"Nikon’s" texts

Nicholas Zharkikh

It should be noted that Patriarch Nikon had nothing to do with writing the Nikon’s Chronicle or rewriting it, so we take the name "Nikon" for this group of texts in quotation marks. In the Chronograph the text of Nikon’s chronicle is given in strong abbreviation.

NikL – Nikon’s Chronicle [PSRL, 1885, vol. 10, p. 130 – 133].

Chronograph – Chronograph of the 1512 version [PSRL, 1911, vol. 22, vol. 1, p. 399 – 400].

Comparison table (82 episodes).

Structurally, the version of the text in NikL belongs to the group "long Prologue texts", the differences are the expansion of the introduction due to the wider use of the story of Batu’s campaign (in particular, the insert episode M-4a), increased sentimentality and in the general dilution of the text with eloquent inserts, as is usually the case in NikL.

In general, the reworking of NikL turned out to be much longer and more eloquent, but meaningfully helpless, unsuccessful. Borrowings from Pachomius Serb, made without a clear understanding of the purpose of the quoted passages, do not improve, but only confuse the text. The author of NikL obviously did not bother to think about what new idea he wanted to express in his version, so he made only local changes, which sometimes make even a comic impression.

The chronograph is considered a work of the early 16th century, and the published text is called the "version of 1512". But the oldest chronograph copy contains events up to 1538, and was written no earlier than this year. The text of the SMF in the chronograph is obviously an abbreviation and a small revision of the text of NikL, without the use of other sources.

Shortened text of the section. Full text in ukrainian version.