"Сказание о призвании варягов" или Origo gentis russorum?

Древнейшие государства Восточной Европы. 2012. Т. 2010. С. 513–582.

Stefanovich P.

The author explores the text of “The Legend of the Calling-in of the Varangians” in the oldest Rus’ian chronicle codices. He relies on the idea (proposed once by A. A. Shakhmatov), which considers the beginning part of the so-called Novgorod First Chronicle of younger redaction (N1Ch y.r.) as a compilation dating back to the 1090s and thus preceding the famous “Tale of By-Gone Years” (originated in the 1110s). The author concludes that the text of the “Legend” preserved in the N1Ch y.r. is older and more correct than the text in the codices containing “The Tale of By-Gone Years”. He demonstrates how the compiler(s) of “The Tale of By-Gone Years” revised the text preserved in the N1Ch y.r. changing its chronology, reconstructing the narrative, enriching it with additional data etc. He pays a special attention to the context of the “Legend” in the N1Ch y.r. and suggests a new understanding of its concept and content searching for analogies in the medieval historiographical works of the genre Origo gentis.

Keywords: Повесть временных лет, Древняя Русь, tale of bygone years, варяги на Руси, Medieval Rus', Varagians