They read and guessed (Staroslav.).

Record Slavic words using the Greek alphabet.

Type of church literature - biographies.

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..3

Chapter 1. Formation of Old Russian culture………………………...………4

The influence of religion on the culture of the Russian state......................................5

1.2. The phenomenon of Russian culture……………………………………………………………7

Chapter 2. Writing and ancient Russian architecture…………………...………..8

2.1. Education…………………………………………………………………………………8

2.2. Slavic alphabet…………….………………………………………………………..9

2.3. Literacy……………………………………………………………………10

2.4. Birch bark certificates………………..…………………………………….11

2.5. Chronicles…………………………………………………………………………………13

2.6. Old Russian literature…………………………………………………………….14

2.7. Architecture of Ancient Rus'……………………………………………………………………17

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………..…………21

LIST OF REFERENCES………………………..………24

Introduction

The culture of a people is part of its history. Its formation and subsequent development are closely connected with the same historical factors that influence the formation and development of the country’s economy, its statehood, the political and spiritual life of society.

Culture is a historically established system of material and spiritual values ​​created by man, sociocultural norms, as well as methods of their dissemination and consumption, the process of self-realization and revealing the creative potential of the individual and society in various spheres of life. In this work we will talk about ancient Russian culture. The subject of the history of Russian culture - one of the components of the history of world culture - is the study of the nature of the manifestation in Russian culture of the general laws of the historical and cultural process, as well as the identification and study of private, national patterns of cultural development and the peculiarities of its functioning in historical data conditions.

The purpose of this work: consideration of ancient Russian culture.

Objectives of this work:

1. Consider the culture of paganism and Christianity in Rus';

2. Study writing, literature;

4. Show the architecture.

Chapter 1. The formation of ancient Russian culture

The culture of Rus' takes shape in the same centuries as the formation of Russian statehood. The birth of a people took place simultaneously along several lines - economic, political, cultural. Rus' took shape and developed as the center of a huge people for that time, consisting at first of various tribes; as a state whose life unfolded over a vast territory. And the entire original cultural experience of the Eastern Slavs became the property of a single Russian culture. It developed as a culture of all Eastern Slavs, while at the same time maintaining its regional features - some for the Dnieper region, others for North-Eastern Rus', etc.

The development of Russian culture was also influenced by the fact that Rus' was developing as a lowland state, open to all, both intra-tribal domestic and foreign international influences. And this came from the depths of centuries. The general culture of Rus' reflected both the traditions of, say, the Polans, Northerners, Radimichi, Novgorod Slavs, and other East Slavic tribes, as well as the influence of neighboring peoples with whom Rus' exchanged production skills, traded, fought, made peace - with the Finno-Ugric tribes , Balts, Iranian tribes, other Slavic peoples and states.

At the time of its state formation, Rus' was strongly influenced by neighboring Byzantium, which for its time was one of the most cultural states in the world. Thus, the culture of Rus' developed from the very beginning as synthetic, i.e. influenced by various cultural trends, styles, traditions.

At the same time, Rus' not only blindly copied other people’s influences and recklessly borrowed them, but applied them to its cultural traditions, to its folk experience that had come down from time immemorial, its understanding of the world around us, and its idea of ​​beauty.

Therefore, within the characteristics of Russian culture, we are constantly faced not only with influences from outside, but with their sometimes significant spiritual processing, their constant refraction in an absolutely Russian style. If the influence of foreign cultural traditions was stronger in cities, which themselves were centers of culture, its most advanced features for their time, then the rural population was mainly the custodian of ancient cultural traditions associated with the depths of the historical memory of the people. In villages and villages, life flowed at a slower pace; they were more conservative and more difficult to succumb to various cultural innovations.

1.1. The influence of religion on the culture of the Russian state.

For many years, Russian culture - oral folk art, art, architecture, painting, artistic crafts - developed under the influence of pagan religion and pagan worldview. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, the situation changed dramatically. First of all, the new religion claimed to change people’s worldview, their perception of all life, and therefore their ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, and aesthetic influence.

However, Christianity, having had a strong impact on Russian culture, especially in the field of literature, architecture, art, literacy development, school affairs, libraries - in those areas that were closely connected with the life of the church and religion, was never able to overcome folk origins Russian culture. For many years, dual faith remained in Rus': the official religion, which prevailed in the cities, and paganism, which went into the shadows, but still existed in remote parts of Rus', especially in the northeast, retained its position in rural areas, the development of Russian culture reflected this duality in the spiritual life of society, in folk life. Pagan spiritual traditions, folk at their core, had a profound impact on the entire development of Russian culture in the early Middle Ages.

Influenced folk traditions, foundations, habits, under the influence of the people's worldview, church culture itself and religious ideology were filled with new content. The harsh ascetic Christianity of Byzantium on Russian pagan soil with its cult of nature, worship of the sun, light, wind, with its cheerfulness, love of life, deep humanity was significantly transformed, which was reflected in all those areas of culture where the Byzantine, fundamentally Christian cultural influence was especially large. It is no coincidence that in many church cultural monuments (for example, the works of church authors) we see completely secular, worldly reasoning and a reflection of purely worldly passions.

Having appeared in Rus' at the end of the 10th century, Christianity began its rapid rise. Cathedrals and churches are being built. Despite the fact that Christianity came to us from Byzantium, its canons do not remain unchanged; there is a kind of integration between paganism and Christianity. This makes the new religion distinctive; Russian Christianity acquires its own laws and rituals, unlike the Byzantine ones. The Church is gradually becoming the main institution feudal culture ancient Rus'. So, the first step towards the creation of the Christian religion in Rus' was taken under Prince Vladimir. And the second one was no less important under Prince Yaroslav in 1051. Until this time, Russian metropolitans were exclusively governors from Byzantium, and the Russian Church was subordinate to it. Under Yaroslav the Wise, the Russian priest Hilarion was appointed Russian Metropolitan for the first time. From that moment on, the church in Rus' became completely independent. But, despite such powerful progress, the church was not able to completely change the ancient traditions of the Russians. As Ryabova Z.A. says in her article: “The world of culture of Kievan Rus was a world of traditions, rituals, canons, first pagan, then Orthodox” (1.58). Therefore, despite the prohibitions of the church, various pagan festivals took place in Rus' (this phenomenon of the proximity of two cultures was called “cultural dualism”), such as the expulsion of winter and the old year. Laughter was a magical symbol of multiplying the human race and harvest, hence the “laughter culture” of ancient Rus'. Such a mixture of two cultures, two religions: pagan ancient Slavic and Byzantine Orthodox, remains Christianity in Rus' to this day.

1.2.Phenomenon of Russian culture

This openness and synthetic nature of ancient Russian culture, its powerful reliance on folk origins and popular perception, developed by the entire long-suffering history of the Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences led to what in world history is called the phenomenon of Russian culture. Its characteristic features are the desire for monumentality, scale, imagery in chronicle writing; nationality, integrity and simplicity in art; grace, a deeply humanistic principle in architecture; gentleness, love of life, kindness in painting; the constant beating of the pulse of quest, doubt, passion in literature. And all this was dominated by the great unity of the creator of cultural values ​​with nature, his sense of belonging to all of humanity, worries about people, their pain and misfortunes. It is no coincidence that, again, one of the favorite images of the Russian church and culture has become the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, lovers of humanity, non-resistance, who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of the people. These features and characteristic features of the culture of Ancient Rus' did not appear immediately. In their basic guises they developed over the centuries. But then, having already taken on more or less established forms, they retained their power for a long time and everywhere. And even when united Rus' politically disintegrated, the general features of Russian culture were manifested in the culture of individual principalities. Despite the political difficulties and local peculiarities, it was still a single Russian culture of the 10th - early 13th centuries. The Mongol-Tatar invasion, the subsequent final disintegration of the Russian lands, their subordination to neighboring states interrupted this unity for a long time.

Chapter 2. Writing and ancient Russian architecture.

The basis of any ancient culture is writing. When did it originate in Rus'? For a long time there was an opinion that writing came to Rus' along with Christianity, with church books and prayers. However, it is difficult to agree with this. There is evidence of the existence of Slavic writing long before the Christianization of Rus'. In 1949, Soviet archaeologist D.V. Avdusin, during excavations near Smolensk, found a clay vessel dating back to the beginning of the 10th century, on which was written “gorushna” (spice). This meant that already at that time writing was in use in the East Slavic environment, there was an alphabet.

2.1.Education

Education in Rus' at that time had the same roots as literature. Schools were set up at monasteries, the teachers were representatives of the lower clergy (deacons, sextons). There is also evidence that in 1086 Sister Monomakha opened a school for girls at one of the monasteries in Kyiv. We can judge what was taught in such schools from the notebooks of Novgorod students that fell into the hands of archaeologists. These notebooks date back to 1263. So, the Disciples of the 13th century went through commercial correspondence, numbers, and learned basic prayers. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery was considered the highest educational institution of that time. From this monastery came church hierarchs (abbots of monasteries, bishops, metropolitans), who had to take a course in theology, study the Greek language, know church literature, and learn eloquence. An idea of ​​the level of knowledge at that time can be given by encyclopedias of the 11th century - collections of 1073 and 1076, which contain articles on grammar, philosophy and other disciplines. It is even possible that some Russian people studied at foreign universities.

One of the authors of the late 12th century wrote: “I, prince, did not travel overseas and did not study with philosophers (professors), but like a bee falling on different flowers fills the honeycomb with honey, so I chose verbal sweetness and wisdom from many books "(Daniil Zatochnik).

2.2.Slavic alphabet

This is also evidenced by the testimony of the Byzantine diplomat and Slavic educator Kirill. While serving in Chersonesus in the 60s of the 9th century. he became acquainted with the Gospel written in Slavic letters. Subsequently, Cyril and his brother Methodius became the founders of the Slavic alphabet, which, apparently, was in some part based on the principles Slavic writing, which existed among the eastern, southern and western Slavs long before their Christianization.

The history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet is as follows: the Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius spread Christianity among the Slavic peoples of southeastern Europe. Greek theological books had to be translated into Slavic languages, but there was no alphabet corresponding to the peculiarities of the sound of Slavic languages. It was the brothers who decided to create it, since Kirill’s education and talent made this task feasible.

A talented linguist, Kirill took the Greek alphabet, consisting of 24 letters, as a basis, supplemented it with sibilants characteristic of Slavic languages ​​(zh, sch, sh, h) and several other letters. Some of them have been preserved in the modern alphabet - b, ь, ъ, y, others have long gone out of use - yat, yus, izhitsa, fita.

So, the Slavic alphabet originally consisted of 43 letters, similar in writing to Greek. Each of them had its own name: A - “az”, B - “beeches” (their combination formed the word “alphabet”), C - “lead”, G - “verb”, D - “good” and so on. The letters on the letter denoted not only sounds, but also numbers. “A” - number 1, “B” - 2, “P” - 100. In Rus' only in the 18th century. Arabic numerals replaced “letter” ones.

In honor of its creator, the new alphabet was called “Cyrillic”.

For some time, along with the Cyrillic alphabet, another Slavic alphabet was in use - the Glagolitic alphabet. It had the same composition of letters, but with a more complex, ornate spelling. Apparently, this feature predetermined the future fate of the Glagolitic alphabet: by the 13th century. it has almost completely disappeared.

We must also remember that the treaties between Rus' and Byzantium dating back to the first half of the 10th century had “baking trays” - copies also written in the Slavic language. The existence of interpreters-translators and scribes who recorded the speeches of ambassadors on parchment dates back to this time.

2.3.Literacy

Thus, a literate Russian person of the 11th century. knew much of what was available in the writing and book culture of Eastern Europe and Byzantium. The cadres of the first Russian scribes, scribes, and translators were formed in schools that were opened at churches from the time of Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise, and later at monasteries. There is a lot of evidence of the widespread development of literacy in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. However, it was widespread mainly only in the urban environment, especially among wealthy townspeople, the princely-boyar elite, merchants, and wealthy artisans. In rural areas, in remote, remote places, the population was almost entirely illiterate.

From the 11th century In wealthy families, they began to teach literacy not only to boys, but also to girls. Vladimir Monomakh's sister Yanka, the founder of a convent in Kyiv, created a school there to educate girls.

Thanks to the alphabet, the level of literacy in Ancient Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. was very tall. And not only among the upper strata of society, but also among ordinary townspeople. This is evidenced, for example, by numerous birch bark letters found by archaeologists in Novgorod. These are personal letters and business records: promissory notes, contracts, orders from the master to his servants (which means the servants knew how to read!) and, finally, student exercises in writing.

There remains one more interesting evidence of the development of literacy in Rus' - the so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were scratched on the walls of churches by those who loved to pour out their souls. Among these inscriptions are reflections on life, complaints, prayers. The famous Vladimir Monomakh, while still a young man, during a church service, lost in a crowd of the same young princes, scrawled “Oh, it’s hard for me” on the wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and signed his Christian name “Vasily.”

2.4.Birch bark letters

Of exceptional importance was the discovery in 1951 by Professor A.V. Artsikhovsky in Novgorod birch bark documents of the 11th-15th centuries. Whole new world was revealed to researchers when studying these letters. Trade transactions, private letters, hasty notes sent by courier, reports on the completion of household work, reports on the campaign, invitations to funerals, riddles, poems and much, much more reveal to us these wonderful documents, again confirming the widespread development of literacy among Russian townspeople.

Old Russian people not only loved to read and rewrite books, but also deeply understood their meaning, saying that “books are rivers that water the universe with wisdom.”

A clear indication of the widespread spread of literacy in cities and suburbs are the so-called birch bark letters. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, expedition member Nina Akulova extracted birch bark from the ground with well-preserved letters on it. “I’ve been waiting for this find for twenty years!” - exclaimed the head of the expedition, Professor A.V. Artsikhovsky, who had long assumed that the level of literacy in Rus' at that time should have been reflected in mass writing, which could have been, in the absence of paper in Rus', writing either on wooden tablets, as indicated by foreign evidence, or on birch bark. Since then, hundreds of birch bark letters have been introduced into scientific circulation, indicating that in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, and other cities of Rus', people loved and knew how to write to each other. The letters include business documents, exchange of information, invitations to visit, and even love correspondence. A certain Mikita wrote to his beloved Ulyana on birch bark “From Mikita to Ulianitsa. Come for me...”

Birch bark is a very convenient material for writing, although it required some preparation. Birch bast was boiled in water to make the bark more elastic, then its rough layers were removed. The birch bark sheet was cut from all sides, giving it a rectangular shape. They wrote on the inside of the bark, squeezing out letters with a special stick - a “writing” - made of bone, metal or wood. One end of the writing was pointed, and the other was made in the form of a spatula with a hole and hung from the belt. The technique of writing on birch bark allowed texts to be preserved in the ground for centuries.

The production of ancient handwritten books was expensive and labor-intensive. The material for them was parchment - specially made leather. The best parchment was made from soft, thin skin of lambs and calves. She was cleared of wool and washed thoroughly. Then they pulled them onto drums, sprinkled them with chalk and cleaned them with pumice. After air drying, the rough edges were cut off from the leather and sanded again with pumice. The tanned leather was cut into rectangular pieces and sewn into notebooks of eight sheets. It is noteworthy that this ancient order of stitching has been preserved to this day.

The stitched notebooks were collected into a book. Depending on the format and number of sheets, one book required from 10 to 30 animal skins - a whole herd! Books were usually written with a quill pen and ink. The king had the privilege of writing with a swan and even a peacock feather. Making writing instruments required a certain skill. The feather was always removed from the left wing of the bird so that the bend would be comfortable for the right writing hand. The feather was degreased by sticking it into hot sand, then the tip. they cut it obliquely, split it and sharpened it with a special penknife. They also scraped out errors in the text.

The ink, unlike the blue and black we are used to, was brown in color, as it was made on the basis of ferrous compounds, or, more simply, rust. Pieces of old iron were dipped into the water, which, rusting, painted it brown. Ancient recipes for making ink have been preserved. In addition to iron, oak or alder bark, cherry glue, kvass, honey and many other substances were used as components, giving the ink the necessary viscosity, color, and stability. Centuries later, this ink has retained its brightness and color strength. The scribe blotted the ink with finely crushed sand, sprinkling it onto a sheet of parchment from a sandbox - a vessel similar to a modern pepper shaker.

Unfortunately, very few ancient books have survived. In total there are about 130 copies of priceless evidence of the 11th-12th centuries. came to us. There were few of them in those days.

2.5.Chronicle writing

One of the confirmations of this was the chronicle, which was one of the monuments of writing, literature, history, and culture in general. The chronicle was a state matter, a princely matter. Therefore, the order to compile a chronicle was given not just to the most literate and intelligent person, but also to the one who would be able to implement ideas close to this or that princely branch, this or that princely house. Thus, the chronicler’s objectivity and honesty came into conflict with what we call “social order.”

Chronicles, according to the observations of scientists, appeared in Rus' shortly after the introduction of Christianity. The first chronicle was probably compiled at the end of the 10th century. It was intended to reflect the history of Rus' from the time the new Rurik dynasty appeared there until the reign of Vladimir with his impressive victories, with the introduction of Christianity in Rus'. From this time on, the right and duty to keep chronicles were given to church leaders. It was in churches and monasteries that the most literate, well-prepared and trained people were found - priests and monks.

Before chronicles appeared - large-scale historical works covering several centuries of Russian history, there were separate records, oral stories, which initially served as the basis for the first generalizing works. These were stories about Kiev and the founding of Kiev, about the campaigns of Russian troops against Byzantium, about the journey of Princess Olga to Constantinople, about the wars of Svyatoslav, the legend about the murder of Boris and Gleb, as well as epics, lives of saints, sermons, traditions, songs, various kinds of legends .

The second chronicle was created under Yaroslav the Wise at the time when he united Rus' and founded the Church of St. Sophia. This chronicle absorbed the previous chronicle and other materials.

The compiler of the next chronicle acted not only as the author of the corresponding newly written parts of the chronicle, but also as a compiler and editor. It was his ability to direct the idea of ​​the arch in the right direction that was highly valued by the Kyiv princes.

The vault, which was taken up by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor and which entered our history under the name “The Tale of Bygone Years,” thus turned out to be at least only the fifth in a row and was created in the first decade of the 12th century. at the court of the same Prince Svyatopolk. Nestor's vault was the pinnacle of early Russian chronicle writing.

2.6. Old Russian literature

A significant difference between Russian culture and the culture of most countries of the East and West is the use of the native language. The Arabic language for many non-Arab countries and the Latin language for a number of Western European countries were alien languages, the monopoly of which led to the fact that the popular language of the states of that era is almost unknown to us. The Russian literary language was used everywhere - in office work, diplomatic correspondence, private letters, in fiction and scientific literature. The unity of the national and state languages ​​was a great cultural advantage of Rus' over the Slavic and Germanic countries, in which the Latin state language dominated. Such widespread literacy was impossible there, since to be literate meant knowing Latin. For Russian townspeople, it was enough to know the alphabet in order to immediately express their thoughts in writing; This explains the widespread use in Rus' of writing on birch bark and on “boards” (obviously waxed).

Russian literature XI-XIII centuries. came to us, of course, not completely. The medieval church, which jealously destroyed apocrypha and writings that mentioned pagan gods, probably had a hand in the destruction of manuscripts like “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where the church is mentioned in passing, and the entire poem is full of Russian pagan deities. Not without reason until the 18th century. Only one copy of the Lay has survived, although we know that the Lay was read in various Russian cities. Individual quotes in surviving manuscripts, hints at the abundance of books and individual works - all this convinces us that many treasures of ancient Russian literature could have perished in the fire of internecine wars, Polovtsian and Tatar raids. But the surviving part is so valuable and interesting that it allows us to speak with great respect about the Russian people of the 10th - 13th centuries, the creators of this literature.

The largest works of Russian literature created during this period, but continuing their literary life many more centuries, are: “The Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, “The Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh, “The Sermon on Igor’s Campaign”, “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik, “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon” and, of course, chronicles, among which the prominent The place is occupied by Nestor’s “The Tale of Bygone Years” (beginning of the 12th century).

Most of them are characterized by a broad, all-Russian view of events and phenomena, pride in the created state, awareness of the need for constant joint struggle against the nomadic hordes, and the desire to stop the wars of Russian princes among themselves, which are ruinous for the people.

In the era of the formation and initial development of the feudal formation, what was progressive was that which cleared the way for the new, strengthened it, and helped it develop. And Russian literature successfully contributed to the new feudal state, directing it primarily towards solving problems of national importance. Russian writers of the XI-XIII centuries. forced their readers and listeners (much was designed to be read aloud) to think about the fate of the Russian land, to know the positive and negative heroes native history, feel and strengthen the unity of the entire ancient Russian people. Historical works occupy a place of honor in this literature.

The chronicler's geographical horizons are very broad - he knows both Britain in the west of the Old World, noting some ethnographic remnants of the British, and China in the east of the Old World, where people live “at the ends of the earth.” Using Russian archives, folk tales and foreign literature, chroniclers created a wide and interesting picture historical development of the Russian state.

In addition to general historical works covering several centuries and weather chronicles, there were works dedicated to a single historical event. For example, the campaign of Vladimir Monomakh in 1111 against the Polovtsian encampments was glorified in a special legend, the author of which correctly assessed the significance of this first serious defeat of the Polovtsians not only for Rus', but also for Western Europe, declaring that the glory of Prince Vladimir’s victory would reach to Rome.

The era of feudal fragmentation was reflected in the emergence of regional literary forces; each new princely center kept its own chronicles, paying the main attention to local events, but never ceasing to be interested in all-Russian affairs. Literature grew in breadth. Chronicles appeared in Novgorod, Vladimir, Polotsk, Galich, Smolensk, Novgorod-Seversky, Pskov, Pereyaslavl and other cities.

Russian historians of the XI-XIII centuries. introduced readers to world history both by translating the latest Byzantine works (Chronicles of John Malala and George Amartol), and by creating a creatively processed anthology from the works of ancient authors (Hellenic-Roman Chronicler). Russian chronicles report news about events outside Rus' (uprising in Poland, the Crusades, the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders, etc.). Russian chronicles are a great contribution to world science, as they reveal in detail the history of half of Europe over five centuries.

2.7.Architecture of ancient Rus'

More than 150 architectural monuments from pre-Mongol times have survived to this day. Until the end of the 10th century. There was no monumental stone architecture in Rus'. Wood was considered the main building material. Due to the fragility of wood, archeology provides basic information about urban planning.

It is not without reason that they say that architecture is the soul of the people, embodied in stone. This applies to Rus' with some amendments. For many years, Rus' was a wooden country, and its architecture, its pagan chapels, fortresses, towers, and huts were built of wood. In wood, Russian people, like the peoples who lived next to the Eastern Slavs, expressed their perception of structural beauty, a sense of proportion, fusion architectural structures with the surrounding nature. If wooden architecture dates back mainly to pagan Rus', then stone architecture is associated with already Christian Russia. Western Europe, which since ancient times built both temples and dwellings of stone, did not know such a transition. Unfortunately, ancient wooden buildings have not survived to this day, but the architectural style of the people has come down to us in later wooden structures, in ancient descriptions and drawings. Russian wooden architecture was characterized by multi-tiered buildings, crowning them with turrets and towers, and the presence of various kinds of extensions - cages, passages, vestibules. Intricate artistic wood carving was a traditional decoration of Russian wooden buildings. This tradition continues to this day.

Having already had experience in the construction of fortresses, towers, palaces, and wooden pagan temples, Russian architects with amazing speed mastered the new Byzantine brick construction technique and decorated the largest Russian cities with magnificent monumental structures.

The world of Byzantium, the world of Christianity brought new construction experience and traditions to Rus': Rus' adopted the construction of churches in the image of the cross-domed temple of the Greeks: a square, dissected by four pillars, forms its basis; prims and rectangular cells extending towards the dome space form an architectural cross. But the Greek masters who arrived in Rus', starting from the time of Vladimir, as well as the Russian craftsmen working with them, applied this model to the traditions of Russian wooden architecture, familiar to the Russian eye and dear to the heart. If the first Russian churches, including the Tithe Church of the late 10th century, were built by Greek craftsmen in strict accordance with Byzantine traditions, then the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev reflected a combination of Slavic and Byzantine traditions: thirteen cheerful chapters of the new temple. This step pyramid of St. Sophia Cathedral resurrected the style of Russian wooden architecture. St. Sophia Cathedral, created at the time of the establishment and rise of Rus' under Yaroslav the Wise, showed that construction is also politics. With this temple, Rus' challenged Byzantium, its recognized shrine - the St. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople.

In the 12th century, according to the figurative expression of one art critic, Russian single-domed warrior temples marched throughout Rus', replacing the previous pyramids. The dome rose up on a powerful, massive square. This became the Dmitrov Cathedral in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, the Cathedral of St. George in Yuryev-Polsky.

Architecture reached great prosperity during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky in Vladimir-on-Klyazma. His name is associated with the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, beautifully located on the steep bank of the Klyazma, a white-stone palace in the village of Bogolyubovo, and the Golden Gate in Vladimir - a powerful white-stone cube crowned with a golden-domed church. Under him, a miracle of Russian architecture was created - the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. Restoration work and studies of surviving monuments have helped in recent years to clarify the original form of buildings, and archaeological excavations in a number of ancient Russian cities have almost doubled the number of monuments available for study.

Research by N.N. Voronin and M.K. Karger showed the evolution of Russian architectural thought and its connection with the stages of development of feudal relations and with princely or boyar-posad elements in the city. In a number of cases, architecture very sensitively reflected the political history of the country: the short-term rivalry between Chernigov and Kyiv was reflected in the simultaneous construction of monumental cathedrals (Chernigov - 1036, Kyiv - 1037). The Novgorod uprising of 1136 suspended princely construction in Novgorod and opened the way for boyar construction.

The early isolation of the Principality of Polotsk was reflected in the construction of its own St. Sophia Cathedral there with an unusual layout. The full-blooded development of cities that competed with Kiev led to the flourishing of architecture and the creation of local architectural schools in Galich, Smolensk, Novgorod, Chernigov, Vladimir-on-Klyazma. With all that, Russian architecture of the 12th-13th centuries. represents a certain unity. It cannot be said that Russian architecture of this time was under any influence or influence, although Rus' had the broadest connections with the East, West and Byzantium. Having learned at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. Byzantine form, Russian architects very quickly modified it, introduced their own features and created their own, all-Russian style, varying by region.

Appearance in the 12th century. tower-shaped, upwardly slender buildings (Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Pskov) especially clearly testified to the development of the Russian national style, born as a result of the influence of wooden construction.

The unstable borders of feudal states were not barriers to mutual cultural communication. A striking indicator of such a common “style of the era”, indicating that Romanesque art is not so much a geographical as a chronological concept, is the white stone architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' with its amazing proportions and fine decorative carvings, reminiscent of wonderful ivory products.

The buildings of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest are completely Russian in their traditions and construction techniques, but in a number of details they are close to the Romanesque architecture of the 12th century. Researchers rightfully compare the white-stone churches of Vladimir with their lavish carved ornamentation in terms of their overall harmony and richness of plots with “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where the folk, pagan, also overshadows the Christian.

A thorough study of the proportions of ancient Russian buildings made it possible to reveal the peculiar geometric techniques of Russian architects of the 11th-12th centuries, which helped them create buildings that were amazing in the proportionality of their parts.

Recent discoveries in Old Ryazan and Tmutarakan of geometric drawings from a system of inscribed squares and rectangles have made it possible to reveal another method of mathematical calculations, a method that goes back to Babylonian architecture and came to Rus' through Transcaucasia and Tmutarakan.

Diverse and rich Russian architecture has retained its artistic influence for a long time.

Conclusion

Man differs from all other living creatures inhabiting the Earth, first of all, in that he masters nature, transforms it and creates culture - the creation of his mind, soul and hands. Over the course of centuries, many generations of people create the language of the people, their writing, literature, monuments of art and architecture, and form traditions and customs.

Without culture, a person cannot exist. It is not only a legacy left by thousands of generations who lived before him, but also a necessary condition for human development, shaping his behavior, moral values, and aesthetic ideas. In a word, it is culture that makes a person human. The culture of every nation is part of world culture, including everything that was created by the minds and hands of people at a certain stage.

The fate of Russian culture is both beautiful and dramatic. Beautiful because it left a noticeable mark on our country’s history. It is difficult to imagine our culture without “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”, Rublev’s “Trinity”, the Moscow Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the treasures of the Armory and much more. It is dramatic because, like any phenomenon of its time, the culture of the Middle Ages was historically doomed. With the beginning of Peter's reforms, its character changed - it lost its religious content and became predominantly secular. As if forgetting their Byzantine roots, Russian architecture, painting, and decorative art began to master Western artistic experience. Sculpture, almost unknown in Ancient Rus', developed. The appearance of cities has changed. And the townspeople themselves were transformed - they began to dress and eat differently, and adopted new norms of command.

True, those changes affected mainly the nobility. The life of the peasants has hardly changed. The village retained its traditional way of life and culture, which developed back in the Middle Ages. A painful breakdown of peasant culture occurred already in the 20th century, during Soviet times. After 1917, a struggle began against the “remnants of the old ideology,” which undermined the foundations of the spiritual life of the village. Old customs and traditions were eradicated, many holidays disappeared. The ensuing mass collectivization destroyed the traditional way of peasant life.

Over the past seven decades, many monuments of medieval culture have perished. During the years of the revolution and civil war, under the pretext of fighting religion, church utensils were destroyed, icons were burned, and bells were broken. In the 30s, in old Russian cities, outstanding monuments of medieval architecture - temples, monasteries, chambers,

During the Great Patriotic War, Russian culture suffered a new blow. The Nazis destroyed many monuments of ancient art in Kyiv, Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk and other cities. The losses turned out to be irreparable. Many ancient Russian masterpieces can now be seen only in photographs.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that distant time. Having lost a lot of valuable things along the way, people finally become wiser and more thrifty. Many Russian traditions and rituals are being revived from oblivion. There is growing interest in folk culture and everyday life. I would like to hope that this is not a temporary hobby, not a tribute to fleeting fashion, but a serious desire to restore the broken connection of times.

Since ancient times, the Slavic peoples have been looking for ways to unite. Several times cultural level rose to creation single state, and each time the invasion of nomadic tribes set them back centuries in their development. Finally, in the 6th century, they managed to unite into a single Russian state. Even then, Russia was a fairly developed country, there were already cities, crafts were actively developing, merchants with Russian goods went to distant countries, and judging by the size of caches with Greek and Byzantine coins found on the territory of ancient Rus', trade was very brisk. Rus' took a new step in its cultural development at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th centuries. A common religion and writing appeared, schools appeared, and a unified law was introduced. Already at this time, Rus' did not lag behind other countries. The dawn of culture and art occurs. Having forced even the mighty Byzantium to reckon with itself, Kievan Rus became one of the leading countries of the then world.

Bibliography

1.Darkevich V.P. Origin and development of cities of ancient Rus'. // Questions of history. - No. 4. - 1994.

2. Derevyanko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. study guide, 2nd edition. - M.: Enlightenment. - 2006.

3. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century / Ed. A.N. Sakharova, A.P. Novoseltseva. - M. - 1996.

4. Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State / Note. A.M. Kuznetsova - Kaluga: Golden Alley. - 1994.

5. Melnikova A.A. Treasures of the Russian land. // Science and life. - No. 9. - 1979.

6. Polyakov G.B. The World History. - Moscow. - 1999.

History of Old Russian culture

Introduction. 1. Old Russian folklore. 2. Slavic paganism and the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. 3. Writing and education. 4. Old Russian literature and social thought. 5. The influence of Christianity on ancient Russian architecture. 6. Painting of Kievan Rus. Conclusion.

Introduction

In the introduction, in our opinion, it is advisable to define the basic concepts and outline the chronological framework of the work. So, in this work we will talk about ancient Russian culture. Let's find out what culture is and what is the subject of the history of Russian culture. Culture is a historically established system of material and spiritual values ​​created by man, sociocultural norms, as well as methods of their dissemination and consumption, the process of self-realization and disclosure of the creative potential of the individual and society in various spheres of life. The subject of the history of Russian culture - one of the components of the history of world culture - is the study of the nature of the manifestation of general patterns of the historical and cultural process in Russian culture, as well as the identification and study of particular, national patterns of cultural development and features of its functioning in given historical conditions. Now let's look at the time frame. The first mentions of the Slavs in Greek, Roman, Arab and Byzantine sources date back to the turn of the 1st millennium AD. By the 6th century the eastern branch of the Slavs was separated. From VI to VIII centuries. in conditions of growing external danger, a process of political consolidation of the East Slavic and some non-Slavic tribes took place. This process culminated in the formation Old Russian state - Kievan Rus (IX century). We will consider the features of ancient Russian culture from the time of the formation of Kievan Rus to the beginning of the pre-Mongol period (XII century). 1. Old Russian folklore. Russian folk poetry has developed in Rus' since time immemorial. The mythological poetry of the ancient Slavs consisted of conspiracies and spells - hunting, shepherding, agricultural, proverbs and sayings, riddles, ritual songs, wedding songs, funeral laments, songs at feasts and funeral feasts. The origin of fairy tales is also connected with the pagan past. A special place in oral folk art was occupied by "old times" - epic epic. The epics of the Kyiv cycle associated with Kiev, with the Dnieper Slavutich, with Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, and heroes began to take shape at the turn of the 10th – 11th centuries. They expressed in their own way the social consciousness of an entire historical era, reflected the moral ideals of the people, and preserved the features of ancient life and events of everyday life. “The value of the heroic epic lies in the fact that, by its origin, it is inextricably linked with the people, with those smerd warriors who plowed the land and fought under the Kyiv banners with the Pechenegs and Polovtsians.” Oral folk art was an inexhaustible source of images and plots, which for centuries nourished Russian literature and enriched the literary language. 2. Slavic paganism and the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The paganism of the Slavs was an integral part of the complex of primitive views, beliefs and rituals of primitive man for many millennia. Of course the term "paganism" conditional. It is used to designate a range of phenomena included in the concept of “early forms of religion.” The basis of Slavic paganism was the deification of the forces of nature, belief in the spirits that inhabited the world and accompanied man from birth to death. Let's list some of the deities that gradually formed the pantheon of pagan gods: Svyatovit (god of war), Svarog (god of heavenly fire), Dazhdbog (son of Svarog, god of light and sun, giver of all blessings), Perun (god of thunderstorms), Stribog (god of wind ), Volos (patron of livestock), Mokosh (female deity of fertility and household). The places of worship of pagans were pagan temples, temples, and temples, in which the Magi - the priests of the pagan religion - made sacrifices and performed many other rituals. Having understood the ideological significance of religion for strengthening princely power, Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 980 tried to reform paganism, giving it the features of a monotheistic religion. A single pantheon of gods was created, primacy in the hierarchy of which was given to Perun (in these times he was revered as the princely warrior god of war). But the feudal system gradually taking shape in the ancient Russian state needed an ideology that would justify the social stratification of society. Such an ideology could only be a religion that developed in a class society and adapted to its justification. In the 10th century There were 2 such religions: Islam and Christianity. But Islam was mainly practiced in countries that were outside of active foreign policy interests. While “the connections of the Slavs with the outside world, with the centers of world culture of the Middle Ages strengthened significantly at the time of the birth of the Kievan state... The Rus saw ships of different seas and different equipment, dozens of port cities and traded for six months in such major cities as Constantinople, Rey, Itil, Belgrade". In addition, Christianity more fully met the interests of the feudal system with its monotheism, hierarchy of saints, preaching non-resistance to evil, etc. The introduction of Christianity (starting in 988) was a long and complex process that lasted for centuries. It was asserted not only by force, but also adapted to the pagan worldview. With the introduction of a new religion, Rus' finally entered the pan-European historical and cultural landscape. 3. Writing and education. Writing among the Eastern Slavs, like other manifestations of culture, arose from the needs of social development in the era of the formation of feudal relations and the formation of statehood. The author of the legend “About the Writings”, the Monk Khrabr (the turn of the 9th-10th centuries), noted that while the Slavs were pagans, they used “traits” and “cuts” (unpreserved pictographic writing), with the help of which they “read and read”. To write complex texts, the Slavs used the so-called “Proto-Cyrillic alphabet”. ABOUT presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs pre-Christian times Arab and German sources of the 10th century report. Missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius in the 2nd half of the 9th century. the Glagolitic alphabet was created, and at the turn of the 9th - 10th centuries. appeared Cyrillic, resulting from the simplification of the Glagolitic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet became most widespread in Rus'. The adoption of Orthodoxy, which allowed services in national languages, contributed to the spread of writing. The Christianization of Rus' gave a powerful impetus to the further development of writing and literacy. Since the time of Vladimir, church scholars and translators from Byzantium, Bulgaria, and Serbia began to come to Rus'. Numerous translations of Greek and Bulgarian books of both ecclesiastical and secular content appeared, especially during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and his sons. In particular, Byzantine historical works and biographies of Christian saints are translated. These translations became the property of literate people; they were read with pleasure in the princely, boyar, merchant circles, in monasteries, churches, where Russian chronicle writing originated. In the 11th century such popular translated works as “Alexandria”, containing legends and traditions about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great, and “The Deed of Deugene”, which is a translation of the Byzantine epic poem about the exploits of the warrior Digenis, are becoming widespread. Thus, a literate Russian person of the 11th century. knew much of what was available in the writing and book culture of Eastern Europe and Byzantium. The cadres of the first Russian scribes, scribes, and translators were formed in schools that were opened at churches from the time of Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise, and later at monasteries. There is a lot of evidence of the widespread development of literacy in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. However, it was widespread mainly only in the urban environment, especially among wealthy townspeople, the princely-boyar elite, merchants, and wealthy artisans. In rural areas, in remote, remote places, the population was almost entirely illiterate. From the 11th century In wealthy families, they began to teach literacy not only to boys, but also to girls. Vladimir Monomakh's sister Yanka, the founder of a convent in Kyiv, created a school there to educate girls. A clear indication of the widespread spread of literacy in cities and suburbs are the so-called birch bark letters. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, expedition member Nina Akulova extracted birch bark from the ground with well-preserved letters on it. “I’ve been waiting for this find for twenty years!” - exclaimed the head of the expedition, Professor A.V. Artsikhovsky, who had long assumed that the level of literacy in Rus' at that time should have been reflected in mass writing, which could have been, in the absence of paper in Rus', writing either on wooden tablets, as indicated by foreign evidence, or on birch bark. Since then, hundreds of birch bark letters have been introduced into scientific circulation, indicating that in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, and other cities of Rus', people loved and knew how to write to each other. The letters include business documents, exchange of information, invitations to visit, and even love correspondence. A certain Mikita wrote to his beloved Ulyana on birch bark “From Mikita to Ulianitsa. Come for me...” There remains one more interesting evidence of the development of literacy in Rus' - the so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were scratched on the walls of churches by those who loved to pour out their souls. Among these inscriptions are reflections on life, complaints, prayers. The famous Vladimir Monomakh, while still a young man, during a church service, lost in a crowd of the same young princes, scrawled “Oh, it’s hard for me” on the wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and signed his Christian name “Vasily.” Birch bark is a very convenient material for writing, although it required some preparation. Birch bast was boiled in water to make the bark more elastic, then its rough layers were removed. The birch bark sheet was cut from all sides, giving it a rectangular shape. They wrote on the inside of the bark, squeezing out letters with a special stick - a “writing” - made of bone, metal or wood. One end of the writing was pointed, and the other was made in the form of a spatula with a hole and hung from the belt. The technique of writing on birch bark allowed texts to be preserved in the ground for centuries. The production of ancient handwritten books was expensive and labor-intensive. The material for them was parchment - specially made leather. The best parchment was made from soft, thin skin of lambs and calves. She was cleared of wool and washed thoroughly. Then they pulled them onto drums, sprinkled them with chalk and cleaned them with pumice. After air drying, the rough edges were cut off from the leather and sanded again with pumice. The tanned leather was cut into rectangular pieces and sewn into notebooks of eight sheets. It is noteworthy that this ancient order of stitching has been preserved to this day. The stitched notebooks were collected into a book. Depending on the format and number of sheets, one book required from 10 to 30 animal skins - a whole herd! According to the testimony of one of the scribes who worked at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, three rubles were paid for the leather for the book. At that time, you could buy three horses with this money. Books were usually written with a quill pen and ink. The king had the privilege of writing with a swan and even a peacock feather. Making writing instruments required a certain skill. The feather was always removed from the left wing of the bird so that the bend would be comfortable for the right writing hand. The feather was degreased by sticking it into hot sand, then the tip was cut off at an angle, split and sharpened with a special penknife. They also scraped out errors in the text. Medieval ink, unlike the blue and black we are used to, was brown in color, as it was made on the basis of ferrous compounds, or, more simply, rust. Pieces of old iron were dipped into the water, which, rusting, painted it brown. Ancient recipes for making ink have been preserved. In addition to iron, oak or alder bark, cherry glue, kvass, honey and many other substances were used as components, giving the ink the necessary viscosity, color, and stability. Centuries later, this ink has retained its brightness and color strength. The scribe blotted the ink with finely crushed sand, sprinkling it onto a sheet of parchment from a sandbox - a vessel similar to a modern pepper shaker. Unfortunately, very few ancient books have survived. In total there are about 130 copies of priceless evidence of the 11th-12th centuries. came to us. There were few of them in those days. In Rus' in the Middle Ages they knew several types of writing. The oldest of them was the “charter” - with letters without slope, strictly geometric shape, reminiscent of a modern printed font. In the 14th century, with the spread of business writing, the slow “charter” was replaced by the “half-chart” with smaller letters, easier to write, with a slight slant. The semi-character vaguely resembles modern italics. Another hundred years later, in the 15th century, they began to write in “cursive script” - smoothly connecting adjacent letters. In the XV-XVII centuries. cursive writing gradually replaced other types of writing. To decorate manuscripts, titles in the Middle Ages were written in a special, decorative font - script. The letters, stretched upward, intertwined with each other (hence the name - ligature), forming a text similar to an ornamental ribbon. They wrote in script not only on paper. Gold and Silver vessels and fabrics were often covered with elegant inscriptions. Of all types of ancient writing until the 19th century. It is the ligature that has been preserved, although only in Old Believer books and decorative “antique” inscriptions. On the pages of ancient Russian books, the text was arranged in one or two columns. Letters were not divided into lowercase and uppercase. They filled the line in a long sequence without the usual intervals between words. To save space, some letters, mainly vowels, were written above the line or replaced with the “title” sign - a horizontal line. The endings of words that were well known and often used were also truncated, for example God, Mother of God, Gospel, etc. The tradition of placing an accent mark on each word - “strength” - was borrowed from Byzantium. For a long time there was no pagination. Instead, the word that started the next page was written at the bottom right. Some features of Old Russian punctuation are also curious. Of the punctuation marks familiar to us, only the period, borrowed from Byzantine writing, was in use. They placed it arbitrarily, sometimes defining the boundaries between words, sometimes indicating the end of a phrase. In the XV-XVI centuries. writing became more complex. In books, for example, commas appeared to indicate pauses, and a semicolon replaced a question mark. 4. Old Russian literature and socio-political thought. The acute journalistic nature of ancient Russian literature allows us to consider many literary works as monuments of socio-political thought. The leading genre of emerging literature was chronicle. Chronicles are the focus of the history of Ancient Rus', its ideology, understanding of its place in world history - they are one of the most important monuments of writing, literature, history, and culture in general. For compiling chronicles, i.e. weather reports of events, only the most literate, knowledgeable, wise people were taken, capable of not only presenting various events year after year, but also giving them an appropriate explanation, leaving for posterity a vision of the era as the chroniclers understood it. The chronicle was a state matter, a princely matter. Therefore, the order to compile a chronicle was given not just to the most literate and intelligent person, but also to the one who would be able to implement ideas close to this or that princely branch, this or that princely house. Thus, the chronicler’s objectivity and honesty came into conflict with what we call “social order.” If the chronicler did not satisfy the tastes of his customer, they parted with him and transferred the compilation of the chronicle to another, more reliable, more obedient author. Alas, work for the needs of power arose already at the dawn of writing, and not only in Rus', but also in other countries. Chronicles, according to the observations of domestic scientists, appeared in Rus' shortly after the introduction of Christianity. The first chronicle may have been compiled at the end of the 10th century. It was intended to reflect the history of Rus' from the time the new Rurik dynasty appeared there until the reign of Vladimir with his impressive victories, with the introduction of Christianity in Rus'. From this time on, the right and duty to keep chronicles were given to church leaders. It was in churches and monasteries that the most literate, well-prepared and trained people were found - priests and monks. They had a rich book heritage, translated literature, Russian records of ancient tales, legends, epics, traditions; They also had the grand ducal archives at their disposal. The best thing for them was to carry out this responsible and important work: to create a written historical monument of the era in which they lived and worked, connecting it with past times, with deep historical origins. Scientists believe that before chronicles appeared - large-scale historical works covering several centuries of Russian history, there were separate records, including church, oral stories, which initially served as the basis for the first generalizing works. These were stories about Kiev and the founding of Kiev, about the campaigns of Russian troops against Byzantium, about the journey of Princess Olga to Constantinople, about the wars of Svyatoslav, the legend about the murder of Boris and Gleb, as well as epics, lives of saints, sermons, traditions, songs, various kinds of legends . Later, already during the existence of the chronicles, more and more new stories were added to them, tales about impressive events in Rus', such as the famous feud of 1097 and the blinding of the young prince Vasilko, or about the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1111. The chronicle included in its composition and Vladimir Monomakh’s memoirs about life - his “Teachings to Children.” The second chronicle was created under Yaroslav the Wise at the time when he united Rus' and founded the Church of Hagia Sophia. This chronicle absorbed the previous chronicle and other materials. Already at the first stage of creating chronicles, it became obvious that they represent collective creativity, are a collection of previous chronicles, documents, and various types of oral and written historical evidence. The compiler of the next chronicle acted not only as the author of the corresponding newly written parts of the chronicle, but also as a compiler and editor. This and his ability to direct the idea of ​​the arch in the right direction were highly valued by the Kyiv princes. The next chronicle Code was created by the famous Hilarion, who wrote it, apparently under the name of the monk Nikon, in the 60-70s of the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. And then the Code appeared already during the time of Svyatopolk in the 90s of the 11th century. The vault, which was taken up by the monk of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery Nestor and which entered our history under the name “The Tale of Bygone Years,” thus turned out to be at least the fifth in a row and was created in the first decade of the 12th century. at the court of Prince Svyatopolk. And each collection was enriched with more and more new materials, and each author contributed to it his talent, his knowledge, his erudition. Nestor's codex was in this sense the pinnacle of early Russian chronicle writing. In the first lines of his chronicle, Nestor posed the question “Where did the Russian land come from, who was the first to reign in Kyiv, and where did the Russian land come from?” Thus, already in these first words of the chronicle it speaks of the large-scale goals that the author set for himself. And indeed, the chronicle did not become an ordinary chronicle, of which there were many in the world at that time - dry, dispassionately recording facts, but an excited story of the then historian, introducing philosophical and religious generalizations into the narrative, his own figurative system, temperament, his own style. Nestor depicts the origin of Rus', as we have already said, against the backdrop of the development of the entire world history. Rus' is one of the European nations. Using previous codes and documentary materials, including, for example, treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, the chronicler unfolds a wide panorama of historical events that cover both the internal history of Rus' - the formation of all-Russian statehood with its center in Kiev, and the international relations of Rus' with the outside world. A whole gallery of historical figures passes through the pages of the Nestor Chronicle - princes, boyars, mayors, thousands, merchants, church leaders. He talks about military campaigns, the organization of monasteries, the foundation of new churches and the opening of schools, religious disputes and reforms of internal Russian life. Nestor constantly concerns the life of the people as a whole, their moods, expressions of dissatisfaction with the princely policies. On the pages of the chronicle we read about uprisings, murders of princes and boyars, and brutal social battles. The author describes all this thoughtfully and calmly, trying to be objective, as objective as a deeply religious person can be, guided in his assessments by the concepts of Christian virtue and sin. But, frankly speaking, his religious assessments are very close to universal human assessments. Nestor condemns murder, betrayal, deception, perjury uncompromisingly, but extols honesty, courage, loyalty, nobility, and other wonderful human qualities. The entire chronicle was imbued with a sense of the unity of Rus' and a patriotic mood. All the main events in it were assessed not only from the point of view of religious concepts, but also from the standpoint of these all-Russian state ideals. This motive sounded especially significant on the eve of the beginning of the political collapse. In 1116-1118 the chronicle was rewritten again. Vladimir Monomakh, who was then reigning in Kyiv, and his son Mstislav were dissatisfied with the way Nestor showed the role of Svyatopolk in Russian history, on whose order the “Tale of Bygone Years” was written in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Monomakh took the chronicle from the Pechersk monks and transferred it to his ancestral Vydubitsky monastery. His abbot Sylvester became the author of the new Code. Positive assessments of Svyatopolk were moderated, and all the deeds of Vladimir Monomakh were emphasized, but the main body of the Tale of Bygone Years remained unchanged. And in the future, Nestor’s work was an indispensable component both in the Kiev chronicles and in the chronicles of individual Russian principalities, being one of the connecting threads for the entire Russian culture. Later, with the political collapse of Rus' and the rise of individual Russian centers, the chronicle began to fragment. In addition to Kyiv and Novgorod, their own chronicle collections appeared in Smolensk, Pskov, Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Ryazan, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Russky. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of its region, bringing its own princes to the fore. Thus, the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicles showed the history of the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest; Galician chronicle of the beginning of the 13th century. became essentially a biography of the famous warrior prince Daniil Galitsky; the Chernigov branch of the Rurikovichs was mainly narrated in the Chernigov Chronicle. And yet, even in the local chronicles, all-Russian cultural origins were clearly visible. The history of each land was compared with the entire Russian history, the “Tale of Bygone Les” was an indispensable part of many local chronicle collections, some of them continued the tradition of Russian chronicle writing of the 11th century. So, shortly before the Mongol-Tatar invasion, at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. In Kyiv, a new chronicle was created, which reflected the events that took place in Chernigov, Galich, Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', Ryazan and other Russian cities. It is clear that the author of the code had at his disposal the chronicles of various Russian principalities and used them. The chronicler also knew European history well. He mentioned, for example, the Third Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa. In various Russian cities, including Kiev, in the Vydubitsky monastery, entire libraries of chronicle collections were created, which became sources for new historical works of the 12th-13th centuries. The preservation of the all-Russian chronicle tradition was shown by the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicle code of the early 13th century, which covered the history of the country from the legendary Kiy to Vsevolod the Big Nest. The oldest work of Russian literature, “The Tale of Law and Grace,” was written between 1037 and 1050. priest Hilarion. Using the form of a church sermon, he created a political treatise on the relations of Kievan Rus with the Khazars and Byzantium. One of the first hagiographic works, “The Tale of Boris and Gleb,” is very different in genre from the canonical hagiography of the Byzantine type. This work can be considered a historical story with the exact names of the persons, facts, and places where the events unfolded. 5. The influence of Christianity on ancient Russian architecture. Came to Rus' with Christianity cross-domed type of temple, the rectangular interior of which was divided by rows of pillars into longitudinal parts - naves (3.5 or more), four central pillars were connected by arches that supported a light drum, ending in a hemispherical dome. The eastern part of the building had an extension for the altar in the form of semicircles - an apse. The transverse space in the western part of the temple is called the porch or narthex. Here, on the second tier, there were choirs, where the prince and his entourage were present during the service. In development stone With construction in Rus' main role played by the Byzantine building school, which inherited the architectural traditions of Ancient Rome. The techniques of laying thin bricks - plinths on lime mortar with an admixture of crushed ceramics - come from ancient Roman construction technology. Structural calculation systems were also borrowed from Byzantine technology. The first known stone temple in Rus' was the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (989 - 996), which collapsed during the capture of Kiev by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240. Although stone construction in Rus' was carried out mainly by Byzantine architects, these buildings differed from the Byzantine ones. Visiting craftsmen had to reckon with customers brought up in the traditions of wooden architecture. We also had to use unusual building materials. As a result, ancient Russian architecture already at an early stage had a unique character and in the second half of the 11th century. developed its own traditions. 6. Painting of Kievan Rus. The art of Kievan Rus is connected with religion in theme, content and form. Therefore it is typical for him following canon, i.e. use of a stable set of plots, types images and compositions. Among the fine arts of the Old Russian state, the first place belongs to monumental painting - mosaic and fresco. Russian masters adopted the system of painting churches from the Byzantines, but folk art also influenced the formation of the language of ancient Russian painting. The mosaics covered the more symbolically important and most illuminated part of the cathedral - the central dome, the space under the dome, and the altar. The rest of the temple was decorated with frescoes. They depicted scenes from the life of Christ, the Mother of God, images of preachers, martyrs, etc. In the 11th century. many works were created easel painting– icon. The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon even retained the name of the famous Russian icon painter Alimpiy, but most of the works of this period (XI - early XII centuries) have not survived. A special phenomenon of ancient Russian painting was the art of book writing. miniatures. The oldest Russian manuscript “Ostromir Gospel” (1056 – 1057) is decorated with images of evangelists, whose figures are similar to those of the apostles of Sophia of Kyiv. Having absorbed and creatively processed various artistic influences, Kievan Rus created a system of all-Russian artistic values, which predetermined the development of the art of individual lands during the period of feudal fragmentation. Conclusion. Above we examined the features of the development of ancient Russian culture from the 9th to the 12th centuries. Summarize. So, the origins of Old Russian culture go back to the original culture of the East Slavic tribes of the pre-Kievan period. If we also take into account the local peculiarities of the development of culture in various regions, the diversity of cultural phenomena and forms that have come down to us from that era will become clear. And yet they have a lot in common. Among the most common features of ancient Russian culture is the strong influence of religion on all spheres of culture. Moreover, in the conditions of a long struggle between two structures, patriarchal and feudal, there was a struggle between two forms of religious worldview - pagan and Christian. This left a stamp of inconsistency and duality on the entire Russian culture. Another significant feature is the traditionalism of ancient Russian culture - a feature associated with the dominance of conservative forms of management of the bulk of the agricultural population of Rus'. As noted in previous chapters, Russian culture developed under the influence of external contacts. But, having adopted new forms, Russian architects, icon painters, chroniclers, and master craftsmen enriched them with their own national features.

Characteristics of the cultural and historical periods of the Middle Ages

Introduction

At the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe and Asia, on the basis of ancient and ancient cultures, cultural and historical regions were formed: Eastern Chinese, Indian, Arab-Muslim, Greek-Byzantine and Mediterranean. The basis for their education was an ideological dominant (most often religious) and language as a means of communication and the spread of culture.

The culture of Europe was formed and developed under the powerful influence of three regions: Greek-Byzantine, Mediterranean and Arab-Muslim. Europe assimilated and synthesized their most important cultural achievements and on this basis created its own culture, which since the Renaissance has been called European. The fundamental elements of the emergence and development of this culture were the idea of ​​Christianity and the Latin language as the language of culture and the means of communication associated with it.

The medieval culture of Europe is divided into three periods: the early Middle Ages (VI-XI centuries), the Romanesque period (mid-XI - mid-XIII centuries) and the late Middle Ages (mid-XIII - XIV centuries). Let us trace the main stages of its formation.

General characteristics of the sociocultural situation. Prerequisites for the formation of medieval culture in Western Europe

The term "Middle Ages" arose during the Renaissance. The thinkers of the Italian Renaissance understood it as the dark “middle” centuries in the development of European culture, a time of general decline, lying in the middle between the brilliant era of antiquity and the Renaissance itself, a new flowering of European culture, a revival of ancient ideals. And although later, in the era of romanticism, a “bright image” of the Middle Ages arose, both of these assessments of the Middle Ages created extremely one-sided and false images of this most important stage in the development of Western European culture.

In reality, everything was much more complicated. It was a complex, diverse, contradictory culture, just as medieval society was a complex hierarchical formation.

Western European medieval culture represents a qualitatively new level development of European culture, following antiquity and covering more than a thousand-year period (V - XV centuries).

The transition from ancient civilization to the Middle Ages was due, firstly, to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire as a result of the general crisis of the slave-owning mode of production and the associated collapse of the entire ancient culture. The deep crisis of Roman civilization, expressed in the crisis of the entire socio-economic system underlying it, became apparent already in the 3rd century. It was impossible to stop the process of decay that had begun. The spiritual reform of Emperor Constantine did not help either, which turned Christian religion into the permitted, and then into the dominant. The barbarian peoples willingly accepted baptism, but this did not at all reduce the strength of their onslaught on the decrepit empire.

Secondly, the Great Migration of Peoples (from the 4th to the 7th centuries), during which dozens of tribes rushed to conquer new lands. From 375, when the first Visigoth troops crossed the Danube border of the empire, until 455 (the capture of Rome by the Vandals), the painful process of extinction of the greatest civilization continued. The Western Roman Empire, experiencing a deep internal crisis, was unable to withstand the waves of barbarian invasions and ceased to exist in 476. As a result of barbarian conquests, dozens of barbarian kingdoms arose on its territory.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the history of the Western European Middle Ages begins (the Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium - existed for another 1000 years - until the middle of the 15th century)

Becoming medieval culture occurred as a result of a dramatic and contradictory process of collision between two cultures - ancient and barbarian, accompanied, on the one hand, by violence, the destruction of ancient cities, the loss of outstanding achievements of ancient culture (thus, the capture of Rome by the Vandals in 455 became a symbol of the destruction of cultural values ​​- "vandalism "), on the other hand, by the interaction and gradual fusion of Roman and barbarian cultures.

Cultural interaction between barbarian tribes and Rome existed even before the collapse of the empire. After the fall of Rome, the cultural influence of antiquity took place in the form of the development of its heritage (this was especially facilitated by the development of Latin, which became the language of pan-European communication and legal acts). Knowledge of Latin made it possible to comprehend not only ancient law, but also science, philosophy, art, etc.

Thus, the formation of medieval culture occurred as a result of the interaction of two principles: the culture of barbarian tribes (Germanic beginning) and ancient culture (Romanesque beginning). The third and most important factor that determined the process of formation of European culture was Christianity. Christianity became not only its spiritual basis, but also the integrating principle that allows us to talk about Western European culture as a single integral culture.

Thus, medieval culture is the result of a complex, contradictory synthesis of ancient traditions, the culture of barbarian peoples and Christianity.

However, the influence of these three principles of medieval culture on its character was not, and could not be, equivalent. Christianity became the dominant of medieval culture, its spiritual core. It acted as a new ideological support for the worldview and attitude of a person of that era.

The social basis of medieval culture was feudal relations, which were characterized by:

Alienation from the main producer (the land on which the peasant worked was the property of the feudal lord).

Conditionality (the fief was considered granted for service and, although later it turned into a hereditary possession, formally it could be alienated from the vassal for non-compliance with the contract).

Hierarchy - property was, as it were, distributed among all feudal lords from top to bottom, thus no one had complete private property. This determined the class-hierarchical structure of society characteristic of the Middle Ages, the so-called feudal ladder - a hierarchy of secular feudal lords, where almost everyone could be both a vassal and a suzerain at the same time with clear mutual obligations.

On the basis of feudal land ownership, two main poles of the sociocultural field of medieval culture were formed - feudal lords (secular and spiritual) and feudal-dependent producers - peasants, which, in turn, led to the existence of two poles of the Middle Ages: 1) the scientific culture of the spiritual and intellectual elite, 2 ) the culture of the “silent majority”, i.e. the culture of the common people, who are mostly illiterate.

Medieval culture was formed under the following conditions:

the dominance of the natural economy, which existed until approximately the 13th century, when it began to turn into a commodity-money economy as a result of the growth and strengthening of cities;

a closed feudal fiefdom - seigneury, which is the main economic, judicial and political unit;

weak central government

feudal fragmentation, which gave rise to endless wars, death, and destruction.

IX - early XII century.

Tatiana Ponka

In IX - X centuries. The political consolidation of the East Slavic tribes took place, the Christianization of Rus' was carried out, and the Old Russian nationality was formed. In the 11th century Rus' entered the international arena and took an important place in the system of European and Asian states. The formation and strengthening of Russian statehood created favorable conditions for the formation of ancient Russian culture. In the X-XI centuries. Old Russian culture first declared itself, manifested itself in various spheres, flourished and became an important part of world culture.

Old Russian culture arose on a powerful, original basis. First of all, she relied on rich cultural heritage Eastern Slavs. The state of Kievan Rus was formed on a multi-ethnic basis. In the formation of the Old Russian people in the 9th - 11th centuries. Some non-Slavic tribes also played a role. Elements of their culture merged into Old Russian culture, manifesting themselves in the ethnographic features of the Old Russian population in a number of regions. This factor predetermined the synthetic nature of the emerging Old Russian culture. The development of Russian culture was also deeply influenced by the fact that Rus' took shape on the Plain, as a flat state, not protected from other peoples by powerful rivers, inaccessible mountains, and insurmountable seas. Russian society was open to all foreign influences. This factor predetermined the open nature of Russian culture, capable of absorbing cultural achievements other peoples, processing them in accordance with their aesthetic traditions.

Old Russian culture was constantly influenced by the cultural traditions of neighboring lands and states. From the moment Russia adopted Christianity, the influence of one of the most culturally developed states of that time, Byzantium, was especially noticeable. Byzantine influence manifested itself in the field of church ideology, canon law, cult visual arts. Through Byzantium, Rus' came into contact with ancient, primarily Greek, culture. Byzantium played so well significant role in Russian history that she is sometimes called the “godmother of Rus'”. The entire life of East Slavic society at that time was oriented towards Byzantium. Byzantine influence on Rus' was beneficial, but it was not long-lasting and comprehensive. Rus' needed Byzantium until then, as long as the young, strengthening state needed the versatile experience of an established state. Over time, Byzantine influence in Rus' weakened. At the same time, the obvious presence of the brilliant Byzantium in the emerging ancient Russian culture testified to the sensitivity of Russian society to the wonderful achievements of a more highly developed culture, the ability and readiness to perceive them.

The development of ancient Russian culture was also influenced by the cultural contacts of Kievan Rus with the countries of Central and Western Europe; it became most noticeable in the 12th - 13th centuries. Cultural interaction with European countries was equal and mutual, since Rus' did not concede in its cultural development most European countries.

But Rus' did not simply copy the cultural traditions of other peoples. Only those cultural traditions were borrowed that corresponded to folk experience that had come down from time immemorial. On Russian soil, foreign cultural traditions were comprehended, creatively processed, enriched with their own ideas about beauty and, thus, became the property of original Russian culture.

At the same time, for many years, ancient Russian culture developed under the influence of pagan religion, a pagan worldview, which were deeply rooted in the popular consciousness. With the adoption of Christianity the situation changed. Christianity dramatically changed people's worldview, their idea of ​​beauty. The Russian Church stubbornly fought against all manifestations of paganism. But Christianity was never able to completely overcome the folk origins of culture. Until the 14th century. Dual faith remained in Rus'. Pagan spiritual traditions had a profound impact on the entire development of Russian culture and are still evident today.

But the main role in Rus'’s entry into European society and the formation of ancient Russian culture was played by Russia’s adoption of Christianity in 988. The adoption of Christianity contributed to the emergence of writing, education, literature, architecture, art, the humanization of morals in Russian society, and the spiritual elevation of the individual. Christianity consolidated all the Eastern Slavs into one people, and with the adoption of Christianity, Russian society acquired a spiritual core.

Syntheticity, openness, powerful reliance on folk origins, close interweaving of Christian and pagan influences, deep humanism - in the 10th - 11th centuries. formed a phenomenon of world culture - ancient Russian culture, which has enduring significance even today.

Folklore. The appearance of written literature and chronicles in Rus' was preceded by the development of folklore. Songs, epics, tales, proverbs, and sayings were passed down orally from generation to generation for centuries, and they could be heard performed live even in the 19th century. Later, many oral traditions will be included in written monuments on the history of Rus'.

With the formation of the state, interest in historical genres of folklore increased. Such legends include legends about Kiy, Shchek and Horiv and the founding of Kyiv, about the calling of the Varangians, about the campaigns of Russian troops against Byzantium, about the campaigns of Svyatoslav, the legend about Boris and Gleb and many others.

By the 10th century, the danger to Rus' from nomads intensified, and then the people began to sing praises to the defenders of their native land - the heroes serving “at the heroic outposts.” A new epic genre is emerging in Russian culture - the heroic epic. main topic epics - the fight against foreign invaders. They are based on real historical events, the prototypes of some epic heroes are real people. Bylinas are often called the people's history textbook. For many centuries, people learned their history from epics. But epics rarely retained the accuracy of factual details; they combined fairy tales and true stories, intertwining the real and the fantastic. And we need to talk not about the distortion of native history, but about its special perception, about a special folk version of history. The value of epics is not in preserving individual historical facts, but in preserving historical, moral and philosophical ideas, embodied in artistic images. The collection of epics began in the 19th century, and currently up to 3 thousand epics have been recorded.

The epic storytellers differed not by themes - what, but by names - about whom, about whom the epic was about: about Ilya Muromets, about Dobrynya, about Alyosha. The theme and plot were determined and clarified by the second name: Dobrynya and the Serpent, Dobrynya and Alyosha Popovich, Ilya and Nightingale - the robber.

The first epic epic was dedicated to the plowman Mikula Selyaninovich, who fought in the squad of Oleg Svyatoslavich with the Varangians.

The second cycle of heroic epics was dedicated to Vladimir Svyatoslavich, nicknamed by the people “Red Sun”. At the same time, in these epics a significant place is given to Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. Especially loved by the people was Ilya Muromets, a peasant son, who was called by Prince Vladimir at the first meeting “a peasant-hillbilly.” But it is this “peasant hillbilly” who is the only one who can protect the capital Kyiv – hail in a moment of danger. The princely squads, in the opinion of the people, are only capable of “eating bread” (eating bread). The Prince of Kiev himself can only call upon the heroes (people) to defend Kyiv. And this is an expression of the people’s version of their native history, which leaves no doubt about who is the true defender of their native land.

The third cycle of epics is dedicated to the outstanding statesman of Rus' Vladimir Monomakh, who did a lot to protect his native land from the Polovtsian khans.

Writing. Writing is one of the foundations of the culture of any people. Its appearance is associated with a stage of historical development when society has a need to consolidate and transfer knowledge, ideas, thoughts, preserve and disseminate cultural achievements.

The advent of writing gave a huge impetus to the development of ancient Russian culture. Numerous written sources and archaeological finds indicate that writing among the Eastern Slavs appeared in the pre-Christian period, namely in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. Apparently, these were the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, family and personal signs of ownership, signs for fortune telling, calendar signs that served to date the start of various agricultural work, pagan holidays and so on. But the scope of this letter was limited.

The creation of an orderly Slavic alphabet is associated with the names of Byzantine monks - the missionaries Cyril and Methodius, the famous "Thessalonica brothers". In 863, the brothers were sent by the Byzantine emperor to Moravia to preach Christianity in the Slavic language in order to counter German, Roman and Irish missionaries. Before this in christian church the rule of trilingualism was in effect, according to which services were conducted in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin; only sermons could be read in the local language. Before leaving for Moravia, Cyril began translating the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter and other liturgical books into Old Church Slavonic. Cyril brought liturgical books to the Moravian ruler Rostislav in the Old Church Slavonic language. Therefore, 863 is considered the date of the beginning of Slavic writing. At first, the Slavs had two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic. The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet almost completely coincided in alphabetical arrangement, sound meaning, and letter names, but differed sharply in the form of writing the letters. The Cyrillic alphabet was closer to the Greek script, which had long been common among the Slavs. In general, it was a synthesis of Greek writing and those elements of the Glagolitic alphabet that successfully conveyed the features of Slavic sounds. In particular, in the 11th century. The Cyrillic alphabet had 43 letters, of which 25 were borrowed from the Greek letter, and 18 were created to convey the sounds of Old Church Slavonic speech that were absent in the Greek language. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus when the Glagolitic alphabet appeared, which alphabet - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - was created by Kirill. Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet until the 11th - 12th centuries. were used by the Slavs in parallel. Then the Western Slavs - Czechs and Poles - switched to the Latin alphabet, and the rest of the Slavs - southern and eastern - to the Cyrillic alphabet. Based on the Cyrillic alphabet, Russian, Bulgarian and other Slavic writing systems would later emerge. In our country, alphabet reforms took place in 1710, 1735, 1758, 1917. led to the creation of the modern alphabet.

With the adoption of Christianity, along with liturgical books, the first inter-Slavic literary language, which arose on the basis of one of the dialects of the ancient Bulgarian language, penetrated into Rus' from Bulgaria, which adopted Christianity 120 years earlier. This language, usually called Old Church Slavonic (or Church Slavonic), became the language of cult and religious literature. At the same time, on a local East Slavic basis, the Old Russian literary language was formed, which was used in cultural, social and state life.

The appearance of writing contributed to the widespread spread of literacy among the population of Ancient Rus'. Under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise, schools were created at monasteries and churches to train literati, scribes, and translators. The most educated people in Rus' were churchmen and monks. Literacy was widespread among the princely-boyars. It is widely known about the high education of Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod Yaroslavich, Vladimir Monomakh, Yaroslav Osmomysl, Konstantin Vsevolodovich of Rostov. Some women in princely families also received education.

Literacy and education were also widespread among broad sections of the urban population: merchants and wealthy artisans. This is evidenced by birch bark letters, first discovered in 1951 in Novgorod by an archaeological expedition led by A.V. Artsikhovsky. The letters were scratched with a sharp bone or metal stick on specially prepared birch bark. Most of the birch bark letters are private letters of household and economic content, letters of instructions, letters of complaints, letters of humorous content, inventories of feudal duties, monetary documents, wills. The value of birch bark letters lies in the fact that they recorded what never found its way into chronicles, state acts, or church books. Birch bark letters are the most valuable evidence of the daily life of a person of that time. Birch bark documents XI - XV centuries. were found not only in Novgorod, but also in Smolensk, Pskov, Vitebsk, Staraya Russa.

School education also existed in Ancient Rus'. Prince Vladimir, immediately after the introduction of Christianity, ordered children to be sent “to book teaching.” the best people", i.e. local aristocracy. There were two types of schools: at monasteries and schools higher type. Training was conducted in the native language. Firstly, - trained clergy. These schools taught writing, reading, theology, and singing. In higher schools they taught reading, writing, theology, philosophy, rhetoric, and grammar. These schools also used historical works, collections of sayings of ancient authors, geographical and natural science works. Girls were also taught literacy. Vladimir Monomakh's sister Yanka, the founder of a convent in Kyiv, founded a school for girls there.

Book business. After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', book writing became more active. Books were highly valued by Russian people. They were written by hand on expensive material - parchment, which was made mainly from calf and lamb skins. The parchment was lined by a scribe using a ruler. Then the scribe drew out each letter according to strict rules. Ink made from soot (“smoked”) and from a decoction of oak and walnut bark were used. The words in the line were not separated, but only the paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with a cinnabar initial - an initial. The written sheets were sewn into notebooks. The format of the book was chosen by the scribe himself. The main centers of book learning were monasteries and cathedral churches, in which there were special workshops with permanent teams of scribes. The researchers came to the conclusion that in the XI - XII centuries. There were about 130–140 thousand books in circulation in Rus', but only 11 have survived to this day.

The famous and oldest book is the Ostromir Gospel, written in 1056–1057. deacon Gregory for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, close to Prince Izyaslav. The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest surviving dated Russian handwritten book. The colors of the miniatures depicting the evangelists are bright, applied flatly, the figures and folds of clothing are outlined with gold lines. The figures of the evangelists are similar to the figures of the apostles of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The capital letters are filled with floral patterns, unexpectedly turning into the likeness of a human face or the muzzle of an animal. In the miniatures of manuscripts of that time there are also portrait images, for example: of the grand-ducal family in the “Svyatoslav Collection” - a manuscript copied by Deacon John from the Bulgarian original (1073); Yaropolk and his family in the Trier Psalter, performed for the wife of Prince Izyaslav Gertrude (1078-1087). A peculiar independent version of the manuscript of the “Ostromir Gospel” type is the “Mstislav Gospel” (1103-1117), written in Novgorod for the Novgorod prince Mstislav, the son of Vladimir Monomakh. From the postscripts it is known that Alexa, the son of a presbyter, wrote the “Gospel”, and “Zhadan wrote in gold.” The book was intended to be read in church on holidays, and therefore is richly decorated. It is written in a beautiful, large charter, decorated with colored headpieces, miniatures of the evangelists, and large initials. The Gospel was taken to Constantinople, where the binding was decorated with gold, enamels and precious stones.

After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', a large amount of translated literature with religious and secular content appeared. In particular, basic books appear Holy Scripture, since the needs of the Christian cult required a large number of liturgical books, which served as a guide for the performance of church rites. The works of Christian writers of the 3rd - 7th centuries are becoming popular in Rus'. (“Fathers of the Church”) and collections of their works. The works of John Chrysostom became especially widespread in the collections “Zlatostruy”, “Zlatoust” and others. Of particular interest in Rus' were the historical works of the Byzantines George Amartol, John Malala, and Patriarch Nicephorus. Works that reflected medieval ideas about the universe, about natural phenomena, and semi-fantastic information about the animal and plant world (“Physiologist”) were also known in Rus'. The Slavic version of “Shestodnev”, which tells about the creation of the world and its structure according to the ideas of Christian doctrine, was also widespread. One of the most popular works was “Christian Topography” by Cosmas Indikoplov, a Byzantine merchant who committed in the 6th century. travel to India.

Secular military stories, widespread in world medieval literature, were also translated into Rus'. Among them is one of the largest works of world literature, “The History of the Jewish War” by Josephus, in Russian translation called “The Tale of the Devastation of Jerusalem.” The story about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great - “Alexandria”, which dates back to Hellenistic literature, was very popular. Another popular military story throughout the Middle Ages was “The Deed of Devgenius,” a 10th-century Byzantine epic poem about the exploits of Digenis Akritos, a courageous Christian warrior.

Literature. The emergence of ordered writing, the creation of literacy centers, the emergence of a large number of educated people in the princely-boyar and church-monastic environment, and the general rise of Rus' in the 11th century contributed to the formation of Russian written literature.

One of the first and main genres of Russian literature was chronicle writing - a large-scale historical narrative, divided by years and usually covering several centuries. Chronicle writing was considered an unusually responsible, state matter, therefore it was entrusted to educated people who were able to convey through the word ideas that meet the interests of one or another princely branch. Usually these were priests and monks. Chronicle records were kept in major cities- Kyiv, Novgorod, Chernigov, Polotsk.

Scientists believe that the first major historical work was a collection of various information created in 997. The code was intended to reflect the history of Rus' from the time of the reign of the Rurikovichs to the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and the introduction of Christianity. In the second decade of the 12th century (1113), at the court of Prince Svyatopolk, the compilation of what scientists consider to be the fifth chronicle collection began. This was entrusted to the monk of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery Nestor. Nestor's work was called "The Tale of Bygone Years" and became the main work on the history of Ancient Rus', therefore the chronicler Nestor is often called the "father of Russian history." The vault has survived to this day as part of later chronicle vaults (XIV–XV centuries). "The Tale" begins with a story about the settlement of the Slavs throughout Europe, their relationships with other peoples. Then Nestor talks about the emergence of the state of Rus' and the actions of its first rulers. Nestor also included brief weather records in the Tale of Bygone Years, detailed stories about political events, texts of diplomatic and legal documents, retellings of folklore legends, excerpts from translated literature, records of natural phenomena, independent literary works - historical stories, lives, theological treatises and teachings, words of praise. At the very beginning, Nestor set a large-scale goal for his work: “... Where did the Russian land come from, who began to reign first in Kyiv, and where did the Russian land come from?” The chronicler sets out the origins of Rus' against the background of the development of all world history. For Nestor, the history of Rus' is part of world history. At a time when Rus' began to weaken and disintegrate into separate principalities, the "Tale" is imbued with the idea of ​​​​the unity of the Russian land, which was conceived as the unity of all lands under the rule of the great Kyiv princes. This perception of Russian history testifies to the magnitude of the personality of the chronicler himself. In 1113, Vladimir Monomakh began to reign in Kyiv. He was unhappy with Nestor's positive coverage of Svyatopolk's role in Russian history. By order of Monomakh, the chronicle was confiscated from the Pechersk monks and transferred to Monomakh's ancestral Vydubitsky monastery. Abbot of the Vydubitsky Monastery Sylvester subjected The Tale of Bygone Years to some revision. So Sylvester became the author of a new chronicle. He moderated his positive assessments of Svyatopolk, described all the good deeds of Vladimir Monomakh, but left the main body of the vault unchanged. As Rus' collapsed, chronicle writing developed in new centers of all-Russian life. Local chroniclers brought their own local princes to the fore, but the history of each land was conceived by them as part of the entire Russian history, and “The Tale of Bygone Years” was included as the initial part in the newly compiled local chronicle collections. Chronicle writing in Rus' was carried out until the 17th century.

The next genre of ancient Russian literature was oratory and teachings. In 1037 - 1050 - gg. the priest of the princely church in Berestovo, Hilarion, in the form of a church sermon, creates the famous “Sermon on Law and Grace”. In 1051, Yaroslav the Wise, without the knowledge of the Patriarch of Constantinople, appointed Hilarion Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church. So Hilarion will become the first Russian head of the Russian Church. Hilarion wrote the "Lay" as praise to the Kyiv prince Vladimir for his Christian exploits. According to the assumption of D. S. Likhachev, the “Word” was pronounced by Hilarion before Prince Yaroslav the Wise and his entourage in the choir of the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral. By Law Hilarion means Old Testament, and under Grace - New Testament. According to Hilarion, the Old Testament is a law for only one people - the Jews, the New Testament is grace for all peoples who have adopted Christianity. Hilarion praises Vladimir, comparing his adoption of Christianity with the acts of the apostles, who converted various lands to Christianity. Hilarion puts Vladimir on a par with Constantine the Great, who proclaimed Christianity the state religion of Byzantium. At the same time, Hilarion outlined his understanding of the place of Rus' in world history. The main idea of ​​the Lay is that Rus', having adopted Christianity, took its rightful place among other Christian states.

In the second half of XI - beginning of XII centuries In Rus', such a genre of literature as the lives of Russian saints arose. One of the first such works was “The Tale of Boris and Gleb.” Boris, Prince of Rostov, and Gleb, Prince of Murom, younger sons Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, were killed in 1015 by order of their elder brother Svyatopolk. Rus' had known the murder of princes before. But the murder of Boris and Gleb shook up Russian society and left a deep mark on the people's consciousness. The fact is that Boris and Gleb were special children of Vladimir I. At a time when Christianity was just strengthening in Rus', from childhood they were raised in a new, Christian spirit, and, on the orders of their elder brother, they accepted death humbly, like Christ, “in the glory of Christ." Boris and Gleb became the first Russian saints officially recognized by Byzantium. Over time, the cult of Boris and Gleb as patrons of the grand ducal dynasty would develop in Rus'. During the period of feudal fragmentation that began, this cult had a deep state-political meaning: thus, the idea of ​​clan seniority was carried out in the system of princely hierarchy, which pacified intra-princely feuds.

IN ancient Russian literature a genre of travel appeared, which described the “travels of Russian people to foreign lands.” One of the first was the journey of Vladimir Monomakh’s associate Abbot Daniel to the holy places in Palestine. Daniel visited the Holy Land around 1115, while Jerusalem was in the possession of the Crusaders, and it was ruled by one of their leaders, King Baldwin I. Upon his return, Daniel created the "Walk of Abbot Daniel to the Holy Places." Daniel described his entire journey in detail, but wrote little about the hardships of the long journey; His main concern was: “it is good to experience and see all the holy places in the city and outside the city.” With the permission of Baldwin I, at the Holy Sepulcher, Daniel lit a lamp from the entire Russian land and sang fifty liturgies “for the Russian princes and for all Christians.” Thanks to Daniel, we have undoubted evidence that already at the beginning of the 12th century “many sons of the Russian land” visited holy places, and that wanderings to Palestine became a custom among the Russian people along with the adoption of the Christian faith.

Music. The adoption of Orthodoxy in 988 contributed to the emergence of a professional musical art. Along with icons and books, Greek-Oriental chants appeared in Rus'. It was single-voice music, which was performed in an Orthodox church by a male choir, without musical accompaniment. Russian sacred music developed along the lines of monophonic singing for many centuries until the 17th century.

Architecture. Before the adoption of Christianity, Rus' was predominantly a wooden country. Fortresses, chapels, nobles' houses, and commoners' huts were built of wood. After the adoption of Christianity, special buildings were needed to conduct religious cults - churches. As in Byzantium, they began to build them from stone. This is how stone architecture began in Rus'. Prince Vladimir describes Greek architects as the most skillful and famous throughout the Christian world. They brought with them to Rus' a cross-domed church, which by this time had become established throughout the Orthodox world: its design used a dome and a cross - the main symbols of Christianity. The dome is a symbol of Heaven, the Mountain World; The cross is a symbol of the suffering of Jesus Christ, a symbol of salvation, a stronghold of the church. In the plan of the cross-domed church there is an equilateral Greek cross, above the center of which a dome rises. The hemispherical dome is raised on a round base - a drum. The drum rests on 4 central pillars. The central pillars are connected by arches, which support the dome drum with the help of sails. Windows are cut into the drum, making the entire central space of the temple flooded with light. The entire central space of the temple in plan forms a cross; it was divided by rows of pillars or columns into naves - inter-row spaces running from the entrance to the altar. In the eastern part of the interior there are altar rooms - apses, usually protruding in semicircles on the outside. In the exterior of a pre-Mongol temple distinctive feature was the division of the facade into flat vertical semi-columns, called blades in Rus', into spindles. The outside walls were decorated with sculptural images and carved ornaments.

In Byzantium, the temple usually had one dome. In Rus', instead of one main one, 3.5 small domes were often installed. According to legend, even before Russia adopted Christianity, Princess Olga founded a wooden cathedral “of seventy verses” outside of Kyiv - with 70 domes. At that time it was believed that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem had 70 domes. 70 domes could symbolize Christ with 70 disciples who spread the teachings of their Teacher throughout the world. Researchers suggest that this is how the idea of ​​multi-domes arose in church architecture in Rus'.

Multi-headedness began to be supported by Olga's descendants and established in wood and stone. Already under Olga’s grandson, Vladimir, 7, 9, 11, 13-domed churches began to be built in Rus'. Polydomes have become a typically Russian phenomenon in church architecture. There were no multi-domed churches in Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Armenia, or Georgia. Russian craftsmen also changed the shape of the dome: instead of semicircular, as in Byzantium, in Rus' it became onion-shaped.

The next typically Russian phenomenon in architecture is the multi-stage pyramidal structure of temples, which continues the tradition of ancient Slavic architecture. This tradition goes back centuries.

Immediately after the adoption of Christianity in Kyiv, the first brick church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the so-called Tithe Church, was built in Rus' (989 - 996). In 1240, during the defense of Kyiv from Batu’s troops, the Tithe Church became the last stronghold of the city’s defenders and was destroyed. According to written sources, as well as the remains of the foundation and decorative elements, it was a large 13-domed church, surrounded on both sides by lowered galleries, which gave a pyramidal appearance to the entire temple. Inside, the Tithe Church was richly “decorated” with mosaics and fresco paintings, carved marble slabs. The Church of the Tithes stood on the main square of the city.

The earliest surviving monument of ancient Russian architecture is the brick Hagia Sophia Cathedral, built by Yaroslav the Wise in the 30-40s. XI century in imitation of Sophia of Constantinople. Sophia of Kyiv became the main cathedral of Rus'. Ceremonies of seating on the princely table and placing on the metropolitan throne, councils of Russian bishops took place here, ambassadors were received here, prayers were held in honor of major victories and the oath of allegiance was taken.

Kiev Sophia is a 13-domed, five-nave, five-apse church, surrounded by an internal two-story gallery - a walkway. In the 17th century, the Kiev Sophia was rebuilt, as a result of which it lost its characteristic pyramidal structure.

The interior of Sophia of Kyiv was unusually rich and picturesque: the altar rooms were well lit, the central domed space was decorated with mosaics, the pillars of the naves, and the walls were decorated with frescoes. The floors were also mosaic. The altar barriers and choir bars were especially beautiful: according to Byzantine custom, they were made of stone, with the finest carvings. General impression it was majestic, unusually solemn. Currently, due to numerous later extensions that have covered it to the very top, the temple is immersed in darkness, the tone of the frescoes is distorted.

In Kyiv, in the metropolitan courtyard, the Church of Irene and the Church of St. George, more modest in size and decoration, were also built. The Metropolitan Court was surrounded by a brick wall for more than 3 km, reaching a height of 14 meters. Several gates led to Kyiv. Some of them, the Golden ones, were a majestic passage arch with a gate church (They have now been restored).

The same craftsmen who built Sophia of Kyiv took part in the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, built in 1045 - 1050. This is a 5-domed, five-nave temple. The interior decoration of Sofia Novgorodskaya is much more modest. There were no more mosaics or marble here. The temple is built from local rough limestone. The temple in honor of Sophia was also built in the middle of the 11th century. in Polotsk.

In the second half of the 11th century, the dominant position in architecture was occupied by a single-domed, three-nave, six-pillar temple. These were the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery (1073-1077), the Cathedral of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery (1108-1130), the Cathedral of the Vydubitsky Monastery (1070-1088), etc. In the same spirit, buildings were erected in Novgorod at the beginning of the 11th century. : Church of the Annunciation on the Settlement (1103), St. Nicholas Cathedral on the Yaroslav Settlement (1113), Nativity Cathedral of the Anthony Monastery (1117).

In general, during the Kiev period, the foundations of the Russian architectural tradition were laid and the features of future construction schools of various ancient Russian principalities of the era of feudal fragmentation were outlined.

Mosaic and fresco. With the spread of cult stone construction, monumental painting began to develop - mosaics and frescoes. Russian masters also adopted the system of painting the religious building from the Byzantines. But Russian masters in painting, as well as in architecture, early began to rework Byzantine traditions in accordance with their traditions.

The interior decoration and painting of the temple were supposed to reflect the entire essence of the Christian faith in visual images. The characters of the Sacred History in the painting of the temple were arranged in strict order. The entire space of the temple was mentally divided into two parts - “heavenly” and “earthly”. In the “heavenly” part, under the dome, is the kingdom of Christ and the heavenly army. It was customary to depict the apostles on the drum of the temple, and the four evangelists “pillars of the gospel teaching” on the main pillars. In the apse, in the center of the “earthly” part of the temple, the Mother of God (usually Oranta), the intercessor of all people before God, was depicted. The northern, western and southern parts of the temple were painted in several tiers, and the upper tiers were filled with scenes from the earthly life of Christ, miracles and passions. In the lower tier, at the height of human growth, the Fathers of the Church, martyrs and righteous people were written.

The interior space of the Kyiv Sophia was decorated according to the Byzantine canon. The main parts of the interior were decorated with mosaics: the space under the dome and the altar. In the dome, surrounded by four archangels - the guardians of the throne of the Most High - Christ the Pantocrator (in Greek - Pantocrator) is depicted. The figures of the 12 apostles are placed in the piers between the 12 windows of the drum, and the evangelists are placed in the sails supporting the dome. One of the mosaic masterpieces of St. Sophia Cathedral is the figure of the Mother of God - Mary Oranta. The Virgin Mary is depicted in a prayer pose, with her hands raised up. Later, among the people, this iconographic type of image of the Mother of God would be called “Intercessor”, “Unbreakable Wall”. Her figure reaches almost 5 m. Below Oranta there is a scene of the Eucharist - Communion, the rite of transforming bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, one of the main sacraments in Christian worship.

The rest of the St. Sophia Cathedral is decorated with fresco, a cheaper and more accessible form of monumental painting. The frescoes of the Kiev Sophia depict many scenes from the life of Christ, Mary and the Archangel Michael ("Meeting at the Golden Gate", "Betrothal", "Annunciation", "Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth", "Descent into Hell"), images of martyrs and righteous people. Along with purely church subjects, among the frescoes of Sofia there were frescoes that give us an idea of ​​​​the life of secular society in the 11th century: the frescoes depict the daughters of Yaroslav, his sons, Prince Yaroslav himself with a model of the temple in his hands, the frescoes “The Fight of the Mummers”, “Buffoons”, "Fist Fight", "Acrobats", "Hunting".

From that time, in addition to the mosaics of the Kyiv Sophia, mosaics of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery have also been preserved. One of the mosaics of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery "Dmitry of Thessaloniki" is well preserved, currently stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery. Researchers believe that in the image of this saint, the medieval master expressed the popular idea of ​​an ideal prince - a ruler and warrior, a defender of his subjects and the state. Dmitry Solunsky's military clothes, shield, spear, sword emphasize his readiness at any moment to defend his land and faith.

In general, few fresco paintings from the 11th century have reached us.

Iconography. The temples that were being built had to be decorated with icons, according to Byzantine custom. Iconography appeared in Rus' - painting, the subjects of which were religious.

The first icons that appeared in Rus' were Byzantine, and the first icon painters were also Byzantine. Over time, Rus' has its own, Russian icon painters. History has almost not preserved the names of the first Russian icon painters; the names of only two have survived to this day. outstanding artists Ancient Rus' - Alimpia and Alicea Grechin. Contemporaries said about Alimpiy, the Pechersk monk-painter, that he “was very cunning to paint icons.” It is also known that Alimpius’s only means of subsistence was icon painting. But he spent what he earned in the following way: with one part he bought everything that was necessary for his craft, the other he gave to the poor, and the third he donated to the Pechersky Monastery.

Sculpture. In Ancient Rus', sculpture did not develop, since round sculpture symbolized pagan gods before the adoption of Christianity. The Church had been fighting paganism for a long time, and therefore prohibited images of round “boobs.” But the Russians, living among the forests, were skilled “woodworkers” and had extensive experience in wood carving. They transferred their skills to products small plastic surgery, in the art of altar barriers, in stone carving.

Applied decorative arts. Decorative and applied arts, which were deeply influenced by paganism, became widespread in Rus'. Literally on all products ancient Russian masters- wooden utensils, furniture, gold-embroidered fabrics, as well as jewelry - various mythological characters were depicted, which by this time had already lost their religious meaning.

Artistic sewing has become widespread. It came from Byzantium along with Orthodoxy. It should be noted that by this time Rus' already had extensive sewing traditions. But along with the adoption of Orthodoxy, facial embroidery (icon painting with threads on fabric) and gold embroidery (with gold threads) began to develop. Already in the X-XII centuries. in the chronicles, hagiographic literature and other sources there are references to Russian gold embroidery. In the 11th century In Kiev, in the Yanchin monastery, there was a school of gold embroidery and weaving, where the first nun of the Russian princesses, the daughter of Prince Vsevolod Yanka, “gathered the girls, taught them writing, also crafts, singing and sewing.” Wife Prince of Kyiv Rurik Rostislavovich (d. 1215) Anna “she herself devoted herself to labor and handicrafts, sewing with gold and silver.”

Jewelry making has achieved great development in Rus'. Russian people loved to decorate themselves, and an indispensable attribute of the costume of an ancient Russian person was jewelry made of gold, silver and bronze. The main types of products of ancient Russian jewelers are pendants, belt plaques, bracelets, chains, temple rings, rings, neck hryvnias. For jewelry, jewelers used various techniques - niello, granulation, filigree, embossing, enamel. The blackening technique was especially complex. First, a “black” mass was prepared from a mixture of silver, lead, copper, sulfur and other minerals. Then this composition was applied to the jewelry. Most often they depicted griffins, lions, birds with human heads, and various fantastic beasts.

The grain required great skill: small gold and silver grains, each of which was 5 to 6 times smaller than a pin head, were soldered to the flat surface of the product. Sometimes the craftsman had to solder up to 5 thousand of these grains onto a product. Most often, grain is found on typical Russian jewelry - lunnitsa, which were pendants in the shape of a crescent. If, instead of grains, patterns of the finest gold or silver threads - wires - were soldered onto the decoration, then the result was filigree. The embossing technique was used on thin gold or silver sheets. They were pressed tightly against a bronze matrix with the desired image, and it was transferred to a metal sheet. Images of animals were embossed on colts. Usually it was a leopard or a lion with a raised paw and a flower in its mouth. The pinnacle of ancient Russian jewelry art was cloisonné enamel. The enamel mass was glass with lead and other additives. First, the entire design was applied to the future decoration. Then they put it on him the thinnest sheet gold. Partitions were cut from gold, which were soldered to the base along the contours of the design, and the spaces between them were filled with molten enamel. The enamels were different colors, but in Rus' they especially loved red, blue, and green. The resulting decoration played and shone in different colors and shades.

Russian bone carvers were also famous. Many were made from bone household items― handles of knives and swords, needles, hooks for weaving, arrowheads, combs, buttons, chess pieces, spoons and much more.

At the turn of the X and XI centuries. Glassmaking begins to develop in Rus'. Craftsmen made beads, rings, bracelets, glassware and window glass from multi-colored glass. Window glass was very expensive and was used only in princely chambers and temples. Glassmaking was first developed in Kyiv, then appeared in Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk and other cities.

In the Arab East, Volga Bulgaria, Byzantium, the Czech Republic, Northern Europe, and Scandinavia, products of Russian artisans were in great demand.

The oldest form of accumulation of knowledge about the past was oral folk traditions: epics, fairy tales, legends, oral folk art. They may contain chronological inaccuracies, displacement of historical events, but they give a popular assessment of the event (from the position of the people).

The emergence of writing was of great importance for the accumulation of knowledge, which made it possible to record knowledge and transfer it to subsequent generations (calf skin, birch bark, the first library of Yaroslav the Wise).

Writing was concentrated in the hands of the ruling class – affected the assessment of events. With the adoption of Christianity, the church's monopoly on the creation of spiritual values ​​is established. Written works were written in monasteries, and later began to be created in government institutions. The authors were clergy.

In Rus', the first works were chronicles, in which events were described by “years” - years. Establishing a chronology was a big step forward. Sometimes the chronicles included various stories, legends, tales that could exist separately from the chronicles. In Rus', chronicle writing began in the 11th century (at the end of the 10th century).

Around 1113, the Kiev-Pechora Monastery was founded largest work– PVL. In some lists the author is called monk Nestor. This is the largest work of pre-Mongol Rus'. Everything opens with a historical and ethnographic introduction, in which the author wrote about the settlement of the Slavs, about the life and way of life of tribes, about the fight against nomads.

The Tale of Bygone Years as a historical source

In the PVL under 862, a legend was given about the calling of the Varangians to Rus'. The legend was included for the following reasons:

1) The struggle of Rus' with Byzantium. The chronicler sought to show the groundlessness of Byzantium's claim to Russian lands.

2) A tribute to the then tradition, since at that time an explanation for every new event was sought outside the country, or sent by God.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, local chronicles also appeared (more than a dozen centers - in almost all principalities and lands). In the local chronicles appear and specific features, but there were also common points. The Pskov chronicles are similar to military chronicles (but this was the main one due to the specific geographical location). The Novgorod chronicles are more like a city chronicle. The Vladimir-Suzdal chronicles were of a distinctly religious nature, which was then adopted by the Moscow chronicles (XIV century).

During the formation of a unified Moscow state, local chronicles disappeared, giving way to a single Russian chronicle. In the era of Ivan the Terrible, a written order appeared, where all documents from the field were received.

Historical events were contained in many other literary works Ancient Rus' - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, military stories - “The Tale of Mamaev’s Massacre”, “The Tale of Batu’s Ruin”.

In the XIV – XV centuries. All-Russian works appeared, which were called “chronicle collections”. This is also a chronicle, but somewhat broader. The most famous are the Nikon and Resurrection Chronicles (all-Russian works).

In the 16th century, absolutism gradually emerged - the need for a historical justification for its emergence and dominance. Chronicles in these conditions did not meet the requirements of the time - chronicles gradually disappeared.

New works: in the era of Ivan the Terrible, the “Book of the Powerful Royal Genealogy” was created (author unknown). For the first time, the question of the emergence of royal power was raised (the idea of ​​​​the divine origin of power was pursued). For many years, the topic of the origin of power took first place in historical science.

At the same time, the Facial Vault was created in 10 volumes - an illustrated vault world history from the birth of Christ to recent years. There were 16,000 illustrations. Author unknown

In the era of Ivan the Terrible, a number of historical works appeared, designed to substantiate the royal power and its actions: “The History of the Kazan Kingdom.” The letters of Elder Philotheus from the Elizarov Monastery were significant - he sent letters to the Moscow princes with the idea “Moscow is the third Rome.”

A turning point in the development of historical knowledge began at the beginning of the 17th century. This was expressed in a series of journalistic works devoted to the events of troubled times. They were of a mixed nature - among them were stories and eyewitness accounts of the events. They were actively covered in chronographs (the chronograph appeared at the end of the 16th century, developed in the 17th century, it is close to the chronicle, but there the events of Russian history were closely linked with world history). Author Center works of the XVII century - the question of the reasons for what happened, the reasons for the Time of Troubles. Very often, authors attributed the cause of the Time of Troubles to the dynastic crisis. This trend was especially evident in the chronograph of 1617. He gave the official interpretation. The culprit of the troubles was called Boris Godunov, who killed Tsarevich Dmitry. As a result, the people became disobedient (there was no legitimate government), uprisings began, and then the interventionists came. This is still a rationalistic approach. Only the restoration of legitimate power through the popular election of Mikhail Romanov returned order to Russia. Here the idea of ​​popular election (new for history) was added to the question of the origin of power.

It was clearly evident that history was becoming more and more pragmatic - “edifying”. People had to learn lessons from the past. At this time, a church schism also occurred, which led to the appearance of schismatic texts from the official church (differences in assessments of events). The schismatics or Old Believers were the first critics of official historiography (most bright work– “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself”).

In the 17th century, the country was approaching a new milestone.