The literature and oral traditions of the Kievan period survive in fragments copied over and over and preserved randomly. The legacy that remains is nonetheless extensive. Despite the many fires, frequent wars, and Mongol invasion, over 500 books and 100 charters remain from the 11th to 14th centuries.(1)
These manuscripts include: religious texts-prayers, services, lives of saints and apocryphal tales; translations of heroic romances based on the ancient world; and most importantly chronicles of Russian history. One long epic poem has also survived. These manuscripts have been moved many times, recopied, and bound into other books. In addition, many oral works collected in the 19th century can be dated back to the Kievan period by the historic personage they describe. These include folk tales, religious and peasant songs, and epic poems cycles called byliny.
Surprising evidence of literacy has come to light in excavations in Novgorod-hundreds of notes and letters on birch bark have been found. They constitute a growing body of literature describing daily life. Writing exercises, children's drawings, tally sheets, communications between tenants and landlords, and love letters all found their way onto birch bark. Inscriptions were also found on household object-usually the owner's name. Even graffiti carved into Novgorod's St. Sophia Cathedral has been dated to the period.
The Bible was translated in parts and the books circulated separately, with an emphasis on the Old Testament. Sections included portions now considered apocryphal, including the gospels of Jacob, Nicodemus, and Thomas.(2) Much early writing consisted of sermons, prayers, saints' lives and other didactic religious texts. The most famous of the apocrypha was The Descent of the Virgin into Hell. It recounts the Virgin as a Russian Dante, witnessing the lurid tortures of various sinners. After an extensive catalog of torments, she intercedes for the damned, winning a 2-month respite for the sinners each year.
A curious genre of literature are translated texts, originating in Byzantium and the east. Among these are a retelling of the life of Alexander the Great, and Josephus' tales The Judaic Wars . The more fantastic Story of Solomon and Kitouras describes the building of Solomon's Temple with the aid of a centaur magician.(3) The Story of Varlaan and Iosaf recounts the life of Buddha as a Christian holy man. Overall, secular texts in translation were rare and the choices were extremely limited. The Russians had no access to the science or philosophy of ancient Greece, nor any history beyond the Bible.(4)
The most significant historical work to come down to use is a near complete chronicle of the Rus'-The Tales of Bygone Days, or The Primary Chronicle-which exists in several copies. It begins with the creation of the world, going on to weave legend and documentary Russian history from 852 to 1116. Written in a lively style, it tells of raids on Constantinople, wars with nomads, and princely succession. It records tales of magic and of the Rus' conversion to Christianity. Bible quotes, legends and real and imaginary geography sprinkle the text. Later, regions added additional chronicles. The Novgorodian and Galician chronicles are prominent examples.
The Chronicle of Novgorod compiled great and small events without much order. The 13th century pages describe the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders and the Mongol invasion. Skirmishes with Lithuanian tribesmen are interwoven with records of local fires and plagues. Several near-lynchings are recorded. Most curious of all that century's entries, however, is the record of a dragon flying over the city in 1214.(5)
Several short secular texts survive. The Testament of Vladimir Monomakh prescribes rules of good governance for the prince's heirs. The Petition of Daniil Ratochick is a fragment of a supplication by a serf or dismissed retainer to a prince. Fragments of stories of the Mongol invasion survive, most notably The Tale of the Destruction of Raizan.
One true epic remains from the Kievan period. The Song of Prince Igor describes an unsuccessful campaign against the Kumans in 1185. At the center of epic is an appeal for unity among Russian Princes. Surrounding this is a strong telling of a war story filled with nature deities and Slavic Gods. Most tantalizing are the references to an earlier bard at the invocation to the story, where he is referred to as a wizard:
"Now the wizard Boyan
If he wanted to make a song to someone
His thought would range through the trees;
It would range like a grey wolf across the land'
Like a blue eagle against the clouds..""Now Boyan, brothers, would not
Release ten falcons
Onto a flock of swans
But his magic fingers would
He placed on the living strings,
And they themselves would
Sound forth praises to the princes..."
This suggests singers and poets may have been held in high esteem. This bard is described as accompanying his tales with a four stringed instrument. In Prince Igor formulaic repetitions appear throughout, a stock tool of memorization. Nature is personified in this secular work-rivers, animals, and the sky itself all come to life-perhaps fragments surviving from a pre-Christian oral tradition.
Beyond the written literature comes a surprising legacy-folklore that survived until it was written down. Nothing was recorded before 1619 and most not until the last two centuries. Ritual, wedding, and harvest songs are very hard to date, but contain traces of sun and earth worship and seasonal rituals.
Among this group, the byliny, or ballad cycles can be conjecturally dated because they celebrate historic personages. The Kievan byliny chronicles Prince Vladimir's battles against the Jews (representing the Khazars) or anachronistically, the Mongols. He is supported by his druzhina of valiant knights. They are companions, rather than subjects, arguing with the Prince as well as obeying him. The warriors are strongly characterized: Ilya of Muram-a massive, straight-forward peasant, Dobrynia Nilitich-a generous nobleman, Alesha Popovich-a cunning priest's son, and Churila Plenkovich-a charmer of girls.
A second cycle of byliny, of less martial character, originated in Novgorod. Among them, the famous Sanko the Merchant follows a trader's mysterious and ultimately profitable adventures with the Tsar of the Sea. Vasili Buslaev remembers a rowdy and boisterous lord who could only be controlled by his mother. The Novgorodian cycle, while less famous than the Kievan, is more cheerful-perhaps reflecting the city's happier fate.
(1) Vernadsky, Kievan Russia, p. 246.
(2) Ibid, p. 281.
(3) Ibid, p. 272.
(4) Fedotov, p. 49.
(5) Mitchell.