The (so-called) Chronicle of Nestor...
Literature - History (and story)
In a time, which seems so distant to me today (it is not so much the time that counts as the kilometers traveled...), in the Orkney archipelago in the north of Scotland, I was given discover (and immerse myself in) the Orkneyinga Saga, where we can read that Earl Rognvaldr, having reached Jerusalem, then sailed towards Byzantium, where he was received by Emperor Manuel II, then returned to Scandinavia "following the usual path of pilgrims" to Denmark...
Where exactly did his route pass? That was the question that led me, many years later (and in circumstances that it would take too long to recount here) to Kyiv and to the "Chronicle of Nestor" where we can read: "From the time when the Polianes lived isolated in their mountains, there was a road that went from the country of the Varangians to Greece and from the country of the Greeks to the Varangians, along the Dnieper, and above the Dnieper there was a portage for boats up to the Lovot; through the Lovot we entered the great Lake Ilmen. From this lake comes the Volkhov which falls into the great Lake Nevo, from where it flows into the Varangian Sea..."
This chronicle, attributed to a man named Nestor, a monk, who in fact compiled a number of documents and testimonies, between 1111 and 1118, at the Киево-Печерская лавра monastery (Lavra of the Kiev Caves, initially a troglodyte monastery, founded in 1051 by monks from Mount Athos in Greece, Saint Anthony the Athonite and Saint Theodosius of the Caves ; a high place of the Orthodox religion, classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1990 - It is not uninteresting to note that the Russian word Лавра means both monastery and laurel. We could also talk about this...). But back to our chronicle. Known in Russian as Повесть временных лет (lit. "Story of Bygone Years"), it is the oldest known historical text dealing with the origins of early Russia.
In addition to the confirmation of the existence and the details of the route of this Eastern Road (austrvegr), we find here, as in the Scandinavian Sagas (written in the same era) the reference to Noah (see my Note: Город ( Gorad) from 07/10/2023). Quite common process of legitimizing the importance of the subject treated by tracing its origin to ancestral times, here biblical, the author being an Orthodox monk. The story therefore begins with the sharing of the world between the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Legitimization of the subject treated, but also self-legitimation of the place from which he writes, by reporting that coming from Chersonese in Tauride (old name for Crimea) where he had learned of the existence of Slavic peoples to be evangelized, further north, and taking a step on the banks of the Dnieper: "The next day, getting up, he (speaking of Saint Andrew) said to the disciples who were with him: you see these mountains; the blessing of the Lord will shine on them; a great city will rise there and God will build many churches. Then going up to the mountains, he will bless them, and will plant a cross there, and after having prayed to the Lord, he will came down from the mountain where Kyiv was later..."
The rest... Is in the book... Whose story ends with the coming to power of Vladimir II Monomachus (1113)...
* * *
To my knowledge, there are two editions available in French: Either: The facsimile of the translation by Louis Léger (1884) published in collaboration by Hachette and the BnF, or the translation by Jean-Pierre Arrignon, published by (indispensable) Anacharsis editions.
In English it is published under the title The Russian Primary Chronicle, Samuel Hazzard Cross (Author, Editor, Translator), Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Editor, Translator)
Other Intercultural Notes...
"Si vis pacem..." the article, some kind of manifesto of our association.
You can follow our Facebook. page. But, as prevention is better than cure, to avoid censorship, we are also on Telegram