Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales Review
Russian literature’s world-wide renown is associated above all with the past two centuries, with famous authors such as Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Sholokhov, and a host of other great writers. But the roots of Russian (in the triune sense of the Ukrainian, Belarussian, and Russian peoples) literature extend back much further than this, and its birth lies in the Middle Ages, which in the Russian context began in the 9th century in modern Ukraine, and which lasted until the 17th century, when the reforms of Peter the Great westernized and Europeanized Russian culture and civilization. In this period there was a rich literary history, including ballads (such as the Lay of Igor’s Campaign), a Russian equivalent to Marco Polo with the Journey Across Three Seas of Afanasy Nikitin, a wide host of saint elegies, laments, parables, and histories. They’re fascinating both for their genuine literary talent and as a look into Russia’s history and its place in broader European literature.
With such a great diversity of subjects it’s hard to choose a singular theme. But there are some excellent and very interesting individual stories, with my favorite being the Lay of Igor’s Campaign, a Russian 13th century tale of Prince Igor’s 1185 campaign against the Cuman nomads that harried the Russian eastern flank. It’s an incredible tale, one whose style very much reminds me of Homer’s Iliad, a magnificent story of the warrior spirit, of the tragedy of a lost battle, of the hunt for glory, the pride of princes, the thunder of combat and the song of heroes. It is a song that is heavily permeated with pagan symbolism and ideals, and strikingly different from the Christian tales that constitute most of the rest of Russia’s Medieval literature. It makes me wonder to what extent Homer was present in Russian culture at the time. An admirable tale, commonly commented on as a Russian version of the Chanson de Roland.
Most of the texts as mentioned however, are far more Christian themed, and these are also well translated and intriguing. Some deal with the subject of theological justifications for the Moscow position of Russia as the Third Rome, particularly the legend of the White Cowl which was given by Constantine to the Pope, and which symbolized the primacy of religious power over secular power, and which was then transferred to Constantinople by the Russian accusation of the ‘Latin heresies,” ie. Roman Catholicism, and with Russia being the last Orthodox nation following the conquest of Constantinople by the Muslims. But there are also less political tales, such as a whole host of different saint tales, some of which are very touching, such as in particular Prince Peter and Fevronia of Murom, a wise woman who through her wit became his queen, and the two of them ruled justly and by the miraculous grace of god were even after death united in their tomb together.
The historical laments, such as following the Mongol conquest of Russia, are also deeply touching, singing the song of a world destroyed, lamenting the boundless death and cruelty brought about by the Mongol invasion. Other battle scenes include texts such as the Siege of Pskov, a pivotal moment of the Litgonian Wars of Ivan the Terrible, and which saved Russia proper from further invasions. It helps give a good feeling for the defining wars and battles of Russian history and their feel and how they were interpreted at the time by the Russians. On a personal level there are also some excellent descriptions of individual periods of Russian history and the trials, tribulations, and suffering of people, such as Archbishop Avvakum and his autobiography, with lamentable and pitiable stories of his journey into exile in Siberia.
Of course, this is the original source material. How well does the book do in framing it and giving it context? As a whole, this is a great strong point of the book, since it does an excellent job of giving a general description of the historical period of the Middle Ages in Russia and influence upon Russian literature, both in terms of the historical events such as the Mongol Invasions and the resultant Tartar-Mongol Yoke, the Christianization of Russia, the Time of Troubles, and the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and also in the cultural trends in Russia, such as Byzantine writing style’s influence on Russian literature, or various religious movements in Russia. Each of the stories generally has a good description of its context, and it has a wide representative sample of the stories themselves.
It would be interesting seeing how a more modern book dealing with the subject would be in its treatment of the delicate question of the constituent nations of Russian civilization. After all, this book was written in the 1960s, before Ukrainian independence, and when the project of Russification in the USSR was in full swing once more. It was certainly long before the greater questioning of greater Russian chauvinism that has happened since the Euromaidan protests and in particular since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Presumably a more modern book would have greater discussion about regional Russian cultural identity, and in particular about Ukrainian’s place in the broader grouping of Russian peoples. But as it stands it is also interesting in itself to see this perspective of Russian history from before the breakup of the USSR.
Overall, it’s a great collection of Russian stories, giving a good feel for Russia’s place in European civilization in the period. It’s startling to read how integrated Russia, or at the time the Kievan Rus, was in the broader European world around the turn of the second millennia, when our image of Russia in the early modern period up until the time of Peter the Great, was as an isolated nation, and one whose backwardness and difference from the rest of Europe continues to be a principal feature of discussion even today. This fascinating aspect of Russian history, and its evolution over time, is an excellent contribution of the book, which conveys it and also a feeling for Russian culture and literature with a wide range of well translated and well-selected texts.
