Tales of Ivanushka-durachek (the fool) or Ivanushka-tsarevich (the prince); youngest of three brothers
• Tales with fantastic creatures -for example: Baba Yaga, Kashchei Bezmertnyi (the serpent abductor of women); also tastic objects
• Later origin – about kings, Bova Korolevich, skill thieves, soldiers, etc.

Epic Songs (Byliny/Stariny)

The Epics (or Epic Songs) were generally about “bogatyri” (epic heroes). While a few are prose, most are poetic, and are sung or chanted to recitative melodies. They were sometimes accompanied by the “gudka” or “gusli” (types of stringed instruments), and usually performed by certain classes of entertainers: “skaziteli” (bards), “skomorokhi” (jesters and minstrels – a more negative term), and “veselye liudi” (joyous folk, entertainers). The repertoire of the Oldest Cycle and the Kiev Cycle date from the 10th to 12th centuries, but from the 12th to the 16th century there were only a few byliny being composed; the Tatar invasion failed to inspire more than a few themes. The 16th and 17th centuries produced a few more, but the bards usually adapted older themes for modern chacters and names.

• The Oldest Cycle (The Older Bogatyri/Heroes – superhuman characters): Volga and his druzhina, Mikula Selianinovich, Sviatogor, Samson (with some Old Testament themes), Kolyvan, Shark Velikan, Sukhman Odikhmantevich, Prince Roman of Galicia

• Kiev Cycle (very large cycle, with less superhuman characters, including the “Younger Bogatyri”): Vladimir Monomakh (fighting against the Polovtsy), Vladimir I “Solnyshko” (Little Son) and his druzhina (fighting against the Pechenegs), Ilya Muromets (Ilya of Murom, the “Old Cossack”), Dobrynia Nikitich, Churilo Plenkovich, Ivan Godinovich, Ivan (the merchant’s son), Mikhailo Potok (Mikhailo Potyk Ivanovich), Khoten Bludovich, Aliosha Popovich, Diuk (Dolk) Stefan(ov)ich, Nightingale the Robber, Dunai (Don Ivanovich)

• Novgorod Cycle (a later cycle; this is a much smaller cycle, with fewer characters, but many episodes): Sadko, Vasillii (Vaska) Buslaev(ich)

• Moscow Cycle (16th century; the Princely Cycle, having a very small repertoire): Ivan IV (the Terrible) – In the 17th and 18th centuries new themes appeared, inspired by the Cossacks of the Don and Volga, including Ermak (16th c.), Stenka Razin (17th c.), Mazeppa (18th c.) Pugachev (18th c.).

II. Written Literature

11th Century

• Letopisi (Chronicles, Annals, Narrations)
• Primary Chronicle (Nachalnaia letopis) of 1037 – about the spread of Christianity in Russia
• A Word about Law and Grace (Slovo o zakone I blagodati)
• Selections of Prince Sviatislav Yaroslavich – 48 chapters (Izbornik kniazia Sliatoslava Iaroslavicha) – teachings on the New Testament
• The 1st Kiev Cave Chronicle (1073)
• The 2nd Kiev Cave Chronicle (1093)
• The Tale of the Blinding of Vasilko Rostislavich
• Letter of Vladimir Monomakh to Oleg Sviatoslavich
• Works of Nestor: Narrative of Boris and Gleb; Life of Fedosii of the Kiev Caves

12th century

• Nestor – Tale of Bygone Years (Povesti vremennykh let) – a reworking of the Primary Chronicle
• Travels of Daniil
• Anonymous – Tale of Boris and Gleb
• A Word of Praise for the Transfer of the Relics of the Suffering Saints Boris and Gleb (or A Word about the Princes)
• Testament of Vladimir Monomakh
• Clement (Kliment) Smoliatich – Epistle to Presbyter Thomas (Foma)
• Kiril Turovskii (Cyril, Bishop of Turov) – various religious works
• Lay of Igor’s Campaign

13th century

• Pilgrimage to Tsargrad
• Tale about the Battle on the River Lipits
• Tale (Slovo) of Daniil the Hermit
• Kiev Caves Paterik
• Tale about the Battle on the River Kalka
• The Story about the Destruction of Riazan by Batyi
• The Story about the Destruction of Kiev by Batyi
• The Gallician-Volhynian Chronicle
• The Novgorod Chronicle
• A Word about the Ruin of the Russian Land – joined with a) The Story of the Death of Yaroslav, and b) The Life of Alexander Nevskii

14th century

• Story of the Tver Uprising of 1327
• Tale about the Battle on the River Vozh
• Story about the Bloody Battle of Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich with Mamai
• Zadonshchina (Beyond the Don)
• A Word about the Life and Death of Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich
• Story about the Bloody Battle of Mamai
• Story about the Seizure of Moscow by Tsar Takhtamysh and about the Captivity of the Russian Land
• The Story about Timur Aksak
• The Life of Metropolitan Peter

15th century

• The Life of Stefan of Perm
• The Life of Sergei Radonezhskii
• The Diary of the Journey of Isadore to Western Europe
• The Story about Tsargrad, about its Creation and Seizure by the Turks in 1453
• Journey Beyond the Three Seas – by Afanasii Nikitin
• The Epistle of the Bishop to the Grand Prince on the River Ugra
• The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom

16th century

• ...to be discussed
• Include: Spiritual Verses (Dukhovnyi stikhi), Chashushki, etc.

Sources:

Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles and Tales – edited by Serge Zenkovsky; E.P. Dutton and Co., 1963.

Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 900-1700 – edited by Basil Dmytryshyn; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1967.